Is Stering Right???

[RL1908]

I don't agree that the game is boring, but it is definitely at times predictable.

It is also riddled with a mentality of taking no risks with the football and trying to get the better of the referee and/or entrapping opponents into giving away penalties - and I can't blame the NRL coaches and teams for doing this given the advantage that the 10m rule and uncontested play-the-ball gives to the attack.

While there were PLENTY of boring RL games in RL's past, that is not an excuse for not pushing today for the game to be as good a spectacle to play and watch as it can possibly be.

We could get away with bad and boring games in the past, but today the reality is:
1. Every game is on TV.
2. We are competition with other codes.
3. The public's demand & expectation level to be entertained has been raised.

The game has to continually keep on evolving. The rugby based football codes are not like cricket or baseball - the rules of RL and the unrestricted movement over the football field mean that the rules can't stop trends and tactics from developing and evolving, and no one safely predict future trends.

I will add though - rule changes made for pro levels of RL such as the NRL absolutely SHOULD NOT be adopted by lower levels of the game without a lot of thought and consideration beforehand. The 10m rule is one of the primary reasons that the weekend part-time and country footballer are fast becoming a thing of the past. Rules for professional RL players shouldn't be imposed on every level of the game.

 

[Parra]

No kicks on tackles 5 & 6

No mucking around with types of tackles. Once the player is held just let go and roll away. Anything else is a penalty.

 

[The Colonel]

WTF are you on about?

We are Rugby.

If you mean Union, say Union.

Get over yourself. Stick to picking on 15 year olds in TFC in that regard, more your style.

We need strong people talking about our game and Sterling is a f**king wimp.

He should shut up, seriously.

Strong people? :lol: Informed people would be a bigger help.

bullsh*t.

It's boring to you because your team is sh*t.

I love watching Rugby League now, still, always.

Nothing to do with just my team, they are sh*t yes, same level as yours. Struggling to make the eight with a team that should be in the eight becaus they are too concerned about making mistakes.

Would rather watch Group 4 Rugby League than the NRL and see the ball get past a prop or the halfback, a few moves off the scrum and even a run around then the crap dished out every week.

Canberra now are much the same as the Tigers of 2005, to me anyway. Great to watch, young blokes just going for it.

And it would be great to see every other team like it. This we can agree on.

It's part of the evolution of the game.

FFS, I've been following it for 40 odd years and in that time almost every 3 or 4 years the game has to change direction slightly because the coaches come up with ways to win games that generally don't involve throwing the ball around.

I've been watching for 30 odd years and it does change direction. Doesn't make the current direction all that good.

Remember the game nearly dying in the mid-1980's because we'd been bogged down with bloody scrum penalties? Your team won a GF without scoring a try didn't they?

Sure do. And while it was a decent game to watch in terms of the fact my team won, an outsider will admit that it wasn't a great advertisement for League. Just like the current product. If you want people to come and watch, you'd be using the Raiders as the poster child.

It'll change, they'll make some adjustments and the game will move on.

But they won't change them right this minute.

That seems to be the problem.

Don't need to change them right this minute as the changes were already made. Enforcing the rules they put in place last year and this would be a start.

 

[the Lock8]

WTF are you on about?

We are Rugby.

If you mean Union, say Union.



We need strong people talking about our game and Sterling is a f**king wimp.

He should shut up, seriously.

I agree 100%. I have also been following the game both playing and supporting for about 46 years, and the game has always managed to evolve for the better. If some of you guys had been around before there was such a thing as a six tackle rule, you would have hated it. Those days it was your possession until you lost it. Now that was boring. These days young people seem to want instant change with everything, but change for the sake of it isn't necessarily a good thing. As was stated above, the game is great, and it will continue that way unless people tinker too much too soon.

bullsh*t.

It's boring to you because your team is sh*t.

I love watching Rugby League now, still, always.



Canberra now are much the same as the Tigers of 2005, to me anyway. Great to watch, young blokes just going for it.



It's part of the evolution of the game.

FFS, I've been following it for 40 odd years and in that time almost every 3 or 4 years the game has to change direction slightly because the coaches come up with ways to win games that generally don't involve throwing the ball around.

Remember the game nearly dying in the mid-1980's because we'd been bogged down with bloody scrum penalties? Your team won a GF without scoring a try didn't they?

It'll change, they'll make some adjustments and the game will move on.

But they won't change them right this minute.

That seems to be the problem.

 

[Edwahu]

Some teams are boring, some are not. Look at the stats - some teams have run from Dummy Half 600 times, some 350.

I think the idea that teams only run from dummy half is a bit over the top though. The average per team each game is about 24.

 

[God-King Dean]

If I was a neutral RL fan, I'd find the English Super League far more entertaining.

 

[the Lock8]

Well I stuffed that up, but my point is the same as "The E A", the game is just fine, it is always changing to cope with various hiccups, it just doesn't need kneejerk reactions.

 

[ocko]

i'm not suggesting a kneejerk reaction or a change of the rules mid-season. but something has to be done about the wrestling in the play-the-ball and video ref.

 

[Pigskin]

Sterlo is correct as many are saying

Rules I'd like to see implemented include - some of them I don't even feel need testing, we know they would work ... or at least use the NYC to test these rule changes and bring them in the following season

1 A shot clock - how long have we been crying out for one, clock runs out, no kick - from the time ref points to the spot - 45 sec shot clock starts on the big screen
2 Tries through a kick - 3 points (need to be specific here - for eg a chip and chase, regather, try is not deemed kick etc)
3 Get rid of the video ref except for judging tries
4 I like the suggestions above regarding the diffusing kicks ... 40m tap for a mark anywhere inside the 10m line including the in goal ... however I don't want to tamper with drop outs, it takes some skill to get a repeat set
5 6 interchanges is a great idea
6 I'd like to see 4 points awarded in each game, 3 for a win by under 12.5, 1 to the losing team, 4-zip for a flogging
7 Whoever packs a quick scrum, they are the scrum ... if your halfback is the hooker ... he stays at hooker etc ... if your fullback is a backrower, he stays backrower
8 Penalise wrestling out of the game


I like the game as it is, but it could be so much better

I have a mate who lived in the UK for 9 years ... he was a league nut when he left, since he has come back he reckons the game is far too predictable ... and I'm sure many agree

Oink !

 

[The Colonel]

I don't think you need to change any of the rules wholesale - just enforce the ones that are already there, reduce the wrestling in the ruck and stop re-packing scrums three or four times.

The interchange was reduced to ten men to open up the game as the big forwards got tired - now they get ten minutes rest in the scrum while the ref has it repacked.

Fix up the wrestling in the ruck by penalising teams for laying on the player for too long at the start of the game and they'll stop doing it.

Speeds the game up and allows expansive play rather than relying on safe football and hoping someone makes a mistake before you do.

 

[adamkungl]

Stop whining. The style of play slightly changes year to year, always has always will. Next year we could see Canberra at the top of the table, playing awesome football, as their young blokes mature. 99% of the rule changes suggested are drastic, unnecessary, will severely change the fabric of the game when it doesn't need to. I'm talking about things like changing the playing time, different points for kick tries (wtf...a try is a try), reverting back to the 5 metre rule, etc. Some subtle changes could be ok, like speeding up scrums (this year they are horrible), removing the video ref from general play (I quite like the idea of 2 'Captain's challenges' per game being the only time the video is used), further reducing the interchange to promote more creative play, and *somehow* cleaning up the miss that is stripping being mistaken for drop balls and vice versa.

 

[Redsfan]

Police the play-the-ball better (more strictly), and introduce or enforce proper binding at the scrum to avoid resets (for which there really should be no reason in league). Would speed the game up nicely.

 

[nqcowboy87]

he is right and also right in saying that teams like melborune are playing in a way which takes to win in this competition, craig bellamy is a very smart man the way hes coached his side, but rest assure there are still sides that are good to watch like the tigers and most recently the raiders

 

[Johnny Bravo]

Peter Sterling is not right. NRL is not boring. How any one person perceives the comp is dependent on who they support.

If you are a Storm fan who would be dancing in the street. If you were an Eels fan (like Sterlo) you'd be a sourpuss.

You've gotta be kidding.

The game itself is boring, my team is up near the top, but I still think the game is boring. Lately I've been enjoying watching Canberra play because they throw the ball around instead of 1 out stuff. Anyone who thinks the skill isn't being taken out of the game is kidding themselves. Storm lead the competition, but they'd probably have the least amount of offloads, or passes beyond one out from the ruck.

You dominate the ruck, you win games in this competition. Problem is it makes for a boring game to watch. Compare our game to the ESL, and give an honest appraisal of which one is more entertaining to watch, without the emotional attachment to clubs.

I guarantee not many people would say the NRL.

 

[Twizzle]

I gotta say the allowing players to lay on tackled players for far too long is part of the evolution in t wrong direction

quicker play the balls would liven the game up a bit

and don't get me started on this wrestling sh*t

its definitely evolving in the wrong direction imo

 

[Karmawave]

Is our game becoming or has become BORING???

Yes. Agree with Sterling 100%.

 

[Yosh]

The knights still play exciting footy, you guys should just all become knights fans and watch our games!!!

And most definately the game is more boring... Also could contritubuted to the fact that players are much better defenders these days so the number of tries scored are lower thus less exciting... I think the kick try issue is because since everyone is so good at defending now most teams have to rely on the kick lottery to score... Once teams figure out how to defend kick tries teams will revert back to scoring tries by running the ball once again...

Whoever said get the game down to 11 a side... Who do you drop, what positions? Do you watch 7s games they arent that great, lesss people on the field would mean just fast backs scoring individual tries... BORING we want a free flowing team oriented game with team tries as well as individually brilliant tries.,..

 

[Kiki]

Sterlo has never been more right in his life.

I've noticed the change in styles over the past four or so years. League is generally broing now, full of garbage with wrestling the tackled player (slowing the game down), video refs over almost every dropped ball (slowing the game down) and stupid video decisions on tries where someone's pinkie finger might have touched the ball for a nonsecond (slowing the game down, and not as exciting as the powers that be probably think those decisions are).

They're the big three rul changes needed to make our "produc) (sigh) more wacthable again, to the casual fan and those that still patronise the game but would like to be more entertained for their bucks. Flowing football people - if the coaches aren't coahing the game as it was intended, why change the rules (dominant tackle, submission etc) to suit a more boring style of play?

agree 100% bart!

eventhough i think the players are better athletes these days, the grapple tackle and what not is slowly killing the game. all the video ref debacles and overly cautious high tackle penalties are super frustrating and regularly leave me screaming obscenities at the TV.

 

[parra-matters]

Sterlo is spot on as usual, Him Gus Gould could solve all rugby leagues problems over a carton of crownies.
The game is boring, i find I'm watching less footy this year than ever before.
I like the ideas of Wayne Beavis last night, 100min game with 25min qtrs, 5 min on field break after 1st and 3rd qtrs', 20min half time break.
Add a few more players to the bench, and up the interchanges.
It would mave it over 2hours on TV which would add more ads= greater revenue for TV= bigger rights deal.

 

[Freak2]

Stop whining. The style of play slightly changes year to year, always has always will. Next year we could see Canberra at the top of the table, playing awesome football, as their young blokes mature. 99% of the rule changes suggested are drastic, unnecessary, will severely change the fabric of the game when it doesn't need to. I'm talking about things like changing the playing time, different points for kick tries (wtf...a try is a try), reverting back to the 5 metre rule, etc. Some subtle changes could be ok, like speeding up scrums (this year they are horrible), removing the video ref from general play (I quite like the idea of 2 'Captain's challenges' per game being the only time the video is used), further reducing the interchange to promote more creative play, and *somehow* cleaning up the miss that is stripping being mistaken for drop balls and vice versa.

I totally agree with a lot of what you say.

Any changes made need to be minimal. There is no need to re invent the wheel and I think radical changes could be detrimental as well, but I also believe League has missed the boat with making required changes. We have a world Cup to showcase at the end of the year and I cannot see the top shelf games being open and free flowing.