Reds beat Brumbies but lose face in a dull kickathon

Agreed! I watched a few classics from the good ol days of 2000 ish recently and i noticed - the ball was in play for long periods of time -There were BARELY any handling errors -Any kicks were attacking and designed to put pressure on the opposition; this created audience interest -The scrums weren't awful, and they weren't rugby league scrums WTF happened?

Further to the point about Kicking. The Reds last season kicked the ball the most out of all the SR teams... and they won..24 per match. The NRL team with the most kicks per match were the Dragons... 22 per match. The Champion Manly Sea Eagles kicked the ball 20 times per match.... The team with the least kicks for the NRL last season were the Tigers... 16 per match.. For SR it was the Brumbies.. 15 per match.. Again.. Kick-a-thon what?

It was usual to take a mark followed by a free kick when taking the ball on the full in football in those days (rather than run). The ability to take a free kick from a fair catch (but not run) was actually in the football associations original 1863 rules as well.

how good is andre taylor from the back.? if dagg and taylor keep up their current form, we might just see dagg stuck at wing for the all blacks. the hurricanes and sharks was an awesome display of real rugby. no kicking nonsense. good old fashioned front on ball running. we need more of that..

If you look at the photo in the Fairfax press today, you should thank George Ayoub as well......having said that the Brumbies made too many errors, and didn't really deserve to win. http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/were-the-brumbies-robbed-on-friday-20120407-1wipg.html

Re the Queensland jersey, I was at Ballymore maybe in the very early 80's when Qld were playing Wales. I distinctly remember Michael Lynagh at flyhalf. The ground announcer implored the crowd to chant "Reds Reds Reds". Some of the crowd were laughing because we had never heard such a chant to support our Qld team. Which team was wearing red? Not Qld!! HOWEVER I do agree the new red jersey is much more marketable, especially when 99.9% of maroon jerseys sold would be SOO jerseys. In Brisbane club rugby, University were known as the "Red Heavies" years ago.

Standing too deep or in a flat line, Australian teams do not accelerate into contact or into space. Very little momentum. Very little gain. In Bob Dwyer’s time, it was a thing of beauty to see Marty Roebuck join the line at pace, and score under the posts at State de France.

Whether standing too deep or in a flat line, in general Australian teams do not accelerate into contact or into space. Very little momentum. Very little gain. They're so used to the pick-and-drive. In Bob Dwyer's tme, it was a thing of beauty to see Marty Roebuck join the liine at pace, and score under the post in Stade de France.

Actually, anopinion, it's like you have Link in the team. You've been McKenzied.

I would struggle to watch them if they went back to Mooroon, I am not from QLD but live in Brisbane, they are a franchise that happens to play in QLD, they are not the QLD rep team in the old form of the word. This is what the pro era has brought us. Long live the Reds

@ Atawhai Drive -see Harry's informative post. Jersey became distinctly red at start of 2008 Super season - there is a pic > http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/rugby-union/larkham-predicts-reds-win/story-e6frepm6-1111115555333

I wrote about this on the Roar some years ago but to briefly recap some history. I first heard the "Red" description for the Queensland Rugby Union team at Ballymore in the late 1970's when Queensland were inflicting a beating on NSW (think it was the 48-10 result in 1979). Late in the game the spontaneous chant of "Red, Red, Red" rose from the stands as Queensland put the puffed up Southerners to the sword. This was despite the fact that the jersey was always maroon and remained that way until the middle of the noughties, when it started to morph from maroon into cerise to its current scarlet. Why Red over Maroon? Well chanting "Maroon, Maroon, Maroon" isn't quite the same is it? As a traditionalist I was uneasy and initially resistant to the change (then again I wanted them to stay at Ballymore) but accept this is the modern way, and is better marketing. Incidentally Brett Harris's book (the same fella who these days is still writing rugby in The Australian) is called "The Marauding Maroons" and is a great read, written in the mid 80's it details Queensland's improvement from the depths of the 60's. For instance there is a lot of detail on the challenge of playing Canterbury and the momentous games between the two provinces around that time. Suffice to say Queensland and Canterbury have a rich history of competition in the last 40 years, a heritage that was only burnished in last year's epic matches.

Cattledog, If it was up to me, I would return Queensland to their 'TRADITIONAL' maroon shirt & navy blue shorts, & call them the "Dark Reds". Now that would open up wonderful opportunities with producers of red wines, rums & other dark spirits.....

Thanks for the backgrounder, Sean. Did the Queensland jersey change in colour from maroon to red before rugby went professional, or was it some time after that? Also, I'm sure that Queensland sometimes bring out the heritage colours (maroon jersey, dark blue shorts) for games against NSW. I think that might have happened as recently as 2004. Can that be confirmed? (I concede it's unimportant.)

Thanks Sean, as usual, like Sheek's comments, always worth the read. I'm originally from NSW but have called QLD home for many years. I have no issue with the history but as I've said to Sheek above, it's all about the money. Of course, this would not work had they remained the Maroons, but since the call of 'Red' commenced, then for me it was only a matter of time until the colour itself was embraced. I like it but I know there would be many who don't. I get the feeling the marketers obviously think there's more money in red than maroon, which I tend to agree with. As a side, love reading your various histories on the game. Keep it up :)

Sheek, no argument from me although I would challenge your 'tongue in cheek' jibe about the number of syllables ;) However, as Crip has pointed out whilst I have in the past merchandised for the QLD Reds, I only wish I had the contract whilst they were winning...and in a more marketable colour! That aside, I agree any number of colours could be termed the generic red or blue etc, however, we're now talking the professional era and I for one believe red is more marketable than maroon (I'm sure many will disagree), however, from a dollar perspective, red sells more than maroon and I for one think it more vibrant than the more dour maroon.

Very interesting history, thanks.

Agree re standing too deep, though you can't expect things to run smoothly with a brand new 10 and a new 13. It takes time to build combinations though I thought Sam Lane looked to have the right stuff (as demonstrated in the 2nd try). Hopefully A. Faingaa back at 13 and Lucas and Harris for the Stormers in 2 weeks?

Seriously! Why cant the play more like Mark Ella!!!

Well he's massively missing Cooper and seems just a tad overweight and yes not running enough. But he's basically had to carry the reds for the last few games and clearly took responsibility to run things last night. But agree with virtually everyone, he's not playing well.