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Call for NRL to trial players wearing gloves
WHEN Ron Massey talks rugby league you listen and this week one of the game's great innovators had a thought: why don't we let NRL players wear gloves like they do in NFL?
Massey was at home watching the football on ESPN when a sports science segment grabbed his attention.
It showed how the new high-tech silicone-coated gloves had reduced the average number of dropped balls last season in NFL by 12 per cent.
Massey explained: "It has certainly helped them and, I mean, they are not dumb over there. They wouldn't be using them if they didn't work."
The study tested the force it takes to dislodge balls squeezed in consistent pressure, what host John Brenkus referred to as the coefficient of friction.
It is essentially a material's resistance to sliding and, as Brenkus' experiment proved, these new gloves are 2 1/2 times stickier than car tyres.
"And compared to an older pair of receiver gloves," he explained, "the latest gloves require nearly 25 per cent more force to dislodge a ball."
Massey added: "They take some miraculous catches over there, which are thrown pretty fast and pretty long. And they all wear them.
"I think anything that makes it easier for our wingers and fullbacks to handle the football has to be a plus for the game. I don't know whether they would consider it now or not but the one thing we want in our game is to improve and cut out the mistakes.
"Well, this is one that would certainly reduce the handling mistakes by a good percentage. I believe it has a lot to offer."
Gloves have been worn in the AFL since the mid-1990s but at the beginning of 2012 concerns were raised that the new "sticky" gloves were giving some players a significant - and unfair - advantage.
"It feels like you can't drop a mark with it," one player said at the time. "They're so sticky that all you have to do is just put one hand out and it sticks."
Which is also the immediate fear for rugby league, that it could change the fabric of the game. But what if it improves the quality of the spectacle - is that good or bad?
Gloves were first trialled more than 20 years ago in rugby league when Tim Sheens was coaching Canberra but the game's administrators outlawed the idea before it really got going.
Sheens recalled this week: "Gary Belcher wore them at training and in a trial - that would have been 1991 - and the league rang up and knocked it back. They reckoned it was dangerous with the way they were put together.
"They said it was more likely to cause damage to a player from the point of view of cutting him. They were a little rough, I have to admit, but mind you they were a lot different in those days."
Given the advances in the gloves and the fact we now play so much night football, Sheens has no doubt the idea is worth another look.
"It could be something that could be revisited, there is no doubt, depending on the condition of the glove," he said.
"The gloves could be something you could do in the All Stars game or in the 20s (Toyota Cup) to trial it. I'm not calling for it but it could be trialled, no doubt."
Massey has long been an innovator. He was the brains behind Jack Gibson and is a man who still gives advice on league and life to today's coaches like Wayne Bennett and Ricky Stuart.
"These blokes are defying the laws of gravity," Massey said about the modern player. "I never thought I'd see better wingers than Eric Grothe and Ken Irvine but these blokes today, what they do and the tries they have scored ... It is just unbelievable what they can do.
"They are scoring tries that have never been scored before and if this could improve their handling, why not?"
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/n...6537201012
WHEN Ron Massey talks rugby league you listen and this week one of the game's great innovators had a thought: why don't we let NRL players wear gloves like they do in NFL?
Massey was at home watching the football on ESPN when a sports science segment grabbed his attention.
It showed how the new high-tech silicone-coated gloves had reduced the average number of dropped balls last season in NFL by 12 per cent.
Massey explained: "It has certainly helped them and, I mean, they are not dumb over there. They wouldn't be using them if they didn't work."
The study tested the force it takes to dislodge balls squeezed in consistent pressure, what host John Brenkus referred to as the coefficient of friction.
It is essentially a material's resistance to sliding and, as Brenkus' experiment proved, these new gloves are 2 1/2 times stickier than car tyres.
"And compared to an older pair of receiver gloves," he explained, "the latest gloves require nearly 25 per cent more force to dislodge a ball."
Massey added: "They take some miraculous catches over there, which are thrown pretty fast and pretty long. And they all wear them.
"I think anything that makes it easier for our wingers and fullbacks to handle the football has to be a plus for the game. I don't know whether they would consider it now or not but the one thing we want in our game is to improve and cut out the mistakes.
"Well, this is one that would certainly reduce the handling mistakes by a good percentage. I believe it has a lot to offer."
Gloves have been worn in the AFL since the mid-1990s but at the beginning of 2012 concerns were raised that the new "sticky" gloves were giving some players a significant - and unfair - advantage.
"It feels like you can't drop a mark with it," one player said at the time. "They're so sticky that all you have to do is just put one hand out and it sticks."
Which is also the immediate fear for rugby league, that it could change the fabric of the game. But what if it improves the quality of the spectacle - is that good or bad?
Gloves were first trialled more than 20 years ago in rugby league when Tim Sheens was coaching Canberra but the game's administrators outlawed the idea before it really got going.
Sheens recalled this week: "Gary Belcher wore them at training and in a trial - that would have been 1991 - and the league rang up and knocked it back. They reckoned it was dangerous with the way they were put together.
"They said it was more likely to cause damage to a player from the point of view of cutting him. They were a little rough, I have to admit, but mind you they were a lot different in those days."
Given the advances in the gloves and the fact we now play so much night football, Sheens has no doubt the idea is worth another look.
"It could be something that could be revisited, there is no doubt, depending on the condition of the glove," he said.
"The gloves could be something you could do in the All Stars game or in the 20s (Toyota Cup) to trial it. I'm not calling for it but it could be trialled, no doubt."
Massey has long been an innovator. He was the brains behind Jack Gibson and is a man who still gives advice on league and life to today's coaches like Wayne Bennett and Ricky Stuart.
"These blokes are defying the laws of gravity," Massey said about the modern player. "I never thought I'd see better wingers than Eric Grothe and Ken Irvine but these blokes today, what they do and the tries they have scored ... It is just unbelievable what they can do.
"They are scoring tries that have never been scored before and if this could improve their handling, why not?"
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/n...6537201012
