I came away from the weekend’s Sydney Roosters vs Melbourne Storm clash with one principal observation.
It focusses on the final five minutes of the game, with the Roosters up by four points and time ticking away. During this final stretch the Storm were desperate for possession and to even up the game.
As such, Melbourne began to change the way they tackled their opponents. It wasn’t in every tackle, but on numerous occasions Storm defenders purposely went into tackles with the sole aim of stripping the ball in a one-on-one tackle.
One Storm defender would rush up and try to strip the ball, while others who were close enough to affect the tackle stood off and didn’t engage. At one stage commentator Andrew Voss said something to the effect of the Roosters players “resembling NFL running backs” in the way they were carrying the ball to the line – that is, holding the ball tightly with two hands and very close to their chest.
What surprised me watching this was that this tactic from the Storm seemed quite effective. The Roosters runners were almost stripped on more than one occasion and some even seemed hesitant running at the line, knowing a one-on-one strip was coming.
This tactic got me thinking. Why don’t more teams adopt this approach? Why not target specific players on the opposition who could be easier to tackle one on one and/or strip the ball?
One-on-one strips seem to be a massively under-utilised part of the game. They have a major impact, as we saw in the Origin series with Cameron Munster’s one-on-one strip on Stephen Crichton. And yet to me they rarely seem to be attempted purposefully. More likely is that a player finds themselves in a one-on-one tackle and then thinks to strip the ball rather than a team purposely deciding to go for strips.
In the NFL, defenders will commonly swipe at the ball or attempt to knock the ball out of a runner or receiver’s hands, yet this rarely happens in NRL games.
Of course, like many things in rugby league, we don’t seem to have any statistics on one-on-one strips available, so I can’t tell you how often strips happen and even how effective they are.
But it’s interesting to think about it. Do teams train tackling techniques where stripping the ball is the main goal? And which teams or players are better at it?
It could be that just like the short kick-offs from line drop-outs, we see a trend towards one-on-one strips as we start to look at the pros and cons of this technique.
But what do you think, Roarers? Do you agree that more teams should use the one-on-one strip?
What the !
Guest
I’m surprised that the Storm didn’t bring in martial arts experts to show them pressure point moves ? Especially those used on the shoulder, to make someone lose grip of what they’re holding. One player uses a pressure point grip on the shoulder, let’s go as the other takes the ball. I would have expected to see it often, after the wrestling moves have been used.
fiwiboy7042
Roar Rookie
The strip has been done in NZ rugby for generations although group (many-on-one) and individual (one-on-one) strips apply. I have never understood why NRL players can do this but Aussie rugby players can't (for the most part). It can change defence into offence very quickly and the crowd loves to see it (in a rugby sense). There is a technique to it (for league and running rugby) based on the ball carrier going into the tackle with the ball in one arm; the defender attacks that ball-carrying arm, and the arm, by knocking the ball from above and ripping it from below.
Birthday Suit
Roar Rookie
Ahaha sure thing champ.
Womblat
Guest
Rubbish. Opinion, not fact. Contrarian views always fall short.
Womblat
Guest
Congratulations. Half a decade is 5 years. Nearly half as long as I've been around. Stop picking fights kid. Just chase what you want. You'd be amazed how many of us want it.
astro
Roar Rookie
ha! Too kind RR...
ALL ABOUT BALLS
Roar Rookie
The strippers do have to be careful as it can backfire as some players know how to use it to beat off the stripper and make extra meters and even a line break Im still 50-50 on the strippers stealing the ball..,Short line drop outs are great and Im surprised it wasn't used earlier, even the 20 meter restart, kicking/finding the touchline and receiving the ball down the field should be used .
Birthday Suit
Roar Rookie
I’ve been a poster on this site for literally half a decade with close to a thousand comments (which you could have checked if you had bothered to take a second). I’m pretty clearly not Homer. Not gonna bother with the rest of your post as you can’t bother doing the bare minimum to confirm your accusations so I don’t believe you’d bother to do any other research either.
Womblat
Guest
Yes you do. If you aren't him, which you probably are based on your writing style and clear obesiance, I'll do my best to answer. When did the NRL make it legal to strip a ball after a group tackle if one person co-ordinates the others to drop off and the one left happens to be on the ball and rips it free? The answer is never. It's an adaptation, not a rule. Homer (you?) is wrong. The worst aspect of this is we both obviously love the sport, want it to survive and thrive, and yet you (Homer?) keep picking pointless fights to get some sort of intellectual one-up. Just not interested in the subtle trolling. Save the sport, don't play silly games.
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
My apologies astro, I neglected to acknowledge you: thanks for a thought provoking piece :thumbup:
Birthday Suit
Roar Rookie
Based off your reply to Homer it sounds like there is some history there which I am not interested in. But I do have to ask, how are you differentiating between ‘an adaption to a recent (rule) change’ and ‘only made legal in the past few years’? From my understanding the previous rules were very clear. Once a tackled player had been touched by more than one opposition player you could not strip them. The rules have changed to allow stripping of the ball once other tacklers drop off which makes new tactics with multiple players legal? Again, no idea about whatever background you two have but Homer seems to be entirely correct here?
Fraser
Roar Rookie
The interpretation of the voluntary tackle rule seems to be that it's a tackle as soon as a defender touches the prone player. So there really isn't a chance to do a one-on-one strip.
Womblat
Guest
"The awful gang strategy tactic was only made legal in the past few years." Wrong. This gang strategy was never "made legal". It is an adaptation to a recent change that no-one likes. And needs to be made illegal. I'd say we agree on that point but you'd only come back with some contrarian argument for the sake of it.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
PVL is looking at introducing lineouts into the NRL but is fence sitting on the proposal to introduce Union style shorts with pockets .
Homer Nixon
Guest
The other problem with the rule is that the NFL has no knock on. Dropping the ball is allowed, so it gives defenders the chance to knock it out guilt free.
Homer Nixon
Guest
Virtually every single “one on one” strip that’s been done the last ten years was a deliberae, co-ordinated gang strategy. Not true. The awful gang strategy tactic was only made legal in the past few years. Until then you could only do a one on one strip if you were the sole person to have ever engaged in the tackle. Even stripping after a broken tackle was illegal. It should go back to that rule.
Homer Nixon
Guest
Nah, that rule exists in rugby, so V'Landys would never want to adopt a rugby rule.
Womblat
Guest
Yeah and it's also a tragedy for what we don't see any more... the ball playing, offloading, Artie Beetson style forward. There was nothing better than watching someone offload to some speed demon in support but these unfair strips have eradicated that. Like decoy runners and HIA assessments, it's another negative adaptation to a recent change that diminishes, rather than enhances, the overall product.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
I can see a rule change coming up where the bobble will be a case of ''play on ,nothing to see here''
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
I'm not sure how it would affect the game as a spectacle but I was hoping to get Manly to use it as a shock tactic next time we made a GF, but I've lost a little bit of optimism on the GF aspect right now.