I read this on the Wakefield forum and wonder what our fans think.
I have to say when i saw Danny Houghton simply throw the ball onto the Wakefield player on the ground when in reality the player didnt impede his ability to pass the ball i thought this is not good for the game even though it gifted us a penalty under the posts.





I have now seen 6 penalties this round on TV and today at BV for dummy half passes being thrown at the defender on the ground on purpose. I know its a penalty in the rules, but it is now getting that even when it is blatently obvious that the pass was thrown directly at te man the refs are still giving penalties. The oficials do have a power of discresion that if a incident of un sprting behaviour takes place a penalty can be awarded. I hate this tactic, most do, its pathetic, it won Hull the game today, we even got one from it, but its poor, and if allowed to continue, coaches will actually coach players to do it and get penalties

Really difficult for the refs this one. They need immediate guidance from the RFL who need to put a stop to it before it takes control and Wigan start on it.
That Cameron Smith started all this.

I'm ok with it
It's as much gamesmanship to lay in the ruck pretending you're making an effort to clear it when you're not and just slowing the attack. It looks cynical but I'd give it a few weeks. Refs at least seem to be consistent on it. Players and coaches will soon sort it if refs are strong

The one Wakey fans were bitching about was the Huby one, frankly he made zero attempt to roll away from the play and blocked Houghton, not just in being able to pass but also in the speed of doing so and negated any chance of being able to run from dummy half. Clear obstruction and a penalty all day long. The ref was blowing up before DH passed the ball as he hesitated in doing so.

The majority of Wakey fans have been sporting in defeat, but some are focusing too much on this, it happened twice in the game, one for both teams, we just took better advantage of the situation, on that penalty, the ref should have blown for the penalty before Houghton passed it into the player. They can't moan about this decision or others as ref was pretty good and an equal penalty count.

The Wakey fans were not moaning when they got a penalty for exactly the same thing about 5 mins prior to the Houghton / Huby incident.

Good rule IMO - should speed the ruck up.

I don't think anyone is moaning specifically that Hull did it, it's within the rules but just that it's a negative tactic as a whole. The Huby one is getting more attention because he couldnt have got away and was lying prone on the floor, not involved in the play - he would have been more of an obstruction if he'd have got up - he couldnt have rolled anywhere without knocking into the ball, Houghton or the guy playing the ball.

It's different to if the dummy half runs into a retreating player because that's rewarding his speed and thought to run into a slowly retiring player and rewarding a fast PTB

But nobody is moaning about the time the Wakey hooker did the same and throw the ball at Mini.

Think the Hull ones stand out more because they were bang in front of the posts and led to 4 points, but the whole tactic is negative and pretty easy to fix. Just needs a directive issuing that it will only be a penalty if there is intent to block the play, job fixed.

I don't want to see any teams doing it including Wakey! It's not in the spirit of the game.

Watch the video, he only did it once and not 4 points, getting bored of saying it now.

He's either obstructing play or he isn't.
Whether it is intentional or not will make things even worse as the ref will never get that right (for one set of supporters or the other).

There are already too many penalties given by the referee because, in his opinion.......

Get out of the way would be my advice.

You can say it till you're blue in the face - watch the Sky RL highlights - Hulls own only shows one of the pens for some reason.

Hull did it twice, Wakey did it once, Saints did it vs Leeds - it's boring and needs cutting out.

You need your eye testing, firstly the Hull highlights show exactly the same thing as the Sky Sports website

1st Penalty, Houghton does not throw the ball at anyone, he knocks on as the player is in his way.

2nd Penalty, Clear high shot.

3rd Penalty, player is in the way, Houghton throws the ball at the player.

So only once does Houghton throw the ball at the player, the first penalty, is one that you see every week for the last few seasons, player made no attempt to move away from the ball.

Glad you confirmed that because I was thinking the same.

And the Huby incident he keeps mentioning - I haven't spotted that one either in the highlights.

Will just have to agree to disagree, 1st & 3rd are milked - agree 2nd pen is a clear high shot.

If we don't clamp down on it, then we are just opening the door for players tackling round the legs to have ball thrown at them as they can't get away as fast as dummy half can pick up ball and launch it at them.

So its milking that you are not happy about, then you will be complaining every week, it has been happening for years, and every clubs does it.

The throwing the deliberately at a player is different and I agree it needs looking at, as it happened TWICE yesterday, one for each team.

Yes! Thats the whole point of what I'm saying! Milking a penalty off a player who is technically but not deliberately offside because he cant get away before the PTB.

What did you think I was irritated about?

Wasting your time, as it has been happening for years, players from every clubs do it, not sure why it has been brought up now, bet at least 8 of the penalties at the weekend were milked by players, Tom Briscoe was a master at it.

And looking at the video, I am not sure what else Houghton could have done for the first one, as he couldn't even pick up the ball as Arona (I think, no 16) made no attempt to clear the ruck, clear penalty.

If Arona moves he would have either go toward Houghton and possibly trip him, or he rolls into the ball. As it was he laid there doing his best not to interfere - not a penalty for me.

I know players dive and hold on to players tackling them to make it look like they're being held down but the passing into a player is just more blatant and looks stupid.

Anyway, i'm tired of talking about it now but enjoyed the game as a whole - not much free flowing rugby but the armwrestle and forward battle between 2 packs giving 100% was good entertainment!

Agree with the last paragraph, let's just move on.

I like what Chester and Carter are trying to do at Wakey and hope it works on for you.

Surely the real issue here is the defender not allowing the attacking team to take advantage of a quick Ptb? If the defender can't get out of the way in time and impede the attacker then it's a penalty whethere it's deliberate interference or not. If we started allowing it or penalising the attacking side we'd have Wigan players rolling around the Ptb area after every tackle

And you fella, a lot of time for Hull - stood with your lot at magic last year and had a right laugh.

Edit: Absolute last word on it but a certain Gareth Ellis has just said on Super League Show that he agrees that houghtons pass into Huby was understandable in circumstances but not something he wants to see and hopes its clamped down on.

Nobody has argued that, just some your fans have made out that it was only us doing it and it cost you the game, both statements are rubbish.

I'm sorry, but it was a penalty all day long. He was obstructing the mark, not just in the ruck. He made no effort to move. Houghton literally couldn't pass to the left without going around him (which he shouldn't have to) and couldn't scoot.

Had he laid down and rolled at, he wouldn't have obstructed. You can't just kneel upright on the mark and expect not to get penalised.