DANE ELDRIDGE: Ricky Stuart is right that changes to NRL officiating is making it an impossible game to play

After 12 years as a prickly halfback and 20 as a cantankerous coach, Ricky Stuart has spent over a quarter of a century blowing up like a butane factory in a bushfire.

And because he’s spent most of this time in perma-rage, everyone’s learned that any of his press conferences after a defeat should be enjoyed with a grain of salt and ear muffs for the kiddies.

But even though he’s at the point where he should just cut the NRL a $10k cheque before uttering a word, credit where it’s due:

The Raiders coach’s broadside after last Thursday’s defeat to the Dolphins was as pinpoint as one of his old tackle five torpies, and if anything, the NRL should be paying him for the shrewd advice.

In a tightly-wound 108 second seethe, Stuart went ballistic on 2026’s woeful rule changes by slamming the current state of the game as “confusing” and “disappointing”.

“The game has interpretations and rules in place at the moment where we pick them and choose when we apply them, and it’s a very frustrating situation for those who are involved as players and coaches.

“In all the years I’ve been involved in the game as a coach, I’ve never been so confused.”

It’s not often we agree with Ricky when he’s raging because, let’s be real, considering all the fines and the weak gutted dog stuff, it’s not the first time he’s cried wolf.

But this should send shivers through the NRL, and not just because he’s done that terrifying thing dads do when they calmly say they’re “disappointed” instead of yelling so hard they wet their pants.

In summary, with Origin on our doorstep, footy is in a state of crisis so dire that Stuart can blow a gasket and nobody is giggling.

Put simply, the NRL has shitmaxxed the game with constant tinkering and now the refs are so scrambled they’re aggressively over-scrutinising so randomly it makes the NSW Police at an anti-war protest look composed.

Whether it’s the embarrassing blowouts or the slapstick officiating, 2026 has seen footy become an unrecognisable slush of soft tissue injuries and even softer tries.

The pace of the game is so unrelenting due to the set restart rule that every week now resembles Origin, but only because the injury toll is so deep that every team is so full of reserve graders it feels like a crappy split round.

This rule means you can’t tackle anymore either, although if you do, be sure you haven’t tackled too hard, disrupted, escorted, blocked or rubbished the face.

Worse still, this has all been punctuated by a two-speed system of refereeing where the officials either put the whistle away or nitpick everything in the ruck except forward passes.

Take Todd Smith on Thursday night for example who failed to call a single penalty until the 35th minute, a far cry from most matches this year when more arms have been waved and whistles blown than at Carnivale.

Add the constant intervention of Bunkers, Captain’s Challenges, players dogging for penalties and Brad Fittler’s nicknames, and the value of the product is vanishing so quickly the next TV deal will be settled for a case of Tooheys New.

But the worst could still be to come.

If all this transplants to Origin on Wednesday night, rugby league will prolapse on the big stage in a splooge of jersey-grabbing and the NRL will have only itself to blame for vandalising the sanctity of its crown jewel.

And after besmirching Magic Round with a series of putrid blowouts, the last thing the game needs is to essentially piss all over its Garden of Steeden.

But even if Queensland grit their way to a famous 40-38 victory, there’s no way the NRL will admit fault.

https://x.com/TheGHRaiders/status/2058766529140068578?s=20

Why? Because who cares about the footy when our online engagement is at all-time highs!

The NRL has gone to great lengths to highlight increases in selective data like TV ratings, online engagement and ball-in-play times to distract us from the eye-watering nappy fire roaring in front of us.

But despite their best efforts you can’t spruce up an ugly scoreline, meaning the only thing that’s truly ‘up’ is the administration’s head in its own backside.

In summary, with Origin on our doorstep, footy is in a state of crisis so dire that Stuart can blow a gasket and nobody is giggling.

And frankly, we should be listening to the coach, because while the game is being watched by more eyeballs than ever it doesn’t mean we should accept a rank product just because we’re smashing the AFL in Facebook likes and Peter V’Landys makes cringey dad jokes about it.

The NRL should be applauded for attempting to turbocharge rugby league, but right now they’re speeding the game up so much it’ll be finished before we know it.