Warrington Wolves star and England captain George Williams has made a plea for players to end the practice of ‘playacting’ to try and milk penalties and sin bins in Super League.
With the introduction of a video referee at every game on account of the new TV deal, there seems to have been a huge rise in the number of incidents where a player stays down after a tackle in an attempt to force the video referee to review and potentially take action.
The latest player to be accused of it was Leeds Rhinos’ Rhyse Martin who stayed down after a high shot from Adam Keighran, which eventually saw the Rhinos awarded a penalty and Keighran sent to the sin bin.
After the game, Martin told Sky Sports that he had not ‘milked’ a sin bin but had instead copped a shot on the nose, however, commentary duo Dave Woods and Barrie McDermott were among those to question it at the time.
Now, one of the biggest stars in Super League has made the plea for it to be eradicated from the sport, something that plenty of fans would get on board with.
George Williams calls on end to playacting in Super League
Credit: Imago Images
Williams appeared as a guest on Sky Sports’ The Bench Podcast with Jenna and Jon where he was asked for one thing that he would like to see removed from Super League.
The 29-year-old explained: “Mine is players pretending they’re injured when they get a touch on the chin or a head high when they’re playing for the penalty and playing for the sin bin.
“It’s not the way the game is played. It does my head in. Loads have done it, there are too many to name but that’s not the way we played the game growing up and that’s not how it should be played I don’t think.”
He went on to accept that it is a tactic but one that goes too far in testing the integrity of the sport.
“It bugs me. I’m talking about tough players who are doing it too. It’s tactics, I’m not saying that they’re soft but let’s get rid,” he said.
Williams didn’t feature in Warrington’s Super League clash at the weekend which head coach Sam Burgess revealed was a “last-minute call”, however, he’s expected to be fit and firing for the Magic Weekend game against Leeds Rhinos on Saturday.
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ANDREW JARRETT
August 13, 2024 at 9:37 am
I’m getting fed up of sky commentators poking the stick yet none of them apologise when they are clearly proven wrong. Which is quite often of late.
James Catterall
August 13, 2024 at 10:04 am
when the vid ref was introduced many moons ago I said if they are not careful it will cost the game dearly, and i think that is what is happening. the vid ref is interfering too much, he need to stick to try only decisions and let the ref on the pitch do the refereeing. And maybe then the touch judges will actually have to do something and earn their money