How to adapt to new NRL rule changes

The NRL season is back and what better way to start the year than with the celebration of an annual event, the traditional pre-season rule change.

The changes aren’t as widespread as last year and at the moment we have just one to contemplate. That is until the NRL announces more changes in the next few weeks.

The big rule change this year is the change to the refereeing of the ruck area. Instead of defenders peeling off the tackled player in two phases, as was the case for the last few years, all defenders must release the tackled player at the same time.

This rule change is fraught with potentially disastrous consequences but I’m willing to hold fire until the season is at least a few weeks old.

It’s always interesting to see how different coaches come up with different solutions to respond to NRL rule changes. Some teams seem highly prepared to deal with some new rules and unfamiliar with other changes while other teams seem to have no idea that rules have changed at times.

Saturday night’s Charity Shield showed us that both St George Illawarra and South Sydney have been coached up in how to manage this year’s big change.

As a result of the new rule interpretation, there is every likelihood that defenders will be strewn across the ground while the attacker is playing the ball. This means that the hooker will have a chance to dart from dummy half before the markers are set, drawing either a penalty or an easy 10 metres.

The first way to manage this is to assign one or two defenders in the vicinity of the ruck fill into the marker position. These players were not involved in the tackle and would ordinarily return to the defensive line when it was clear they weren’t required in the tackle.

The tacklers are instructed to simply rejoin the defensive line once they pick themselves up off the floor. Coaches who choose this strategy have considerable faith in their side to defend a couple of extra men.

Additionally, they are more concerned about a quick hooker repeatedly darting from dummy half than having their main defensive line breached.

Clearly this tactic has risks. You’re effectively establishing an eight or nine man defensive line to defend 13 attackers. But if the attacking side is in their own half and their attacking options are either a dummy half run or forward hit up, it is a fairly safe tactic.

You’re shutting down the dummy half run and all 16 NRL teams should be able to defend a forward hit up with just eight or nine defenders.

If the play the ball occurs towards the sideline such a ploy requires a good deal of communication from all 13 defending players. The markers must clearly identify themselves to their teammates and all defenders should shift towards the short side.

It is easy to adjust and slide when defending a 40-metre open-side, not so much when defending a 20-metre blind-side.

It would be very risky to see this ploy used when the attacking side is on the front foot because you might not get yourself in to position before the attack arrives, especially if they attack down the short side.

The chief concern is that the defender closest to the ruck on the short side shifts in towards the ruck when the man inside him moves in to the marker position.

This cannot happen. This defender has to stay out and have faith that his teammates will come to him. If the likes of Melbourne or South Sydney see a four on three, it’s game over for the defence.

If this ploy is not the right option coaches can instruct their tacklers to peel off mid tackle. We saw this quite frequently on Saturday night, before the tackle was fully complete the first defender peeled off and set himself as the first marker.

The second and possibly third defenders then completed the tackle and if possible, one of them will work himself into the second marker position.

This method is somewhat less risky because you are not sacrificing players from the defensive line, but there is every chance a smart team will take advantage of the one marker set up by running the hooker at that marker and having a teammate run a line off him.

This strategy is also not entirely effective when damaging ball carriers are carrying the football. It is not possible to simply peel off when George Burgess or Tony Williams are dragging three or four tacklers. As a result, it would be foolish to even try this when the opposition is steam rolling through you.

Finally, the third option is to do nothing. Instruct you defenders to do their best to get into the marker position but if they can’t, they can’t. Sure you are giving up an easy ten metres to the opposition, but you know you’re not giving up any more.

This is because the defensive line is set and there are no disruptions, no need to cover for overlaps or account for defenders potentially leaving the defensive line. This is almost a prevent defence for those NFL fans out there, you’re sacrificing a small number of metres in order to prevent the big break.

Additionally your tacklers aren’t just lying on the ground grabbing a breather, they’re working as hard as they can to get themselves into the marker position.

And we saw on Saturday night that it is still possible to peel off in a number of phases. There were multiple occasions that went unpenalised when the first two defenders released the tackled player before the third did, like the old rules.

It remains to be seen if the referees crack down on this as the season proper begins, that’s something we won’t find out until week one.

Over the coming few weeks we will see more and more teams in action under these new rules.

Keep an eye out for how teams deal with these new rules, if they’re using one of the tactics outlined in this article or something new altogether.

I will not be surprised if I see Craig Bellamy come up with a new way to slow the play the ball in order to get his defensive line set and his markers in position.

Twitter: @fromthesheds