Has the NRL gone boring this year? Seven rounds into the season it has become a talking point. In the first 56 matches this season, 17 have featured a winning score of 18 or less.
This is roughly 30 percent. Five teams have failed to score a point.
Penrith has just copped consecutive 30-0 defeats at the hands of Manly and Wests Tigers. Looks like Panthers coach Ivan Cleary has a lot of work to do.
Speaking of coaches, as we all know, their careers are on the line in every game. With that in mind, coaches are only after results. But with that mantra, has the entertainment of the game suffered?
This year there are seven new coaches: Cleary, Wayne Bennett, Steve Price, Michael McGuire, Des Hasler, Brian McClennan, and Geoff Toovey. It will take some time for them to implement their plans.
On the weekend we’ve seen kickers such as Jamie Soward and Kris Keating kicking the ball dead, conceding the opposition a 20-metre tap, rather than dealing with open-running fullbacks or wingers such as Billy Slater or Akiula Uate.
Being a Dragons fan, watching Soward consistently kick the ball dead was not only frustrating but boring. I also didn’t like the idea of giving the opposition a 20-metre headstart either; I prefer them doing the hard yards from their own try line.
There are several other negative tactics that NRL coaches employ to get the upper hand.
Wrestling around the ruck, which has been mastered by Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy in the last six or seven years, is a deliberate ploy to slow down the play-the-ball, allowing the defensive line to set.
The majority of other teams have copied the Storm’s tactics, which overall has made the game slower and more defensive.
The game now has two referees – you would think one of them would police the ruck, cleaning it up.
Rather than hearing about wonderful tries, we now hear about grapple tackles, the prowler, the chinstrap, chicken wing, drumstick, and the grilled fish. It is getting out of hand.
Another conservative or negative tactic is when teams go for two points 20 metres out, when they know they have the opposition stretched. The Dragons regularly employed this, especially under Wayne Bennett’s three-year reign.
Coaches such as Parramatta’s Stephen Kearney have brought in a more structured, boring game plan, which may not suit his attacking players like Jarryd Hayne, Ben Roberts and Chris Sandow.
Sandow, who took $550,000 a year to defect from the Rabbitohs, is quickly becoming the biggest flop of the season. The result: Parramatta is coming last.
But also in general play, teams now do one-out hit-ups from their forwards, and rarely offload the ball to create second phase play, allowing attacking weapons to be used. Ironically Parramatta used second-phase successfully on their way to the grand final in 2009.
Many halves don’t take the line on, while centres don’t give enough quality ball to their outside wingers. While hookers still give out silly forward passes. OK, maybe I’m sounding like a nark, but I want what’s best for the game, and that is full of entertainment. Without entertainment, you lose crowds and ratings.
The worst game I’ve seen this year was Newcastle versus Parramatta in round six. I turned it off with 20 to go. The best I’ve seen this year was round one between the Warriors and the Sea Eagles. There were brilliant tries, including those from Daly Cherry Evans and Shaun Johnson. It was fun to watch.
You want to see teams play positively, like running on the last tackle, especially if they have good field position. You want halves like Soward to kick the ball in the in-goal area and try to tackle the fullback to force a goal-line drop out. You want more teams to ignore the two points and go for a try.
I want to see set-piece moves from scrums or penalties. Teams should try the short kick-off, just to catch their opposition off guard. Short kick offs are currently only used when a team is playing catch up in the dying minutes.
But to do all of that, you want coaches to instil positive tactics to their players.
The Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield the other day stated that the NRL should not expand due to the lack of quality in this year’s matches. He said we don’t have the players for 16 teams, let alone 18.
I think that’s nonsense. We have the players for the 16 clubs, but we also have NRL players in the English Super League, while a few have gone to rugby union, and, dare I say it, a couple have gone to AFL.
Perhaps one sticking point is the quality of the halves. But again, if the ruck area is cleaned up, it does allow the little man back in the game.
If anything, does the NRL have the quality of coaches going around, especially positive coaches? Also, are our referees up to scratch?
This is probably a phase the NRL is going through. It’s still a great game to watch, but we all know it can get better. And we’ve seen better. Rugby league has been successfully fighting against boredom since 1908, and will continue to do so.
With the NRL taking a break this weekend, I hope it gives players and coaches a chance to regroup and perhaps think differently. I’m sure Penrith are eager to score some points.
Hopefully everyone is thinking about a positive brand of football, and getting the game back to where it was, which is what made us all fans to begin with.
WotsHappenedToOurGame?
Guest
morfs did you watch the manly vs storm game at brooky oval tonight? how can you tell me thats fair? There was no consistency in the ref's? The storm got away with slowing the play the ball down to the point smith would tackle then wrestle with the player then get up after wrestling and then again put his hand down on the player not to let him up. This wasnt once or twice. They do it consistantly all game to the point the refs must think i cant penalise them every single tackle, i will get the sack if i make it out of this oval alive. There slowness in the ruck is consistant and they get away with it, It all went downhill when the storm entered the nrl. im sorry to say that and dont mean to be rude or upset fan's. They could play nsw or the new zealand test side anyday and come out with a win. They are magicians at bending rules, wrestling, putting in that list little hold to ensure the attacking side has lost momentum and constantly get away with it to win. Time to sack Bill harrigan and get in a fresh referee's boss, Bill has turned our game around in a way thats shameful.
WotsHappenedToOurGame?
Guest
What has happened to the best game in the world? The like of the storm and bronco's who are magician at slowing the ruck down and rarely get penalised for it. The other teams who are not as skilled at wrestling and do not have the skilled techniques like the storm consistantly get penalised. The game has gone from a fast paced hard hitting game to a game to see who is the most skilled at holding players down and slowing down the attacking team. The Storm are the best by far at this and yes they are leading the nrl ladder by 4 to 6 points plus. Its really disapointing to see that the days of fast play the balls are over. Even when the defending team is penalised the referee's do not allow the attacking team a quick play the ball. I have loved and watched NRL for 20 years but sorry to say since the storm bought in the shifty tactic of wrestling and slowing the play the ball our lovily game took a dive.
Luke
Guest
Reduce the tackles to 5 and move the play the ball back 15 metres. Also limit the number of tacklers to two
B.A Sports
Catery, while there is no doubt that teams are managing to slow the ruck down, it has a lot less to do with the percieved "boring" style of play being seen as the attacking dimensions of teams does. A low score line doesn't equal a boring match. The Storm v Bulldogs game was exciting and it was only 12-6. The Bronco bashing astounds me. They are one of the more entertaining teams to watch. As are the Storm despite the perception that because they introdcued the wrestle to the game, in attack they provide alot of flair. The boring teams are the two that have been influenced most by the guy who is hailed as the best coach since Jack Gibson (and some say ever), Wayne Bennett. The Dragons have been a dull team to watch for 5 years, even when they are winning, and now that exact same style is being put into tplay in Newcastle and it is just as dull.
PJ
Guest
Rugby League is officially boring and this is coming from a 30 year follower of the game. The monotony of the game is driving me made. 13 100kg plus players taking the ball up for 5 plays before kicking to a corner and hoping for the best.
oikee
Guest
I mentioned in some post the refs had their heads in the ruck, and i think it was the Storm Dogs game. this is why you got a quicker game. The storm had trouble holding down because the ref was constantly in their face, and the score was close because of this. Look, once the Storm cant wrestle, or start to be penalised, they will quickly come back to the pack.
oikee
Guest
Nail Head, yes agree, and is why league keeps stuffing things up, the game becomes complacent. I can just see Haragon with his back to the game sucking a paddle-pop while chatting up a sheila. In the meantime the fans are screaming blue murder because the game is turning to crappolla, and the players are loooking up at the box for support, which is not coming. Yes Cat, nail head. Spot on. Haragon would be the guy i would be going after if i run the game.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
The Sharks v Eels score of 26-18 decent number of tries,open game of football,holding down penalised: ask Hindmarsh,end to end stuff.Nerve wracking to watch,that is what entertainment should be. The Storm ATM are the real entertainers,(although some of their wrestling tactics should bepinged),prepared to try diffeernt attacking moves either strucured or ad lib.The Storm v Bulldogs game was another great game to watch.Both sides played their part.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
It's a question of degree of course, but days of yore, it was not unknown for teams to want to push the envelop as far as: 1. slowing down the play-the-ball; and 2. sneaking up on the 5m or 10m. Teams would take as much latitude as the refs afforded them on the day, in some games, you'd get away with a bit more than other games (not suggesting anything sinister, it's just the way it can pan out at times). But you can see how a trend can occur over a few years where refs let that little bit more go, and before you know it...
sunshine
Guest
I thought they didnt get to the end of their set to even kick the ball. The thing that is boring me this year in league is the repetition. It seems that most teams arent even c to me hancing their arms on the 4th to 5th tackles. 5 runs one out or from dummy half and a kick. That to me is what is boring the game.
jamesb
Guest
Will reducing the interchange is a great point. Hopefully its reduced from 10 to 8 sooner rather than later. That along with less wrestling in the ruck, you'll than start seeing a more attractive game. Also more importantly the halves will become more prominent
Morfs
Guest
I know you're a fan of the Ponies, oikee, but tell me, do you watch any of the Cowboys' games? In particular, I'm thinking of the round 6 game between them and the Storm. As I recall, the Storm regularly had 2-3 players in the tackles, but I wouldn't call it a slow, or boring game. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the final score was 18-42, was it not? Not exactly low scoring, hey? As for the game against the Puppies last weekend, again, 2-3 man tackles, but it was still fast-paced, and one of the most intense games I've watched; up there with the 2008 game against Manly at Brookevale. Good, intense games, lots of big hits, solid defence, but neither was high scoring. Lastly, YES, the Storm wrestle, YES they will, SOMETIMES, kick for touch/the ball dead, but they will mix it up with solid defence after that, or try more aggressive kicks/plays throughout the match. They're also showing more and more willingness to shift the ball within their own 10m/try zone, try telling me that's boring.
oikee
Guest
Its funny, league fans can watch a game, lets take the storm for instance, and with-in the first set of tackles you know weather it is going to be a fast game or slow game. If 2 tacklers hold the player up and a third man comes in, nitey nite, slow game lads. If a player learches and starts to wriggle like a dead fish on the ground, ripper, fast game. :)
oikee
Guest
Point zero zero zero of a second makes ahuge difference in ruggy league cattery. The point is, league fans notice the change in .00028 of a second. :) We are like the swimming at olympics. :) Or the Gymnastics, 3 summersaults with a backward twist in the forward motion followed by a barnickle twist in the perch position with a double headrest, oh gee whiz, he moved his foot on landing,. bad luck. :)
oikee
Guest
Dont talk about kicks, to me kicks are for teams who ave run out of ideas. Penrith, are you reading this, it was a kickathon last weekend, and they scored accordingly, Zero, no points, they lacked ideas, and lacked class.
JVGO
Guest
Agreed Will. I'm a Sharks fan but they have been winning very ugly, with pretty basic football but great defense. I love watching the Sharks ferocious defence, they hit hard and are definitely not the worst at the wrestle. But I have been very dissappointed with some of their conservative play this season, particularly the Newcastle game and the second half againt the Panthers. They showed some signs of more confidence and attacking all across the park last week instead of just down the middle which was promising.
JVGO
Guest
Teams should need to score 20-30 points to win. Obviously if you score zero you are probably going to lose.
Morfs
Guest
No worries, you asked a question, and I happened to have my copy of Big League in hand, with the breakdown of total tries & goals per team. As to kicks, I had to do a little more digging. My calculations are below, but please note that I am not a statistician, just a sad League supporter who likes to look at stats to keep himself busy. total kicks after 7 rounds: 2,136 avg: 38.14 kicks per game total kick meters after 7 rounds:64,399 avg: 1149.98 kick meters per game If you want more info, I'd suggest looking here: http://www.nrl.com/TelstraPremiership/ClubStats/tabid/10254/Default.aspx
kovana
Guest
Thanks. Also.. Any stats on Kicking involved? Whats the Average amount of Kicks per match? I read last season it was around 19 or 20 kicks per match. Not much different from Rugby... Also at 19 kicks per match. Please correct me if im wrong. Cheers.
Jaceman
Guest
Would you prefer 30-0 which were Penriths last 2 games I think. To keep people interested you need close games and the lower the score the better chance of that happening...