SL referee Liam Moore reveals why the play the ball has been enforced & reaction from coaches & players as he responds….

[josie andrews]

…..to "penalty-a-thons" in rugby league

SUPER LEAGUE referee Liam Moore has revealed why the play-the-ball interpretation has been enforced – with head coaches around the game being pivotal to the introduction.

The RFL, in a statement late last year, announced that there would be a greater emphasis on players playing the ball with their foot in the ruck area: “Players, coaches and match officials have agreed to see greater sanction for flops, hands on the ball-by-ball carriers and to ensure that ball carriers regain their feet on the mark and make a genuine attempt to play the ball with the foot.”

In recent weeks, there have been both positive and negative comments about the ruling but Moore has explained that the new emphasis is down to a common aim amongst all those involved in the game.

It was the feedback from head coaches and the wider game surrounding the play-the-ball that they wanted addressing in the way that we will police it this season,” Moore told League Express.

“It is a positive for the sport because it does a have good impact on the flow of game from presentation point of view. I think it will improve the spectacle.

“The coaches, clubs and players have been excellent to be honest. A lot of this was led by the head coaches. We had a meeting with head coaches, referees and senior executives just before Christmas about how we could improve the game together.

“The play-the-ball was mentioned by head coaches as well as ruck infringements. We all believed we could improve the game in that aspect so we went away and looked at the feedback about howe we could do this.

“We’ve come together as a joint venture with a new representation of how we can make rugby league and Super League look a better spectacle going forward.”

Moore emphasised that he has seen a great buy-in from players and coaches alike in just a matter of weeks.

“I’ve seen a big change already. It’s noticeable that those teams who have already played a couple of games with it. There was a game on Boxing Day where the turnovers were into double figures for not making a genuine attempt to play the ball.

“Then when I refereed a game a fortnight ago, it was down to just two. So that shows that already in a short period of time that there has been a massive improvement.

“The referees have been working hard and doing club visits. I was in Catalans last week on a club visit and the lads have been to every Super League club to really get the messages across to try and educate them and us.

“We want to work together on this, a lot of hard work has gone into this pre-season – and it’s probably more than ever before in trying to get this right. Club visits really are critical.”

One new ruling that has already caused a great deal of attention in the community game is the reduction of the tackle height law in order to prevent head knocks and concussions.

A penalty will now be awarded for all those tackles above the armpit level but whilst it will come only into force in Super League in 2025, Moore has revealed that there will be an alteration in regards to head-on-head contact.

We will see a little bit of that already and there is a lot of it in the community game. In terms of Super League, you will notice some changes.

“It won’t be completely put on the backburner for 2025, there is a much stricter guideline in terms of head contact going forward.

“That includes, most noticeably, the clashing of heads this year. Previously that would have been deemed accidental with a play-the-ball but now that is sanctionable. You can’t make contact with your own head.

“So that will be a noticeable change in 2024, it won’t all just be saved for next year.”

Moore has also explained why he isn’t worried about fears of a ‘penalty-a-thon’ in years to come.

“I don’t think it’s a worry. It’s given me the confidence already from the friendly games and club visits that the clubs are really buying into this to make sure they are ready.

“Knowing what to do, we want the players and coaches to buy into this and get on board and they are doing that so far.

“Will we have incidents? No doubt about that, we will but I think the positive affects of making this change far outweighs the negative in my opinion.

https://www.totalrl.com/super-league-re ... by-league/