Play the ball

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PJC
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Play the ball

Post by PJC »

A Castleford player was penalised for playing the ball back as if tackled when he wasn’t. Does this mean that a player couldn’t distribute the ball in open play in this way. Admittedly it would be very unusual
Shevvylad
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Re: Play the ball

Post by Shevvylad »

As soon as a player placed the ball on the floor with his hand. It would be a knock-on, surely??
the pieman
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Re: Play the ball

Post by the pieman »

it does come across as a bit of a strange ruling

however, in the refs defence he was clearly heard on TV calling play on twice, so the Cas player under the current rules is penalised for incorrectly playing the ball (although given how poorly the ball gets played normally he did quite a good job of it :) :) )
First Try Tickle
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Re: Play the ball

Post by First Try Tickle »

Again its consistency that is required.

During our game there was an instance where Matautia walked forward when playing the ball and instead of giving a penalty the ref made him go back. Now this is something that Walmsley does on purpose every tackle, so should it not be a penalty because really he's cheating.

Then there's the voluntary tackle when Warrington were on their own line, I think it was Thewlis who went down and no Wigan player touched him, but still he got up and played the ball. The ref just let the play go which really I think is ok. If he wants to play the ball and waste a tackle its up to him.
moto748
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Re: Play the ball

Post by moto748 »

First Try Tickle wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 1:21 pm Again its consistency that is required.

During our game there was an instance where Matautia walked forward when playing the ball and instead of giving a penalty the ref made him go back. Now this is something that Walmsley does on purpose every tackle, so should it not be a penalty because really he's cheating.
Pretty much all refs do that these days. In the NRL too. You may not like it, and feel it should be penalised, but it is the norm.

First Try Tickle wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 1:21 pm]
Then there's the voluntary tackle when Warrington were on their own line, I think it was Thewlis who went down and no Wigan player touched him, but still he got up and played the ball. The ref just let the play go which really I think is ok. If he wants to play the ball and waste a tackle its up to him.
The voluntary tackle has been dead as a dodo for yonks.
cherry toffee
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Re: Play the ball

Post by cherry toffee »

I think this is something the refs bring upon themselves, they create grey areas in certain aspects of play such as play the ball if you move off the mark it’s a penalty , you can’t give a penalty one week then ask the player to move back the next, rules are rules , or are they?
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Mike
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Re: Play the ball

Post by Mike »

the pieman wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 10:47 am it does come across as a bit of a strange ruling

however, in the refs defence he was clearly heard on TV calling play on twice, so the Cas player under the current rules is penalised for incorrectly playing the ball (although given how poorly the ball gets played normally he did quite a good job of it :) :) )
I reckon the referee's terminology could be changed to reduce these incidents. At the moment they shout "Play the ball" or "Play on", which are unnecessarily similar when things are happening fast in a noisy environment. Why not "Complete" and "Play on", or some other no similar commands?
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moto748
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Re: Play the ball

Post by moto748 »

It did strike me that it could be the case that a player might take "Play on" to mean, play the ball? But if that's the convention, surely they're aware of that?
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Mike
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Re: Play the ball

Post by Mike »

It's not really whether they're aware, it's whether they can hear clearly in the middle of a tackle situation. Two similar sounding phrases can't help.
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