https://www.smh.com.au/sport/why-pe...en-helped-by-head-office-20240305-p5fa0q.html
Why Penrith’s punt at history has been helped by head office
ByRoy Masters
March 6, 2024 — 5.46am
If it’s a truism that the NRL premiers are the trendsetters for the forthcoming season, dictating the style and shape of play including the exploitation of new rules, the Panthers are already well ahead of the curve.
The NRL’s new focus on the “downtown rule”, penalising players from running downfield before the ball leaves the kicker’s boot, requires all players standing between the dummy half and the kicker to remain behind the ruck until the ball is kicked.
It’s designed to empower the back three, effectively giving the fullback and wingers an extra ten metres to advance on the defensive chasers, providing they can link the ball to each other.
While the Panthers have a very strong and speedy back three, their real advantage lies in their kicker, Nathan Cleary, and his laser-accurate boot.
Cleary already benefits from another recent NRL rule protecting kickers, where defenders are penalised if they make contact with the kicker even if he has one foot a millimetre off the ground after booting the ball.
Furthermore, the Panthers also have the most adept blockers in the NRL – middle forwards who impede the defence from getting close to the kicker.
However, following complaints from NRL rivals, headquarters has indicated it will crack down on what is termed “the Penrith rule” – and did so in Las Vegas, penalising the Roosters when Sam Walker had blockers shepherd him as he attempted a field goal.
So, if Cleary is effectively harassed and the Panthers fear a deep threat from the opposition fullback running the ball back half the length of the field, what is another option? Run the ball on the last tackle. Even if caught with it, the hand-over occurs close to the position where the opposition would have returned the ball.
In the World Club Challenge match in the UK, the Panthers ran the ball on the last tackle, particularly in the first half – although the short in-goals at Wigan was probably the main reason. Cleary feared his kicks would go dead, gifting the Super League champions possession on the quarter line and a seven-tackle set.
Nevertheless, the Panthers ran the ball on the last tackle in 2023 more than any other NRL team.
If the Panthers are already ahead of their rivals tactically, it’s not the first time. In 2021, they gamed the six again rule by deliberately conceding infringements on the first and second tackle, confining the opposition attack to its own quarter. The NRL was eventually forced to change the rule, awarding a penalty for offences early in the tackle count.
The NRL’s 2024 amendment to the downtown rule, empowering the back three, is clearly designed to produce more tries. Fullback is the code’s glamour position, evidenced by the four superstar No.1s on display in Las Vegas.
More tries mean more commercial breaks on TV, which leads to richer broadcast deals for the code and more money in the pockets of players.
But rugby league has a dogged capacity to find tactics to counter to even the most innovative rule. Las Vegas offered a preview. We saw cloud-high kicks with enough hang time to rival Qantas, all designed for centres, wingers and edge forwards to be onside and sprint downfield to monster the receiver before he can link with another attacker. It’s as if the ball was a “smart bomb” and the receiver the vulnerable target. Teams were launching these short, high bombs last year, but the downtown rule will encourage more of them.
At a time our officials are seeking to woo Americans to NRL, it’s ironic the US’s major football code is moving in the opposite direction regarding rewarding back field players returning the ball. The NFL, fearing injury from kick-off returns, is providing more incentive for the receiving team to allow the ball to go dead. The receiving team is gifted the ball on the quarter line, similar to the NRL rule with kicks in general play going dead.
However, the biggest challenge to the new downtown rule won’t come from confused Americans. As the Las Vegas games showed, players will initially stay onside because position in the modern game is now as important as possession.
But the referee/bunker has to watch up to ten players to determine they haven’t moved past the ruck the moment the ball is kicked. Compare that with contact on the kicker where they only have to watch one player. Penalise a downtown breach at one point and coaches will point to a myriad of times when the same offence was allowed.
Accusations of inconsistency could turn referees into Shakespeare’s Hamlet where the downtown rule “is more honoured in the breach than the observance.”
