Rugby League Coaching Manuals

By Roy Masters, SMH - It is the Chinese year of the ox but could well be the NRL year of the rabbit. No, not the South Sydney variety but rabbit, as in players darting like hares from dummy-half.

The NRL has introduced a two-referee system this season, with one empowered to adjudicate at the ruck and the other to stand in the normal position, 10 metres back with the defence. Referees traditionally come from the ranks of policemen, schoolteachers, court officials and taxmen. Give them power and they use it. We can therefore expect the referee at the ruck to scream at the defence, "Get off him, get off him". So we have fast play-the-balls.

"I think you'll find that the game will speed up a tad," referees' boss Robert Finch was quoted as saying after a meeting with NRL coaches last week.

But a speedier game does not equate to a more expansive game. Offer coaches the opportunity of seizing metres against a disorganised defence via the almost risk-free option of running from dummy-half - as opposed to moving it to the flanks - and they'll take the rabbit-from-the-ruck route.

Asked whether any coach brought up the possibility of a second referee causing more dummy-half running, Finch said: "It wasn't mentioned."

In other words, they were all thinking it but being careful not to tip off their rivals.

Finch insists the second referee will scarcely be heard, saying: "He may call out a player's Christian name but more often than not he won't say anything to them."

Called the "assist" or "pocket" referee, his responsibility is to move up close to the tackle and then retreat to a position deep behind the ruck before the ball-carrier rises to his feet.

He is entitled to bark out commands when the defence legitimately monsters the ball-carrier in a legitimate tackle (a "dominant" tackle), or when the ball-carrier meekly falls at the feet of the defence (a "surrender" tackle).

"He can reinforce the 'dominant' and 'surrender' call of the main referee and repeat it," Finch said of the convention that rewards the defence for a strong tackle, or punishes the attack for a weak submission.

In other words, by repeating the words "dominant" or "surrender", the second referee adds to the latitude allowed the defence, thereby limiting the option of running from dummy-half. Similarly, the second referee is entitled to repeat "held" when the ball-carrier has his legs off the ground and is being carried backwards by the defence.

But what happens when the attack dominates the defence, for example when a front-rower powers over the top of retreating defenders?

"The main referee will call 'move' straight away," says Finch, meaning he won't call out the number of the tackle, the quicker call signalling to the ball-carrier to rise to his feet quickly to play the ball.

"I don't want the pocket referee reinforcing the movement call because, if I was a coach, I'd be instructing the defenders not to move off the ball-carrier until they hear the second 'move' call."

What about a neutral tackle, when the attack and defence meet on equal terms?

"The assist referee can't verbalise," Finch says. "The main referee calls movement."

So it seems Finch has found the answers to combat a game saturated by dummy-half running, one of the biggest blights on the sport.

"We don't want a game of touch football like we had with Super League," he said of the era when then-Broncos coach Wayne Bennett conned the other coaches into a fast game and his giant pack of forwards, together with two monster wingers, went from one end of the field to the other via the running dummy-half passing to a one-out runner.

Storm coach Craig Bellamy said two referees controlled a practice session at training last week and claimed, "It seemed to run smoothly".

Their performance allayed fears expressed at the coach's meeting that the second referee would restrict attacking options around the ruck, or impede the defence's ability to counter them.

"Their positioning was not a problem," Bellamy said. "It looks like it's going to be a good system."

It would seem the second referee's role in being seen but not heard is to curb the grapple tackle, a point volunteered by Finch when he said: "His presence at the ruck will help prevent the wrestle, the grapple."

But how tempting will it be for him to say something? How long before he barks out movement calls, resulting in more dummy-half running at a time when fans are demanding less?

Rugby league has traditionally been perverse. The NRL has doubled its number of referees at a time other industries are shedding workers. The danger with employing people with limited responsibilities is their need to justify their existence.

The Chinese new year aside, don't expect the second referee to stare at the grapplers with oxen-like passivity while dummy halves are desperate to impersonate rabbits.