A strip should be OK, in my opinion. And they should bring back the 'strike at the play the ball' rule, where when the ball is on the ground, both the player in possession and the marker are allowed to play for it.

Possession should be earned and respected. It should not be a right.

It's as good a comprimise as we will get as it is now.
Allow all ball stealing, and we would see RL revert to "up the jumper" both hands covering the ball, looking for the ground, whilst defenders got as many bodies in as they could, holding the player up and grabbing at the ball. It would be like watching RU.
Ban all ball stealing, and attackers would have no need to look after the ball and far too much licence to hold the ball out and not protect it. We would see many more penalties if the rule banned all ball stealing.

The problem isn't the one on one ball steal that's confusing referees. Its the sly way defenders are stripping the ball with countless of them in the tackle that makes it hard to spot for the referee. In that instance how does he distinguish between a ball steal and a knock on?

Ray Warren has got it wrong on this one as a one on one ball steal isn't the issue, but knowing the NRL they'll bend over and take it from Channel Nine like they did with Andrew Voss' ridiculous scrapping of the corner post suggestion.

This is a very important point and, I believe, raises a question about the direction we want the sport to take

If we change the stripping rule, we can go in one of two directions (2 players in the tackle is just as difficult to referee as one on one)

1. Remove the one on one restriction and say that stripping of the ball is allowed until the tackle is completed or held is called by the referee

2. All stripping of the ball in the tackle is illegal

The direction taken would make a significant statement about the nature of the game – removing stripping ‘guarantees’ the team in possession 6 tackles (bar mistakes) and moves us more closely to the ‘downs’ in American football

Allowing stripping makes possession more combative and takes us closer to rugby union where each tackle is a competition for possession (in theory of course, in practice rugby union coaches are committing less and less players to the breakdown and that sport is being played more like unlimited tackle RL by the year)

The big question is which way do we want to go?

Exactly my views on it.

If a player in possession is on his own, he deserves to have the ball stripped. I would allow two tackler strips, but only until the tackle is completed by another attacker touching the tackle. That would prevent lengthy attempts at ball steals, keeping the speed of the game up, and require the attacking team to respect possession.

If the player in possession is not on his own then that is a rolling maul isn't it? We got rid of those 100 years ago and I don't fancy bringing them back!

As mentioned it's dangerously close to Rugby Union and would look a mess as players repeatedly fight for possession of the ball.

Any relaxation of the ball stripping rules would just mean players go back to falling into the tackle or running in backwards and dropping upon contact.

The rule is fine as it is, we just need proper officials, competent people with the ability to judge a situation properly.

The lad's a regular little sig factory.