Auckland Nines

[scottgourley]

Another longtime reader who thought they'd finally register so I can start throwing my opinion/thoughts out there.

Fact: Our attack is pedestrian, lethargic, and completely lacking in cohesion. Players are receiving the ball standing still, and are looking to someone else (anyone else!) to come up with the magic play to either score points or put us in a position to do so. No guesses as to who the players have looked to in the last 3 months or so.

Our last tackle options are, well frankly embarrassing. (Yes, I'm looking at you Mr Fein). It bothers me that every other squad seems to be much more coherent on attack, have some reasonable 5th tackle options, and generally do things at twice the speed we do.

Call me crazy but I've long thought that it wouldn't do an harm for the guys to play some touch rugby together over the summer to work on their attack and come up with some better plays. Like touch, the Nines will be an attack focused game. I think this concept has come at a great time for STGI and they stand to benefit more than most.

I actually think we'd have a reasonable chance of doing well in Auckland given the pace of our outside men (evident when they actually get good ball in space) and the mobility of some of our forwards.

I think the extra space would suit the guys and give them a chance to work on the problematic attack. Also, the fact that most other clubs are unlikely to take the Nines too seriously, I think it could also be a great chance to taste some early season success, and take some momentum and confidence into the season proper.

I'm not sure what positions are excluded for Nines or what the forward/back split is but Dugan, Morris, Nightangale, Beale, Farrell, Quinlan, Widdop, Williams, Vidot, Creagh, Merrin, Prior, Harrison, Frizzel, De Belin, and Rein would make up a more than handy squad.

I would like to see the club embrace the Nines concept fully. And I'm not just saying that cause I live in NZ and would love to see a full strength team sent over in February either!

Apologies for the lengthy post.

Your thoughts? (Be gentle, it's my first time)

 

[Father Ted]

Welcome Scottgourley .

Great to see readers become posters . My thoughts are that I am unhappy with the thought of risking our players in a crap event , but thats my opinion. But the idea of losing ( Dugan, Morris, Nightangale, Beale, Farrell, Quinlan, Widdop, Williams, Vidot, Creagh, Merrin,) for the season before the season is too much to bare thinking about given the crap couple of years we have already had..

 

[soupnazi]

Waste of time and effort. Seriously the only goal is a premiership again. I hate trials, another increase chance of more injuries.

 

[redbreed]

I'd like to see a completely different format. Would like to see a preseason comp similar to the afl broken into 4 pools of 4 ranked from where teams finished the previous year then run the premiership over a 15 week timeframe plus finals so every team plays against each other once and in between run a separate cup like the old amco cup broken into pools of 4 ranked from results of the preseason comp. Could possibly run the second cup during state of origin period. Could organize it so players don't play anymore then present but gives clubs more chance to win ssomething giving us fans more to get excited about and probably more sponsorship dollars as well

 

[TheRev]

o I think 9's will be a revelation, better than the real game potentially (Bit like Rugby)
o Definitely scared about injuries too, hopefully all teams play though and give their best rosters
o Dugen will do very well with more space (then again so will many players), imagine Slater.. and yeah it probably wouldnt hurt our attack, but frankly the coach needs to get our structure going in the 13-a-side game, adlib play isnt going to fix our attack, only the coach can, whoever it is for 2014.

 

[Black Forest Dragon]

With the fact that scrums are now all but redundant, I wonder whether the game would benefit from less Players on the field on a permanent basis - say 12 a side instead of 13. Players are too big nowadays, or the field seems too small. Maybe make the ball bigger, i don't know (they changed the standard size of golf-balls and made them bigger in the early 80s!)

Possibly make a rule of maximum 3 allowed in a tackle instead of the current gang tackle of five or six.

Everyone worries so much about injuries. I think they are too great a concern. This may reduce injuries.

Probably stupid - just a thought.

 

[possm]

With the fact that scrums are now all but redundant, I wonder whether the game would benefit from less Players on the field on a permanent basis - say 12 a side instead of 13. Players are too big nowadays, or the field seems too small. Maybe make the ball bigger, i don't know (they changed the standard size of golf-balls and made them bigger in the early 80s!)

Possibly make a rule of maximum 3 allowed in a tackle instead of the current gang tackle of five or six.

Everyone worries so much about injuries. I think they are too great a concern. This may reduce injuries.

Probably stupid - just a thought.

You have some good ideas there.

I would like to see a scrum set only when the ball or a player crosses the touch line. For all other circumstances where a scrum is now put, like knock-ons, forward passes, dropped ball forward etc., I think there should simply be a change-over. If the referee becomes involved in the play there should be a simple play the ball with the tackle count continuing - and of course the referee sent off and replaced by the substitute referee.

 

[West coast dragon]

Rather than play a full compliment of established stars it should be used to give guys like cummins Hastings and runciman more exposure and if you blood a certain amount of younger guys you can also take out the predictability of teams like storm winning and parramatta losing so on so forth a bit like the nab cup in the afl so if its done right I could be exciting for fans to see who's coming through the ranks but if everyone plays there best nine players then it'll be boring and predictable and also risks burning players out early in the season.

 

[tumbidragon]

I personally like the concept, baring injury of course... I'm actually flying over along with a few mates to watch the 9 V's tear it up Also a good excuse for a right good piss up Hopefully see a few of you mob over there ;-)

P.s agree with WCD. Should definitely be a mixture of our star back line as well as a few exciting up and comers. Say 5 1sts and 4 "up n comers"?

 

[TheRev]

With the fact that scrums are now all but redundant, I wonder whether the game would benefit from less Players on the field on a permanent basis - say 12 a side instead of 13. Players are too big nowadays, or the field seems too small. Maybe make the ball bigger, i don't know (they changed the standard size of golf-balls and made them bigger in the early 80s!)

Possibly make a rule of maximum 3 allowed in a tackle instead of the current gang tackle of five or six.

Everyone worries so much about injuries. I think they are too great a concern. This may reduce injuries.

Probably stupid - just a thought.

Absolutely I think the game could be livened up to suit the modern era... and thats whats good about the 9's tournament, or some sort of seperate event.. they can tweak rules and see if it works.. there is no way they would make such huge changes to the NRL Competition just willy nilly..