Yeah I have noticed that, and the standard of play is deteriorating from the first weeks where we had some real good games

Started off alright but this weekend its heading back to the old days where players are getting monstered.

Agree, right at the moment the officials have dropped the ball big time!

ARE YOU GUYS LISTENING OUT THERE???

Get back on track and start refereeing the game to the rules like you are paid to do!

Please...

(Don't want to get teched)

Seems that Melbourne games have tended throughout the season (and particularly the Sydney-Melbourne games in Melbourne) towards the "old" interpretations, with the physicality and score lines to suit.

I don't want to suggest a conspiracy theory but the fakes of late have been nothing short of shit and I felt free to air games were a waste of money!

Funny how the rules are being interpreted closer to old ways and Vukona and Abercrombie are on the court longer and they are winning!

But also across the league you see every team with players playing over 35 minutes/game so whilst that is 'best for the league' you certainly see the bench players being lucky to play 4 minutes a game and those are the players that are worth 1-3 points (on the points system) but the games just feel bad!

This week we have Wildcats fans screaming for blood as the Breakers come to town... Anyone know how that will be called and how would you like it to be called ? Ennis and Abercrombie both play 35 minutes or 21 minutes?

Sorry games not fakes

The refs ruined the sixers/hawks game friday night. Absolutely no protection for the player driving in the paint and because of that the game never opened up, turned into a game for jump shooters. I walked away feeling like it was the worst game i'd seen all season.

It hurt the sixers all game as they have no outside presence but it also hurt the hawks in the end when they resorted to fouling to send us to the line. They still had at least 3 fouls to give and those 3 fouls killed a good 20-30 seconds which is huge given the sixers free throw troubles.

The refs weren't bias either way just terrible all round.

Let's hope there's lots of vigilance this week then! What a disappointment seeing it slide back over the past couple of weeks.

If you were smart you would have kept it going
otherwise it is just going to decay

Not much protection out there this weekend

I think the natural tendency from the refs is to fall back to letting play continue. For all the "It's not about you, refs" people, they generally wouldn't want to halt play unless it's warranted. So this change has to be monitored and refs reminded fresh and reviewed each round.

It's touch and go right now but if we go back to the basketbrawl we had last season, then I won't be going to any more live games or tuning in to channel 10 or OneHD on Sundays.

Maybe I'm old-fashioned or naive but the rules are the rules. You don't keep dumbing the rules down and avoiding the tough calls just because the coaches and players won't stick to them.

I love the game but not when it's turned into a farce because of the need for 'entertainment' or to cater for the 'stars' and the owners.

Thing is, it doesnt create entertainment or cater for the stars if you dont call it by the rules.

Hopefully we get a statement from Mal Cooper this week saying the refs slipped on the weekend (and to an extent the weekend before) and it is being addressed ahead of this week's games.

Boti's round wrap on The Advertiser's site has comments from Mal Cooper acknowledging that they slipped but will address it.

^ Yay

Glad to hear!! Because that umpiring was some of the worst I've seen on Sunday - it was no different to what we get in Adelaide Social comps! It was a hard game to watch, and showed in the really low score line too. The first few weeks were umpired really well, and this last weekend had resorted to old ways.

Here's the link to Boti. Nice photo of Wortho with his eyes closed :)
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/basketball/boti-nagys-nbl-round-rebound-8-oops-apocalypse-as-officials-slip-and-the-spectacle-slips-with-them/story-fnii09gt-1226773326263

Totally agree that the refs need to get back to calling the game by the rules, as they started out this season.

Some of the stuff in the Tigers vs Kings game [as I saw it per TV] was pure thuggery. Suspect some of the 'no calls' were a product of the 'did he really do that?' syndrome - i.e., it was so blatant as to be unbelievable, so it didn't 'register' until it was too late to call it - which was how the Goorgian gang started out. Then it became the 'norm' and we all know what happened then.

In fact, the Melbourne physicality was such that I'm wondering whether Anstey has taken the Goorgian position and issued [or is coaching] a directive to 'hit 'em hard and often'.

And yes, the Adelaide vs Wollongong game could often have done with a tighter rein too.

Some of the stuff Wortho was coming out with was just pure and simply not what we want in this league anymore. If I was Heal I'd be so far in Mal Cooper's ear you'd need a medical professional to get me back out after that game.

Of course, this round is likely to involve some outrageously strict calls as a result. Probably helps Perth against NZ but dunno who'd get the benefit out of NZ and Melbourne. The other teams shouldn't be overly affected, I wouldn't think? It's kind of frustrating, because you just know that last round has screwed two rounds, the badly reffed round and the over-compensation round we're about to receive. But as long as it keeps things on track for rounds 10+ its worth the frustration.

Well said Nath.

What I don't like about Suttor's article there is that it's come after Mal Cooper has already made comments (in one of Boti's articles) about the lapse for that round and that they're addressing it. Suttor didn't get comments from Cooper, so we have another negative story about the league when it was mostly about the refereeing in one game and had been covered by the refs boss. Takeaway by readers will be negative.

Clubs can raise that with Cooper surely. Hardly great to get a negative article from Suttor and now another from Roy Ward, both appearing on major sites.

The tendency for refs to regress comes from pressure from fans (booing soft fouls) or players/coaches protesting them. That pressure would have a subtle, gradual impact.