Canberra Raiders fullback Jack Wighton could miss rest of season over shoulder charge

[jirskyr]

It's farcical decisions such as this that has turned my old man who is 72 away from the game and towards AFL. I asked him why the other day. He said - too many referees, too many video replays, too many wrong decisions and it's just not what it should be anymore.
Hard to argue with that logic really.

Too many referees?

Each AFL game has 4 boundary umpires, 3 field umpires and 2 goal umpires = 9.

Yes,
but a ref in AFL can't keep up with a ball that's kicked miles downfield and then run back again. That's ridiculous. The field is huge and the ball moves around so much. We have a game pretty much played within 20m most of the time and with a straight line structure. So we have 4 on the field plus however many in the bunker. And replay after replay after replay only to get a contentious decision in the end. It's a ludicrous situation which people find so frustrating that they leave as spectator and believe me, my dad was always league through and through. His brother played for Australia and coached the Bears reserves. He himself was pretty handy although only ever a bushie. It's a disgrace that the NRL has led us to this point in my opinion.

With due respect to your Dad, I don't think 72 y.o. males are the major target demographic for the NRL.

 

[Masterton]

I'm no expert when it comes to AFL, but my Richmond mates whinge about one-sided refs more than I do.

 

[Doc_Tiger]

It's farcical decisions such as this that has turned my old man who is 72 away from the game and towards AFL. I asked him why the other day. He said - too many referees, too many video replays, too many wrong decisions and it's just not what it should be anymore.
Hard to argue with that logic really.

Too many referees?

Each AFL game has 4 boundary umpires, 3 field umpires and 2 goal umpires = 9.

Yes,
but a ref in AFL can't keep up with a ball that's kicked miles downfield and then run back again. That's ridiculous. The field is huge and the ball moves around so much. We have a game pretty much played within 20m most of the time and with a straight line structure. So we have 4 on the field plus however many in the bunker. And replay after replay after replay only to get a contentious decision in the end. It's a ludicrous situation which people find so frustrating that they leave as spectator and believe me, my dad was always league through and through. His brother played for Australia and coached the Bears reserves. He himself was pretty handy although only ever a bushie. It's a disgrace that the NRL has led us to this point in my opinion.

With due respect to your Dad, I don't think 72 y.o. males are the major target demographic for the NRL.

You're totally right. I think for years and years we only ever had a whinge about incorrect ref calls. Now though the more they try to fix things the more they stuff it up. The whole forensic analysis is out of control. It's not just the old guys that are turning away. A week in a season without enormous controversy seems to be a rarity. I'd be interested to know what the figures are for participation at a grass roots level but I suppose that's for another thread. I guess my point is, he doesn't go to watch games with his grand kids, buy them merch etc. There's a definite knock on effect.

 

[Bird is the Word]

The current regime of the NRL is like a backyard operation… The inconsistencies in refereeing and the judicial process are a joke...

Suspensions can have a massive impact on a teams performance, so they can't afford to be inconsistent...

A couple of thoughts on removing the inconsistencies in the judicial system is to stop suspending players... Fine either the clubs or players directly for their indiscretions... In conjunction maybe they could use the sin bin during the game for any reportable offence as it removes the temptation for players to commit offences, but limits the impact of any inconsistencies. The sin bin works, its been a long time since we have seen a proper scrap during a game...

Regarding referees, go back to 1 on field referee and appoint the bunker as '2nd referee', there to provide advice in real time based on camera footage... You cant have the video referee overuling some things, then saying nothing when Hoffman raked the ball from Nofo a few weeks back...

Regarding video referee decisions, the captains challenge is probably on the money with a bit of tweaking. There are plenty of times when the referee is the only person that doesn't know it wasn't a try...

Anything has to be better than the current rubbish they are dishing up... It is very frustrating to watch.