Double try option has NRL future, says Bennett
By AAP, 25 Nov 2009 AAP is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- Indigenous All-Stars, NRL, NRL All Stars, Rugby League, Wayne Bennett
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NRL All Stars coach Wayne Bennett believes the “double try” could be a part of rugby league within five years. The NRL and Indigenous All Stars will be able to opt for an extra tackle, rather than a conversion, following a try in an attempt to score four extra points when they clash on the Gold Coast in February.
The move is one of several designed to increase the entertainment factor for the game, which will commemorate the anniversary of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s apology to the Stolen Generation.
Both sides will be able to interchange attacking or defensive players before the extra play and no kicks will be allowed.
NRL boss David Gallop said the league was not yet seriously looking at implementing the change, but Bennett said administrators would need to consider it if fans liked it.
“I’ve heard it thrown around in the past, it’s got some merit,” he told reporters as he launched voting for the NRL All Stars line-up on Tuesday.
“At the end of the day you want the fans to buy into it so if it means something to them … I’m sure the administrators would make the change but it won’t happen for four or five years.”
The other serious innovation for the February 13 match at Skilled Stadium will be the use of four referees, two on the field at a time.
Broadcast innovations will include the video referee explaining decisions to the commentary team and bench players, trainers and coaches Bennett and Neil Henry all wearing microphones.
The coaches’ quarter and three-quarter time addresses to their players will be heard by fans, but Bennett said the public would be surprised by what is actually said.
“They must think at home with the kids in the back room you’ve got to create havoc with (players) to get them motivated to do something,” he said.
“You’re dealing with grown men and it’s not what I think a lot of fans think.”
The six-time premiership-winning mentor, who is also in charge of St George Illawarra, confirmed Australian and New Zealand Test captains Darren Lockyer and Benji Marshall would start as five-eighth and halfback respectively.
“I think about it and I just think the magic they both produce, if they can get it right on the day it will be something to watch,” Bennett said.
He said meeting the challenge posed by a proud and highly motivated Indigenous side would be his biggest test.
“That’s going to be the part we do have to get right because it is a difference for us,” he said.
“They’re already motivated, the indigenous side and I should imagine the fan base will be pretty much behind them as well.
“I’m dealing with guys like Darren Lockyer, Benji Marshall, guys that I’ve coached, they compete at a training session, you tell them there’s a game on they want to win that game of touch against each other.
“Their professional credibility’s on the line as well so I don’t think it’s going to be a real issue for us.”
The first stage of voting remains open until December 26, with one player from each NRL club to join Lockyer, Marshall and their deputies Cameron Smith and Adam Blair in a 20-man squad.
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Mick from Giralang said | November 25th 2009 @ 8:15am | Report comment
Does anyone know the details of how the double try will work? A tap restart on the opponent’s 20 metre line? If it’s simply an extra tackle I can see the bomb going up 99.9 percent of the time. One tackle is pretty straight forward to defend against if the attackers opt to keep the ball in hand.
oikee said | November 25th 2009 @ 8:45am | Report comment
From either the 10 or 20, not sure myself. Yes the Bomb might go up everytime, which would be good, introduce some assie rules into the game? Why i mention this is because of unlimited interchange, and defence , offence attackers. Also we can start poaching aussie rules players for our game.
This is the Americanisation of the game so that we can sell the product easy to the Yanks. Wearing Mic’s and the only idea i dont like is the 4 quarters, i did bring up the 3×30 minute times which i think would be better suited to rugby league.
This is getting good, we are advancing into a new era very quickly, and rugby league needs to go this path if we are going to be competitive on a bigger stage. This is one good thing about rugby league being strong in OZ, we can make these changes relatively easily if we wish,. Cheers.
M1tch said | November 25th 2009 @ 9:06am | Report comment
I like the rule, imagine a team down by 8 with 20 seconds to go..they can still win it.
The 4 quarters is only because of the heat that will be in Feb..I like the 3 x30mins idea though.
Jay said | November 25th 2009 @ 9:52am | Report comment
I think the 4 quarters should be introduced by the NRL to increase tv revenue. The IPL have come up with a strategy session of 10 minutes every 10 over in order to fit in more ads.. but going forward, if the tv networks are willing to pay significatnly more, we should change to 4 quarters and to compensate, change interchanges to a max of 6 per game.
prowling panther said | November 25th 2009 @ 9:55am | Report comment
yeah but it ticks people off. games like t20 and league must run at continous an fast pace for max satisfaction
M1tch said | November 25th 2009 @ 9:56am | Report comment
4 quarters of 20 mins wouldnt be good for RL, the game would lose alot of flow, 30 mins (if we ever change) would be way Id go..
have the first break of 5 mins on the field and 2/3 break in the sheds
Jay said | November 25th 2009 @ 10:06am | Report comment
I agree it wouldnt fit in with the flow of league, but if the tv networks say we will pay $Xm more per year if that is the case.. and it is a significant amount, it seriously should be considered.
M1tch said | November 25th 2009 @ 10:09am | Report comment
Would have to be trailed in the under 20′s to see how it affects the game. Maybe vote among the fans.
oikee said | November 25th 2009 @ 10:21am | Report comment
3×30 minutes with 2 ten minute breaks, so 1 team might win the 1st 30, the other team might win the 2nd 30 and we have a ripper third 30 minutes to keep you salavating. Or if 1 team wins the 1st two 30′s then a comeback of mega proportions would be needed.
Either way, its a better idea to increase the games revenues, a extra 10 minutes for adds and you would always be hoping that your team can come back in the last 30.
MyGeneration said | November 25th 2009 @ 10:15am | Report comment
Didn’t the old mid-week (Amco) Cup go for four quarters? That was purely for TV, but it was never deemed successful enough to transfer to the main comp.
John Ryan said | November 25th 2009 @ 5:32pm | Report comment
Yes it did it was quite interesting the old Amco cup,why not increase the time on the field from 80 to 90 plus time on.
The 3 by 30 would work better I think they should increase the length of the game
Dave1 said | November 26th 2009 @ 3:51pm | Report comment
The good thing about league, is that if even if a particular game is boring, its still over in 80 minutes.
They shouldn’t increases the time of the game.
AC said | November 25th 2009 @ 9:46am | Report comment
The problem you then have is making the game too similar to American Football, and the yank fans might ask why they’d bother watching the game instead of their own? Of course the flip side of this is that there are plenty of fans who like Union and League and they’re still pretty close to each other.
Hats off to the administrators for trying to inovate though. Not sure I’m a fan of interchanging defensive and attacking players though. That’s a slipery slope… 2 platoon League? Not for me thanks…
oikee said | November 25th 2009 @ 9:59am | Report comment
Well to be a world class operation, like any company, you have to learn from the best. The yanks are already conditioned to this type of game( NFL) , so borrowing ideas from a world class orginisation, also(commission) is the way forward to becoming a world class orginisation yourself.
I myself, can already see that this is going to work, many fans have mooted the idea, we are now going to see if it works. 4 refs, great, Microphones, beauty, 4 quarters? Heat factor, but i like the idea of 3 periods, double try, great, the yanks will pick this up easily, and offence defence, they already know about this, the speed of the game? Yanks would be salvating at this, they already love the way it moves so fast compared to gridiron. So we will have all the ingreiants to market a world class product. Game on, and also put the shoe on the other foot to AFL stealing our players.
More Bombs please. Many more. Fly Isreal fly. Now thats spectacular.
M1tch said | November 25th 2009 @ 10:10am | Report comment
I watch the NFL and I love the coaches challenge, that is something we need in RL. 2 per half and captain/coach nominate when they want to use it.
Its worked wonders for Tennis
Dogs Of War said | November 25th 2009 @ 10:15am | Report comment
Kicking is banned on this tackle. So it will be a throw the ball around type situation. Would be good if they started on the 20, while the opposition started on there goal line. This would allow enough space for set moves etc.
I like the idea, though it’s uses would be limited, usually when a team has a kick that would put them ahead by 16, but would rather try for 18 ahead, or a team is down by 16 or 8, and time is running out.
I do like the concept as it provides another bit of excitement to the game.
oikee said | November 25th 2009 @ 10:26am | Report comment
Well that put a downer on the Bomb idea. I would rather see the Bomb go up. Hope they look at this idea. It would introduce some amazing leaps for the ball. Imagine that on the highlights package, Israel flying high , remember origin.
mitzter said | November 25th 2009 @ 12:23pm | Report comment
Yeah i saw the no kicking bit in the article but why?? No one would go for it if you couldn’t kick(well maybe if the try was scores right in the edge of the goal line but that would be it.
Siva Samoa said | November 25th 2009 @ 4:54pm | Report comment
you are getting more and more redicilous with every post you make. Don’t worry about the other countries and let Bennett decide what’s best for rugby league.
Bulldog said | November 26th 2009 @ 4:08pm | Report comment
The problem with 3 x 30 minutes or 4 x 20 minutes rather than 2 halfs of 40 minutes is there is a chance you will get less tries or break outs as the defence is less fatigued. The good thing about the current format is that late in the half a team with greater fitness gets an advantage.
The Link said | November 25th 2009 @ 8:47am | Report comment
A great innovation. I’d put Rugby League with Cricket in Australia as having a good recent track record with trialling new rules to improve the game.
Mick – it should really be two tackles to give the attacking team every chance. Although I agree it threatens to be a bomb fest.
MyGeneration said | November 25th 2009 @ 8:56am | Report comment
Maybe instead of interchanging players, take at least a couple off the field for each team. This might encourage keeping the ball in hand with more space on the field and various speed/size mis-matches likely.
Working Class Rugger said | November 25th 2009 @ 9:04am | Report comment
Ummm… Does anyone watch American Football here. If not this idea is the exact copy of their conversion option. Right down to the switching of player’s specifically for the move. Instead of kicking for the single point they can perform an offensive ‘drive’ to convert their ‘touchdown’ by 2 points. Basically the same idea, different game and higher reward but identical nonetheless.
Mick from Giralang said | November 25th 2009 @ 9:14am | Report comment
So they only get two points if they score a touch down fromthe extra play?
mitzter said | November 25th 2009 @ 12:26pm | Report comment
yep, one point conversion for the kick conversion bringing the score to 7 points or the 2nd touchdown conversion for 2 points maiking the score 8 points
Working Class Rugger said | November 25th 2009 @ 9:20am | Report comment
Yeah, still erry resemblence. Considering now the NRL also has as many match officials as the NFL per game.
MyGeneration said | November 25th 2009 @ 9:24am | Report comment
It’s a similar idea. So?
Working Class Rugger said | November 25th 2009 @ 9:41am | Report comment
MyGen
No, it’s not similar its exactly the same in every aspect except the points scored.
M1tch said | November 25th 2009 @ 9:45am | Report comment
your point being?
The Link said | November 25th 2009 @ 9:59am | Report comment
Its a great idea, of course its the same as the NFL conversion. I don’t think anyone can suggest otherwise.
M1tch said | November 25th 2009 @ 10:03am | Report comment
yeh I like it, another element to scoring a try
MyGeneration said | November 25th 2009 @ 10:00am | Report comment
As M1tch says, I’m trying to get at your point. We shouldn’t do things because other sports do them? Like conversions, penalty goals, field goals? American Football is still a game derived from rugby, and maybe we should consider the possibility that they’ve had a good idea or two over the years. None of the rugby-derived codes has stood still in the last hundred years.
This is an exhibition game, and we are supposedly the land of giving things a go, so why not give it a go? If it works, we’ll claim it as our own idea; if it doesn’t, it’s the Yanks’ fault!
oikee said | November 25th 2009 @ 10:13am | Report comment
oikee said | November 25th 2009 @ 9:47am | Report comment
I think the whole point of the operation is to find out if the American way of doing things works in OZ. Everytime i see a NFL game their is 100thousand at matches, and also colledge games. So to have a simalar setup as the NFL have, would make the game a easier product to sell. Not only that, i think behind the scenes this might have been asked to happen by the Network over their.
Anyhow, its a great idea, the game still will be fast and we wont have to listen to NoNoNoNoNo anymore, we will be listening to coaches and refs and players reports. Love it. Should have happened 5 years ago.
Springs said | November 25th 2009 @ 12:13pm | Report comment
the NFL has an average crowd of 67000 because thay have 15 times the population we do. The Nrl or Afl will never have 67000 average with a population of 20 million. The double try is just another gimmick to increase the entertainment value, which we don’t really need, like Twenty20 cricket. Video ref microphones are good, though.
prowling panther said | November 25th 2009 @ 9:58am | Report comment
anyone for introduction of the lineout when the ball goes into touch? i think it could be interesting
M1tch said | November 25th 2009 @ 10:04am | Report comment
hmmm…no
oikee said | November 25th 2009 @ 10:12am | Report comment
I also think the fact the ball does not always go straight and causes a scrum anyhow is time wasting, so yes maybe no. Anyhow, my mind is open to ideas.
Dan said | November 25th 2009 @ 4:11pm | Report comment
I like the idea of lineouts. League got rid of them when they were still a bit of a lottery, but now they’re far less so and would be better than the constant no-contest scums…
Dave1 said | November 26th 2009 @ 3:56pm | Report comment
Line outs are one of the worst things in Union. League doesn’t need them and Union should get rid of them.
Dan said | November 27th 2009 @ 10:56pm | Report comment
Why are they bad exactly? They’re certainly better than simply having a scrum for everything (especially a non-contested scrum). You could even make the line-outs more “league-like” by allowing the hooker to throw the ball almost directly to his man… wouldn’t be much different to the feeding of the ball into the second row that they do in scrums now.
oikee said | November 25th 2009 @ 10:05am | Report comment
Prowling panther, not bad, why not, if union wont become like league, lets steal some of their plays to spice it up even more.
When you are moving forward, never say never.
Dave1 said | November 29th 2009 @ 1:17pm | Report comment
instead of a lineout make the game more afl like AFL and get the linesman to throw it in.