but you have to play the way the game is at the time, and in the NRL if your not dominating in the forwards and kicking long your out of the contest after 10 mins.
Think 'at this time' is the key here. It's pretty negative but has only been like that for a short while - and ultimately self-correcting, as we saw in the GF.
Melbourne have the best line up in the comp (albeit with some massively overrated forwards) and have done well through discipline, doing the basics well up the middle and kicking well. But the wheels fell off this year. They ended up being just a more talented version of the Sharks - playing very tight but limited football and relying heavily on attacking kicks. Have a look at the GF - bombs away all day, even when it clearly wasn't working, no plan B (discounting 'put Slater to 9 and kick more bombs'). To rigid, too limited, much of what has passed for 'intensity' in footy during the past couple of years. Which is a pity when you look at their backline - they should be throwing the ball around and absolutely tearing teams apart.
It's not like doing the basics well and attacking more expansively are mutually exclusive, either. Look at Leeds in the GF or St Helens in the Challenge Cup final - kicking games were unreal. We've just been going through a phase where doing the basics really well has been veiwed as enough.
