There’s been an awful lot of angst in the rugby league world over the past few weeks.
You can choose from any number of crises: the refs are useless, the media are laughable, the NRL administration is a shambles, the next Immortals are wrong…
I’m not acting like I’m any different, either. I’ve thrown a few spears when the occasion called for it. Like many fans, frustration has got the better of me as a relentless wave of negativity floods over the NRL season.
So it’s time for some positive thinking in a year of rugby league aggro. There’s a lot of hate out there. Let’s bring some affection.
You may agree, you may not. But it’s time to turn away from all the anger, to let some light into our hearts. I’ll start us off…
Rules
Rules control the fun, a wise person once said to me at a Christmas party. Now that the NRL have told the referees to stop ‘nitpicking’, we’re starting to appreciate just how important rules are and how good things can be when you’re enforcing them as opposed to ‘managing’ them.
I quite liked having a defensive line back ten metres and not having messy rucks that took five seconds to clear. It didn’t bother me one bit that teams got penalised if they broke the rules. I know I wasn’t alone in this school of thought either.
Funnily enough, after the NRL’s now traditional backdown, the two teams who benefit most from dirty rucks and ‘fast’ defensive lines are the two chiefly responsible for the crackdown in the first place, Melbourne and the Roosters.
Maybe ‘crackdown 2019′ will last a couple of weeks longer than 2018 did. Who knows? We might eventually reach a point where clubs learn that breaking the rules is their fault, not the game’s.
Which brings us to…
Referees
The saying goes ‘no referee, no game’ and you get the distinct impression the NRL is hellbent on destroying refereeing as a desirable career path for the kids. Refs get smashed every minute of every game and in rugby league no one, not even your own employer, will stand up for you.
Matt Cecchin. (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)
Enforce the rules! They’ll tell you. Then a few weeks later they’ll publicly humiliate you and tell you to back off, before asking you to crack down again just three weeks after that.
But you know what? I love referees. Even when I disagree with them. The team are a lot more resilient under fire than most of us grandstand heroes and I know 99 per cent of the haters wouldn’t have the courage to pick up a whistle themselves.
Maybe we can show some basic respect up and down the grades for those in the middle? It’s a first step I guess.
Wayne Bennett
Wayne Bennett is great. He’s made a career out of showing up doubters while building teams that are competitive. His ‘get off my lawn’ approach to public relations means that a 62 per cent winning record from more than 800 games is often overlooked or fobbed off because people just don’t like him.
He’s one of the best coaches we’ve ever seen and if this is his last year in rugby league it’s a shame, but he goes with a record that will take some beating.
Even now he’s managed to rebuild the Broncos on the sly while head office tries to boot him as far as possible.
A lot of people don’t like Wayne and that’s OK – he doesn’t care. That’s your problem.
Coach Wayne Bennett looks on during the Brisbane Broncos training session (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Player movement
I love player movement. It helps teams adjust rosters for premiership tilts, it gets young fellas game time when there aren’t opportunities and, most importantly, it helps players maximise what they can earn during a career with an average length under three years.
I also love the NRL world’s reasonably mature approach to players moving clubs. You rarely see the hysteria you do in AFL circles.
But I’ve even got an idea for how you can make it better. Keep the salary cap, make third-party payments public, whack on a trade deadline of June 30 and have a free for all, with any player able to go anywhere at any time.
Clubs can work it out as a player trade, or they can buy out a player’s existing contract (using salary cap cash) to get them on board.
There’s enough rubberiness around contracts these days. Why not just make things easier? None of this ‘he’s coming next year’ nonsense. Get it done now!
Decent analysis
When Newcastle played the Gold Coast a couple of weeks ago, I kept an eye on Mitchell Pearce, in his first game back from a bad injury. He swept back and forth across the field, organising and conducting as his side squeaked out a win.
It was fascinating to watch – but no one was telling me what he was doing and why he was doing it.
Say what you want about Channel Nine’s NRL coverage, they’re responsible for one of the game’s best phrases: “If you freeze it there…”
When Peter Sterling, Andrew Johns, Phil Gould and sometimes Paul Vautin break down a play, it’s brilliant viewing. There’s just not enough of it. Give us a TV show where teams are broken down into ‘x’ and ‘o’ to show us exactly what a side does on attack and defence.
All clubs look at set plays, defensive structures and ways they can exploit their opponent. Why isn’t anyone out there breaking it down for us? In-depth strategic analysis is criminally underused in rugby league coverage. If there was a show focused on it, I know a stack of us would be all over it like Uter Zorker on a chocolate cake.
Matt Nable’s commentary
Nable’s debut season on Fox NRL has been hairy at times, no doubt. But I like his calls. One thing about Warren Smith, Andrew Voss and most of the commentators on the network is that they can’t hide it when they’re enjoying a game and that rubs off on a viewer.
Nable gives the impression that he’s happy doing the job and I’m not going to rip a person for teething mistakes when I’m enjoying the coverage.
For all the complaining about commentators the NRL is actually in a decent place – try watching any AFL game on Channel Seven, then come back tell me what bad commentary sounds like.
Fox should be a great point of difference from the miserable, proudly ignorant, ref-bashing effort served up on free-to-air. The worst thing they could do is head down that path. There are a few bad signs that it’s sneaking in, they need to be cleaned up and I hope they sort it out.
Just don’t put Nable in the booth with Steve ‘Blocker’ Roach, please.
butch
Guest
Try Channel 7 AFL indeed. Try Fox commentary on Cowboys last forward pass try for a win against Newcastle last week. The Fox commentators barely mentioned an obvious forward pass as another attempt to avoid controversy. Bizarre.
Fraser
Guest
I really enjoyed "The Breakdown" with Matt Elliott on NRL.com. He did a great job looking at defensive and attacking structures of certain teams as part of match previews, or even just through looking at general trends in the competition. I'm not sure if there's anything similar being produced on Fox or Ch. 9.
Don
Roar Rookie
If the Dragons want to understand why they aren't going as well as earlier this year they need only look at individual player's efforts. Frizell, Vaughan, McInnes, Graham, DeBelin (hurt) and Aitken are all not having the same crack they were when the season started. I don't buy into this stuff about the ref focus impacting the Dragons. The refs haven't told Vaughan he can't run as hard and straight as he used to. The refs haven't made Tyson Frizell disappear for 10 minutes here and there. The refs aren't making Aitken look bad in defence... That said, Tariq Sims and Gareth Widdop are both still having a red hot go every match.
BA Sports
Roar Guru
Yeah the BEllamy Bunker is a flop. A great idea, but if Bellamy is going to be monotone and not give any great insight, then what I the point? As for the rest of Fox, I agree with Emcie, there is a lot of content time to fill but the increased presence of people like Rothfield are making it feel more and more like the Daily Telegraph Network - which given no one reads their papers anymore, I guess they have had to redirect "talent".... And bringing on people like Elias, I mean, that is just going for sound bites that can be replayed on the News channel and not caring about actual quality content. I get the need for the light hearted stuff, the game isn't big enough with enough real story lines to fill the network with loads of original informative programming but it has gone too far I think as well. The Professor can't get off the air soon enough. The Fan is probably the highlight for me as far as programming. NRL 360 is good in concept, and I can live with Kent, even if I don't agree with everything he says. But too much Rothfield, Ritchie and Crawley.. Its like walking into the Caringbah Inn...
BA Sports
Roar Guru
I'm with you Albo. Nable does 15 minutes of preparation for a game while Voss and co do hours and hours of prep - and it shows. And I have heard Nable sook about refereeing too - just when he complains, he doesn't know the actual rules or who the ref's are... When AJ says Nable sounds like he s enjoying the game, I don't hear it - nor see it. Nable is in the car park 33 seconds after the full time siren - he can't get out of there quick enough. Is that someone enjoying it? You watch/listen to some of the other commentators and they are genuine fans of the game - which is what you want as a fan of the game.
Edward Kelly
Roar Guru
Yes Fox misses Sterlo. They seem to be going down the NRL comedy show pathway which mostly involves ex-players filling in the minutes pretending to be immature boys. Time to dump Hindy, Fletch and the professor.
Edward Kelly
Roar Guru
You wrote my comment for me. Nable combined with Blocker is the worst commentary possible.
M20
Guest
You learn to change the channel from 9
Emcie
Roar Guru
How uninterested does Bellamy sound in those? And its not like the segments expose anything other then the usual clichés you get at halftime anyway
AJ Mithen
Expert
Great call Ren!
ren
Guest
You forgot the Western Reds. RL in Perth will only be a good thing for the game.
RandyM
Guest
at least fox don't have ray "try. try. try." hadley
no one in particular
Roar Guru
Fox's coverage is 8 live games a week with Gordian commentary and the rest of the time flogging whatever is the story of the week. Last week it was non-stop ref (and Greenburg) bashing, the week before was incessant Wally Lewis Medal talk. And they all have the same opinion. They seem to forget that while they are today bashing the bunker and Greenburg they were the ones who openly pushed for Greenburgs appointment because of the bunker You learn something listening to A.Johns, Sterlo and Gould. You learn zero listening to Fox
no one in particular
Roar Guru
Horrid. Absolutely horrid A few weeks ago he called Slade Griffin Jayden Brailey for an entire half. It would also help if he was articulate
Albo
Guest
Sorry AJ , but I can't stand him. He is about as good at commentary as he was as a first grade footballer and as he is as an actor. Quite ordinary ! If inaccuracies are what you like, he is your man. The only thing in his favour are the regular pregnant pauses he throws in as he checks players names and searches for something half interesting to say. And as Emcie notes, he usually has other Foxtel dregs as his support cast, eg Blocker, which makes the whole commentary a total borefest. Luckily I can watch the game with little need for commentary as I watch closely, but it would be nice to have some added points of interest available , or even call the right players names when they are interchanged for a start.
TigerMike
Guest
Obviously I'm no Broncos fan. but I love Wayne Bennett's TV interview skills! Ivan could learn how to handle the media by studying Bennett's tactics 100%
The Barry
Roar Guru
Well said Emcie Jeez - if the Dragons are sitting around thinking the refs have ruined their season...they're dead meat. I really think the rise of the Storm and Roosters has a lot more to do with getting their best teams on the park consistently and timing their runs than anything to do with the refs. Ditto but in reverse for the Dragons.
AJ Mithen
Expert
There's a lot to be said for teams that know what it takes to pace a season to make the top four and hit the best form at the right time. The first half of the year is practice.
Emcie
Roar Guru
I don't buy it, Paul Kent's observations are too dependant on whatever his current crusade is and a lot of what he's said about this is little more then opinion. There's too many other factors to just say that refereeing has changed the course of the season. The biggest factor in the Dragons early season dominance was that they effectively had an unchanged lineup for the opening 10 rounds, it's only been since they've had to deal with niggling injuries and disrupted lineups that their results have been much more modest. They've also had a fair few games where panalty goals were the difference rather then trys so if anything the increased penalties early in the season helped them assend further up the ladder then they would have otherwise. Storm and Roosters also had very shakey starts to the season thanks to massive changes in their spines (Storm are now on their 3rd rookie halves pairing) so of course they're going to improve over the season as things start to gell regardless of how the game is reffed. At any rate, it's not like it's a rare occurance for teams going well at the start of the season to drop off after origin (Dragons and Tigers have form here) as the good teams build towards finals rather then shoot out of the blocks.
godragonsgo
Guest
http://www.sportingnews.com/au/league/news/nrl-referee-melbourne-storm-sydney-roosters-st-george-illawarra-dragons/1g4638cmxroiz16tlfkwok45pf