Things you don't like about the game

[AndTheKungFoSing]

Just curious to see what peoples thoughts are on this.
For me League has numerous issues and every season the same old tend to come up..

For example…

* **Poor officiating** (by far the worst of any professional league imo) - Is this because we have overcomplicated the rules of the game? Are the refs to 'involved' now? ie Calling players offside, referring to players by their names..
* **McIntyre Final Eight System** - My biggest issue is more so with the home game advantages being lost after week 1 to the top 4 if they loose.

But my real worry with the game is how **players are now staying down**, waiting for a replay to attract a penalty. Its now becoming a massive part of the game, so much so that players are even admitting this publicly! Footballers won't even admit to diving to encourage a penalty / freekick.

My concern is this gives power to the guy who organises the broadcast, what if he had money on Souths to win when Sandow stayed down? Or if he had money against them and refused to play the replay until play resumes. I have seen this occur so many times where a late shot is shown well after the incident so it cannot be called back on, or an incident is replayed almost instantly so it is shown before play resumes.

What can we do to fix this? For example a referee in football cannot change his mind on a decision once the whistle has been blown, the league NEEDS to adopt this!

Other things I would love to see is:
**Stoppage time or time off for when the ball is NOT in play**. It makes no sense to me to allow teams to run down the clock when the ball is not in play.

Any other rule changes or concerns dudes?

 

[imZerroo]

General player management IMO.
There is so much talent, still people are switching codes.

I agree with the one about officiating and the McIntyre system IMO is OK. I didn't like it when a team finishing 6th got smashed in first round of finals but made it to the GF though :s

Agree with time stoppage.

 

[AmericanHistoryX]

no coaches call during the game.

 

[diedpretty]

not having a true home and away season - the comp will never be fair until all sides are playing the same teams the same number of times.

 

[alien]

some of the refs - some of them are hopeless

 

[Spartan117]

Ray hadley and the crap on the radio one has to endure on a saturday to try and get some footy talk.

 

[Tiger_Watto]

The officials are a big problem, but I do believe this is a contributing factor from too many rules and amendments. As a result, we get the new terminology of "Interpretation"… Interpretation kills me every time I hear it. I didnt really watch the grand final, but from what I did see, Archer and Checchin had 2 different agendas/interpretations. I mean, what are these jokers basing thier interpretion on? Knowledge of the rules? Knowledge of the game? Understanding of how the current match has been played? Understanding one team is more dominant with a speedy play the ball and wants a cleaner ruck? Please, c'mon... What a Joke!!!

If we want to continue down the current path of interpretations, they need to stop all betting on games. Its hard enough to 'interpret' a result with 2 teams in a contest, but how do you factor referee's into an outcome when you have no chance of knowing what they are gona 'focus' or 'crackdown' on this week...

And dont start me on Video Referee's!!!

 

[Spartan117]

Bulldogs and a majority of their fans.

 

[Tigerdave]

no coaches call during the game.

yeah I would like to see that in the game.

Still the biggest thing for me, as others have mentioned, are the refs. Some mistakes and errors I can cop, but some stuff, even after being viewed by the video ref, the wrong call can still be made.

Forward passes coming out from dummy half gets me shaking my head to.

 

[Marshall_magic]

One controlling ref for the entire game, the other in the pocket for the entire game. Of course they can switch for the last 10-15 if the game is dead and buried (40 point margin). This would go a long way to achieving some consistency.

 

[Tiger_Watto]

Forward passes coming out from dummy half gets me shaking my head to.

x2 - Farah and Benji are 2 of the worst exponents of this… Sadly, the players are actually trained how to feed the ball forward with thier bottom hand while turning thier top hand over the ball to create the illusion they are passing it backwards...

Mateo's try was a perfect example of this... if it had of been a 15/20 meter pass (instead of 1 mtr), it wouldve gone 40 meters forward!!!

 

[Fraze23]

Benefit of the doubt. Needs to be benefit of the doubt for both sides if it leans towards the attack or the defence.
The Mcintyre system is terrible. First week of the finals you should be able to play where ever you want regardless of fan lockouts. There are 12 weeks in which you can see your team play at home throughout the season. Week one of the finals is about winning games of football, not accomodating 5000 extra fans who have jumped on the bandwagon as the side has made the finals.
Canberra play in Canberra, Newcastle play in Newcastle, why is it fair that everyone else plays at the SFS or ANZ?
I would love to see the NRL adopt the AFL finals system. You'd be seeing better football straight up with the "heavyweight sides" playing first up, then desperation football from the bottom four as they play emlinations

 

[happy_tiger]

Have a few issues Kaiser

1 How the season is set up Make the season everyone plays everyone home and away add some midweek games to cut the season down time wise Clubs could have biggers lists (35 players ) and would have to rest players more often More games would mean more money for players and NRL
With this SOO and Tests not held until season is finished

2 Refereeing really liked the ESL old video rule where they could go back anywhere throughout the entire set of six to check for any infringements Games can turn on one bad call in this day and age

3 Liked your issue Kaiser with the players staying down Maybe if a player stays down they have to be replaced (free replacement though)

4 Decrease in interchange Let the general wear and tear in the game bring the little guys back into the game Maybe drop 1 a yaer for the next 3 years They can always increase it if it doesn't work
Have like the AFL if a player is seriously injured that you have a free permanent replacement
Think the amount of injuries would actually decrease because you wouldn't have fresh players getting stuck into each other over the whole 80 minutes

 

[Properossi]

1\. Benefit of the doubt should be to the defending team
2\. Referees should be in set combinations every week, not forever changing
3\. The wrestle should be outlawed
4\. Referees should call players by their numbers not names
5\. Players other than the captains approaching the refs should be penalised first, second offence 5 in the bin
6\. Bring back 5 minute sin bin
7\. Ball Security, Stripping should be allowed
8\. Cut our losses and get out of Melbourne, it is not sustainable
9\. Faking Injury should result in a suspension (hard to prove but the little Kiwi hookers should be punished)
10\. Decrease the interchange numbers per game
11\. Bring back Gibbsy!

 

[genoshan]

I would like to see big / bigger discounts to the salary cap for juniors who work their way through the ranks and/or discounts for players who stay a 1 team player.

Agree about how bad the Macintyre system is.

 

[Demonborger]

A new penalty punishment to smooth out the bumps of refereeing, less severe but used more often - would reduce the impact of individual decisions

Extension of catch in goal to the 20m line to reduce reliance on aimless bombs and reward players for attempting to catch the ball.

Adopt the gridiron out of bounds rule, if a player goes into sideline touch make it count as a tackle and play the ball - to discourage camping the sideline reduce the speed of the play the ball to restart play. This way teams will use the full width of the field.

Reduce interchange further, and allow 4 under 20's players who played previous onto an increased bench who can replace a player (who then can not return) - essentially an injury cover provision when a team runs out of interchange.

 

[happy_tiger]

A new penalty punishment to smooth out the bumps of refereeing, less severe but used more often - would reduce the impact of individual decisions

Extension of catch in goal to the 20m line to reduce reliance on aimless bombs and reward players for attempting to catch the ball.

Adopt the gridiron out of bounds rule, if a player goes into sideline touch make it count as a tackle and play the ball - to discourage camping the sideline reduce the speed of the play the ball to restart play. This way teams will use the full width of the field.

Reduce interchange further, and allow 4 under 20's players who played previous onto an increased bench who can replace a player (who then can not return) - essentially an injury cover provision when a team runs out of interchange.

Liked your points demonborger Some good ideas there

 

[imZerroo]

A team kicks, and if there is a knock on inside the 20 by the defending team, the it should result in a dropout. And if taken on the full inside the 10, then a 30m restart, if taken inside the 20, then a 40m restart. (attacking kicks only)

 

[underdog]

* Use the technology - the ESL rule is brilliant.

* turn the 40/20 rule into the "30 metre" rule e.g - you can kick a 40/20, a 50/10, a 10/40, a 30/40 etc.. would allow teams to roll the dice more.

* Rule on forward passes using video ref on tries - I think the momentum rule is garbage - we can see forward passes on tv, so why can't the refs?

* make it a 4 man interchange still, but allow under 20's players to replace injured players who will not be back. - great idea Demonburger.

 

[Marshall_magic]

The AFL sub rule isn't really appropriate in League in my opinion. AFL teams make way more subs than league teams (from memory they can reach triple figures for a game), whereas NRL teams are capped at 10\. I don't see the need to have a fresh player to come into the game when players have 3 stints max.

Fast restarts from kicks going out, where if a kick finds touch, rather than packing down a scrum, one player can pass it in from the sideline to a team mate, like they have in union, to stop kicks to wind down the clock.

For tries, stop the clock when the referee has determined whether or not the kick is successful or not. This stops players taking 10 years to take the kick, and others taking 10 years to walk back for the kick off.

Bring back voluntary tackles, if a player runs into a sheppard and falls onto the ground penalise them, it's 2 infringements at once. Ridiculous how if they keep going, the other team gets the ball AND better field position, but if they stop it's play on.

If the defenders won't clear the ruck, the ref can call the markers offside. If the markers then make the tackle it's a penalty.

Players put on report get 5 in the bin, video ref ruling on foul play must determine the event bad enough to warrant 5 in the bin if they're going to blow a penalty.

Catching a kick inside your own 10=20m tap. I did enjoy the fast restart rule they brought in this year, played out better than most anticipated I think.

Benefit of the doubt only applies if the replays are inconclusive/too close to call (eg simultaneous groundings), not as a get out of jail free card for video refs.