Good lord, Myler actually kept jumping into the Bradford player to try and get them to complete the tackle but never thought once of getting to his feet. Then Alibert, standing over Myler tells him to play on several times. only a nugget then completing the tackle gives Myler his get out of jail free card.

Clearly it should not have been an issue if the knock on prior to it had been given but it was over several seconds of Myler attempting to force a tackle rather than getting up. In my mind that is a voluntary tackle, regardless if he gets up and plays the ball or not.

A bit late aren't you

Jefferies was worse in the second half. Never seen a voluntary tackle given

Probably should have been under the rules but none get given these days.

Was there some halcyon era when voluntary tackle penalties were commonplace?

I think the last time this happened a ref commented they have to play the ball for it to be a voluntary tackle which makes sense

Jeffries did the same thing. Even if it's not penalised, it looks a bit pathetic - why don't they just get up and run?

In Mylers case it was obviously because he was right next to the touch line...if he would have just stood up he would more than likely have been bundled into touch.

I think this type of thing snuck into the game and became a surrender tackle. Whilst the rules do say the player must play the ball for it to be a voluntary tackle it does look ridiculous that a player should do this. I remember the Chris Joynt/Paul Deacon incident at the end of the Grand Final and the furore it caused at the time. This sort of incident should be looked at and should be penalised as it is clearly not in the best interests of the sport to have such a negative tactic.

He could have just lunged forward without risking going into touch; similarly, Jeffries nutmegging a player with his own body looked like something out of the WWF - as I said, a bit pathetic. If nothing else, it's a tactic that invites the type of challenge that Bridge is being villified for on another thread.

Very true, if a player flops with force on such a player they are immediately the miscreant. This does not excuse Bridge btw. If a defender places hands on the player he cannot control the tackle completion and this is unfair as well. There is no easy ground on this but to get rid of it as a tactic. Penalise the buggers and they won't stay on the ground.

I don't have a problem with players going down to protect the ball and field position, especially near their own goal line. It has to be with imminent contact where it's the best thing to do for getting the ball upfield and keeping it there though. It's a positive move at that point. If they go down too soon it's negative play and ought to be penalised. Twice tonight it happened before the defender got there and the defender stood there over the player on the ground. Neither seemed like it was in the spirit of the game and we should be penalising it when it's that blatant.

Jeffries gets comedy points for scrambling between the Warrington player's legs though.

I've heard/read that somewhere as well I think. If they choose to lie down then it's classed as surrendering the tackle and the defence get a few more seconds to hold down than normal to counteract it.

Hmm. Not sure, Jeffries was a clear example of a voluntary tackle as well, but the Myler one was comical.

I think I've seen one given once, but it was given incorrectly - the ref waited for the player to get up and play the ball before he blew the whistle

Not according to the laws of the game

Voluntary tackle 4. A player in possession shall not deliberately and unnecessarily allow himself to be tackled by voluntarily falling to the ground when not held by an opponent. If a player drops on a loose ball he shall not remain on the ground waiting to be tackled if he has time to regain his feet and continue play.
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