Hold that whistle, ref
Greenberg tells officials to stop nitpicking but not all agree
NRL boss Todd Greenberg has mouthed the words fans have been craving all season, signalling an end to the penalty blitz that has plagued the first half of the NRL season.
Greenberg has told his referees “don’t over-referee, don’t look for things. Referee what’s in front of you”.
“I wouldn’t say we are going to soften,” Greenberg said. “There has been a tendency for the referees to continue to nitpick.
“So we’ve got to be really careful that we find the balance. We want to see the flow of the game continue.
“There has been a lot of penalties in the first half of the year. I am desperately keen to find that balance.
“I don’t want referees looking for penalties.
“What we want is for referees to police those areas we’ve tasked them to do and allow the game to flow.”
The crackdown has focused on the play the ball and players standing off-side, particularly when defending their tryline.
Fox League’s Matty Johns said teams may revert to their old ways if they are not going to be heavily punished.
“It makes you wonder who has won the war?” Johns said. “The coaches have gone ‘let’s just stick at this’. This is a game of nerve. We’re going to see who breaks first. A lot of ways, they’ve won.
“I can understand there has been some nitpicking and unnecessary ones but if a player is standing in front of a referee, what do we want them to do?
“It’s going to be interesting to see from Todd’s comments. If I’m a coach, he has told the referees in a roundabout way not to blow as many penalties.
So I’m saying to my players, ‘boys, let’s get out there and lay on them that extra half a second and let’s test the resolve of the refs. They are in a very difficult spot.”
Greenberg issued the edict yesterday and gave refs extra powers to sin bin players.
In a first, foul play, including late tackles, high tackles, dangerous throws and shoulder charges, can now be punished by sin-binning after an endorsement by the Australian Rugby League Commission.
The spate of late hits on key players such as Johnathan Thurston and Nathan Cleary in recent weeks prompted the move to sin bin “dog shots” after players had passed or kicked the ball.
There have been 64 sin bins this year, compared to 30 for combined for 2015-16. The new rule will potentially result in a spike which could near the 1995 record of 147.
Former Kangaroo Braith Anasta backed the change.
“I hated it when players would attack you,” he said. “You can’t protect yourself. ”