In Australia, V'landys said NRL players are not telling the truth about confusion over rules
In Australia, ARL Commission chairman Peter V'landys said that National Rugby League (NRL) players are not telling the truth about confusion surrounding the set-restart rule. The discussion intensified ahead of the NRL finals series after club representatives complained about the interpretation of incidents in the ruck area.
V'landys' position
As ABC News Australia reports, V'landys disagreed with the players' assessments. According to him, there are only two grounds for a set-restart, and athletes understand when they are trying to slow down the play-the-ball. He also noted that the rule will not be abolished next season.
The commission chairman rejected Melbourne Storm captain Harry Grant's statement about widespread player dissatisfaction. Grant said that many athletes no longer understand what play-the-ball speed is considered sufficiently fast and called on the NRL to decide on the nature of the game. V'landys replied that the statistics do not support this: the play-the-ball speed, he said, remains at about 3.5 seconds, as it was last year.
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Clubs' remarks
A survey of captains and representatives of teams that reached the NRL finals stage showed that representatives of six clubs still do not fully understand what play-the-ball speed referees require. They also noted that because play resumes quickly, they do not have an opportunity to immediately ask for an explanation of a decision.
Cronulla Sharks co-captain Cameron McInnes said that some “six again” decisions are obvious, but some incidents raise questions for both players and fans. Injured Warriors captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck expressed concern that a faster pace of play may be linked to an increase in the number of injuries in teams.
The number of set-restarts rose sharply in the first half of the season, fell during the State of Origin period, and began rising again in recent weeks. At the beginning of the year, the NRL expanded the area of the field where such decisions can be awarded from 60 to 80 metres.
