Referees are low-hanging fruit in the NRL. Fans bash them when they lose, when their favourite player gets sanctioned and now they are being battered from pillar to post over the crackdown on high shots.
The top brass of footy supremo Peter V’landys and NRL CEO Andrew Abdo deny it is happening, but somebody has tapped the refs on the shoulder in recent weeks and told them to be extra judicious when there is contact to the head.
We have even heard new language, with officials dictating to players the degree of force that has been applied to the stricken player’s noggin.
That didn’t come straight out of thin air.
The clampdown has led to scenes that fans, commentators and greats of the game are calling farcical.
But while the referees, the bosses at the code’s Moore Park headquarters and the bunker are attracting intense criticism, one offending party is being let off scot free: the players themselves.
NRL fans were left fuming after a record 18 players were sin-binned during last weekend’s Round 7 action
Fans and commentators were left calling for consistency after some high shots were punished and others were not
The NRL denies there is an official crackdown on high shots despite the referees and bunker suddenly treating contact to the head in a completely different manner
We have seen this before. Four years ago, the NRL launched a crackdown on high shots before Magic Round in Brisbane.
A staggering 14 players were sin-binned and another three sent off during that weekend of action.
In Round 7 of the NRL in the weekend just gone, that record was not just broken, but smashed.
A total of 18 players were given time in the bin to cool their heels, including several that came from advice from the bunker.
Phil Gould has been around the block a few times now and was left frustrated by the impact it had on the footy.
‘There was probably three times as many penalties as well, they were very stop-start all weekend,’ Gould told Nine’s Today.
‘I’m not sure what they are trying to achieve and whether they’ve achieved their objective.
‘We have got Magic Round this weekend, I hope they get it all sorted out before we go and put the game on display to the entire world. It’s frustrating.’
Former NRL star and Eighth Immortal Andrew Johns was left fuming over the inconsistency of the high-shot crackdown
Bulldogs boss and Channel Nine commentator Phil Gould said the crackdown was frustrating
The Eighth Immortal Andrew Johns was positively raging about the issue on Sunday.
‘The breakdown of this sending players to the bin is absolutely farcical,’ Johns said on the Sunday Footy Show.
‘It’s gone beyond a joke. It is embarrassing. The over-analysis and the overreach of the bunker in play … the bunker should be used only for try-scoring opportunities unless it’s a send-off.
‘It’s an out-and-out send-off and they miss it, then fair enough, come in and send the player off.
‘Going back eight plays in a set of six where the referee doesn’t see it, the touch judges don’t see it, the players don’t see it and to send someone to the bin is absolutely farcical.’
Manly coach Anthony Seibold and Penrith’s Ivan Cleary both raged about an epidemic they claimed was ‘ruining the game’.
The comments from fans have been equally dramatic. Thousands have taken to social media to vent their spleen.
‘The NRL won’t listen. They have zero respect for the fans,’ one fumed.
Former NRL premiership-winning player and coach Paul Green died as a result of CTE
Mario Fenech is a former player battling symptoms that are believed to be linked to CTE
Trevor Crow played in one of the most brutal eras of footy but is paying the price in retirement as repeated head knocks take their toll
Another raged: ‘it’s embarrassing and has gone too far’.
‘Games being ruined by officials that have never played the game,’ one fan posted, echoing the sentiments of many, many others.
But let’s cool our heels for one second.
Back in the old days, nothing was known about Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).
A degenerative brain disease associated with repeated head trauma that has claimed the lives of giants of the sport including Steve Folkes, Paul Green and Manly rookie Keith Titmuss.
Other, unnamed players have also died from the disease.
The experts don’t think CTE is caused by repeated head knocks, they know it.
Former players like Mario Fenech, Robbie O’Davis, Mark Carroll and even the great Wally Lewis believe they have it, but it can’t be confirmed until after their death.
The NRL has to limit the number of high shots to prevent current players from battling CTE later in life
So cracking down on high shots is not some flight of fancy by the NRL and the referees to ruin your weekend of watching sport.
It is vital to save lives. If there is no crackdown, then one day, there might be no NRL.
That is not hyperbole, that is fact.
Which brings us back to the players themselves.
It is all well and good for all and sundry to lash the referees and the NRL for the state of the high shot crackdown.
But what about the men on the field themselves?
Trying to gain any advantage possible is a hallmark of all sports, but the NRL stands above most as a hotbed of players and teams trying to bend the rules as much as possible.
The crackdown is simple. Don’t hit an opposition player in the head, you won’t get sin-binned.
Eventually that lesson will be learned. Coaches will have to drill and drill and drill their players to ensure there are no lazy, swinging arms – especially under fatigue.
Penrith star Paul Alamoti was one of the many players sin-binned in the recent round of NRL action
But we need to see players take accountability on the other side of the ball as well.
What we are seeing is players slipping, sliding and diving into tackles in order to attract a high shot and a penalty.
Daily Mail Australia could single out numerous incidents of this happening and several repeat offenders.
For a sport that prides itself on speed in the ruck, we see too many players slowly rising to their feet, clutching at their head and howling at the referee to milk a penalty.
It’s taking the absolute mickey out of a very important crackdown.
Granted, the NRL needs to do better. That is not being disputed.
The crackdown has been wildly inconsistent. Bulldogs enforcer Sitili Tupouniua being allowed to stay on field against the Broncos while others were sin-binned for much lighter offences was laughable.
Keeping the NRL and the referees accountable is important, that is not being questioned.
But the players have to buy in.
The NRL is not a blood sport. For all the collisions and heavy hits and the entertainment they bring, the code cannot willingly and knowingly allow CTE to become a common cause of death for its participants.
Those who long for the old days need to remember that CTE was not a thing then.
There is a difference between allowing brutal high shots for entertainment without knowing the long-term impacts, and allowing it to continue when there is significant evidence on the table.
Those who oppose the high-shot crackdown do not have to explain to Paul Green’s children why their father is no longer with them.
They don’t have to deal with the daily rage of a loved one who no longer remembers who they are, which is the pain Trevor Crow’s wife lives with every day.
If players and coaches seriously want to see less sin-bins for high shots, they need to look at their own backyard first.
Whether or not there are dud referee calls in a game, saving lives has to be the No.1 priority of the NRL and it should make no apologies for that.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .