This Buzz boofhead has finally written an article that shows an intelligent view on rugby league.
He actually makes 5 good points.
Referees go soft in finals
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Phil Rothfield
Sunday, September 12, 2010 at 10:44pm
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**NRL referees have gone gun shy, refusing to blow penalties in close matches when games are on the line in the dying stages.**
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This scrum debacle in Saturday night’s Roosters-Tigers epic is one of many incidents referees Shane Hayne and Matt Cecchin ignored in the final 60 minutes of play when only one penalty was awarded.
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**A video analysis clearly shows Roosters prop Martin Kennedy not even binding for the scrum before burrowing his way forward to create a gap for the man who packed at hooker, Frank-Paul Nuuasuala, to burst through the middle and grab possession.**
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I spoke to referees boss Robert Finch yesterday, who said: “You could find a penalty in every scrum if you wanted to.
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“I thought the Tigers player Chris Heighington had enough time to get to the ball anyway.”
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It still doesn’t take away from the fact there were at least a dozen infringements in the final 60 minutes of the game that would have brought penalties earlier in the season.
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One was blatantly obvious when Todd Payten thought he was playing gridiron and threw the ball a metre forward to a teammate in an offside position. A forward pass was ruled and a scrum packed for what should have been a penalty to the Roosters.
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And the question has to be asked about the controversial scrum … why was it even packed?
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**Roosters forward Jared Waerea-Hargreaves knocked the ball on and it was regathered by the man who jolted it out of his arms in the tackle-of-the-year - the Tigers’ Simon Dwyer. It should have been play on instead of a scrum.**
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The decision saved the Roosters’ season, otherwise they’d be preparing for Mad Monday this morning instead of the Warriors. As we’ve suspected all along ... there’s a very good chance the 2010 premiership will be decided by a referee and not necessarily the best team in the comp.
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HIGHLIGHT
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In more than three decades covering the greatest game of all, I can’t recall a more spectacular finish to a try than Sandon Earl’s effort against the Raiders on Saturday night. It should be used as a TV advertisement to launch the 2011 season.
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LOWLIGHT
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**The McIntyre system needs to be retired hurt immediately. It’s a farce and the sooner David Gallop adopts the much fairer AFL system the better.**
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RIPPED-OFF
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Dally M judges have come under fire - and rightly so - for the selection of Penrith’s Luke Lewis as lock-of-the-year ahead of Sharks enforcer Paul Gallen. Lewis polled only 11 points from judges over the entire season compared to Gallen’s 19 points, which put him in fifth position on the overall count. Having a Penrith board member Greg Alexander as a judge doesn’t help to abate the anger of fans. Surely a rule could be introduced that if a player has six points more than his rivals in the same position, he automatically gets the award. We’re told Gallen is about to be announced as winner of another prestigious player of the year award.
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LOCKOUT
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At the NRL chief executives conference earlier this year, the three best operators in the game – Todd Greenberg, Stephen Humphreys and Paul Osborne – all urged the clubs to overhaul the farcical homeground situation for the semi-finals thousands of fans get locked out and turned away at the most exciting time of the season. It’s a shame some of the blockheads at other clubs are totally out of their depth and didn’t support them. **At least Humphreys did the right thing and played the Tigers-Roosters game at the SFS, which allowed an extra 15,000 to see the game live**. At Kogarah yesterday, even Red V members complained they couldn’t buy category one tickets last Monday morning.
He actually makes 5 good points.
Referees go soft in finals
\
\
Phil Rothfield
Sunday, September 12, 2010 at 10:44pm
\
\
**NRL referees have gone gun shy, refusing to blow penalties in close matches when games are on the line in the dying stages.**
>
This scrum debacle in Saturday night’s Roosters-Tigers epic is one of many incidents referees Shane Hayne and Matt Cecchin ignored in the final 60 minutes of play when only one penalty was awarded.
>
**A video analysis clearly shows Roosters prop Martin Kennedy not even binding for the scrum before burrowing his way forward to create a gap for the man who packed at hooker, Frank-Paul Nuuasuala, to burst through the middle and grab possession.**
>
I spoke to referees boss Robert Finch yesterday, who said: “You could find a penalty in every scrum if you wanted to.
>
“I thought the Tigers player Chris Heighington had enough time to get to the ball anyway.”
>
It still doesn’t take away from the fact there were at least a dozen infringements in the final 60 minutes of the game that would have brought penalties earlier in the season.
>
One was blatantly obvious when Todd Payten thought he was playing gridiron and threw the ball a metre forward to a teammate in an offside position. A forward pass was ruled and a scrum packed for what should have been a penalty to the Roosters.
>
And the question has to be asked about the controversial scrum … why was it even packed?
>
**Roosters forward Jared Waerea-Hargreaves knocked the ball on and it was regathered by the man who jolted it out of his arms in the tackle-of-the-year - the Tigers’ Simon Dwyer. It should have been play on instead of a scrum.**
>
The decision saved the Roosters’ season, otherwise they’d be preparing for Mad Monday this morning instead of the Warriors. As we’ve suspected all along ... there’s a very good chance the 2010 premiership will be decided by a referee and not necessarily the best team in the comp.
>
HIGHLIGHT
>
In more than three decades covering the greatest game of all, I can’t recall a more spectacular finish to a try than Sandon Earl’s effort against the Raiders on Saturday night. It should be used as a TV advertisement to launch the 2011 season.
>
LOWLIGHT
>
**The McIntyre system needs to be retired hurt immediately. It’s a farce and the sooner David Gallop adopts the much fairer AFL system the better.**
>
RIPPED-OFF
>
Dally M judges have come under fire - and rightly so - for the selection of Penrith’s Luke Lewis as lock-of-the-year ahead of Sharks enforcer Paul Gallen. Lewis polled only 11 points from judges over the entire season compared to Gallen’s 19 points, which put him in fifth position on the overall count. Having a Penrith board member Greg Alexander as a judge doesn’t help to abate the anger of fans. Surely a rule could be introduced that if a player has six points more than his rivals in the same position, he automatically gets the award. We’re told Gallen is about to be announced as winner of another prestigious player of the year award.
>
LOCKOUT
>
At the NRL chief executives conference earlier this year, the three best operators in the game – Todd Greenberg, Stephen Humphreys and Paul Osborne – all urged the clubs to overhaul the farcical homeground situation for the semi-finals thousands of fans get locked out and turned away at the most exciting time of the season. It’s a shame some of the blockheads at other clubs are totally out of their depth and didn’t support them. **At least Humphreys did the right thing and played the Tigers-Roosters game at the SFS, which allowed an extra 15,000 to see the game live**. At Kogarah yesterday, even Red V members complained they couldn’t buy category one tickets last Monday morning.
