Sporting leagues in Australia are all dirty.
I once heard a 36er complaining about the Central ABL being too physical and a 'cheap shot' league and that's why most NBLers refused to play in the Central ABL.
Anyone who watches NBL or even WNBL games would say that referees clearly allow illegal screens, holding of cutters, illegal bumping of cutters and slapping, hacking and holding of ball headers or guards trying to get free, especially in the back court.
Unfortunately the referees are in a no win situation.
Teams, fans and even the NBL wants the games to be as free flowing as possible so that it's enjoyable from a spectators point of view. But teams won't adjust the way they play so referees are forced to let as much 'insignificant' contact go for the 'better of the game'.
Anyone who has played would know that constant holding, hacking or bumping takes its affect and wears a player down. Even 'insignificant' contact can put a player at a huge disadvantage when put in context over a 48min game.
Maher is a perfect example. Try watching a 36ers game and ignore the ball and watch Maher on offence off the ball. He gets bumps and held everywhere he goes and 99% of it doesn't get called. Is this right? No. But if it's called you have Gaze and Carf complaining about soft calls, opposition coaches, players and fans complaining about Maher being protected or the fact its a soft call or even that its only called because Maher is a 'name' player.
One past 36ers coach told me while he was here that he blasted his big men when they didn't hold the opposition players on a box out. My response was that your telling your players to break the rules. His response was that I was right but for the 1 maybe 2 times they'd get called for it during a game, if at all, it was worth the extra 10 - 20 rebounds they'd get without much of a contest.
IMO the NBL, NBL referees and NBL coaches need to sit down together prior to the new season work out a style of basketball and standard of referee that is required. Coaches can go back to their teams and ensure they are structuring their rules accordingly, NBL and the NBL referees have a clear expectation of what is to be called and what isn't.
Referees need to stay strong enforce the rules and give teams the opportunity to adjust. If they don't then foul them out. When the starters are sitting on the bench the coaches will make the adjustments. Right now the coaches/teams have all the power and decide the way the game is going to be played, that's why one reason why Goorj teams will always succeed. For every hold, bump hack his players get called for they get away with 10, 20 or 30 of them. It's worth the price and gets the results.
