So, after watching all 4 tv matches, it appears standing to one foot, and simply rolling the ball under a lifted foot is what the refs will accept as ‘making a genuine play at the ball’.
Why announce an interpretation change if you’re not actually going to enforce it?

Good to see that the rule clarification, duly consulted on, ratified and adopted, managed to survive the first 5 minutes of the first game of the season, before being abandoned; what we'll now see is occasional penalties, met with reasonable cries of inconsistency from fans and coaches alike.

Hooray for the RFL!

Perhaps a radical change to the way the game is restarted is needed as follows,

All defenders 10 yards back from play the ball, no need for close markers because they can't strike for the ball anyway these days.
Tackled player regains feet ,places ball on ground, taps ball with foot then picks ball up & passes to player of his choice ,no need for dummy half.
Less players in ruck ,less chances for penalties so game speeds up & ref only needs to concentrate on moving off mark & contact with foot & give linesmen more input on offside at ptb.

Would like to say I am surprised but I'm not.

As soon as they announced it I was skeptical it would be enforced.

What is really shocking is they couldn’t even enforce the ruling for 1 week let alone a season.

The refs have put themselves into a hole now as when they do make a ruling for an incorrect PTB its going to look stupidly inconsistent as they are simply picking and choosing when to let it go and when not too.

What should have happened was on Thursday the very first incorrect PTB should have been penalized and then the players and coaches would have understood this was serious and it was time to fix up but no the ref just decided to ref his own game where the rules do not matter.

Still least the NRL is back soon and the refs there actually do attempt to implement the rules.

I’d go back further than game 1. The pre-season friendliest were the perfect time to clamp down. Blow for 40 penalties if need be in pre-season friendlies, then there’s no real impact on results etc, but the message to the clubs is ‘this is the new standard, get it right in time for round 1, otherwise you’ll be getting hammered again’.

And if they don’t play ball and try to outlast the refs in a game of will, then introduce fines for the clubs - if your team is penalised more than ‘x’ times in a game for incorrect play the balls, you’ll be fined, and the fines will increase for multiple offenders.

Grow some balls as a sport. We should have minimum expectations, and if the players clubs can’t meet those expectations, hammer them.

Perhaps linking the pub with the offside law might help. The defensive line must only advance when the ball has been played with the foot. Not all charge forward as the ball carrier starts to bend forward.
Simply no offside if the ball doesn’t touch the foot at the ptb but every encroachment is penalised if the ptb is correct.

This is why two refs are really needed. One to watch the defensive line and one to watch the ruck.

The ref only has to watch the foot. The touchjudge tells him if any player encroaches so penalty if ptb correct and play on if not.
Once coaches realise they can control the opposition’s defensive line with a correct ptb they will insist on it.
It’s not the refs job to manage the game, just to adjudicate impartially.

The tough judges do not do that though. The amount of encroaching you see is crazy compared to how often its actually penalised.

But that’s why the tj is there. There are 3 teams on the pitch and a good game requires all 3 to do their jobs well.

And what do we all do as we wait for the tacklers to get off the floor and go back to the defensive line? Have a brew? Chat to our mates?