9s...what did you learn?

[POPEYE]

1. Ponga is a freak!
2. Warriors get worse by the year
3. People who judge too early on who's gonna do well or who will go shit and end up eating their own words
4. No one knows how to convert tries even from right in front
5. 9s should be an event where it moves around to different cities and countries each year instead of one

Agree with all that ol' mate . . . imagine when the 9's become fairdinkum and coaches put in specialist players that understand and commit to the difference between 7 and 4

 

[TheDMC]

2. Warriors get worse by the year
3. People who judge too early on who's gonna do well or who will go shit and end up eating their own words

Are you 3. Panther?

 

[Fufu Andronez]

Gela-Moseby looks awesome..

Can any cowboys fans shed some light on how far away from FG he is?

 

[PARRA_FAN]

Like every other year it would good to see a lot of young players who either haven't played first grade or barely played first grade set the 9s alive.

Some close and exciting games as well.

Also the predictions not many thought of. How many people thought Panthers and Storm would be in the top 4 based on their squads and thought the Warriors would be 0-3?

I agree with the part of taking it elsewhere, Brisbane looks likely to be next place which I think would be great.

 

[muzby]

I didn't see a game, and I don't feel like I've missed out on anything..

So what I've learned is we can scrap the 9's

 

[MilkShark]

The 9's is a far better game than the current 13 a side format. If the clubs were to play this game every week with their top squad, ratings would go through the roof.

What did I learn from the 9's this year?

With clubs not sending their best players it really takes away any interest I have in it. Sure Roosters won, good for them, but it literally means NOTHING. I think unless clubs start taking it serious than the format has a limited life span.

 

[lockyno1]

No injuries from my side was all I cared about.

 

[T-Boon]

The 9's is a far better game than the current 13 a side format. If the clubs were to play this game every week with their top squad, ratings would go through the roof.

This is why I say go to 11 aside. More space = more passing and running and less wrestling so more one on one. With 11 men you could play over 80 minutes. So long as you had quarter time breaks as well.

 

[betcats]

I just don't like the 9s style of play. To open and easy to break through the defence, id rather see teams earn their tries. Defence should always be a big part of the game.

 

[T-Boon]

I just don't like the 9s style of play. To open and easy to break through the defence, id rather see teams earn their tries. Defence should always be a big part of the game.

If Nines was the major competition though you would see teams teach their player to tackle properly again. the defence would improve. I don't won't the code to go to 9 a side but 11 a side would be awesome.

 

[Perth Red]

I love attack over defence. Give me a 24-22 game over a 6-4 game any day of the week.
Each to their own.

Plenty of great tackles at the nines, and how refreshing one on one not three on one, two up top, eventually third man around the legs, wrestle, wait 5mins to peel off, play the ball.
A one on one tackle requires a lot more skill and fitness than our current 3:1 mess.

 

[DiegoNT]

I just don't like the 9s style of play. To open and easy to break through the defence, id rather see teams earn their tries. Defence should always be a big part of the game.

So much this.
Its actually boring seeing so many tries. Most were far to easy anyway. I know people have a problem with so called 'boring' football played in an origin or finals match, but that tension created by 1 team throwing everything at their opposition and the other team fighting tooth and nail to hold on just can't be beat. It makes those long range tries and freakish plays even better when tries are hard to come by and earnt. 9s is fun but boring. 'Oh wow another length of the field try, that's the 4th one I've seen this hour'.

 

[betcats]

There was so much space out there that James Tamou stepped his way through the line for tries twice. And I mean step through virtually untouched he didn't overpower anyone 1v1. Its boring for me, players were constantly making easy breaks with only a little footwork. If teams practiced this full time the attack would dominate the defence much more imo, theres too much space out there and to many skilled players for 9 guys to defend.

 

[Perth Red]

That's like saying there are too many runs scored in BBL lol. Nines is a great platform for bringing kids and new fans to the game like BBL is doing for cricket.

You must love soccer if it is tension and low scoring you like?

 

[betcats]

That's like saying there are too many runs scored in BBL lol. Nines is a great platform for bringing kids and new fans to the game like BBL is doing for cricket.

You must love soccer if it is tension and low scoring you like?

I do like soccer but I also love basketball. And FTR many people do think the 20/20 is far too batting orientated. Any new fan who liked the 9s would probably be disappointed by a normal nrl game with the defence actually being more than an afterthought. And are we just assuming its bringing new fans to the game? Is there any way to quantify that? Because the 9s seems to be getting less popular.

I just don't think it should be easy to score in rugby league. People say it showcases the skills of rugby league players but if It was to become more and more popular or the main format I think it would decrease the skills of our players(similar to what 20/20 has done) in terms of ball playing, hole running etc, all that stuff would play second fiddle to speed, size and footwork. It would become a game purely for athletes. Body shapes would become even more similar. You'd have 1 or 2 small fast guys and everyone else would be somewhere between your average centre and backrower.

 

[DiegoNT]

Here's what I've learned about the 9s
- Crowds and TV ratings were down. People aren't interested
-Roosters, Storm and Panthers were the most succesful and entertaining teams of the comp.
- people are blaming a lack of stars for loss interest.
- Storm, Panthers and roosters were criticised for not bringing the stars
- storm, Panthers and roosters all beat teams who did bring their stars by playing better football
- people are still criticising teams like Panthers after the event
- people aren't interested in good 9s football, they are interested in the stars. The stars are made because they are good at 13 a-side. Therefore 9s is absolutely nothing without normal nrl. Nobody wants to watch good 9s footy. They want to watch guys like haybe, johnson, thurston and milford crash out in the quarters
- Teams can't take the comp seriously by sending good young players suited at 9s, without sitting out established stars not suited to 9s but bring the interest.
- who gets criticised next year for not taking it seriously, teams who send out virtually under 20s like storm, panthers, roosters or teams who send out big named players who attract the crowds, but aren't good at 9s like Cowboys, Broncos and warriors of years past

 

[betcats]

Here's what I've learned about the 9s
- Crowds and TV ratings were down. People aren't interested
-Roosters, Storm and Panthers were the most succesful and entertaining teams of the comp.
- people are blaming a lack of stars for loss interest.
- Storm, Panthers and roosters were criticised for not bringing the stars
- storm, Panthers and roosters all beat teams who did bring their stars by playing better football
- people are still criticising teams like Panthers after the event
- people aren't interested in good 9s football, they are interested in the stars. The stars are made because they are good at 13 a-side. Therefore 9s is absolutely nothing without normal nrl. Nobody wants to watch good 9s footy. They want to watch guys like haybe, johnson, thurston and milford crash out in the quarters
- Teams can't take the comp seriously by sending good young players suited at 9s, without sitting out established stars not suited to 9s but bring the interest.
- who gets criticised next year for not taking it seriously, teams who send out virtually under 20s like storm, panthers, roosters or teams who send out big named players who attract the crowds, but aren't good at 9s like Cowboys, Broncos and warriors of years past

Yep. If the format was so good it wouldn't need superstars in every team to generate interest. We had some of the biggest stars in the game at the tourney and people are saying it wasn't enough we need more stars there. If that's the case just scrap it.

 

[DiegoNT]

Yep. If the format was so good it wouldn't need superstars in every team to generate interest. We had some of the biggest stars in the game at the tourney and people are saying it wasn't enough we need more stars there. If that's the case just scrap it.

There were still somewhere close to 30-40 players who had played origin and/or test football for one of the 3 big test teams, a host of premiership winning players, young stars, established 1st graders etc.

 

[bileduct]

I didn't learn anything new. Nines was a crap format before, is still now. Boring.

 

[betcats]

There were still somewhere close to 30-40 players who had played origin and/or test football for one of the 3 big test teams, a host of premiership winning players, young stars, established 1st graders etc.

Best player in the game in JT. Best forward in the game in JT. Hayne is probably the biggest name in the game or very close to it plus all these other stars, and the MVP ends up being a young kid. Last years MVP was uncapped and in this years team of the tournament did not feature one current international from aus/nz or origin rep.