Penrith resting players

[Rock Hopper Steve]

The fix was in as soon as this Panthers side was selected.
I would suspect the NRL were hoping for a huge blowout to teach them a lesson.

Good chance it could happen in the last 20 mins you would expect a young side to feel the pinch then.

 

[crazycat]

I really hope Ivan gives those players a nice Fuzzy onezie and some Ugg boots...

With the Hot coco warmed just right, not too warm and A marshmellow if they have been good.

Tuck them in and tell them a fantasy bedtime story "once their was a sport called NRL, and it had a make-believe salary cap!"

 

[Yossarian]

Poor old Asu Kepaoa. 16 players out and he still could crack the top 17.

 

[gregjm87]

NRL can't have Penrith win this..

Here comes my conspiracy theory hat...

Anyone else notice Penrith barely make contact with the dogs attack, and the ref is calling held? It forces the Penrith players off the attacker... Faster game.. not good for a nsw cup side..

Interpretation vs black and white rules.. this is why they do it... They can control the flow of the game

Im not sure how you could possibly write most the rules of rugby league to be black and white?
The term interpretation became a part of rugby league vernacular as refs outline how they will interpret various similar but different plays that commonly occurs in a game. It is supposed to make things more black and white by having standards set. Those standards are constantly updating (unfortunately often in season) but the clubs are kept informed of these updates as well as any fan that can be bothered looking.

 

[Merlot]

Im not sure how you could possibly write most the rules of rugby league to be black and white?
The term interpretation became a part of rugby league vernacular as refs outline how they will interpret various similar but different plays that commonly occurs in a game. It is supposed to make things more black and white by having standards set. Those standards are constantly updating (unfortunately often in season) but the clubs are kept informed of these updates as well as any fan that can be bothered looking.

how can you keep it black n white if black n white keeps shifting ,
The interpretation rules just turned it grey , and opened it up to manipulation n frued

 

[gregjm87]

how can you keep it black n white if black n white keeps shifting ,
The interpretation rules just turned it grey , and opened it up to manipulation n frued

So even the black and white rules of no stripping when multiple players in a tackle or forward passes. They are still not black and white rulings, eg. Was the player stripping or wrapping up the ball to prevent an offload. Was it back out of the hands. There will be multiple opinions on most occasions.
Most the interpretation comes down to the tackle and how long you can hold down for. You could make it a set time to be black and white eg there must be no defenders in contact with the defender 4 seconds after the tackle is complete. But this black and white would take away from the nuance of the game. Is it a dominant tackle, is it a surrender tackle, has the attacker won the collision and earnt a quick PTB. Is this what we want?
Aside from an example like this I still don't really understand what is complicated about interpretations or what a 'black and white' game is supposed to look like.
As I said interpretations are supposed to provide guidelines to make the unclear rules be more black and white. I don't see how outlining interpretations does anything but clarify things.
Yes as you say they keep shifting (often for the worse in my opinion), but we'd still be playing unlimited tackles and 5 yard lines if things weren't constantly changing.

There will be arguable or just plain incorrect calls regardless of how simplistic the rule book is. When one team cops a couple of the their fanbase will be crying foul of the refs and accuse them of manipulating results. Overhauling the rule book won't change this at all.

 

[mtd#2]

Im not sure how you could possibly write most the rules of rugby league to be black and white?
The term interpretation became a part of rugby league vernacular as refs outline how they will interpret various similar but different plays that commonly occurs in a game. It is supposed to make things more black and white by having standards set. Those standards are constantly updating (unfortunately often in season) but the clubs are kept informed of these updates as well as any fan that can be bothered looking.

This is going to be an interesting discussion... I will come into this with an open mind..

Let's start with a simple one...

There was an incident last night where Penrith were penalised for not playing the ball with their foot... A roll ball as they like to call it...

Can you please explain to me how the other 50 times that this happened in the same game it's not enforced by the referee?

It raises questions as to why the referee chooses to penalise a NSW cup Penrith side when they are about to attack the NRL bulldogs side try line early in the game --- but then never again the rest of the game... Can you help me understand this?

What is going through the referees head to blow that first penalty? Then what goes through their head when they see the same offence throughout the rest of the game and they keep the whistle in their pocket?