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Has the forward lost his role in the game?

Roar Guru
5th March, 2012
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Roar Guru
5th March, 2012
43
1466 Reads

Ever since the contested scrum disappeared from rugby league, we’ve had an awfully big (and frankly, quite ugly) elephant in the room.

These days the back in rugby league has become a show-gun, with forwards unable to do much because not much is given to them to do.

To use a political analogy, backs have increasingly begun appealing to anyone watching with their relative monopoly on progressing the ball down the field, promoting a liberal use of the ball.

They take risks and in the process make change, even if forwards may not approve. And this only increases as these changes are promoted, leading to more changes becoming necessary as forwards push against their disadvantage, leading to more change as backs get used to certain freedoms.

If you accepted this, you’d have to say forward play as it stands fits into the ‘conservative’ category. Not reactionary by any means, but there will always be forwards, but the question is: if the backs get more freedoms (and thus more ball if they can earn it with their razzle dazzle) what do the forwards get?

I’d say they get the conservative niche because unless the game becomes truly like touch footy, there will always be a certain number of tackles in the set which the backs won’t be able to use effectively.

But by reducing them to this, you also reduce them to something analogised to that old (fogie) backbencher, who had prominence once, but quite clearly no more. And this creates a kind of ‘conservative’ complacency, where forwards just accept this, because that’s what they’re paid for.

Now obviously you’ll get exceptions who have talent and all-round athletic ability, who will make a mockery of this conservatism. But unless every forward in every team ever bcomes like this the overarching culture will go some ways towards resembling this.

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Also I think it pertinent to mention that some of the old forward positions have obviously evolved into something like half-forward positions. Hookers particularly. But also second rowers and centres-who-become-second-rowers.

I would personally be in favour of a return to a contested scrum, to allow some of the conservatism to drain away. And I say some, because naturally forwards will never pass, run and kick like most top-line backs. But this would but the onus on forwards who just want to charge/barge the ball forward.

It’s quite an interesting irony, that part of the major reforms of the laws in the time of setting limited tackles was about reducing the bash and barge has with further reforms of the scrum laws led to bash and barge (but this time only for the forwards). The contested scrum requires more from forwards than this. But if you’re not happy about doing some back-tracking. Some solutions would be appreciated as always.

But don’t tell me forwards are there predominantly as defenders as a back is often in a better position to actually defend when it really matters.

I could admonish the lack of creativity etc like Phil Gould has done many times, but I just want to say one final thing. This season, young as it is, I have already noticed that forwards are getting quite good at off-loading, and this has been happening for a few years, but off-loading while it is a helpful half-way house to actual creativity is in some ways more conservative an option.

For me this also makes it in some ways even more lacking in courage than a hit-up, which doesn’t require so much intellectual courage but pretty much every other form of courage. But an off-load is something like what back-benchers do. It’s not really saying or doing anything that can hurt you.

But it is a somewhat sneaky (and maybe ironic as it quite often seems to be half-hearted) way of deferring to the mission of the backs, but without taking much responsibility for the outcome.

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