Former Kiwis international and St George Illawarra playmaker Benji Marshall has suggested the National Rugby League take a leaf out of touch football in a bid to stop sides giving away deliberate penalties on their tryline.
Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett has called on NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg for a 'please explain' after he accused North Queensland of lying in the play-the-ball zone when defending their line during Friday's tense 21-20 win at Suncorp Stadium.
Bennett said many sides were guilty of giving away deliberate penalties when the opposition was inside their 20 metre zone so the attacking side would take an easy two points instead of risking going for a try.
Marshall, a former Australian touch football representative, suggested the NRL adopt the touch football rule where if a defensive team is penalised when defending their line, they would have a player sent off for the next set.
Benji Marshall Photo: Photosport
The former New Zealand Test playmaker said the threat of going down to 12 men for one set when under pressure to hold out the opposition would be enough to put off sides giving away a deliberate penalty.
"Why don't we just send one player off from the defensive team for that set?" Marshall said on Fox Sports' NRL 360 on Tuesday night.
"Similar to touch football... If the team scores, he comes back on, if the team drops the ball, he comes back on when his team gets the ball back."
-AAP
