Well needed performance and win despite appalling refereeing. It's not just Thaler, there's been poor refs at times during the 60+ years I've been a supporter/fan of Leeds. But nowadays, more than ever, this sorry bunch have direct influence on results. So much so that I've decided not to watch superleague unless Leeds are playing.
People have to realise with regards to the ruck that if you speed it up so much that teams can literally roll down the field with one man rugby as the defence cant get back in time and I see this a lot in the NRL.
If you can make 60 or 70m a set by taking no risks why would you? Watch an NRL game and every set of 6 is the same. Drive, drive, drive, structured spread set play on 4th, drive and attacking kick cos you are upto opponents 30m line.
With regards to ruck speed impacting TV viewing figures for Sky I just dont buy it. RL fans will watch RL games regardless if they can. Non RL fans out of the heartlands will watch a game now and again but I dont believe for a second they will turn off cos there is too much wrestling in the ruck.
The 2 on 1 ball steal was brought in initially because likes of Gavin Clinch and Paul Dixon was becoming experts and literally stripping or stealing the ball while teammates held the player up. Now players get penalised for making a tackle and touching the ball in that tackle which makes the ball carrier lose the ball. That shouldnt be penalised but its difficult for referees who haven't developed eyesight that can see through 3 human bodies sometimes. It's impossible for them.
With player safeguarding becoming more and more important, it will be interesting to see if there are more rule changes around welfare - and if emerging evidence makes it even more difficult to attract youngsters to the game going forward.
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