Being old cantankerous curmudgeons, as we are, we can easily relate to the crankiness on display by Cronulla Sharks veterans Luke Lewis and Paul Gallen.
Lewis and Gallen have low opinions of the NRL’s most recent attempts to fine-tune the video review system.
A rule change to which they take exception is a trial of a “captain’s challenge” in the upcoming match between the St. George Illawarra Dragons and the Newcastle Knights.
The game can exert no influence on the top eight, but just the same, using a regular season game for experimental purposes does seem to smack of desperation.
Lewis expressed the opinion that the NRL is too quick to try things during the season. Gallen’s view was that the captain has more than enough to occupy him without something new with which to deal.
It does seem reasonable to wait and do the experimentation during the Nines and if it proves promising, take it into the trial games.
Gallen thinks the challenge should emanate from the box. After all, the coaches in the box have the screens and the computers.
Perhaps they could give the captain on the field a smartphone with a special challenge app on it, but to our jaundiced eyes, about the only sport with an effective challenge system in professional tennis with its Cyclops computer.
