Re: Hull KR on Friday : Tue Aug 08, 2023 2:25 pm  

Phuzzy wrote:

Ah right! I get where you're coming from now and totally agree that the game, refs, players and the clubs themselves are being put in an impossible position at the moment but the element of overreaction is exacerbating the situation in my opinion. The "someone has to pay" to every incident is ruining the game. I can sort of understand the refs getting it wrong but I can't excuse the video refs or disciplinary in the same way. They have time to reason these situations through and are not doing so.

I can understand and accept people making mistakes. I can't accept those mistakes being compounded as they currently are. The sending off and subsequent banning of Joe Shorrocks will add zero to the safety of the game. He'll make the same tackle hundreds of times in the future, and rightly so as he did nothing wrong apart from fail to remove his shoulder from his body so Lewis' head couldn't impact it when it shot forward. Alternatively he could have made sure he was a few inches shorter when he grew up then Lewis' head would contact with his own and it would have been an "unfortunate clash of heads".

Utter madness when you think about it.

The one thing that I really struggle with is when I watch the NRL and it is chalk and cheese. They're looking for contact with the head, of course they are, but there seems to be leeway to actually be sensible and not think everything automatically has to be a red card and a ban. It's the same sport and the same risk of litigation, so why is it so different? It seems like they are prepared to admit they cannot make the game 100% safe but we are not. I don't know what the answer is but we can't keep going down this path because the game is becoming less enjoyable and we cannot afford for that to be the case.

Re: Hull KR on Friday : Wed Aug 09, 2023 7:59 am  

NickyKiss wrote:

The one thing that I really struggle with is when I watch the NRL and it is chalk and cheese. They're looking for contact with the head, of course they are, but there seems to be leeway to actually be sensible and not think everything automatically has to be a red card and a ban. It's the same sport and the same risk of litigation, so why is it so different? It seems like they are prepared to admit they cannot make the game 100% safe but we are not. I don't know what the answer is but we can't keep going down this path because the game is becoming less enjoyable and we cannot afford for that to be the case.

Could that not be explained by the legal action that past players are trying the take again the RFL? I don't think that it is a coincidence that we are seeing similar action and panic against head contact being taken by Rugby Union as they also have past players trying to take legal action against them.

I don't believe that the NRL are having these issues with past players, at least not publically or what i have seen. You could also make the argument that the NRL are far ahead of us when it comes to player safety from contact to the head. The bunker system is always looking out for any level of head contact and players are more frequently brought off the field for a HIA and this is mostly off the back of something seen by the bunker, not the referee. Players who would have probably played on in Super League if involved in a similar contact are going for HIA's in the NRL because the bunker is in place to spot these things.