First, there was the rolling the Steeden in the play-the-ball crackdown.

Then there wasn’t a crackdown, and we were back at the bowling alley, balls rolling everywhere.

Next it was a head-high crackdown. And what a crackdown it was – a record 18 sin bins in one round.

That was deemed to be about 16 too many so, the next week, crackdown gone.

Mysteriously, the roll-the-ball crackdown made a comeback for a week, then disappeared again.

I tried to count the number of times the ball was rolled through, with no foot contact, in the Warriors v Dragons match last Friday and gave up after 15 minutes. My son had lost interest after the first few sets of six. “He didn’t touch it. He didn’t touch it.”

NRL head of elite football Graham Annesley.Credit: Getty Images

Some weeks markers have to be square, other weeks they’re obtuse triangles.

Whenever the media asks about these crackdowns, they’re told there’s no crackdown. Officials go all Sergeant Schultz on us. They know nothing.

Then there’s blatant rule-bending that goes unchecked.

Trainers have been running around fields like army generals – barking orders from behind enemy lines,........

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