I have been watching Wakefield/Rugby League for 65 years. The game is now a shadow of it's former self. Scripted to the point of boring, and ref'd to the point of distraction. I will continue to watch Wakefield, but a lot of the joy and pleasure has now gone, for whatever reasons.

There's so much emphasis on speed and size these days that I sometimes wonder if a return to the 5 metre defensive line would increase the skill levels on show.

Moving off the mark really bugs me and should be penalised. Basically the player playing the ball is cheating to get a quick play the ball and/or put he markers offside. Rather than actually giving a penalty, to stamp it out the play should be halted and the ball replayed with the defence having chance to get back in place. When players cease gaining an advantage and being disadvantaged, they will stop doing it.

I've thought and believe the same but initially it would kill any and all attacking play until the officials and players adjusted to it and God knows how long that would take

I'm not sure that's the case; if the ruck were ruthlessly and consistently cleaned up, coaches would soon stop teaching their players to cheat in that way and move on to the next method of gaining an advantage - so there would be a flurry of penalties initially, then it would stop. The problem we have is that the officials are both miles behind the coaches and players, and desperately inconsistent in their application of the rules around the ruck. It's a total mess.

They've brought in a new interpretation this season in the NRL - it's round 3, and there's already a lot less messing about in the ruck.

Didn't they try do that here when we had the Child horror show at Magic Weekend v Cas?