It's plainly obvious in this case fans don't understand what constitutes gaining a bit more time in the ruck, and what doesn't. Every single tackle is a contest between ball carrier and tackler. The ball carrier attempts to win the collision, poke their nose through two defenders and immediately find their front when they come to ground. If they achieve this, they've won the tackle and defenders cannot slow the play the ball by holding down.
The defenders win with contact if they stop the ball carrier making metres in the collision, attempt to hold the player up, bring them to ground on their back, or turn them 'east-west' (or even south-north if they can achieve it). That's a dominant tackle and they've earned the right to slow the play the ball. Penrith are so freakin' good at this and is a big reason for their dominance over their premiership years.
So for a poster to ignore the context of the tackle when they question why Twal gets penalised but Canberra 'do the same thing', but get away with it, just highlights how much fans don't know about the game they claim to know so much about.
Every second post in this thread during the game is about a ref's decision. It's embarrassing.
The game has been ruined by prominent commentators and the media in general who question officiating decisions every single game. This club's supporters continually play the victim, but referees officiate what they see. On one hand, supporters lament how poor the team's contact and ruck control is, and on the other they harp on about poor treatment from the referees. The reason Wests don't get the same treatment as the good teams is because they are not as good as those teams at winning the ruck! It's been an issue for seasons now, and until the club recruits a couple of aggressive forwards (either tall or with leg speed), and a big focus in training is put on winning the collision in every tackle and controlling the ruck, Wests will continue to be second best in most games.
