Manly coach Geoff Toovey raises inconsistency in offside rule

PEOPLE are going to come out today and say Geoff Toovey is at it again, whingeing after a loss.

PEOPLE are going to come out today and say Geoff Toovey is at it again, whingeing after a loss.

Cop it on the chin, Toovs, you were beaten by a better side.

But if a rule is a rule - and the rugby league rule book clearly states that defending teams are supposed to stand 10m back from the ruck with their body mass behind the referee - then why are teams continually allowed to exploit this law? It happened again last night and it will probably get lost in the wake of Canterbury's courageous comeback victory and the fact the premiers' season is now on life support.

Yet again the biggest problem in the game has been exposed and it has everything to do with our match officials and their lack of consistency, leading to frustration and anger.

Toovey raised the issue after Manly's heartbreaking 16-10 defeat last night. As he put it: "I thought we were playing back in the five-metre rule. They were very quick off the line. I probably should have realised it was semi-final football and they put their whistles away."

After expressing his concerns during the week about the controversial obstruction rule, Toovey finally got a call go his way.

A disallowed try to Ben Barba brought a smile to Toovey's face after Bulldogs back-rower Frank Pritchard illegally obstructed Daly Cherry-Evans and the referees got it right.

Toovey still had a reason to complain - and while Bulldogs fans will say it's the act of a sore loser, its not Toovey's problem, it's the game's.

Now let's remember back to when this issue was first raised this season.

Very early on rugby league Immortal Bob Fulton and supercoach Wayne Bennett made back page headlines in this paper when they spoke about their concerns of how wrestling and the speed of the play-the-ball and the ruck was ruining the game as a spectacle. It led to an immediate crackdown when referees' boss Bill Harrigan was told to fix the problem but after a few weeks the referees relaxed their policing and before long it was a case of resume normal positions.

Last night it certainly detracted from the spectacle.

"I thought it was ridiculous to tell you the truth," Toovey said. "But that is just me being a bit biased I suppose if there was a 10 metre sprint in the Olympics they'd have a couple of gold medallists out there."