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I have been asked by several Tipsters regarding some rulings this season. Recent weeks we have seen no try decisions on obstructions. Gone are the days of the good old fashioned Sheppard play, but the rules are clear.

If you want the official laws, make sure to grab a coffee first.

https://www.nrl.com/news/2013/03/07/laws-of-the-game-obstruction/

All these commentators calling for the referees to have discretionary powers is nonsense. The rules are black & white thanks to the coaching of the players. Whenever you make a rule change coaches will always look to exploit it.

As soon as you make a rule interpretational then the words biased and corrupt come out. Poor Ricky Stuart and Trent Robinson will find something else to winge about.

The Roosters no try to Joey Manu when Panthers Dylan Edwards ran into Jared Waerea-Hargreaves in Round 4 is a prime example.

The question is why did JWH stop in the defensive line? Yes, players are coached to run into the block runners regardless of what some say.

Bulldogs Viliame Kikau stated his team won’t milk these penalties.

That may be so, but there are many other instances where players are using “gamesmanship” to cheat.

Players clutching their jaw on minor impact or staying down for a replay. Now, hip drop tackles where the player writhes in pain for a penalty &/or a sinbin then plays the ball.

We saw Storm’s Ryan Papenhuyzen go on report for a hip drop on Bulldogs Josh Addo-Carr where nobody noticed the incident. Addo-Carr got up immediately to play the ball to take advantage of field position. It obviously didn’t hurt him.

When players stay down from a high shot, they go off for an H.I.A. If they were laying prone, they are automatically Category 1 and rested for 11 days. This is another clear rule introduced to protect the players.

I also see less players laying down in the name of gamesmanship.

Black and white means everyone knows what the ruling is and why. The more discretionary the rulings, the less consistency we, the fans, as well as commentators will see and complain about.

Now if I could only forget about the Magic Round crackdown of 2021.