Paul Kent: NRL needs to crack down on coaches, not referees

There is no other sport in the world where so much time is spent on exploiting the rules instead of, in good spirit, playing within them. BLOG WITH KENTY AT 1PM

Coaches continue to exploit refereeing strategies and Graham Annesley needs to address it now.

There is no other sport in the world where so much time is spent on exploiting the rules instead of, in good spirit, playing within them.

NRL head of football Graham Annesley opened the season by telling everybody the referees were going to put the whistle away to create more time in the game.

Fans, players and coaches alike cheered that news but what few knew were it was the coaches who were happiest of all.

If referees were going to let a little go to keep the game flowing, then the coaches told their guys to stand off-side at the 10m and lay all over them to slow down the tackle.

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Nowadays coaches want a rule interpretation, updated weekly under the guise of “consistency”, just so they can figure a new way around it.

Annesley needs to tell the coaches and the game that from now on the referees will rule on what they see.

And things might be different from game to game because different referees see different things.

And when coaches complain they were not warned they would be penalised for certain infractions the solution is simple.

Post them a rule book.

Originally published as Paul Kent: NRL needs to crack down on coaches, not referees