Originally Posted by
Upside
What's if the lying on continues? The ref blows his whistle to stamp authority and the players continue lying on, the ref has set a precedent and players know this so the ball carrier starts to appeal for a penalty more often, causing a fuss at the PTB has to result in another penalty. Holding up slows the play more than holding down, so the players have s greater impact on game speed than the ref, win the contact you don't get wrestled, saints did this very well against Wigan last week.
When people say keep the game flowing they mean they don't want the ref blowing all the time, so asking the ref to be critical at the PTB will have the affect of blowing the whistle more often, to me that's a contradiction.
I do understand your point, blow early, set the standard, everyone adheres to the rules and the game is fast and clean, but in most cases I dont believe that happens. Think often it has the opposite affect than the intended one, I agree I wish it did work though