It has never happened in the past - each year the ref's get strict on certain elements of the game - what happens - everyone complains it gets watered down and players continue to get away with illegal play. The ruck is no worse now than its had been for years since the emphasis on the wrestle it just flows much better.

Far harsher penalty the six again - with a regular penalty you give yardage but you have time to reset and get your defensive sorted.

And personally thats what I feel contributes to increase messiness in the ruck when a team has lost the ability to control the opposition's momentum on the back of 6 agains and the get desperate and fatigued. I do think the game has become scrappier for it not just the ruck. At the least these early tackle count tactical infringements need addressing In the rules.

I'm with you. Penalise it. What hits you harder? Another six tackles on your opponents 10 metre line or another six tackles 20 or 30 metres down the field? It's a no brainer.

An absolute no brainer. The lack of penalising it also has the effect of lowering the jeopardy. Multiple penalties in quick succession previously would lead to team warnings and yellow cards. I can’t remember the last time this happened.

I also think they should reinstate penalty quick taps. This is one of the easiest ways to speed up the game. All of this setting the mark, wait till the teams retreat back ten is just nonsense.

Does anyone have the stats on number or six again in an average game vs number of penalties in the last season with penalty infringements at the PTB?

Six again is fine if its implemented like it is in the NRL

Agreed - but the standard of basic skill and adoption of the rules is so much higher in the NRL which is why it works so much better.

So you are saying let's have more penalties so the defenders can regroup and stop the momentum of the attacking side?

you can blame the coaches for expoiting the ruck to slow the game down but if refs enforced it properly there would be nothing to exploit.
there may be a few games with loads of penalty but coaches and players would soon stop messing about in the ruck if a penalty were given

As opposed to just letting them stop the momentum of the attacking side with little to no sanction? Absolutely.

Sorry, I'm in the minority who finds the NRL games a bit of a bore-fest. What's done differently there?

Players are fitter, higher skilled and the ruck is much cleaner as players see getting back into the line as quickly as possible as being more beneficial than slowing the ruck down. You don't have lazy forwards just jumping on once the tackle is complete. In Sl there are 3/4 in a tackle in the NRL 2/3 it makes a big difference.

There is a sanction - fatigue - better than penalty fest.

Completely disagree. Teams are routinely giving away 1st raclke penalties to stop momentum and avoid getting fatigued. If somethings wrong, it's wrong. Penalise it! Players, and more importantly coaches, will soon catch on.

Theres no six again within the 40m line, its a penalty instead - stops teams deliberately doing it in defence.

I maybe wrong but I thought this thread was about Marcus Griffiths and predominantly about the homophobic abuse on social media?

Any abuse of any official, player or even fans is unacceptable but it’s the way of the World today where cowards hide behind keyboards and have a pop because of their own ineptitudes and inability to string a sentence together in a F2F situation.

As a former RL official I watch the referees performance as well as the game itself and there is no denying that Griffiths is a poor referee and probably the weakest of the current bunch. His communication is abysmal, his signals confusing, his consistency is non existent and he fails to understand “you earn respect, you don’t demand it”.

His personal life is his own business but when being highly paid to do a professional job in front of a public audience you need to have a MVP - Griffiths has yet to rise up to the standard of most amateur referees and as such will attract criticism from valid quarters and the trolls will jump on that to make their cowards points.

I don't know why but the title of this thread sounds like a BBC drama series.