Wayne Bennett doesn’t like it, and while that may not be justification enough, it’s high time the NRL banished golden point to a permanent sin bin.
Obviously for playoff games, State of Origin and Test matches some form of tie-breaker or extra time would be required to split a drawn game. But I fail to see why it is necessary during the regular season.
We have seen three drawn games in the last two weekends of the NRL. St George-Illawarra and Parramatta couldn’t be split after 10 minutes of extra time in the opening game of Round 13. Book-ending the round was the Wests Tigers golden point victory over the Newcastle Knights when Robbie Farah slotted a field goal to win it for the Tigers.
In round 14 last weekend, the Canberra Raiders staged an amazing fightback from 24-0 down against the Brisbane Broncos to level the game at 24-24 in a frenetic last 15 minutes. They then fell to a Peter Wallace field goal in golden point extra time.
What is so bad about all three of these games ending even?
The teams get a point each, as was the case with the Dragons and the Eels. This illustrates a greater absurdity, in that there is still the possibility of a drawn game but for some reason, the rules dictate that an 80 minute game suddenly has to last 90 minutes for that to happen.
Sudden death or golden point rules also fundamentally alter the overriding aspect of the game; that being it is a game played to a time limit. And that in turn changes the way a team plays in a golden point period, at least in rugby league, a game where points can be scored in a variety of manners.
Football experimented with a golden goal from 1993 to 2003. Australia has a unique place in golden goal lore, as the Young Socceroos were the first international side to win a game with a golden goal in the 1993 World Youth Cup quarter final against Uruguay in Brisbane. March 13th to be exact, the same night Paul Keating won the “unwinnable” Federal Election.
Football eventually abandoned the golden goal (after strange tinkering with the idea of a “silver” goal – don’t ask). One of the reasons given was due to the time-limit aspect of the game and a golden goal did not give the team who conceded one a chance to equalise, as would have been the case in “normal” play.
The game was not designed to end at any time.
Rugby league is the same, but probably even more so. Prevailing weather conditions alone can play a big factor in the game and a team can, and often has, gained a huge advantage simply by winning the toss and gaining possession first, or running with a gale behind their backs.
This is fundamentally unfair as the same advantages are not afforded the opposing team if they concede points first.
The NRL ladder would take on a more unpredictable look if drawn games were left to stand. Odd points could make a big difference as the season headed towards the play-offs, with teams having the ability to leapfrog other teams in one result, without having to resort to examination of points differential.
And with such a tight competition, who’s to say that a team might sneak above another on points difference, having scored points in “extra time?” How does that make sense?
For example, Melbourne and Manly are currently split by a differential of four points, both having 22 competition points. Let’s say that carried all the way to the final round, and Manly won a game in golden point by scoring a try?
Rugby league teams have 80 minutes to try and win a match. If they can’t, the result is usually exciting, ultimately fair, and equally deserving.
Golden point takes all that away.
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