The chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission, Peter V’landys, has defended his six-nine law and closed any suggestions that should be removed from the rulebook.
V’landys was the brains behind the new ruling in 2020, as well as the decision to return the NRL to a one-referee system instead of two.
At first, the law of six again – which allows a referee to restart a set count instead of a penalty, theoretically reducing the number of stops in a match – was hailed as a revolutionary introduction to the league that s ‘had returned plagued by slow play.
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But NRL coaches and players quickly learned to manipulate the rule, and there are divided opinions in the rugby league over the past two years.
On Sunday, Canberra were enraged when the Raiders were denied a penalty after the full-time siren that would have leveled their match against St George Illawarra.
The last play of the game, with Ben Hunt making an entry in Tom Starling. (new)
The Dragons led 12-10 when Ben Hunt threw from the scoreboard to face Tom Starling. Hunt wasn’t square, and the fans were confused when the referee called six again at that point, it basically ended the game because the siren had sounded.
NRL football chief Graham Annesley revealed Monday that the referee had called six again for the previous play when Hunt fell to Raiders striker Joe Tapine.
But the NRL thought referee Peter Gough was wrong to decide that Hunt was squaring off the scoreboard after that, when he clearly wasn’t.
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“In most cases we want the simulated halves to be able to clean the ball, in most cases, when you see this kind of confrontation, it translates into a penalty,” Annesley said.
“From our point of view it should have been a penalty.
“There are three incidents, the offside, the flop and then there’s the move to tackle the mannequin half.”
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But the incident highlighted the inconvenience of the law of six again.
It depends on the discretion of the referee if he concedes a six again or makes a penalty and stops the game. But if a penalty was thrown for one of the incidents in the last moments of Sunday, the Raiders could have thrown a goal to equalize the score and have a chance of winning.
Following Hunt’s fiasco, calls to dismiss the law of six again have fired again.
“You can’t take an isolated incident and change a whole initiative,” V’landys told 9News.
“The six again has made the game more entertaining and has gotten rid of the fight.
“The referee still has the discretion to award a penalty.”
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