BROWNIE: Rule changes forcing teams to play less like the Storm

Hey Scotty - Have you had to make any adjustments in the way you rate players?Is there anything that stands out that makes certain players rate higher or even lower than normal under the current format?

Unfortunately the smarts at the Melbourne Storn had been to the detriment of the game. The wrestle, the crusher, the flop etc. They have played the nrl like puppets and have gotten away with many it over the last decade. When one of their dirty tactics is rubbed out they counter with another. Shame on Bellamy n his cronies.

Morfs If Bellamy is as smart as I think he is he would have taken on board the last 15 mins. The Storm are outstanding at playing up tempo and given their weak forward pack this is what they must do if they want to play semis.

Muzz, Yes, in short. Many coaches and players are still learning. One thing is constant; the best coaches rise to the top. With only 40% of favs winning and less covering the handicap, we are seeing many surprise results. I have no doubt that the bookies honeymoon will be over soon, but I have found that matching the rules with the game plan of each team and not putting so much weight on past performances and repuations has been working.

Knocking back the Warriors job just means he wants his career as a coach to last more than a season and four weeks.

I am not happy with the rule that if the ball goes dead or in touch in goal or caught on the full in goal then the defending team starts their set on the zero tackle at the 30m zone, usually. If I was coaching I would be instructing teams not to put grubbers in goal unless they were very confident about not putting it dead or in touch. I would even instruct my players to run the ball on the last when they are in the opposition 20 metre zone rather than risk the opposition playing the ball on the first tackle at the 30m mark. Teams are losing field position and the advantage they built far to easily with this new rule. I think that rule change will also lead to more bombs and cross field chip kicks on the last tackle, 2 plays that are not my favourite. To my knowledge this rule was bought in to stop teams kicking the ball dead on purpose to stop players like Inglis and Slater bringing the ball back. I think it is a massive over reaction that has changed the tone of the game too much for something that very few coaches coached their side to do. I am also not a fan of the quick tap form a 40/20. Getting a scrum with the feed was already a great advantage and having the opportunity to attack from the scrum was perfect. If they wanted to save time then they should be putting time limits on how long they have got to pack the scrum after the 40/20. It is a stupid rule change. Brownie, what position would you play Merrin and DeBelin? Since you were not interested in the Warriors coaching job, does that mean that you may be coming home to Saints next year?

Brownie, I spoke to Cocko and he confirmed that you are definitely a punter. How's the bank account? Melbourne and their style adopted by other teams was killing the game. Whilst I agree that a defensive game can be every bit and often more entertaining than a free flowing game, to my eye the football this year has been the most enjoyable in recent memory. We have also seen a lot of relatively low scoring and very close matches. This explains how many in the eight can have negative for/against. So it isn't true that cleaning the ruck would create touch football matches. When it comes to the ruck interpretation I think that they have it spot on right now.

NRL Nation was setup last year to survey fans and members. The survey relating to the rules of the game came back with the overwhelming result of fans frustration with timewasting. The rules committee then recommended reducing the amount of scrums, increasing the amount of quick taps, stopping captains from arguing with the ref and stopping the clock in the final five minutes as solutions. I don’t think it had anything to do with the TV deal directly, but rather the fans having a say for the first time, rather than just the coaches, who happily turned the game into a negative play, wrestlemania.

I think it also helped that our forwards like J Bromwhich, Harris, and Proctor, started to really churn up plenty of metres per carry late in the game. Bromwhich, in particular, was a beast, with a massive first hit-up from the kick-off after our third try. This gave us a chance to get some quicker play the balls, but also get some offloads in, resulting in a bit of ad-lib. I suspect that, as well as having Cronk, Smith, and Slater in the side, having a game plan & structure that relies on precise passing also helps out in ad-lib situations, and ball-handling is vital, and teams that have a lot of structure passing moves tend to have good ball handling. Also of note, as well as the forwards, and ad-lib play, we cut a lot of the errors out of our game in the last 15-20 minutes. The impact of this should not be underestimated.

To use one former and one current prop forward from my beloved Sea Eagles as an example... A player like Brenton Lawrence is purpose-built for the game with its new rules. Big, strong, lean, mobile, fast, has stamina and is good with the ball. A player like George Rose, however, will struggle. That's probably why he hasn't seen much game time this season.

Get rid of interchanges completely. Bring back 2 substitutes. Back in those days players were lighter and more agile = better quality game.

The faster team (NSW) will probably win.

Funny wasn't it? Crowds were dwindling, tv ratings were static and then a bililion dollar tv deal was signed and the rules were changed to create a faster, more free flowing game. I wonder if it was a co-incidence?

Fair enough Roarsome, but the rules say, once the player has been tackled, the defenders are required to roll away. Not hang around, wrestle and lounge around. The eradication of that part of the game is a relief, because the game was becoming unwatchable.

Well that doesn't sound like any NSW halves.

Scott - Will things settle down and go back to normal ?

I reckon change it from 10 to 6 but allow teams to change whatever they want at halftime. That would still allow up to 10 changes but because four of them can only be made at halftime and everyone gets a rest at halftime anyway i reckon it would tire the players out more. Coaches rarely make changes to the playing 13 at halftime because it's seen as a wasted interchange

Brownie, Great article... Did you notice how much better the Storm looked when they played ad lib footy in the last 15 mins when they needed 3 tries? As Brownie said, the new rules suit unstructured but you still need the roster to pull it off. The Cowboys, the Warriors and the Raiders play ad lib footy and so far it is not working for them. The Bulldogs so far have been relying on brute forward power up the middle with no passing. They have had a lot of wet games and those tactics worked for them. Given that Souths are down 3 of their top 4 fowards, they would be crazy to change what has worked for them, but it will be interesting down the track when the rain goes. It seems the new rules also make bombs or accurate short tactical kicks much more important so a players like Cooper Cronk and Jarrad Mullens have just gone up in value. Also, because of the bombs, the fullback and wingers must be competent at taking the high balls which has been red flagged with Ben Barba recently.

Probably the team with more skilled, more creative halves will win

In the past I would have disagreed with you - a tough defensive game is still a thing of beauty. Anything that gets rid of the wrestle though is great in my book