Faster play the ball

[DINGb@T]

Have to say, I'm loving the pool games with their completely different style of footy. You can throw the PNG team in there as well with their crazy offloads and brutal running.

The best thing I can see in these games is the difference in the reffing style. With the European teams and PNG the refs let the play the ball go a lot more. In fact the entire ruck area is given a much longer chain. The play the ball isn't policed anywhere near as much with blokes facing sideways, barely standing up before they've played it, the ball bouncing a bit forward off their feet and, unlike an NRL game, it's allowed to play on. And guess what- it made the game BETTER not worse. It makes me wonder why the NRL is so obsessive about this factor. Why does so much time and effort go into this here?

(Shut up Ricky. wrestling is boring and wrestling is not 'an integral part of test footy'- look at the pool games; are they any less brutal for the faster play the ball? No! So shut up!).

In turn the defense isn't being pulled up for not standing square as much. Yesterdays game the Irish blokes were often standing side by side but it didn't matter because the tackled bloke was playing the ball so fast it was a fair square up and didn't advantage the defenders any.

This is the way the game should be played!!! In comparison look at the sterile game we had on Sunday night. It was completely dominated by structured plays and slow tackles. The Roos were just machine-like with the ocasional burst of pure speed and the Kiwis were completely unco for the simple fact that they couldn't work out what play they were trying to go with. It was hideously boring and sterile.

And get rid of the video ref. We have the video ref so that the refs never get it wrong but all it does is create more scrutiny, lowers the bar for what is 'wrong' and then the video ref mucks it up anyways (usually because he cant be right no matter what decision he makes). We might as well just accept the fact that the ref is going to screw up every now and then and get back to enjoying our footy. Look at the Dreamtime/Moari game- it was brilliant! And that was without in-goal refs! It was fast, it got on with the job and, surprise, surprise, surprise the ref was a big boy who could handle himself without the aid of the tv man upstairs.

Would you rather be right to the letter of the law or would you rather enjoy your footy more?

If anything give each team 2 chances a half to go upstairs and leave it at that. Make it the players responsibility, not the refs. They are the ones we pay to see after all so if they screw up its their bad tactical decision. (If the ref screws up it's him not doing his job properly- a subtle difference but at least players are paid for that sort of scrutiny)


Please, please, please, please, please can we go to playing our footy this way all the time. I've had a taste of what footy could be like and I want it to always be like that.

I want super quick play the balls.

I want less-square markers.

I want the video ref gone (or the power given to players in a limited form).

And I want a million more pool games by European nations instead of the sterile stuff we get here in the southern hemisphere (excluding PNG and the islands when they forget everything the NRL has taught them).



End of frustrated rant.

 

[Hindyscrack]

must admit it, the wrestle by the australians against new zealand was the worse that i think i have ever seen it. it made for the most sterile and boring test i think i have ever watched. out of the 4 games, this was by far the worst spectical of them all

 

[ozenzud]

When I watched the Oz v Kiwis test, I thought that Klien had an absolute shocker. He penalised the Kiwis for holding down in the tackle, then allowed the kangaroos to lay all over the kiwis through the whole match. This has two effects.

One, the Kiwis are forced to roll off quickly to avoid a repeat penalty, and two, it puts the Kangaroos on a role. One team is up and in your face, the other is still backpeddling when the halves get the ball.

Don't believe me, watch the game again.

Having said that, the kiwis dropped the ball and had a poor kicking game. But, that is often a result of the defence pressuring them. I have noted in two or three forums that there are many people, (pommy nuetrals) saying the same as me. That the Aussies got the rub of the green when it came to the reffing on Sunday. But you cannot understate the importance of the tackle. It seemed blatant that Aussies were given more time to role off the tackle.

 

[westie]

Have to say, I'm loving the pool games with their completely different style of footy. You can throw the PNG team in there as well with their crazy offloads and brutal running.

The best thing I can see in these games is the difference in the reffing style. With the European teams and PNG the refs let the play the ball go a lot more. In fact the entire ruck area is given a much longer chain. The play the ball isn't policed anywhere near as much with blokes facing sideways, barely standing up before they've played it, the ball bouncing a bit forward off their feet and, unlike an NRL game, it's allowed to play on. And guess what- it made the game BETTER not worse. It makes me wonder why the NRL is so obsessive about this factor. Why does so much time and effort go into this here?

(Shut up Ricky. wrestling is boring and wrestling is not 'an integral part of test footy'- look at the pool games; are they any less brutal for the faster play the ball? No! So shut up!).

In turn the defense isn't being pulled up for not standing square as much. Yesterdays game the Irish blokes were often standing side by side but it didn't matter because the tackled bloke was playing the ball so fast it was a fair square up and didn't advantage the defenders any.

This is the way the game should be played!!! In comparison look at the sterile game we had on Sunday night. It was completely dominated by structured plays and slow tackles. The Roos were just machine-like with the ocasional burst of pure speed and the Kiwis were completely unco for the simple fact that they couldn't work out what play they were trying to go with. It was hideously boring and sterile.

And get rid of the video ref. We have the video ref so that the refs never get it wrong but all it does is create more scrutiny, lowers the bar for what is 'wrong' and then the video ref mucks it up anyways (usually because he cant be right no matter what decision he makes). We might as well just accept the fact that the ref is going to screw up every now and then and get back to enjoying our footy. Look at the Dreamtime/Moari game- it was brilliant! And that was without in-goal refs! It was fast, it got on with the job and, surprise, surprise, surprise the ref was a big boy who could handle himself without the aid of the tv man upstairs.

Would you rather be right to the letter of the law or would you rather enjoy your footy more?

If anything give each team 2 chances a half to go upstairs and leave it at that. Make it the players responsibility, not the refs. They are the ones we pay to see after all so if they screw up its their bad tactical decision. (If the ref screws up it's him not doing his job properly- a subtle difference but at least players are paid for that sort of scrutiny)


Please, please, please, please, please can we go to playing our footy this way all the time. I've had a taste of what footy could be like and I want it to always be like that.

I want super quick play the balls.

I want less-square markers.

I want the video ref gone (or the power given to players in a limited form).

And I want a million more pool games by European nations instead of the sterile stuff we get here in the southern hemisphere (excluding PNG and the islands when they forget everything the NRL has taught them).



End of frustrated rant.

Well spotted. This is the reason the super league is so good. The play the balls are faster, but it doesn't solely benefit the better team as it did in '05 with the Wests Tigers. The markers are allowed to break faster and even stand less square. If the dummy half chooses to run, good on him, but he doesn't have a free ride.

This means the footy is faster, and encourages attacks to go wider, without putting the defensive team under unsustainable pressure 3 and 4 rucks in a row.

Klein arsed the Aussie game up by trying to play too like the NRL refs. Hayne dudded England by playing too NRL and pinging them for things they have been doing every week in ENG/France. Archer was responsible for the 40-0 by letting the game run, completely different rules to the ones which got Melbourne to the grand final ahead of teams like Brisbane who might have competed better under the grand final interpretations.

The inconsistencies in the rules in this WC is my biggest beef so far, and will go a long way to deciding the winner.

 

[DINGb@T]

Do they have the refs for each game sorted out already? I'd like to see which ones are reffed by Superleague refs and see how different they are.

Although anything to do with Australia wont be any different regardless- Ricky will always 'show his concern' to the ref before the match to make sure the game is played in a style that favours us.

I'm beginning to see why the Poms are always saying how arrogant we are- people like Ricky actually do believe that the game is there to serve us, rather than us there to serve the game.

 

[Chook Norris]

When I watched the Oz v Kiwis test, I thought that Klien had an absolute shocker. He penalised the Kiwis for holding down in the tackle, then allowed the kangaroos to lay all over the kiwis through the whole match. This has two effects.

One, the Kiwis are forced to roll off quickly to avoid a repeat penalty, and two, it puts the Kangaroos on a role. One team is up and in your face, the other is still backpeddling when the halves get the ball.

Don't believe me, watch the game again.

Having said that, the kiwis dropped the ball and had a poor kicking game. But, that is often a result of the defence pressuring them. I have noted in two or three forums that there are many people, (pommy nuetrals) saying the same as me. That the Aussies got the rub of the green when it came to the reffing on Sunday. But you cannot understate the importance of the tackle. It seemed blatant that Aussies were given more time to role off the tackle.

i'd rather die than watch it again..

(Shut up Ricky. wrestling is boring and wrestling is not 'an integral part of test footy'- look at the pool games; are they any less brutal for the faster play the ball? No! So shut up!).

dead set... what Ricky said^ just pissed me off

without it he would suffer.. after all he was the one who brought in gang tackling didn't he?

wrestling must go

without it.. you'd get exciting games like what we've seen in the past week(definitely not including the snorefest on Sunday)

 

[screeny]

Before you laud the SL too much, consider this: would you like to get to a stage where, when watching a game, you subconsciously expect a penalty almost every tackle? Because that's what SL has turned me into.

Shane Hayne reffed the ruck perfectly in opening match. Agreed that Klein and Ganson were poor, especially Klein. Ganson made a rod for his own back with two ruck pens against Tonga in the opening Irish set, therefore setting a low standard in the ruck, one which he had to adhere to for the match.

 

[Special K]

The faster the game is the more it would benefit Australia. The only chance teams like NZ and England have is if they stop the Australian roll. They need to slow them down as I don't think they are fit enough (in what will be November heat) to match Australia in a quick game. Think how quick origin can be.. I don't see any nation being able to match that just yet.

If England don't try and win the play the ball they will be in for a shock.

 

[watatank]

(Shut up Ricky. wrestling is boring and wrestling is not 'an integral part of test footy'

Yes, it is. It does make for a boring spectacle, though.

 

[westie]

The faster the game is the more it would benefit Australia. The only chance teams like NZ and England have is if they stop the Australian roll. They need to slow them down as I don't think they are fit enough (in what will be November heat) to match Australia in a quick game. Think how quick origin can be.. I don't see any nation being able to match that just yet.

If England don't try and win the play the ball they will be in for a shock.

Bollocks. If a fast game would benefit the Roos, why do they base their game on slowing it down? Australia already play as fast as they can, while focusing energies on keeping the opposition as slow as possible. Sunday's game would have been a completely different prospect if played under ESL intepretations or those from a few years ago in the NRL.

Do you actually think Price, Civo, Stewart, Perry et al could compete with the English pack if the ruck was opened up and the game speed increased?

 

[Special K]

Bollocks. If a fast game would benefit the Roos, why do they base their game on slowing it down? Australia already play as fast as they can, while focusing energies on keeping the opposition as slow as possible. Sunday's game would have been a completely different prospect if played under ESL intepretations or those from a few years ago in the NRL.

Do you actually think Price, Civo, Stewart, Perry et al could compete with the English pack if the ruck was opened up and the game speed increased?

Yes I do.

I also think that a faster game with the likes of Smith, Lockyer and Thurston being able to shift the ball so quickly from side to side to guys such as Inglis, Izzy, Slater etc would totally burn out guys such as Senior on the back foot especially in these hot conditions.

The Australians slow it down in defence so they can set their line we all know that and it works so they continue to do it.

 

[Bobby DIGital]

^Yeah set their line, and then rush the f*ck up with half of em being offside...

 

[westie]

Yes I do.

I also think that a faster game with the likes of Smith, Lockyer and Thurston being able to shift the ball so quickly from side to side to guys such as Inglis, Izzy, Slater etc would totally burn out guys such as Senior on the back foot especially in these hot conditions.

The Australians slow it down in defence so they can set their line we all know that and it works so they continue to do it.

I agree that with more time, our backline would be even more devastating. The real issue though is that, with a faster game, our backs would see far less quality ball, because our pack would be on its arse.

Our forwards are aging and slow, whilst the GB pack operate like a skillful version of the roosters during their power.

Our guys are fantastic at spoiling. If it comes down to playing RL, our forwards will be shown up.

 

[Kiki]

i totally agree!! i noticed it especially at the ireland tonga match. and everytime the tongans would try and hold down during the tackles the ref would pull them up on it and it made for an awesome awesome game.

i kept saying to the people behind me i wish the NRL refs were that strict.

 

[westie]

i totally agree!! i noticed it especially at the ireland tonga match. and everytime the tongans would try and hold down during the tackles the ref would pull them up on it and it made for an awesome awesome game.

i kept saying to the people behind me i wish the NRL refs were that strict.

I know i'm nit-picking here. But the problem is that NRL refs are too strict.

ESL games are faster because players roll off earlier as is natural. The thing that allows the games to be interesting is that the defensive markers are not penalised out of the game like they are in the NRL.

The Tigers accelerated this problem in 2005 by using ruck speed to blow teams off the park. Had the NRL given more allowance to the defenders AFTER the play the ball, rather than during the tackle then we'd have a much better game.

 

[Kiki]

oh well they are stricter on some things like the markers, but too lax on slowing down the play the ball.

 

[westie]

The biggest issue in league at the moment for mine. It's completely wrecking footy. When i watch a game I'm watching to see who is going to bugger up in the ruck and give a penalty away, rather than looking to see the blokes with ability actually play a bit.