Within minutes of Dylan Edwards running into Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, not the other way around, you suspect the NRL was already preparing the mea culpa.

Video referee Chris Butler had it wrong. Didn’t use the necessary discretion to rule that Edwards is not Usain Bolt, and would not have covered 30 metres at warp speed to stop Joey Manu from scoring.

Coming four days after Manly were denied because Jake Trbojevic dawdled into Parramatta’s defensive line and Luca Moretti dawdled into him, the obstruction rule is the NRL’s hot button topic and a bit of a hot mess right now.

So, a refresher, followed by a pop quiz. Below is one of the most contentious rules you could care to find in any sport you care to name.

The obstruction rule’s enforcement is largely along ‘black and white’ lines because when it was once enforced based entirely on using discretion “there were no guidelines about what was obstruction and what wasn’t other than ‘you couldn’t obstruct another opponent’,” according to NRL head of football Graham Annesley.

Cue inconsistencies and objective interpretations, followed by the black and white rules attempting to clean it up.

Factors referees use to determine an obstruction include:

QOSHE - If this was Usain Bolt, it’s an obstruction. But can you pick one when you see it? - Dan Walsh
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If this was Usain Bolt, it’s an obstruction. But can you pick one when you see it?

38 44
02.04.2024

Within minutes of Dylan Edwards running into Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, not the other way around, you suspect the NRL was already preparing the mea culpa.

Video referee Chris Butler had it wrong. Didn’t use the necessary discretion to rule that Edwards is not Usain Bolt, and would not have covered........

© The Sydney Morning Herald


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