With Grand Finals now only six weeks away (they'll be played on Saturday August 14), it's time to start refreshing everyone's memory on the expectations that were put in place at the start of this year. I'm referring of course to the Zero Tolerance Policy that was introduced earlier this year.

If you haven't already seen it (I would hope that everyone has at least had a quick read), you can download a copy here: http://www.redskins.com.au/downloads/category/5-general.

The policy was introduced to cut down the amount of abuse that referees have been receiving in past years. It emphasises TFA Playing Rule 18 (The Referee, Line Judges/Touchdown Zone Officials) Player Note A.

"Team captains may respectfully enquire of the referee, matters of varying interpretation or causes of penalties. Any discussion is to be brief and polite and must not delay play. Other team members should not talk to the referee."

The policy also builds in this by stating that NO player, coach, manager or official is to approach, engage or communicate with the referee following the conclusion of the game.

There are procedures in place for raising complaints and concerns about the game and none of them involve questioning the referee/s after the game. If you have a problem, you must go through the Club Delegates (Craig Mellon or Dean Condon) or Referee Director (Me).

Remember that you may not always agree with the decision, but that doesn't mean it was wrong. Everyone will have a slightly different view of it and therefore their opinions are bound to be different.

The best advice I can give is simply to "get on with it". Don't waste you or your teams time by complaining about it, you will end up being worse-off in the long-run.

I was asked to have a chat with one of our teams last week in regards to (among other things) some problems they were having and how they could resolve them. The best advice I could give them was to repeat something that I was taught as a kid playing in the junior competition. That bit of advice is of great importance, especially come finals time, so I'm going to leave it with you.

"Play your own game, not theirs!"