Instant red and yellow cards for head contact in the NRL

[unapologetic pedant]

1 hour ago, Dunbar said:

 The players are coached to tackle upright, chest on chest, in order to clamp the ball and control the tackle and buy defensive time.  You see this in the warm up before every game.

NRL refs this year seem to be making more attempt to read upright tackles and letting them go longer. The result has been more late offloads. 

Coaches might start to reassess whether it would be better for defenders to get the ball-carrier to ground faster. In my view late offloads have played a part in blowing out scores. A team ahead on the scoreboard, playing with confidence, will look to get more offloads away. Tired defenders are less able to wrap the ball up. If they hold the ball-carrier above ground, and the ref doesn`t prematurely call Held, they`re taking more of a risk than they seem to realise.

[bobbruce]

12 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

Yes I quite agree, but see the post below.

This, no way would I consider that McGuire's tackle in this instance would have even been looked at prior to this "onreportathon"

It’s a tackle that they have been penalising for a while in the NRL. Tackling round the waist and then swinging your body round and dropping your weight on the back of the attackers legs. 

[The Future is League]

On 14/05/2021 at 21:36, Man of Kent said:

As I type, Brisbane are currently down to 11 men and losing 42-6 with the commentators voicing concern that the NRL is going to ruin Origin.

If they were down to 11 men because of head shots they have only themselves and the coaching staff to balme

[BrisbaneRhino]

I'd say the only one that wasn't worthy of a yellow at least this weekend was the one on Tedesco which was mainly due to him falling into the tackler. 

The Papalii one was the sort of shoulder charge that not so long ago people were screaming at as good shoulder charges, but to me have always been awful and potentially very dangerous.  The clampdown meant he was correctly sent off - previously to this weekend he would have been penalised and put on report.

If they keep the "clampdown" at its current level coaches and players will adjust.  Its that simple.  They cannot buckle under the pressure of - generally losing - coaches whingeing. 

[Dave T]

1 hour ago, BrisbaneRhino said:

I'd say the only one that wasn't worthy of a yellow at least this weekend was the one on Tedesco which was mainly due to him falling into the tackler. 

The Papalii one was the sort of shoulder charge that not so long ago people were screaming at as good shoulder charges, but to me have always been awful and potentially very dangerous.  The clampdown meant he was correctly sent off - previously to this weekend he would have been penalised and put on report.

If they keep the "clampdown" at its current level coaches and players will adjust.  Its that simple.  They cannot buckle under the pressure of - generally losing - coaches whingeing. 

One of the things I did like about it, and it certainly wasn't perfect, was the level of consistency generally speaking. The commentators got used to it and were calling a high forceful tackle to the head as yellow or red before the ref acted - that suggests that despite moaning, the commentators knew they were bad tackles. 

[The Rocket]

I can see this leading to a sea-change in the way our game is played and the make-up of teams. Big, as in tall players are going to find the going even tougher, constantly being on tenterhooks about tackling the small blokes, especially since a small bloke with a low to the ground or jinking running style is going to make it even harder for the tall players to ensure their tackles remain legal. If what we now consider fairly innocuous tackles become send-offs or certainly sin-bins then given the ease which these sort of tackles can occur during frenetic play, coaches are going to become very gun-shy about the sort of players they send out on to the field. They will not want to be down to 11 or 12 men.

The trend we are seeing with smaller nippier players with electric acceleration will continue and I believe grow, every time one of these blokes gets the ball the big blokes will be fair game, when you think about how many tackles fall into the illegal zone because a player is wrong footed and makes a grab or throws an arm out, or even a smaller player running directly into a tall player it is so easy for contact to be made into the wrong area just due to height differentials, the onus will be directly on the tackler to drop his body height to ensure the tackle is legal, easier said than done, this is going to leave them very vulnerable.

I wonder if we are going to see more and more the big damaging runner being used as a strike weapon rotating off the bench, too many tall players could become a liability especially combined with the six-again changes. Personally I think it is very exciting as it could revolutionise the way the game is played, I see a more open game, smaller players means more space on the field, more broken field running, less a game about brute force and more a game about agility, and the beauty is we can still have our Jason T`s from the Cowboys and Kikau`s from Penrith skittling the smaller blokes in turn.

[Davo5]

Players jumping around,waving imaginary cards & pleading with the refs after every big tackle high or not was a really good look for the game.

[Spidey]

4 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

Players jumping around,waving imaginary cards & pleading with the refs after every big tackle high or not was a really good look for the game.

I don't think that's just started, its been happening for a while

[gingerjon]

10 minutes ago, Spidey said:

I don't think that's just started, its been happening for a while

We're a long way shy of soccer but, yes, it's been going on for ages.

[DavidM]

Add in throwing yourself around to show you’ve been ‘ obstructed ‘ in the line ... Staying down to get the game stopped holding your head or neck so the bunker can really try hard to find a penalty for you - with the kind help of a physio who sprints on faster than Carl Lewis at his peak to make sure you don’t play the ball .  Remember when we prided ourselves on getting up , and staying up? Nearly every  tackle dummy halves are waving their arms at refs pleading for something , or the tackled player himself ,  not all of them Cameron Munster . There are some unpalatable things that come along with the extra scrutiny of the game , as players and staff as always work the system .

And by the way what about all the stuff around HIA’s? Some of this seems very opaque . Cory Horsburgh went off holding his chest for an HIA , we’ve seen guys limp off with a HIA . Is anyone independently monitoring these ? Conveniently some have a HIA around the time they’d be rotated . Interchanges reduce but it’s almost becoming irrelevant .And what’s going on with players going off ... getting the free interchange  then sprinting on . How does that look if you’re concerned about  head knocks ? Wayne Bennett talked about stoppages , and how many times does the ref say ‘ the trainer asked to stop the game ‘ - usually when they’re defending . He comes on and walks a player off . I mean why stop the game for that ? Or we stand around while he gives him a full MOT . This is several times every game now . Unless your in the way of play all this stuff should be done in the background . Add in bunker involvement in the game ...We changed rules for a faster game and yet we still find extra ways to keep stopping and starting it 

[Lowdesert]

1 hour ago, DavidM said:

Add in throwing yourself around to show you’ve been ‘ obstructed ‘ in the line ... Staying down to get the game stopped holding your head or neck so the bunker can really try hard to find a penalty for you - with the kind help of a physio who sprints on faster than Carl Lewis at his peak to make sure you don’t play the ball .  Remember when we prided ourselves on getting up , and staying up? Nearly every  tackle dummy halves are waving their arms at refs pleading for something , or the tackled player himself ,  not all of them Cameron Munster . There are some unpalatable things that come along with the extra scrutiny of the game , as players and staff as always work the system .

And by the way what about all the stuff around HIA’s? Some of this seems very opaque . Cory Horsburgh went off holding his chest for an HIA , we’ve seen guys limp off with a HIA . Is anyone independently monitoring these ? Conveniently some have a HIA around the time they’d be rotated . Interchanges reduce but it’s almost becoming irrelevant .And what’s going on with players going off ... getting the free interchange  then sprinting on . How does that look if you’re concerned about  head knocks ? Wayne Bennett talked about stoppages , and how many times does the ref say ‘ the trainer asked to stop the game ‘ - usually when they’re defending . He comes on and walks a player off . I mean why stop the game for that ? Or we stand around while he gives him a full MOT . This is several times every game now . Unless your in the way of play all this stuff should be done in the background . Add in bunker involvement in the game ...We changed rules for a faster game and yet we still find extra ways to keep stopping and starting it 

Good post.  The feigning has always been around but has grown in the last 5 or so years imo.

If a player is standing, I think they should be walked to a place of safety, checked/treated and the game continues.  If they can stand they are ok to walk, if they can’t stand, then stop the game until they can be moved.

 

 

[Rupert Prince]

1 hour ago, DavidM said:

Add in throwing yourself around to show you’ve been ‘ obstructed ‘ in the line ... Staying down to get the game stopped holding your head or neck so the bunker can really try hard to find a penalty for you - with the kind help of a physio who sprints on faster than Carl Lewis at his peak to make sure you don’t play the ball .  Remember when we prided ourselves on getting up , and staying up? Nearly every  tackle dummy halves are waving their arms at refs pleading for something , or the tackled player himself ,  not all of them Cameron Munster . There are some unpalatable things that come along with the extra scrutiny of the game , as players and staff as always work the system .

And by the way what about all the stuff around HIA’s? Some of this seems very opaque . Cory Horsburgh went off holding his chest for an HIA , we’ve seen guys limp off with a HIA . Is anyone independently monitoring these ? Conveniently some have a HIA around the time they’d be rotated . Interchanges reduce but it’s almost becoming irrelevant .And what’s going on with players going off ... getting the free interchange  then sprinting on . How does that look if you’re concerned about  head knocks ? Wayne Bennett talked about stoppages , and how many times does the ref say ‘ the trainer asked to stop the game ‘ - usually when they’re defending . He comes on and walks a player off . I mean why stop the game for that ? Or we stand around while he gives him a full MOT . This is several times every game now . Unless your in the way of play all this stuff should be done in the background . Add in bunker involvement in the game ...We changed rules for a faster game and yet we still find extra ways to keep stopping and starting it 

Trainers come on jet propelled. 

But problem is that the game is too fast.  

As for big players and small players...   there have always been big players.   The game now is faster, the players are full time, they are faster, they are more conditioned.  The gain line now is 11yards, players are agile with pace. 

[giasf]

A lot of the drive around this seems to be coming from people who have never played the game. Attempting to completely eradicate contact to the head is nonsensical. There has to be a degree of acceptance that it is possible you may be accidentally hit on the head whilst playing elite level rugby league. If you're not on board with that don't play the game.

The logical conclusion I can see from this is that you will get more old fashioned tackling around the legs. I can recall far more occasions recently of defenders knocking themselves senseless by getting their timing/positioning wrong in waist high tackles than I can of players in possession being knocked out ball in hand. This is also going to really impede on the ability of the defence to be effective -- expect to see lots of ridiculous scores like 60-40. The timing is also poor in the context of the lopsided nature of the NRL currently anyway. According to Wikipedia the record score in the NRL/top flight Aussie RL is 91-6. I can see a team surpassing that this season on the back of this rule change. Manly ran in 50 vs Brisbane at the weekend. Can you imagine Melbourne against this Brisbane team with 11 or 12 players?

[Nate90]

I like the rule although it needs to be consistent and there cannot be any grey areas.

[DavidM]

33 minutes ago, giasf said:

A lot of the drive around this seems to be coming from people who have never played the game. Attempting to completely eradicate contact to the head is nonsensical. There has to be a degree of acceptance that it is possible you may be accidentally hit on the head whilst playing elite level rugby league. If you're not on board with that don't play the game.

The logical conclusion I can see from this is that you will get more old fashioned tackling around the legs. I can recall far more occasions recently of defenders knocking themselves senseless by getting their timing/positioning wrong in waist high tackles than I can of players in possession being knocked out ball in hand. This is also going to really impede on the ability of the defence to be effective -- expect to see lots of ridiculous scores like 60-40. The timing is also poor in the context of the lopsided nature of the NRL currently anyway. According to Wikipedia the record score in the NRL/top flight Aussie RL is 91-6. I can see a team surpassing that this season on the back of this rule change. Manly ran in 50 vs Brisbane at the weekend. Can you imagine Melbourne against this Brisbane team with 11 or 12 players?

And if we’re gonna see endless legs tackles the whole nature of the game changes .If we think the games fast now it’ll be off the scale . Teams may well pick a load of fast dummy halves to play off the back of them ... or the rules need to get changed wholesale , as legs tackles aren’t rewarded . You get minimal time to release and the ball carrier is on his front then putting the ball down and we’re off again . 

[Rupert Prince]

The NRL are just making things up as they go along.  They are off the wall bonkers. 

With every day that goes on i think we should SLexit from the NRL.  They are destroying our game.  They are well down the rabbit hole.

[redjonn]

6 hours ago, DavidM said:

Add in throwing yourself around to show you’ve been ‘ obstructed ‘ in the line ... Staying down to get the game stopped holding your head or neck so the bunker can really try hard to find a penalty for you - with the kind help of a physio who sprints on faster than Carl Lewis at his peak to make sure you don’t play the ball .  Remember when we prided ourselves on getting up , and staying up? Nearly every  tackle dummy halves are waving their arms at refs pleading for something , or the tackled player himself ,  not all of them Cameron Munster . There are some unpalatable things that come along with the extra scrutiny of the game , as players and staff as always work the system .

And by the way what about all the stuff around HIA’s? Some of this seems very opaque . Cory Horsburgh went off holding his chest for an HIA , we’ve seen guys limp off with a HIA . Is anyone independently monitoring these ? Conveniently some have a HIA around the time they’d be rotated . Interchanges reduce but it’s almost becoming irrelevant .And what’s going on with players going off ... getting the free interchange  then sprinting on . How does that look if you’re concerned about  head knocks ? Wayne Bennett talked about stoppages , and how many times does the ref say ‘ the trainer asked to stop the game ‘ - usually when they’re defending . He comes on and walks a player off . I mean why stop the game for that ? Or we stand around while he gives him a full MOT . This is several times every game now . Unless your in the way of play all this stuff should be done in the background . Add in bunker involvement in the game ...We changed rules for a faster game and yet we still find extra ways to keep stopping and starting it 

Yep, may as well go the NFL way now as the increasing stoppages of all sorts is getting us their...  and have the refs/umpires hankies thrown down too

[Lowdesert]

Discussion on head injuries.  This is very similar to the Aussie media reports of a few weeks ago.  Whether you dislike or like either Gus or Peter there is some common sense stuff.

 

[DavidM]

Did he really say in a professional environment winning isn’t paramount ?

[Dave T]

4 hours ago, Lowdesert said:

Discussion on head injuries.  This is very similar to the Aussie media reports of a few weeks ago.  Whether you dislike or like either Gus or Peter there is some common sense stuff.

 

Thanks for sharing, really enjoyed that, I liked the fact that he stuck to his guns, and he didn't just speak like a politician - he believes in what he is doing and is prepared to back himself - fair play. I agree with a lot of what he said.

[Copa]

8 hours ago, Rupert Prince said:

The NRL are just making things up as they go along.  They are off the wall bonkers. 

They are simply reinforcing current rules.

[Big Picture]

4 hours ago, Copa said:

They are simply reinforcing current rules.

Precisely, just as they should have been doing all along.  Refs should never ignore the rules.

[George Watt]

9 hours ago, Lowdesert said:

Discussion on head injuries.  This is very similar to the Aussie media reports of a few weeks ago.  Whether you dislike or like either Gus or Peter there is some common sense stuff.

 

V'Landys made the same points when he appeared on NRL 360. What is obvious is that he is not for turning on what he wants. On contrary opinions by fans,high profile ex players and coaches that it is not the game that they knew or want his answer is simply that the game they want is in the past. Player welfare regarding concussion injuries is paramount and under him reducing it will be a major objective.

[Big Picture]

Some more discussion on this.