People often say that rugby league is a fickle mistress, and can you blame them? Last weekend’s round of matches was certainly testament to the fact the fortunes of clubs on the field tend to fluctuate more than Warrick Capper’s career aspirations.
In many ways, it is the topsy-turvy nature of rugby league that makes it the greatest game of all for so many.
The salary cap has brought teams on to a level playing field and, as a result, there is no such thing as an easy game anymore. Gone are the days when super teams like the Brisbane Broncos, led by Alfie Langer and co, would turn up for a strolling landslide victory against the hapless Adelaide Rams.
After round one the Rabbitohs were riding high on the euphoric win over the undercooked Sydney Roosters. Having plucked 52 feathers from their arch rival’s hide, Russell Crowe was already ordering a trophy cabinet to accommodate the dimensions of the weighty Telstra Trophy.
Only a week later, South Sydney crashed back down to earth with a humbling display against a spirited Parramatta Eels.
As for the Roosters, they managed to turn around a 40-point drubbing and thump the Raiders away from home the next week, barely conceding a point in the process.
The club, which had been so cruelly chastised in the media for having no pride, responded in the most emphatic way possible, delivering a hardened display of defensive metal.
Only a fortnight ago we were praising the current Manly Sea Eagles team for being perhaps the greatest team to come along in 30 years.
On a high from defeating Leeds in the World Club Challenge in England, Manly looked set to burn up the NRL turf and attempt to be the first team since Brisbane in 1992-93 to win back to back premierships in a combined competition.
Then, of course, came the blight of off field incidents and, most notably, Brett Stewart being stood down pending further investigation for a sexual assault charge.
As much as Des Hasler attempted to stem the flow of concern at the club by claiming the boys would not be affected on the field, the proof was in the pudding. The Eagles have found themselves winless after the first two rounds.
It sure makes for good theatre and ensures rugby league will be anything but predictable in 2009.
Recommend this story.
- Explore:
- NRL, Rugby League
March 28th 2009 @ 10:08am
sheek said | March 28th 2009 @ 10:08am | Report comment
I’ve re-discovered my love for league. I find league games consistently more entertaining than union. And the quality of freakish talent in league is superior to union. I just love watching guys like Benji Marshall, Greg Inglis, Jonathon Thurston & Scott Prince. And exhilerating runners like Billy Slater & Matty Bowen. Plus the hard, tough men.
League has taken the level of its collective skill far above union. But there’s room for improvement yet. I would like the scrums to regain their importance – that’s a missing link. And an 18 man bench, but with fewer interchanges, perhaps 12 down to 10. The 5 man interchange would include 2 backs & 3 forwards.
Union goes on about the continuous contest for possesion being one of its strong points. But not when the ref is blowing his whistle for this or that demeanour every second ruck/maul.
March 28th 2009 @ 10:14am
Midfielder said | March 28th 2009 @ 10:14am | Report comment
What I have found with league is it constant movenment and man you would have to be fit to play it. In last nights games I saw Benji charge on to a ball and tear into a hole in the forwards the speed and skill on show was impressive.. Benji got caught by the leg.. But Sheek you are right there is a huge amount of ball skill and set plays in RL very good to watch a good game.
March 28th 2009 @ 3:11pm
TahDan said | March 28th 2009 @ 3:11pm | Report comment
You make some interesting points Adam, though to be honest I don’t think I ever recall hearing League referred to as a “fickle mistress”… I think that title belongs on with a number of sports at times. Is it the numerous different champions the NRL has had over the past 10 years? Or is it the way so many games have seemed to swing
Also, I really wish people would drop the whole “the greatest game of all” with League. I know the other codes do it – with soccer accurately dubbing themselves “the world game” and rugby union proclaiming their code “the game they play in heaven” (which while odd is not without its charm) – but League’s title is nothing short of unimaginative self-ingratiating garbage… it just sounds stupid to anyone who is not a die hard leaguie. I should know, I personally watch a fair bit of both Union and League (by far my two favourite codes of football), but cringe every time I hear a League advert where that god-awful nick-name mentioned.
Anyway, I’m deviating from the point a little here. Adam makes a great point about the level nature of the competition that the salary cap has fostered and how this makes each week all the more exciting and unpredictable. And this is one of the great advantages more limited codes like Rugby League, Aussie Rules and Gridiron will always have over larger international sports; that they have the capacity to regulate themselves in ways that a sport such as soccer, and to a lesser extent Rugby, would find almost impossible.
Also Sheek, I must say I agree with you that the new NRL season has rekindled my passion for the sport quite a bit as well, but I don’t see them making scrums contestable any time soon…. Part of what a lot of league fans hate about union is how the scrums and line outs break up the action, so getting them to agree to make that area a contest would be akin to asking rugby fans to ditch line outs in favour of quick taps. League is about what you can do with the ball in hand and how much you can limit the other side when you don’t. Union on the other hand, while obviously being very much about what you can do with the ball in hand, has at its essence the contest for the ball at all levels of play.
March 28th 2009 @ 3:31pm
sheek said | March 28th 2009 @ 3:31pm | Report comment
TahDan,
The thing is, you need occasional breaks, especially if it’s a fast flowing game full of action, not only for the players to catch their breath, but also the fans. That’s perfectly acceptable.
Also, the scrum provides an opportunity to immediately wrest back possession, if a pack is synchronised & determined enough. Now that’s got to be a bonus to a team if they can do that.
March 28th 2009 @ 4:20pm
TahDan said | March 28th 2009 @ 4:20pm | Report comment
Sheek,
I absolutely agree with that. My point was that the mantra of the die-hard league fan is that it slows the game too much and that anything that slows the game down is a bad thing. That’s the very reason that scrums became uncontestable in the first place.
March 28th 2009 @ 5:10pm
sheek said | March 28th 2009 @ 5:10pm | Report comment
Rugby league is nothing if not adaptable. When I first started following the game in the late 60s, it was still like union in many ways.
There was the 4 tackle rule, which provided too few attacking build-ups for the attacking side. Each completion of 4 sets was followed by a scrum, in which the attacking team, now the defensive team, could win back possession.
There were plenty of scrum penalties, & it wasn’t unusual for a match to feature 20 scrums & 20 penalties. A hooker was revered for his quick strike & ability to win a tight-head (a lost art today in both codes).
The game’s come a long way since then. But the point is, scrums were once important to league, so the die-hards you speak of, have probably only been following the game for about 20-25 years!
The other point is, any sport can be sped up too much, like sharpening a pencil to too fine a point. Finding the balance is the key. Basketball is a helter-skelter sport loved by many, but for me, it’s too fast. With union, the ELVs have sped up the game, without necessarily making it a superior spectacle.
March 28th 2009 @ 7:04pm
TahDan said | March 28th 2009 @ 7:04pm | Report comment
Rugby League is indeed an adaptable game, but even so it’s generally been one way traffic, with each new rule steadily removing the contest for possession out of the game more and more in favour of keeping the ball running through the player’s hands. A decision to bring rules in that reinstate contested scrums would be breaking a century long trend that has been heading in the other direction.
I’m not saying it would be a bad idea, after all if I did I wouldn’t watch Rugby Union all the time. I just think that in light of the way league has developed I think it’s unlikely.
March 28th 2009 @ 7:34pm
westy said | March 28th 2009 @ 7:34pm | Report comment
The information i quote is from Rod macqueen and the statistics he put together from the 1970′s in elite rugby sourced from the SMH..
In the 1970′s there were on average about 50 breakdowns per game.today there are about an average of 150 breakdowns per game. With the figure going as high as 190.
The improved defence since professionalism has simply caused more tackles per game.secondly when rucks formed in the 1970′s they were joined by an average of of 6 to 7 attacking players and 5 or 6 defending players . ” in other words , there were as many defenders committed to the ruck as attackers .” this simply opened up the attacking opportunities.
Today when a ruck forms 3 and half attackers commit to the ruck relative to defenders.This means the attackers face many more defenders than in the 1970′s/80′s.
More problematic is that the attacking team retains possession in 95% of all rucks. the ELV’s and the permiited use of hands has reduced this to 85% . you can see the problem . Rugby league has very little uncertainty in the battle for possession but the very characteristic that makes rugby different has markedly declined.
watch some games in super 14 rugby and I have seen as few as only 2 players commit to the ruck with maybe if your lucky 2 or three changeovers . it matches up with rugby league’s 40/20 kick.
The very thing that distinguishes rugby has been diminished and rugby league’s speed makes it a television spectacle we sometimes “grapple ” to compete with.
In fact I think the rugby of the 70′s and 80′s was a better television spectacle then some of the current super 14 games.
i repeat it is an unedifying sight to see a rugby pub turn the rugby over to watch U/20 toyota Cup rugby league. But the lack of turnovers can make rugby a very stodgy affair on the box.There is more uncertainty in lineouts then rucks in some games.
March 28th 2009 @ 8:59pm
Steffy said | March 28th 2009 @ 8:59pm | Report comment
I am not sure what the situation in Australia is but in the UK scrums can be contested and occasionally are – more so in the amateur game than the professional game but they aren’t unheard of in the professional ranks. Personally I wouldn’t like to see the return of all scrums being contested – they were a mess and would be a mess again.
March 29th 2009 @ 5:08pm
TahDan said | March 29th 2009 @ 5:08pm | Report comment
Steffy,
Scrums can be contested in League in the NRL as well, and maybe once or twice a season some team will pull off a tight head, but they are still extremely rare… Most teams just don’t bother because the feed goes straight into the second row.