NRL 2020: Referees could feed scrums this season
It’s the image that shows just how embarrassing NRL scrums have become - and Peter V’landys is ready to take drastic action to fix them. BUZZ’S HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS
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NRL scrums have become such an embarrassment that independent commission chairman Peter V’landys will consider scrapping them.
This image from Friday night’s Titans v Warriors game is the reason why.
Titans forwards are making absolutely no attempt to properly bind.
The Warriors have four in the front-row. Their halfback is about to feed the ball to his lock.
It is happening in every game, every round. They are a blight on the game.
V’landys, the man who recently introduced the one referee, ‘six-again’ and captains’ challenge rule changes, has vowed to do something about it.
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It will bring even more fatigue into rugby league with fewer 30-second stoppages and fewer opportunities for players to relax and regain their breath.
Its only purpose in the modern game is a restart of play.
Already the English Super League has scrapped scrums for its competition restart as part of a COVID-19 risk assessment. There will be a play the ball instead.
“The scrum today is a joke,” V’landys said when I texted him the photo from the Titans game.
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For nearly 40 years, scrums haven’t been scrums.
These days we even have halfbacks packing into the front-row.
Steve ‘Blocker’ Roach sent me a text message earlier in the season when Kyle Flanagan packed in at prop: “How dare Trent Robinson embarrass our game by putting a halfback in the front-row.”
V’landys is deadly serious about fixing it, unconcerned about a possible backlash.
He’s even keen to investigate the return to proper scrums with referees feeding the ball into the tunnel instead of halfbacks.
Sounds crazy? Of course it does but who can knock anything the chairman wants to consider.
This idea of the ref feeding the scrum was actually raised by former Balmain Tigers great Wayne Pearce at a competition meeting last year. Head of Football Graham Annesley argued against it.
League traditionalists will say it can’t work, the same as they said about one ref and six again.
“We have two options,” V’landys said, “We either fix it or get rid of it.
“We grew up in the era when a hooker was a hooker, a loose head was a loose head and front-rowers were front-rowers.
“Sometimes going back to the past can be a good thing.”
He says games could be used at the end of the season to experiment.
“We’ll look at a game without scrums and maybe a game with refs putting the ball in,” he said.
“We’ll consider anything, especially if it’s going to make the game more entertaining.
“I’m a fan of going back to the old days but this has to go to the commission first.”
Influential Channel 9 commentator Phil Gould supported the abolition of scrums on his podcast last week.
“They’re a waste of time,” Gould said, “A farce and an embarrassment. Let’s get rid of it. It no longer belongs in our game.”
Your columnist rarely agrees with the great man. On this occasion he does.
MONDAY BUZZ: WEEKEND WRAP
HIGHLIGHTS
- Ryan Papenhuyzen’s spectacular length-of-the-field try against Canberra Raiders in the most stunning display of speed and skill.
- Charlie Staines and his four-try debut for Penrith.
- Matt Ikuvalu’s extraordinary five tries for the Roosters against the Cowboys.
LOWLIGHT
Canterbury Bulldogs centre Reimis Smith’s third-man-in low tackle that forced Broncos skipper Alex Glenn from the field with a serious knee injury.
SHOOSH
Who were the Canterbury Bulldogs powerbrokers meeting in a Harris Park coffee shop on Saturday to discuss the future of chair Lynne Anderson?
SHOOSH II
We’re hearing former NRL boss Todd Greenberg had lunch with Raelene Castle last week to suss out information about her old job at Rugby Australia with a view to applying for the role.
SPOTTED
- An image from the Penrith coach’s box that might suggest Trent Barrett is coaching the Panthers, not Ivan Cleary, who looks more like he’s on a relaxing day off.
- Coaches Wayne Bennett and Michael Maguire in a deep five-minute conversation after Friday night’s match at Bankwest Stadium.
- Freddy Fittler in the Blue Mountains at Leura on a short family holiday break with wife Marie and the kids.
- Axed Warriors coach Stephen Kearney working out in a Brisbane park. He is now living in the Sunshine State.
- Former NRL boss Dave Smith shopping in Bondi Junction.
- Independent commissioner Peter Beattie at Brisbane airport on Friday, the first day Queensland’s borders reopened. Beattie attended the Titans v Warriors and Broncos v Bulldogs games.
360 VIEW
Catch you Monday on NRL 360 at 6.30pm on Fox Sports with Ben Ikin, Paul Kent and James Hooper to discuss another action-packed round of the NRL
CANNONBALL’S UGLY RETURN
The NRL’s six-again crackdown on play-the-ball infringements has forced teams to look at other ways to slow down play.
This has led to a gradual return of the cannonball tackle.
On Saturday night, Reimis Smith put a late and low shot on Alex Glenn, leaving the Broncos skipper with a serious knee injury. The match review panel gave him just one week.
The definition of a cannonball tackle is: “Where a defending player, in joining in the tackle of a player who is already being held in an upright position by another defender or defenders, makes initial contact below, around or above the knee joints of the tackled player, this will constitute dangerous contact.”
There are enough injury risks in rugby league these days without this dangerous play.
PENRITH THE REAL DEAL
The Penrith Panthers can go all the way and win the premiership.
There is no question they will make the top four, judging by their draw. They get to play the Titans, Warriors, Cowboys, Broncos, Sharks and Bulldogs in the run home.
That’s six wins that will have them up near the minor premiership.
Their front-rowers James Fisher-Harris and James Tamou are laying the foundation ever week.
And their third middle forward, lock Isaah Yeo, is the most underrated player in the competition.
Originally published as NRL 2020: Referees could feed scrums this season