Official 2026 NRL General Discussion

Shark_Hatch said:
Just out of interest anyone, say we stay in the top 4, I think we will, we'd still have to play either Roosters or Penrith who will be difficult to beat, Warriors aswell but they are beatable by us. Anyway back to my point, does anyone think the premiership, say we make it, will be decided already before the game starts like the inconsistency is now or will it be just a fair, even match haha?
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Should be right. Got a really fair go from tbe video ref in 2002 against the Chooks. I expect a similar level.
 
Shark_Hatch said:
Just out of interest anyone, say we stay in the top 4, I think we will, we'd still have to play either Roosters or Penrith who will be difficult to beat, Warriors aswell but they are beatable by us. Anyway back to my point, does anyone think the premiership, say we make it, will be decided already before the game starts like the inconsistency is now or will it be just a fair, even match haha?
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To win it all, we'll have to defeat at least 2 of the teams you've mentioned.
If we only play 3 games, it's perfectly doable. If the GF is our 4th game, it might be a bridge too far.

I want to avoid the Roosters in the GF, odds are they'd be heavily favoured.
 
Sir Chadley said:
Mate every team gets bad decisions, we just sometimes have our Sharks glasses on and think we get them the most.
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One decision Im shocked by over the weekend, Teig Wiltons 1st bin, it was a complete head to head collision, no way was it a proper high tackle.

Ronnie's decision when he went up for the bomb & caught, Rabbits player had his legs & landed him on his head. Surely should have been a sin bin, report for a dangerous mid air tackle.
 
Sharks NRL Prospects said:
I always have my Sharks glasses on mate. No sometimes about it.
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Ha ha, fair enough.

My honest opinion is that we have just as much chance as the other teams but we have to ensure we get top 4 or top 2 first which is not a given even with who we are playing in our last five games. Make top 2 and we hopefully avoid Penrith.
 
Shark_Hatch said:
One decision Im shocked by over the weekend, Teig Wiltons 1st bin, it was a complete head to head collision, no way was it a proper high tackle.

Ronnie's decision when he went up for the bomb & caught, Rabbits player had his legs & landed him on his head. Surely should have been a sin bin, report for a dangerous mid air tackle.
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Yeah I hear you mate. I will agree with you I have no idea what the bunker saw in regards to Tieg. I have no clue either about the other charges against him were. With the Ronnie one, I think the penalty was sufficient, Campbell Graham had no intention of hurting Ronnie, he was simply outjumped. The forward passes all over the shop were also crazy but we had some missed too, the pass from Trindall to AFB looked forward to me.

We can't let these decisions affect how we play our game. If we are in a positive mind frame and run hard, tackle hard and be dominant, most times the referee leaves us alone as we are doing everything right.

Referees will always make mistakes, the game is super fast and they are human. The bunker is probably where the problem is as they get more time to look at something so if they get it wrong it is unacceptable.

Unless someone gives me hard evidence, I'll maintain to my dying day that the games are not rigged, I just find it hard to see how that could be easily arranged.
 
I have been thinking about the Brigginshaw tackle. I would rub her out for the season and send her to an early retirement.

The rules for junior have been in place for decades and coaches still encourage kids to lift and refs still let it go. Rule changes and education aren’t working.

What we do see in every junior game though is refs applying interpretations that aren’t part of the rules but they have seen in the NRL.

I believe the only way to remove dangerous lifting from kids footy is to completely stamp it out at the professional level. I don’t care how decorated the player is. That tackle has no place in the game and the NRL should have the balls to make an example of her, and anyone who drops a player on their head/neck. Fans might whinge but young players and junior refs will take note snd (eventually) adjust their behaviour.

I know this is an extreme position… but remember that I quit my involvement in Rugby League over tackles as bad as this one being let go in u13’s and u14’s games (lifting of any kind prior to u16’s is outlawed).
 
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@Sharks NRL Prospects - I find it staggering that it's not stamped out at the junior level. I would think that is where the crack down should begin so they know what to expect when they reach the top grade.

What do you think the reasons are for it? Is it a case of officials and clubs being afraid of parent reaction to their son or daughter being sent off or suspended? There must be an outcry from the victim as well but as you have seen, this seems to go unheard.

We have a similar thing in junior cricket, although not to that level and it doesn't include violence. Although this has the potential to cause serious injury.

I find it amazing how many bowlers you will find in junior cricket that "chuck." Even at under 16 level it still exists. Under 8s or Under 10s you can get away with it because the ball is softer and there is not the usual amount of force, although I have seen some Under 10 players bowl pretty fast.

But by Under 14s and certainly Under 16s it should really be recognised and the bowler retrained to bowl the correct way. Going untouched can lead to batsmen getting injured - I had a player of mine get hit in the stomach, shoulder and grill three times in an over because a kid was chucking the ball. I didn't want to be an ******* and take the bowler out of the game but I had a quiet word with the other coach (who wasn't the proper coach - he was standing in) and he agreed that his action was not good. Come the second time we played them, the kid is still bowling and still chucking, although he wasn't as fast as before. But that doesn't matter, they should be doing something to correct his action.
 
Sharks NRL Prospects said:
I have been thinking about the Brigginshaw tackle. I would rub her out for the season and send her to an early retirement.

The rules for junior have been in place for decades and coaches still encourage kids to lift and refs still let it go. Rule changes and education aren’t working.

What we do see in every junior game though is refs applying interpretations that aren’t part of the rules but they have seen in the NRL.

I believe the only way to remove dangerous lifting from kids footy is to completely stamp it out at the professional level. I don’t care how decorated the player is. That tackle has no place in the game and the NRL should have the balls to make an example of her, and anyone who drops a player on their head/neck. Fans might whinge but young players and junior refs will take note snd (eventually) adjust their behaviour.

I know this is an extreme position… but remember that I quit my involvement in Rugby League over tackles as bad as this one being let go in u13’s and u14’s games (lifting of any kind prior to u16’s is outlawed).
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As I said earlier in the week, I was at an U15 match on Sunday. Horrible spear tackle where the attacker was lifted and vertically speared into the ground head first. To my absolute astonishment it was only a penalty. I couldn't believe it.
 
Sir Chadley said:
@Sharks NRL Prospects - I find it staggering that it's not stamped out at the junior level. I would think that is where the crack down should begin so they know what to expect when they reach the top grade.

What do you think the reasons are for it? Is it a case of officials and clubs being afraid of parent reaction to their son or daughter being sent off or suspended? There must be an outcry from the victim as well but as you have seen, this seems to go unheard.
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I just don't think rule changes and what they are doing for education works mate,

Most Rugby League fans/parents/coaches learn about the game by watching NRL on TV. They think the game should be played like it is on TV, and that the rules are the same. Refs are footy fans too. They watch NRL games, are human, and get the rules mixed up between different levels. That's all fine as far as little stuff goes, but when it comes to players heads and spines it's not good enough and something needs to change. If we can't change it by educating junior coaches, players and referees we need to do it in the place which has the biggest sphere of influence - in the Professional game.

Sir Chadley said:
We have a similar thing in junior cricket, although not to that level and it doesn't include violence. Although this has the potential to cause serious injury.

I find it amazing how many bowlers you will find in junior cricket that "chuck." Even at under 16 level it still exists. Under 8s or Under 10s you can get away with it because the ball is softer and there is not the usual amount of force, although I have seen some Under 10 players bowl pretty fast.

But by Under 14s and certainly Under 16s it should really be recognised and the bowler retrained to bowl the correct way. Going untouched can lead to batsmen getting injured - I had a player of mine get hit in the stomach, shoulder and grill three times in an over because a kid was chucking the ball. I didn't want to be an ******* and take the bowler out of the game but I had a quiet word with the other coach (who wasn't the proper coach - he was standing in) and he agreed that his action was not good. Come the second time we played them, the kid is still bowling and still chucking, although he wasn't as fast as before. But that doesn't matter, they should be doing something to correct his action.
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I never realised that chucking could be so dangerous. There should be some avenue to address this in-game.

I think if I had my time again I would do two things:

1 - Have my team captain ask the ref before kickoff whether he was going to apply the Safe Play Code, including the relevant lifting and high tackle rules. If the ref says no, captain let's me know and we don't start the game.
2 - Have the balls to stop a game earlier. Coaches can't address referees, but they can have the medical person (blue/orange shirt) tell the ref that the game won't continue because it isn't safe. This is a really shitty call to have to make, because you are taking game time away from both teams and you will be getting heat from the both the opposition coach and from the parents on your own team.... because they all think we are playing NRL rules.
 
Hughesy215 said:
I don't think they'll win. $3.20 is too much though. I'd be tempted at that price.
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I don't think Easts have been that good of late apart from last week, and a fair bit of that was the Cows not caring (that's how it looked, anyway).

If the Dogs can get up in their faces, which they will try, I reckon they could unsettle them.
 
Big test for the dogs spine of Tracey, Crichton, Galvin and Hayward.
I think Dogs just give up a bit too much there.

I think Crichton running Kikau at DCE though? Could find some success there.

Sitili back from injury against his old club might be the only Dog that can find any quick PTB through Roosters middle.
 
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