Umm, it's rugby league not touch. Play the ball with the foot. Don't roll it between the legs. If it's touch footy speed you want, then get down to the local comp and watch the touch being played.
Pretty f**king simple.
Less interchange gets rid of the 20-30 minute footballer and opens the game up due to fatigued players. More points on offer and greater role for play makers. Heck, we might even see some decent halves return to the game instead of the 'athletes". Ball movement and skill the game currently lacks. Keeping the ball alive. Pretty simple.
No, it might not be perfect but it's a hell of a lot better than Bellamy ball wrestlathon we've had the past decade. Most (if not all) the blokes (even the wife) that I talk league with have despised what they've been watching for that period of time, can't stand the crap the goes on in the play the ball and don't believe it's as good a product as we had before wrestlemania. They want to see footy being played and desperately want a game of attrition/fatigue in the last 20 mins or so. Not a line of interchange players ready to come on fresh throughout the game.
There was a lot more variety and skill on display in attack and line breaks.
They had to be really inventive to make territory (for example chip kicks, run-arounds, elaborate set plays). I know at times it was scrappy but I would take scrappy but creative and eventful over 10metre hit ups, completions and the same decoy backline move every set any day of the week.
Disagree with all these points.
1. Foot play the balls = Slower rucks
2. less interchange = more fatigue = more penalties
and there will still be 20-30 minutes players to think otherwise is just delusion at its finest
3.
decent halves are not coming back, and making the forwards suffer to be 80 minute players will drive the quality down
4. they arent even targeting the wrestle so the whole "the wrestle will be gone" argument holds no water.
5. Yeah i know what i want to see in the final 20 minutes. Tired players making errors and penalties. f**k YEAH! That will bring the fans back.
Oh great. The horrible set plays from the 80's hiding where the ball was. Oh ive waited for decades for that to come back.
This year in the pre season Fox sports played heaps of 'classic' matches for teams from the 80's and 90's and beyond finals matches, they were all shit, so f**king shit.
No wonder people here want a return to that time. They cant see the fact that era of the game wasnt all that great.
and to think some of you took offense when i said you guys want the game to die.
Its pretty clear you guys do.
I'm down with it, blow the whistle ref.
Once the coaches and players realise and play by the rules, the penalties will diminish.
Every team had to catch up to the Craig Bellamy School of shit football, now everyone has and frankly, the game has been pretty shit, the NRL is trying to get the game back to where it was and that means a couple of steps back before we go forward.
Blow that whistle ref, get the crap out of the game.
Even the guy sitting next to me game in game out is for all these penalties. Cant see that doing this is ruining the game. Doesnt care cause he hates "the wrestle".
The speed of the play the ball isn't that big a factor. You don't need lightning PTB's for exciting footy. For years it's been the prolongation of the tackle that's hurting the game. A bunch of defenders holding the attacker up for as long as possible, before putting him on his back at the last possible second. In earlier eras this happened sometimes, but not very often. It was usually one or 2 defenders, nailing the attacker and cutting him down to ground tout d'suite. That was the definition of speedy. Down, done, get on with with it. A bit more leeway was given in the PTB's, otherwise the defence would never be able to get back onside. Defence and play may not have always been pretty, but it was brutal, efficient and fast (relative to today).The speed of the PTB? It can throw up surprises and opportunities, but it wasn't what made the game fantastic back then.
Games were uglier, less dynamic and boring one man out hit ups for 95% of the game and hide the ball obstruction plays that will be called obstruction today.
It wasnt faster, it was slower, honestly, do NONE of you ever go back and watch old games? The game was not faster in the 80's and 90's pre super league. It was a slower ploddathon. Ugly shit.
The only thing they ever did wrong was take away the benefit of a good tackle around the legs.
Cant change anyones rose coloured glasses opinion.
.
