You're right about the cup. I'd even consider having a group stage format, which would force SL teams teams to play lower league teams. I'd also fix the draw/format so that SL teams had to play any lower league team away from home.

As for policing the number of people in the tackle. I'm not sure it needs to be that complicated. Just penalise teams for slowing it down like they did for decades. Hopefully, the new rules next season will help eliminate some of the grappling.

I'm sure I'm being naive, but a three second count once momentum is halted should work - it's the defenders' responsibility to clear the ruck within that time or get penalised. If the attacking player wins the tackle they can play it more quickly.

Some refs allow so much lying on it's crazy. Just have to same count for each side and police it consistently. There is so much advantage to be had with ruck speed either way that it is always going to be a refereeing job.

You'd need a second ruck ref, didn't they try that in nrl ?

They did. We don't have enough quality refs as it stands, never mind doubling the requirement per game.

The 2nd Ref. was just like another touch judge who managed the off-side line.

Now that all games are streamed/televised we could get rid of the in-goal touch judges, and use one of them to be utilised as the second referee.

INOUT
Might be an unfair judgement but do they allow too much time in the ruck so that they can catch a breath when struggling to keep up with the pace of the game! Maybe an extra official would help but with one ref currently the quality is mixed so increasing the number won't necessarily improve the situation

INOUT
Might be an unfair judgement but do they allow too much time in the ruck so that they can catch a breath when struggling to keep up with the pace of the game! Maybe an extra official would help but with one ref currently the quality is mixed so increasing the number won't necessarily improve the situation

I honestly don’t think it should be beyond one referee to count to three…

True bit you'd also think they notice the same players / teams using it as a deliberate tactic by now

Any transfer or rumours? Sharky?

I was about to come on this morning with a little something. I haven’t had much to be fair and I haven’t really pushed for it with everything going on at the club. Brad Arthur is very close to becoming our new coach however he does have stipulations that he wants to change the team and wants new faces. So as in player transfers, nothing has really happened. Rhyse Martin is very hush hush aswell. Sorry guys not much to report. It’s been a very sad few weeks, so let’s hope we can get some good news back in.

Thanks for this.

Whomever the new coach will be, I do get nervous at the hint of wholesale changes to the first team. While I would agree new faces are needed, this is something that neither Agar nor Smith managed well, leaving a roster of contracted players to hamstring the next person in the hot seat.

About half of Smith's tenure was blighted by disruption caused by players unhappy that they weren't wanted or didn't want to play certain positions, from the bench or not be captain (etc), and a handful we wanted to move on but couldn't - including some signed by Smith too (Olpherts as a case in point).

Hopefully the new coach will be honest enough to be transparent with all the playing staff as early as possible so that any ongoing disruption is minimised and does not cast too much of a shadow over the 2025 season.

Yes good post.

The reality is we can’t do wholesale changes because of contracts and cap. I guess he is just establishing how much backing he can expect when ultimately it’s his head and reputation.

He seems very direct, may be just what we need but I don’t think he’ll mess about.

I would think the first things he'll want to change is the pack.We need a line bending prop and some size in the back row

I don't think it needs wholesale changes, it really doesn't. The pack is undoubtedly the number one area to improve. As many agree, it needs much more power adding right through it.