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After the Storm and Sea Eagles played out a 10-all draw at AAMI Park in Melbourne on Monday night, Glenn Stewart and Cam Smith said it was probably a fair result. So did Nathan Hindmarsh on the Matty Johns show afterwards.
They’re all wrong.
Such a great spectacle deserves a winner and the old saying a draw is like kissing your sister was never truer than on Monday night.
Despite the result and the fact there was only two tries scored in the whole game, it was one of the best matches of the season. It absolutely lived up to all the hype and it’s a pity it petered out into a series of long-distance hit-and-hope drop goal attempts.
That kind of finish – while exciting – is ugly, frustrating and does a grave injustice to the brilliant 80 minutes that preceded it.
Man-of-the-match Kieran Foran said it best: “I just wish we could keep playing, we played our heart out for 90 minutes and it’s a shame no one could walk away with the win.”
It’s only the first draw after 10 rounds, but surely there ought to be a way of getting more satisfying results in tight matches.
The best way to ensure there’s a winner is to lengthen the period of extra time, though I doubt that would get much support, especially when teams have to back up the following weekend.
But taking an example from the NFL could provide a solution.
A drawn match goes to extra time – maybe we can talk about lengthening extra time to 10 minutes each half?
If a team scores a drop goal, they take a one point lead but the game continues for the added period of extra-time – that’s silver point.
However if a team scores a try, they win and the game ends – as in golden point. Obviously there are no conversions.
While keeping the option of a drop-goal in play, this system would eliminate the constant hail-Mary attempts we usually see in favour of attacking and enterprising rugby league.
On Monday night, each team had the opportunity to put in an attacking last-tackle kick and build pressure – as they would have in regular time – but instead opted for 40 or 50 metre drop goals.
This new system allows teams the time and opportunity to build pressure, look for repeat sets and do what they do best – look to score tries.
Alternatively, we could just eliminate the golden-point element of extra time and let them go at it for ten minutes.
There’s no point in having the best attacking teams and players in the game setting-up for mindless drop-goal attempts rather than looking for a bigger reward.
We should revel in being able to see the Cooper Cronks and Kieran Forans of the game for an extra ten minutes in particularly tight matches; we shouldn’t be forced to witness them running around like headless chickens as they try to pull off the impossible.
Nor should they be forced to.
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