Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Smith reveals penalty crackdown
Whilst Parramatta penalties have hurt the team during key times in 2004, Brian Smith revealed in the post match press conference that it is an area the Eels are desperately trying to work on.
"We have punishment at our Club for guys that give away penalties, our blokes are hauled over the coals for giving them away - we are doing everything we can to educate our players not to give them away," Smith said.
Smith said that penalties were the "most telling stat in the game at the moment".
"You know everyone talks about the importance of a repeat set, but the best repeat set in the business is a penalty, because you get the ball for another 6 tackles and you get to kick the ball upfield, provided you find touch."
As such, it was particularly important that referee's got these calls right, he said.
"There were some today that when you look back at them you say that simply wasn't a penalty, and when we drill our players, they drill us back."
"If the referee was a player or coach he would be very wary about awarding penalties because of that stat that says it leads to tries - so the message is don't get them wrong."
"I am not talking about Shayne Hayne today - this is across the board, it is a statistical fact that there are more penalties this year than ever before."
"We have punishment at our Club for guys that give away penalties, our blokes are hauled over the coals for giving them away - we are doing everything we can to educate our players not to give them away," Smith said.
Smith said that penalties were the "most telling stat in the game at the moment".
"You know everyone talks about the importance of a repeat set, but the best repeat set in the business is a penalty, because you get the ball for another 6 tackles and you get to kick the ball upfield, provided you find touch."
As such, it was particularly important that referee's got these calls right, he said.
"There were some today that when you look back at them you say that simply wasn't a penalty, and when we drill our players, they drill us back."
"If the referee was a player or coach he would be very wary about awarding penalties because of that stat that says it leads to tries - so the message is don't get them wrong."
"I am not talking about Shayne Hayne today - this is across the board, it is a statistical fact that there are more penalties this year than ever before."
