Despite their denials score blow outs are a big problem for the NRL and most particularly the broadcasters. The undeniable fact is those teams' fans on the wrong end week after week of 30, 40, 50 point losses are simply losing interest very rapidly. Not just in their own teams games but the other NRL games as well.
Personally I have a particular problem with the set restart rule, in their 10 metre zone the team with the ball benefits next to nothing from set restarts on tackle 1 or 2 or often even 3. Their opposition savagely encroaches on the 10 meters knowing that the actual cost of getting penalised is next to zero. But the benefit they gain is much greater, they maintain field position and wear the opposition down trying to get out of their red zone. There is not enough room to have a backline spread and any handling mistake is heavily punished. Their only course is one out running, almost always one pass from the dummy half, trying to gain at least some field position before attempting a long kick on the 5th. This makes defending much easier than it should be, with very little energy being used in defence with only players close to the ruck required to tackle. Compared to a lot of energy, nervous energy, being used up by the team desperately trying to get some field position.
In simple terms the punishment doesn't fit the crime, or more accurately the benefit gained from the crime. The answer is simple, an infringement in the opposition 10/20 metre zone should be a penalty not a set restart. That would discourage the practise, obviously instigated by some coaches, and help alleviate the scourge of teams being "trapped in the red zone" by appropriately penalising deliberately offside opposition players, set after set.
Always a Bulldog
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