Golden Point

[RayCee]

The golden point is the worst idea RL has ever come up with. No wonder SL wants to embrace it! If two teams have bashed each other for 80 minutes and cannot be separated, then a draw is a fair result. Watching two teams in the NRL fire one field goal after another is mindless IMO. 

[Adelaide Tiger]

Some reasonable changes on the list.

I am not a fan of Golden Point for the regular game season but IMHO if it is to be brought in:

i) a team must win by scoring a try - no drop goals allowed.  

Ii) a team must either take a tap or kick for touch if awarded a penalty - they cannot kick at goal.  This will encourage the refs to be consistent by awarding penalties in Golden Point time that they would award throughout the 80 minutes

[HKR AWAY DAYS]

Golden point is absolutely unnecessary. In an already congested fixture schedule they want players to play more minutes when it wasn't too long ago they were banging on about player welfare. 

[Wholly Trinity]

What happens if time runs out on the shot clock in each situation? 

[Colin James]

Why 100 seconds for a conversion? Currently the clock is stopped at 60 seconds. What do we gain by giving the attacking team an extra 40 seconds?

Or is it inclusive of the time for the actual kick and getting back for the restart, scrapping the ruling that the clock can only be re-stopped once the touch judges are in position? Even so that shouldn't account for 40 seconds.

[Denton Rovers RLFC]

Golden Point (2x5 minute periods, draw after 10 mins) - don't agree with it, not one little bit, it undermines the fundamentals of having a set period of time to get a result for a league system. Why not make the game 90 minutes instead, 100 minutes, 110 minutes.  Draws are an integral part of sport and always have being, IMHO 'extra time' (golden point is a poop way to describe it) encourages negative play so might actually bring about more draws at FT thus forcing extra time because of the rule so is self serving.

Also there is the player welfare issue, players having to carry on for longer and probably with an injury because who wants to be down a player even if they've hung on for the last quarter with no interchange left. We see that in many matches were players have clung on simply to be a person on the pitch, now you're asking them to do another 10 minutes maybe, what a load of pony!

That's not even going into the issue for fans, night games will mean some fans can't stop longer due to public transport timings, I accept there were only 4 drawn games last year, 6 in 2017,  I still think it's a crud idea for the reasons I've given. CC games, no problem, that's a different matter for knock-out comps.

8 interchanges down from 10 (10 will be allowed in GP) meh, it should be one extra interchange, 8 over 80 equals one over max of 10 minutes unless for serious injury. But as above, it's a cluster @@@@ anyway.

35-second shot clock for scrums - 'shot', at what, shouldn't that be 'scrum' clock? is that from when the referee indicates a scrum, is that to form the scrum or for when the ball has to come out of the scrum, what happens if the ball does not go in or come out correctly or a player is injured during the scrum? Who manages the clock for this situation, who tells the players how long they have left, at what juncture does this occur if at all, are the players expected to count accurately to ensure they abide to the rules, what happens if one team or both do not form the scrum or ball comes out the scrum (whichever the rules state) what 'penalty' occurs, loss of possession (that seems harsh for a time penalty), march the scrum 10m back, but then that takes a whole big chunk of time to seperate the scrum and reform. IF tht were to be the case does the scrum clock restart from scratch and if so at what juncture does it restart, after the players arrive at the new location, when the referee has indicated a scrum again, what, there's no clarity on outcomes for infringing?

Anyway how does the referee decide who is to blame for exceeding the 'scrum clock', is it the LF for not binding down, is it one of the other players who haven't packed correctly or the SH for not putting the ball in, what happens if the scrum clock is exceeded by the team with the head and feed but the defending team is standing offside as the scrum is forming - not that the TJ or second referee will bother to enforce this correctly, which offence takes precedence/over-rides the other?

30 seconds for GLDOs - What, not a 'shot clock'? Is that 30 seconds from when the ref indicates it's a GLDO or when the ball goes out, who manages that time period, who lets the team know how long they have left, what is the penalty for not adhering to that? Will non adherence count as if a penalty has occurred so hand over on the 20m line, you can't take the team another 10m back so what is the alternative, an official team warning, a sin bin, what?

100 seconds for conversions. - From whence the try is awarded? It's still too long but if the referee isn't going to call time off I guess it's acceptable, is the penalty for not taking the kick within the allotted time that the try at goal is not valid, who manages that, who informs the kicker how much time he has in live play or are we needing the kicker to have a watch/stop watch so he knows how long he has?

Players who go down ‘injured’ after the shot clock starts will have to leave the field and not return until their side regains possession or alternatively use an interchange - What if a player is thus injured that they cannot be safely removed from the field or if attempting to move the player it may exacerbate the injury, who determines that, the referee, are they qualified to make that decision? How is it fair that an injured player cannot return to the field before his/her team regain possession, that's utterly preposterous! yet another bullpoop idea not thought out properly!

Two-ref system delayed due to RFL, will be trialled in reserves next year with a view to 2020 introduction in Super League. Penalising players for their infractions and making the players take the responsibility to act within the laws of the game and stop on field coaching plus using the touch judges effectively to do their jobs would negate the need of a second ref. Yet again another idiotic response to a scenario the RFL/refs director has created for themselves, it's needless, reactive and still doesn't address the main reason why players will push the boundaries and beyond.

Free play abolished - So will advantage to the non infringing team still be a thing, presuming that from that initial error the next tackle would the zero tackle right? How far of an advantage do the non offending team get before that advantage is over, to the 'zero' tackle and after that it's as you were? Thus if they knock on/pass forward before the next tackle after the opposition have erred do we still have a scrum with head and feed to the first non offending team? Or will this now be a case of if you knock on it/foward pass/lose ball out of play it's tough luck and the first offending team get head and feed? Some clarity on that is needed.

Overall it stinks of desperation, it stinks of not having a bloody clue about human psychology, no understanding of the primary reasons as to why infringements occur and how to attempt to stop players from deliberately infringing/slowing down play etc. It needs more clarity/defining of what happens for x scenario and who has responsibility for what.

Cretins!

[MattSantos]

I wonder if golden point is a nod to North America. They hate draws in the NFL

[Mattrhino]

It just creates a melee, all rules go out the window. Might aswell have a coin toss to choose a winner.

[Mattrhino]

29 minutes ago, MattSantos said:

I wonder if golden point is a nod to North America. They hate draws in the NFL

Actually they changed the rules this year in the NFL, they have ties now if no one scores in overtime in a certain time. Before it was unlinited.

[Farmduck]

I've never liked Golden Point - a solution to a non-existent problem. Having a few teams on an odd number of competition points often throws an interesting spaniel in the works at the end of the season. I think the NRL had 8 GP games this year out of 192

Time limits on scrums and line dropouts - good idea. In the 2 years this has existed in NRL it has produced about 4 penalties/season. If this number is low then clearly the time limit isn't too onerous.

I think 8 is now the minimum we can go with interchanges, since the Head Injury Assessment rules came in. I saw a couple of games this year where teams had no fit bench players left and still 20 minutes to go.

The time limit on conversions is unnecessary. Why not just blow time off when the try is scored?

The free play is no big loss. Most teams aren't quick enough transitioning from defence to attack to cash in on this anyway. They'll still get a zero tackle.

[gingerjon]

8 hours ago, Just Browny said:

 

Basically we have just copied all the NRL stuff. 

I'm sure someone smarter than me could work in a Brexit analogy about wanting to be a powerhouse but now just following the rules from the bigger bloc that we have no say in.

But not me ...

Sorry to see the free play go as it was nice to have a bit of unstructured madness every so often. Golden point is ... I really don't care for it much. The 'shot clock' is a decent idea although perhaps it could also be extended to video refs.

In fact, the only remaining change I'd like to see is the official going to video ref every time he's confused replaced by a challenge/DRS approach.

[bamfordsbeans]

One other rule they forgot to mention.

All SL clubs can now only sell Fosters and Castlemaine XXXX as their preferred lagers.

[thirteenthman]

The only one I wouldn't go with is Golden Point. Waste of time. If it's a draw, it's a draw. If you really have to have GP, I would amend it so the losing team still gets a point for forcing a draw in the 80 minutes. Give the extra point for the win in extra time, but a draw in normal time should still be rewarded.

Not fussed either way on the rest of the changes, although the GLDO shot clock in the NRL usually results in the drop out being kicked just as the clock reaches zero. 

[Mr Plow]

A draw feel like a win for some teams. If London go to Wigan and get a point that’d be a big result for them

[Denton Rovers RLFC]

1 hour ago, Mr Plow said:

A draw feel like a win for some teams. If London go to Wigan and get a point that’d be a big result for them

Having that snatched away because of a coin toss to see who receives first and potentially have a pot at a drop goal within 45seconds would be ######.

[JohnM]

11 hours ago, bazzzz65 said:

How many draws at the end of 80 minutes have there been recently? A handful ?

And answer to a good question is......?

[DavidM]

Golden point rubbish , gimmick . But one for one I guess as I never liked the free play thing . Another gimmick where some players thought it was compulsory and ran around in circles or kicked it for usain bolt to run after and nothing ever hardly came of it other than wasted time 

[Chrispmartha]

6 minutes ago, JohnM said:

And answer to a good question is......?

After 23 rounds of Super League last year there were 4 games finished with a draw

[Scubby]

Glad free play has gone. It was creating an instinct in players that could cause huge problems in other bigger games (like internationals, WCC etc.)

 

[Dave T]

I must admit to not having too much of an issue with Golden Point in principle. I do find draws a bit flat. I don;t think anybody goes home celebrating after what is often a great close game. I have no issue with sport being about winning and losing, the highs and lows, rather than the mid-level satisfaction a draw *may* bring. 

I don;t think draws are that satisfactory to either team or set of fans. It can sometimes have a feeling of anti-climax.

That said, I hate the drop-goal fest that it creates, so I would rather have an alternative method.

[Mr Plow]

1 hour ago, Denton Rovers RLFC said:

Having that snatched away because of a coin toss to see who receives first and potentially have a pot at a drop goal within 45seconds would be ######.

I think they should do Rock Paper Scissors 

[Limmertime]

I jus wish they would stop f****g about with rules and golden point etc, or at least make it the same rule for all leagues....! 

[brooza]

13 hours ago, bazzzz65 said:

How many draws at the end of 80 minutes have there been recently? A handful ?

 

2011 - 7
2012 - 4
2013 - 9
2014 - 7
2015 - 6
2016 - 6
2017 - 6
2018 - 4

[FearNothing]

6 hours ago, Mattrhino said:

Actually they changed the rules this year in the NFL, they have ties now if no one scores in overtime in a certain time. Before it was unlinited.

No it wasn't, it was one quarter's worth, ie 15 mins max. You could still have a tie if no scores in that 15 mins. They've messed around with it this year, made it way over-complex.....

[Bearman]

So, presumably games played under the auspices of the RFL i.e  Challenge Cup, League 1, Championship and Internationals will not be affected.

The CC games might cause some confusion.