Sun 12 Jul: NRL: Newcastle Knights v Parramatta Eels KO 7.05am BST (Sky Sports)

[DavidM]

I’ll put my hand up , I’m a bit of a play the ball pedant ! It’s not difficult , do it right . Get to your feet , play it with the foot - not make an effort ( easier to police that way ) , and face north south ! And play it on the mark . Often there’s been to much latitude with all this , and when there’s a try scored you say that was a rubbish ptb ... but of course you’re letting everything go so you’re hamstrung there . Slow down a bit and take responsibility for doing it correctly , and we’ll give the ruck a bit more structure and make it a bit less of a frantic mess . The rule makers have been trying to pull it back a bit , it then needs the officials to back that . We introduced a rule change that was trumpeted then forgot after one second of the season . So things can unravel again . It ain’t that difficult . And stop telling players they’re doing something wrong , sometimes repeatedly ,and to do it better next time . Pull them up for it they’ll get the message 

[Dunbar]

56 minutes ago, DavidM said:

I’ll put my hand up , I’m a bit of a play the ball pedant ! It’s not difficult , do it right . Get to your feet , play it with the foot - not make an effort ( easier to police that way ) , and face north south ! And play it on the mark . Often there’s been to much latitude with all this , and when there’s a try scored you say that was a rubbish ptb ... but of course you’re letting everything go so you’re hamstrung there . Slow down a bit and take responsibility for doing it correctly , and we’ll give the ruck a bit more structure and make it a bit less of a frantic mess . The rule makers have been trying to pull it back a bit , it then needs the officials to back that . We introduced a rule change that was trumpeted then forgot after one second of the season . So things can unravel again . It ain’t that difficult . And stop telling players they’re doing something wrong , sometimes repeatedly ,and to do it better next time . Pull them up for it they’ll get the message 

Sums it up for me.

The part I hate is when they say make an effort to play the ball.

No, stipulate that the ball must be played properly and ref's can add a bit of leniency for those who make a decent attempt.

But when we say make an effort we are left with asking ref's to judge if a player has made an effort to make an effort! We are just making it hard for ourselves. 

[DoubleD]

1 hour ago, unapologetic pedant said:

concerns you more than the PTB, were discernibly different in the NRL and everywhere else from here in UK. Would you not be asking some challenging questions as to why we were not doing better? 

Regarding the PTB. I only joined the forum in February, and long before that I`d resolved to stop "bleating", resign myself to how it now was, and just try to enjoy the games. Then, the RFL

The PTB isn't discernibly different though, hence why I said you were spouting nonsense

[unapologetic pedant]

3 hours ago, Dunbar said:

Sums it up for me.

The part I hate is when they say make an effort to play the ball.

No, stipulate that the ball must be played properly and ref's can add a bit of leniency for those who make a decent attempt.

But when we say make an effort we are left with asking ref's to judge if a player has made an effort to make an effort! We are just making it hard for ourselves. 

 

3 hours ago, DoubleD said:

The PTB isn't discernibly different though, hence why I said you were spouting nonsense

Maybe you`re back to playing the agent provocateur, because If you really can`t see the PTB difference between UK and elsewhere I give up. When you imputed negativity earlier, if you look back at the Gerard Sutton comment, I actually said it was a fair call.

On other threads that cover this topic some posters are absolutist - make contact with the foot or be penalised. My position is less strict or pedantic. I`m perfectly happy with the "make a genuine attempt" guidance.

In Aussie lower-grade games with mic`d up refs you hear them calling "use the foot" or "make a better attempt". It strikes the balance that Dunbar`s third sentence above lays out. They only penalise when necessary. It works just fine.