THE NRL’s referees blitz is not a bad thing, despite complaints of inconsistency.
Blitzes are not launched to catch every offender.
When NSW Police launch a random breath testing blitz they don’t do it to catch every person who has a dozen schooners and picks up the car keys.
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There’s too many backroads for that.
They do it to put everyone on alert and change behaviour for the greater good.
Same with the current blitz on penalties.
Not every offence is going to be caught but slowly the players are being coached to change their behaviour. Already the play-the-ball has improved considerably.
The game has been bent out of shape in recent years by coaches exploiting the conversation for a free-flowing match brought about by low penalty counts.
So they coach offside and they wrestle to slow down the play-the-ball and other tactics which the fans hate.
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We went this way with the scrum many years ago and now realise what we have lost, when it is too late.
Fans want to ask why there were 33 penalties in the Cronulla-Melbourne game?
The answer is simple. There was at least 33 infringements. It is up to the players to change that, not the referees.
