SMH
Glenn Jackson | July 18, 2008
NATIONAL Rugby League? For the moment, try the New Rules League, because amid a growing perception that rugby league has become too predictable, a host of radical changes have been foreshadowed as the game's thinkers start to tinker.
It's said that if it ain't broke, don't fix it, and there are few who would be willing to say the sport is busted up completely, but the ideas that have been put forward this week, without much prompting, suggest the game may be due for some plastic surgery.
And we'll start with a nip and tuck to stop the sport relying too much on luck. Canberra chief executive Don Furner, concerned about the number of tries scored off kicks, has proposed having fewer points awarded for tries that are scored when the ball is bobbling around following a bomb - "lucky dips".
"It's fantastic to see a bloke fly through the air AFL-style like Israel Folau, but the spectacle of four or five blokes tapping it around and fumbling it around I'm not sure if you should reward that," Furner said. "A lot of the time, it's just a bit of a lottery - just toss it up to see what happens. It's a bit different to someone constructing a try and putting a bloke over in the corner."
And while fewer points for certain tries would be a significant change, Furner has a point himself. The number of tries scored from kicks has increased significantly this season. A quarter of all tries scored so far this year have come from the boot. That is compared with 21.8 per cent in 2007 and 19.2 per cent the previous season.
Likening the sight of players competing for the bouncing ball to an old rugby union lineout or a scramble on the deck in the AFL, Furner said something had to be done. "I think it really needs to be brought up as an issue," he said. "If a bloke takes a good clean one, great, but if there's a tap back, and the ball bobbles around for a while, is that worth less? I wouldn't mind seeing it less and less."
Former Eels halfback Peter Sterling, one of the smartest kickers the game has produced and a smart thinker to boot, claimed the code had become too predictable, but went one better than Furner - or at least one more. One more point, that is, for a try scored from inside a team's own half. "I'm concerned that our game isn't what it should be," Sterling said. "Our game has predictability. I'd rather watch Newcastle, Gold Coast and Wests Tigers than Melbourne Melbourne play winning football, but I don't find it particularly entertaining. I think the very fact that people are talking about this is a sign that people are getting a little bit sick of the predictability of our game."
"It's got some merit. Our game needs to be the best product it can be. I'm just worried it's not the entertainment package it could be. I think we are getting to a stage where we're looking at things like that. The Roosters have scored more than half of their tries from kicks. Is that what we want from rugby league?"
Equally prevalent, and equally annoying for some, are tries that are scored following cheap penalties. Gold Coast managing director Michael Searle believes some penalties should be taken with a tap only, rather than a kick for touch, which is a significant leg-up for sides. He has already raised the idea with NRL chief executive David Gallop and chief operating officer Graham Annesley.
"We're now seeing blocks of momentum coming into the game," Searle said. "Some penalties in our game are quite subjective, but they can still change the fabric of the game. Is it fair that a penalty for a ruck infringement and a penalty for a player leading with his elbow can have the same result - a kick going 40 metres downfield?"
Penrith coach Matt Elliott agreed, saying: "Penalties are having a massive influence. With some of them, it could be just six again. Instead of getting marched downfield, it could be just back to zero." Although there was a footnote: "I'm not massively committed to it," he said. "I haven't examined all the nuances of it. Whenever you change a rule, it's like anything when you bring a cane toad in, you don't know what all the other little things are that might happen as a result."
While not necessarily endorsing any of the new ideas, Manly boss Grant Mayer said if they were supported, the Toyota Cup would be a perfect launching pad to try them out, as it has been for dual referees. "We've got a perfect vehicle in the Toyota Cup to trial any radical ideas which may be able to make the game more exciting," he said.
Annesley said the league was open to more discussions out of the suggestions box. He also revealed the NRL planned to hold another thinktank after the season involving identities in the game who were removed from clubs. That would occur before the usual coaches' conference, in which most of the ideas for change are generally given legs.
"There is a view out there, and it's not necessarily my view, that current coaches and players shouldn't be the only filter process because they tend to look at things only from the impact of their own teams," Annesley said. "Anything that is going to make the game more attractive has some merit, but we have to work on the detail. We have to consider the overall impact on the game. I never say no to any of those things. They're all worthy of consideration."
Glenn Jackson | July 18, 2008
NATIONAL Rugby League? For the moment, try the New Rules League, because amid a growing perception that rugby league has become too predictable, a host of radical changes have been foreshadowed as the game's thinkers start to tinker.
It's said that if it ain't broke, don't fix it, and there are few who would be willing to say the sport is busted up completely, but the ideas that have been put forward this week, without much prompting, suggest the game may be due for some plastic surgery.
And we'll start with a nip and tuck to stop the sport relying too much on luck. Canberra chief executive Don Furner, concerned about the number of tries scored off kicks, has proposed having fewer points awarded for tries that are scored when the ball is bobbling around following a bomb - "lucky dips".
"It's fantastic to see a bloke fly through the air AFL-style like Israel Folau, but the spectacle of four or five blokes tapping it around and fumbling it around I'm not sure if you should reward that," Furner said. "A lot of the time, it's just a bit of a lottery - just toss it up to see what happens. It's a bit different to someone constructing a try and putting a bloke over in the corner."
And while fewer points for certain tries would be a significant change, Furner has a point himself. The number of tries scored from kicks has increased significantly this season. A quarter of all tries scored so far this year have come from the boot. That is compared with 21.8 per cent in 2007 and 19.2 per cent the previous season.
Likening the sight of players competing for the bouncing ball to an old rugby union lineout or a scramble on the deck in the AFL, Furner said something had to be done. "I think it really needs to be brought up as an issue," he said. "If a bloke takes a good clean one, great, but if there's a tap back, and the ball bobbles around for a while, is that worth less? I wouldn't mind seeing it less and less."
Former Eels halfback Peter Sterling, one of the smartest kickers the game has produced and a smart thinker to boot, claimed the code had become too predictable, but went one better than Furner - or at least one more. One more point, that is, for a try scored from inside a team's own half. "I'm concerned that our game isn't what it should be," Sterling said. "Our game has predictability. I'd rather watch Newcastle, Gold Coast and Wests Tigers than Melbourne Melbourne play winning football, but I don't find it particularly entertaining. I think the very fact that people are talking about this is a sign that people are getting a little bit sick of the predictability of our game."
"It's got some merit. Our game needs to be the best product it can be. I'm just worried it's not the entertainment package it could be. I think we are getting to a stage where we're looking at things like that. The Roosters have scored more than half of their tries from kicks. Is that what we want from rugby league?"
Equally prevalent, and equally annoying for some, are tries that are scored following cheap penalties. Gold Coast managing director Michael Searle believes some penalties should be taken with a tap only, rather than a kick for touch, which is a significant leg-up for sides. He has already raised the idea with NRL chief executive David Gallop and chief operating officer Graham Annesley.
"We're now seeing blocks of momentum coming into the game," Searle said. "Some penalties in our game are quite subjective, but they can still change the fabric of the game. Is it fair that a penalty for a ruck infringement and a penalty for a player leading with his elbow can have the same result - a kick going 40 metres downfield?"
Penrith coach Matt Elliott agreed, saying: "Penalties are having a massive influence. With some of them, it could be just six again. Instead of getting marched downfield, it could be just back to zero." Although there was a footnote: "I'm not massively committed to it," he said. "I haven't examined all the nuances of it. Whenever you change a rule, it's like anything when you bring a cane toad in, you don't know what all the other little things are that might happen as a result."
While not necessarily endorsing any of the new ideas, Manly boss Grant Mayer said if they were supported, the Toyota Cup would be a perfect launching pad to try them out, as it has been for dual referees. "We've got a perfect vehicle in the Toyota Cup to trial any radical ideas which may be able to make the game more exciting," he said.
Annesley said the league was open to more discussions out of the suggestions box. He also revealed the NRL planned to hold another thinktank after the season involving identities in the game who were removed from clubs. That would occur before the usual coaches' conference, in which most of the ideas for change are generally given legs.
"There is a view out there, and it's not necessarily my view, that current coaches and players shouldn't be the only filter process because they tend to look at things only from the impact of their own teams," Annesley said. "Anything that is going to make the game more attractive has some merit, but we have to work on the detail. We have to consider the overall impact on the game. I never say no to any of those things. They're all worthy of consideration."
