I noted the many many "surrender" tackles applied to our boys in attack, the deliberate hold-down ingrained in Storm's reaction to the "surrender" call and decided lack of surrender calls when we were defending.
Provides a very subtle change to momentum, at the ref's discretion.
~c.
Exactly and we have all been told that this year unlike 2018 the referees are free to referee to the flow of the game.....which of course they control...
https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/n...n/news-story/ba15a28191c5a3721e484bfa2d523fe3
Annesley said Rugby League Central was not trying to influence the way sides play but he wanted his referees to “read the game” and to show some discretion.
“I’m very much against edicts and this isn’t an edict,” Annesley told AAP.
“This is just an officiating philosophy.
Annesley said there would be no radical change in interpretations but wanted his referees to develop a feel for the game and penalise — or put the whistle in their back pocket — accordingly.
“There are subtleties around this,” Annesley said.
“A referee can have a good game with five penalties, they can have a bad game with five penalties because he’s just ignored everything.
“A referee can have a poor game with 20 penalties or he can have a very good game with 20 penalties because he’s had to be much more assertive because of the way the game is being played.”
Originally published as
‘Not every game is the same’: NRL tells refs to show some discretion