St George Illawarra star Tyson Frizell has backed the referees to continue their current ruck interpretations, despite heavy criticism in recent weeks.
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After last year's crackdown resulted in stop-start games and sky-high penalty counts, this year has seen referees instructed to put the whistle away and let the game flow.
Concerns have been raised that the pendulum has swung too far, with South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett expressing his frustration after his team's victory over Canterbury on Friday.
For Frizell, however, the 2019 interpretations have made for more free-flowing football throughout the first six rounds of the season.
"I don't mind that the whistles have been put away, games are a lot tighter," Frizell said.
"At stages when you feel like you've won the play the ball and want a penalty, they're probably not bringing it out as much, they're probably not giving the advantage for the attacker."
As a forward with the ability to generate quick play the balls, Frizell has been affected significantly by the new edict. He is hopeful, however, we don't see another shift in interpretation now that the criticism has begun.
"There's a balance between giving the penalty for those tackles where they're holding down a fair bit, but I'm happy with the way they're going at the moment and I'm sure, with people talking about it now, they're going to start blowing more penalties.
"I hope that doesn't happen, because no one wants it to go back to how it was last year, but we do need to find a balance there."
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