Staying down/diving: gamesmanship or cheating?

Two incidents during Saturday’s set of fixtures have again thrusted an almost taboo subject into public discussion.

Jamie Lyon’s obvious dive to help exaggerate the contact made by a decoy runner to draw a penalty has drawn universal condemnation across the rugby league community.

For those who missed it, the Cowboys ran a backline movement to the left which ended in, what looked like, a try being scored.

Replay suggested that Sea Eagles centre Jamie Lyon was denied a clean shot on the man with the ball after minimal contact from a decoy runner.

Although the decision was correct, the way Lyon threw himself to the ground was more reminiscent of a dive seen in the round ball game than the actions of a supposed tough rugby league footballer.

By throwing himself to the ground as if he has been hit by a truck, Lyon made the contact look far worse than it was and won his team a penalty.

Once again, the decision was correct, but people will remember the horrible play acting rather than the bunker’s correct decision.

Earlier in the day Knights winger Nathan Ross stayed down after the slightest of clips on the ear as he fell into a Dylan Napa attempted tackle.

Napa himself stood up and laughed as if to taunt Ross to his feet but the Newcastle winger remained down, clutching the side of his head.

It would be unfair to accuse Ross of play acting to draw a penalty as even the slightest of contact can cause pain.

Boxers have been knocked out by glancing blows while others hand withstood perfectly landed haymakers.

On the surface though, it looked as though Ross was staying down and hoping for bunker interaction for what was, technically, high contact.

In theory though, if Ross was hurt by the shot, he should have come off straight away to undergo a concussion test. As he did not, the evidence suggests he was not hurt, at least seriously.

These are only two of the latest examples of something that is once again becoming a bit of an epidemic within our game.

Last weekend questions were asked by Rooster’s management who accused Dragons players of laying down to win penalties.

The practice of staying down has been openly admitted to by players for years. There was a time where literally any contact meant a penalty. We were seeing it five or six times a game.

Thankfully common sense seemed to enter the situation where small contact was ignored, with only reportable offences being penalised via video referee intervention.

Lately though it looks like that new rule may have been somewhat forgotten.

So, the question remains, is staying down and looking for a penalty simple gamesmanship or cheating?

The rules state that high contact should lead to a penalty. If the referees miss a high shot, should players be able to stay down knowing they were struck?

If your team was down by a point with little time remaining in a Grand Final, and a player copped a shot that went unnoticed by on-field officials, would you want your player to stay down?

To the letter of the law, a high shot is a high shot and should be penalised even if the on-field referees miss it.

That being said, rugby league is so popular due to it being a game which is not only skilful, but tough.

I am a big fan of the round ball code, but I cannot stand players throwing themselves to the ground and feigning injury in order to draw free kicks and have players cautioned or sent off.

It would be a horrible blight on the game if league players were to start playing for penalties. As a big fan of Nathan Ross, I was a little disheartened to see the incident he was involved in take place. Though, as I said, if he was genuinely hurt, then fair play to him. There was contact, not that it warranted a penalty, and Ross may be a victim of others crying wolf.

I fully understand that staying down to attract a penalty may be in the game, but I don’t want to see it.

Obvious contact will attract a penalty. Serious contact will hurt an opponent allowing the bunker referees to intervene. A tap on the side of the head isn’t going to hurt a professional footballer and doesn’t warrant a penalty.

I’m going to stop short of calling players who feign injury cheats, but I don’t like it. It’s not part of our game, which is the toughest game of all.

Please let us know which way you lean. Is staying down due to a shot part of the game, or is it treading the lines of being outside the rules and can be seen as a form of cheating?