Quote: Kettykat "Being in the championship at present this hasn’t raised its ugly head , but next season if not sorted out , we will be in the glare of cameras at every game and exposed to the often silliness of players embarrassingly taking a tumble (Drinkwater) to influence the outcome of a game by getting a player either binned or sent off .I know there are genuine injury’s that can look innocuous and player welfare is paramount and rightly so, but I’m hoping coaches ,players , officials and the bods in charge can nip this silliness in the bud ,because if left it will be another nail in the coffin of our great sport .Is it to put players on report and look later ,I don’t know ,but it’s strange that in the championship without cameras at the games this hasn’t been an issue all season that I’ve seen .'"
While I agree it’s not a great look if it’s not sorted somehow then we need to join them to try get advantage in game.
There’s a few issues with the system that’s causing players to seemingly milk incidents. That said how can you call a player out for acting. That’s not something an on field official or even off field can do easily tbh. Players like people have different pain thresholds and there’s innocuous injury. It’s incredibly difficult to manage or put an effective process in place for.
I suspect players are told by medical staff if they have a head/neck injury they should stay down and not try rejoin the game/line. Are players being given this advice and being cautious of their wellbeing?
Ultimately though if players have committed head contact or a foul and it shows on the replay then there is no defence for that. Whether a player stays down or not if you hit high you should expect to be penalised.
