Shall we start on Saturday as we mean to go on in 2019?

1. At the play the ball, require the ball to be played backwards by the foot (as is done in the NRL). Penalise any player propelling the ball backwards with the hand.

2. The law is that, once the tackle has been completed and called “held” by the referee, the tackler has to immediately release the tackled player and move or roll away. If a defender on the same team deliberately contacts a tackler after “held” has been called (thereby slowing down the play the ball), he should be penalised.

Simple.

As much as the vast majority of RL fans will agree we can’t change the ‘interpretation’ for the GF. Next season, absolutely.

I will be hugely disappointed if they don't change things for 2019.. after a few ropey weeks in the NRL it has ended up being brilliant for the competition

The whole Ruck / pub needs tightening up.

Atm the game to my mind is played with the principle of win a penalty to get an extra Set to win.

A penalty in my view is too much of an incentive to cheating.

What they should do is to still penalise slowing the PTB but not to the same extent it makes cheating so incentivised.


I would suggest that if a team is slowing the PTB then an extra tackle should be added on to the attacking team so instead of 6 tackles they would get 7 tackles or even 8 if they do it again.


If the team in possession is then milking penalties I e throwing themselves to the ground , holding down the tackler then they should lose a tackle so instead of 6 they would get 5 tackles etc.

If a team does it consistently then a penalty should be given eg their is a limit to a set of say 8 tackles before a peaty is Given

I know this sounds radical and would require the refs to be able to count and is also open to interpretation but the constant messing at the PTB to win penaltys to my mind is ruining the game.

A good start would be to get players to play the ball where they are tackled, not putting the ball over a prone defender, or to the side playing the markers offside.

It's not difficult and as said above, would only take a few weeks of penalties to make players adapt.

A very good point, as has been said the so called milking of penalties has got out of hand, would encouraging ex players to become referees solve this? I feel something must be done to clean up some aspects of the game. I would clamp down on tackled players moving forward off the mark once held is called. Also stop the going to ground quickly to get a fast play the ball! Call it what it is a voluntary tackle.

What a very complicated set of solutions to what is in fact a very simple problem; reset the rules around the tackle, and all the symptoms will go away - because they're all the response of frustrated coached and players to the mendacious practice of slowing down the ptb.

HAS TO be brought in. The state of it currently makes the game anything between less watchable to unwatchable.

No wonder we're finding it hard to push our product. IT...IS...A...MESS!

Not bothered to be honest. I'd file it along with trainers on the pitch and wasting time at drops outs under the category of 'Minor issues some pedantic fans get disproportionately angry about'. We have miles bigger problems in the game both on and off the pitch, happy for them to leave this as is, just penalise the stand-outs as they do currently.

I can remember getting a kick on the knuckles while playing the ball, you did take more care than throwing it between your legs