Firstly, there's the idiotic criticism about St George Illawarra kicking the ball dead to keep it away from Jarryd Hayne.

Some pundits are outraged at the Dragons for that, branding it as not in the spirit of the game. One of them was former Tigers player Steve Roach, who claimed it robbed the fans of the entertainment of seeing Hayne run it back.

Here's the thing, Blocker - the Dragons had the ball for 35 sets of six yet only kicked it dead four times. That's a smidge over 10 per cent. So, for the vast majority of the sets of six, the Dragons did kick it in the field of play. So Hayne was allowed the chance to "entertain" the fans.

And yet Blocker ignores the 20-something times Hayne and his fellow backs had a chance to do something with a kick in favour of whingeing about those four times they kicked it dead.

Incidentally, what does he - and the other clowns who voiced this concern - expect the Dragons to do? Kick it straight down Hayne's throat every time? Of course not - Hayne has the potential to be a dangerous ball runner. Why wouldn't you do your best to ensure he doesn't get the ball with a chance to run at a staggered defensive line?

People always seem to be going on about trying make the game more entertaining and attack-oriented, but what about the defence? Why should they just have to let an opposition star cut them to ribbons just so some people can enjoy a spectacle?

The Dragons worked out a tactic to nullify Hayne's attack. Now the Eels have to work out a tactic to counter this. That's the way footy works - coaches and teams should be relying on their own brains, not expecting the NRL to make it easy for them with rule changes.

The other thing people have criticised the Dragons for is that they didn't score a million points with all that possession, that they opted for three penalty goals rather than keeping the pressure on. Never mind that they completed a frankly astonishing 35 of 37 sets. Never mind that the preference for penalty goals was something they did last year. And never mind that the Eels are actually a damn good defensive side. Never mind the Dragons actually stuck to their game plan.

Forget all that. What the Dragons were supposed to do, apparently, was chuck the ball around like crazy and try to score on every play. Funny, I can remember people criticising Dragons teams of a few years ago for doing exactly that.

Seems that, no matter what the Dragons do, they'll just never be good enough for some people.