Shaun Wane has spoken to Steve Ganson regarding the obstruction rulings and also Oliver Gildart mentions the Rhinos of being guilty in these obstruction transgretions https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby- ... -1-9108359 Sounds like a bit of pre game gamesmanship from the Alpha male,Unless Wigan are finally going to resist in using Grubby tactics any longer and taking the letter of the law to the absolute maximum

Shaun Wane has spoken to Steve Ganson regarding the obstruction rulings and also Oliver Gildart mentions the Rhinos of being guilty in these obstruction transgretions https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby- ... -1-9108359 Sounds like a bit of pre game gamesmanship from the Alpha male,Unless Wigan are finally going to resist in using Grubby tactics any longer and taking the letter of the law to the absolute maximum

There’s a very easy way to not concede a penalty for obstruction. Don’t send your “support” runners in front of the ball and into the defensive line.

Problem solved.

Obstruction penalties aren’t symptoms of weak defence taking the easy option. They’re symptoms of poor, repetitive attack that can’t create space properly.

What’s worse? A defender waving his arms about because an offside attacker is in his way. Or an attacker deliberately getting in the way of a defender so that his team mate can run through the gap he’s just created.
I know which one is cheating and which one isn’t.

I don't think anybody has a clue what obstruction is or isn't anymore. The game has a major issue with it in my opinion.

The refs sends it up to video ref cos he has no clue but there is no point cos the video ref doesn't know what obstruction is anymore either. It's got over complicated and seems to be total guess work nowadays.

Some you get some you don't. It's ridiculous at moment and needs sorting.

The NRL seem one step ahead of us here (again!). They put much more emphasis on whether the "obstruction" had any ACTUAL & OBVIOUS detrimental effect on the defence's ability to cover. If a defender moves towards the dummy runner (a conscious effort to cover that threat) then that is the defender's fault. If (in the opinion of the VR) the ball has moved so far away from the alleged obstruction that it has had no discernible influence (if that incident hadn't have happened then the attack would have developed in exactly the same way) then no obstruction is called.

Of course this is still open to debate as it involves that word "opinion", but the NRL seem much more consistent in their interpretation. In SL it would not be surprising to see two exactly similar incidents ruled both ways in the same match!

Just like the NRL's much more sensible approach to stripping/losing the ball quandary, where they very much put the emphasis on the ball-carrier's responsibility to hold onto the ball. A penalty is only given if a ref sees an obvious stripping motion from the defender. Although I have to say that SL has got a little better at ruling on this. Maybe the 2 ref system has something to do with their consistency also (can you imagine the quality of our refs should we need to double up on them!!!)

I wonder how many players Wane has dropped when the tackled player clamps his leg round the opposing player to make out he is being held down?
Wigan are probably the biggest culprits of that with Bateman the main offender.

1. Ashton Golding
2. Tom Briscoe
3. Kallum Watkins (C)
5. Ryan Hall
6. Joel Moon
7. Richie Myler
8. Adam Cuthbertson
9. Matt Parcell
10. Brad Singleton
11. Jamie Jones-Buchanan
12. Carl Ablett
13. Stevie Ward
14. Brad Dwyer
15. Brett Delaney
16. Anthony Mullally
22. Ash Handley
27. Cameron Smith
28. Mikolaj Oledzki
30. Josh Walters.
Depending on how fit Cuthbertson is it should be Walters and either Smith or Oledzki who miss out I reckon.
No Keinhorst, Walker, Ferres or Sutcliffe along with Peteru and Garbutt .

Spot on. Any form of deliberate obstruction is cheating and should be penalised even if not near the ball carrier, then perhaps it will stop being coached.

Shaun Wane riding his high horse all the way to saint steve to wail about having a try chalked off and throwing out hollow hypocritical sound bites out to the local rag, must have a big game coming up.

Judging by that.

Golding; Briscoe Watkins Handley Hall; Moon Myler; Mullally Parcell Singleton; Ablett Ward; JJB. Dwyer Delaney Cuthbertson Oledzki/Smith/Walters

Agreed.

Also agree with the comment further above that the obstruction rule has been overcomplicated by the authorities. Instead of sticking to their guns a few years ago they allowed the rule to be bent by attacking sides who insisted on sending runners into the line. Attacking teams have got slightly better at making the obstruction look less obvious but it’s still there.

In the end a player in front of the ball is offside. It should be entirely on that offside players shoulders to not interfere in any way whatsoever with the defensive line. That shouldn’t only include contact with the defence, it should also include causing a defender to deviate their run in any way at all. Defenders shouldn’t have to be stepping around offside attackers.

If an attacker is offside and is in the way of a defender then penalise him. Then like you say teams will coach differently and refine and improve their attack to be properly creative not just chucking blockers into the defensive line and sending someone quick through the gap it’s created.

What if a defender misreads the attack and tackles a dummy runner should the try stand or be disallowed?

Very poor performance imo. Tried to shut up shop too early and invited wigan back into it. 2 points thrown away.