COMMUNICATION KEY TO AVOIDING REPEAT OF MELEE

Which is why the law must be laid down early.

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Not harshly, not theatrically, but clearly. Flow does not mean permissiveness.Flow requires structure.

Ironically, if the game continues in its current direction, referees may need to be stricter earlier to protect that flow. Players are smart. They read the room quickly. If boundaries are unclear, pressure builds. And pressure, eventually, spills over.

There has also been renewed debate about the tackle, a discussion that never truly ends and likely never will unless hurling becomes a non-contact sport. But within that debate, one issue deserves far more attention than it gets.

More and more players are deliberately entering contact with their head low, then rising sharply on impact. Referees are being caught by it, time and again. It looks worse than it is — a high tackle, apparent contact around the neck — when in reality the ball carrier has engineered the outcome.