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I just watched the game, I agree that Harry Grant and Scott Drinkwater were our best players. Ryan Papenhuyzen also showed some good signs. I thought Lachlan Timm was our best forward. Danger I will disagree with you re Tui Kamikamica, I thought he was our second best forward. Someone who wasn't on much who did a couple of good things was Kayleb Milne. What about all the penalties against both sides for illegal play the balls?

14 play the ball infringement penalties!

The refs did mention they were going to be cracking down on play the ball infringements during the trials.
Scooter - I'm glad you thought Tui played well. I think my expectations of him were just too high given what I saw in his previous outings.

Some of the other NRL rule 'tweaks' to expect in 2018.

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NRL announces shot clock after conversion attempts, tweaks one-on-one strip rule

THE NRL has announced another measure to minimise time wasting and maximise the amount of time the ball is in play for 2018, with the clock to be stopped for 30 seconds immediately after conversion attempts.

In the same announcement the NRL revealed there would be a tweak to the way the one-on-one strip would be adjudicated, with defenders allowed to play at the ball as long as they are the only player involved in the tackle at the time.

Previously one-on-one strips were not allowed if there were initially two or more defenders involved in a tackle — even if all but one defender slipped off before the ball was pinched.

The NRL also confirmed the play-the-ball would be a focus for referees, with the onus on players to rake their foot over the ball.

But it's the latest use of the shot clock that may have the biggest influence on games, stopping teams from milking seconds out of the game to hold onto a lead or break the momentum of an opponent that has just scored a try.

It comes after the successful introduction of a shot clock to ensure scrums are set quickly and to hasten drop outs, stopping the defending team from taking a lengthy breather.

“At the moment, the time taken for players to return to the half way line to restart play is wasted time as far as the fans are concerned,” said the NRL’s General Manager of Elite Competitions Jason King.

“The clock continues to run down (except in the last five minutes of play) but the fans see no football.

“We have decided to extend the shot clock concept to take time off for a set period of 30 seconds after each conversion attempt.

“That will add an average of more than three minutes of game time (where the ball is in play) to each premiership match in 2018.

“An extra three minutes of actual play can have a big bearing on the outcome of a game.

“Over the course of the season, this move will give fans the equivalent of more than 720 minutes — or seven more games — of rugby league.”

King also outlined the NRL’s other major directives for 2018 in a statement released by the NRL.

They are:

— Referees will be asked to be vigilant on play the balls, requiring players to make a genuine attempt to touch the ball with their foot.

— Players will be allowed to strip the ball in a one on one situation — as long as there is only one player in the tackle at the point of the ball being stolen.

King said all clubs had been advised of the changes which also had the approval of the NRL’s Competition Committee.

The play the ball will be interesting. I can see some problems happening.

The strip will cause bigger issues IMO. Teams can exploit that if the NRL aren’t careful.

and there are always teething problems with any new or amended rules.

yourhero wrote:The strip will cause bigger issues IMO. Teams can exploit that if the NRL aren’t careful.

I agree. I wonder what brought about this change. Usually the NRL is reactionary in changing rules so I wonder if this change was brought about by something eg a request from coaches or maybe fan feedback.

I think they just want to make the game more unpredictable and reward good tackling.

But giving the referrers more interpretations to make will just ostracise the viewing audience imo.

Especially when you will see on any given weekend; the same thing ruled absolutely differently in different games.

I could be wrong, but I imagine this was brought in for those obvious examples where a tackler has attempted a tackle and clearly dropped off - then the player with the ball is stripped one-on-one 30 metres away and the ref has to blow a penalty for two in the tackle. That looks silly and I get fixing that.

BUT, that's where it needs to stop. That particular example should be the limit of this rule change and it should be clearly explained to the clubs.

There should not be situations where there is two in the tackle and one suddenly lets go so the other player can immediately strip the ball. That will just create a farce. But that is the situation the NRL now finds themselves in... Teams can train for that exact thing.

The refs can still decide to penalise them for two in the tackle (as they should), but it just creates a situation where the ref has to make a judgement call. Personally, I am OK with that, however NRL fans generally have proven themselves to not cope well with any level of refereeing discretion. For most NRL simpletons, things need to be black and white.

Right now, it is black and white - In order to strip the ball, you need to be the first tackler to make contact with the attacking player and you need to execute the strip before a second tackler becomes involved. Simple. Easy to adjudicate.

New world, there is now some grey area.

The French have a word. A beautiful word. It is Malheureusement. A rough translation in English means sadly. But Malherureusement is so much than that. It is about perception. It is about being able to see things that other people can’t see before they see them. And realising that something is wrong or may lead to confusion or misinterpretation or a lack of understanding by the brethren. You are sad for the situation but you are also sad that others can’t see or forsee. Regretfully, unfortunately , I'm afraid so , regrettably sad to say, ruefully, unluckily, unhappily

If I was French and I was talking about the rule changes. The first word of my sentence would start with “Malheuresusement”.

Malheureusement; there will be interpretation problems.

I agree yourhero. I think I prefer the old rules for their simplicity. One of the best things about RL is generally how crisp it is around which team has possession. Rules like this make it a degree closer to AFL or Union which I see as messy.
One other thought may be that they want the ball runners to place more emphasis on securing the ball. I felt that last season there were a number of strip penalties that were awarded when the attacking player just didn't have a good hold on the pill. Maybe this is a round-about way of trying to address this. Either way I don't particularly like it.

I agree Danger; all they need to do is get rid of the knock on rule and we will be playing a bastardised game of AFL. The rules need to be "watertight" clear so that every single tackle; everyone knows what is going to happen.

Jerhome Hughes has buggered his shoulder.

If it wasn't a testimonial then they would cancel it due to rain

Typical Brisbane weather.