RL/RU Merger

[docbrown]

That is a good one. If a player kicks the ball dead the defending team gets a scrum restart from where the ball was kicked. This penalises the negative long range kicks to dead-in-goal.

I want this rule in league but I want it so that instead of racing back to the 20 metres for a tap, they race back to the kicker's line (marked by the touchie).

I saw a dud kick by the Broncos tonight from the 50 metre that went dead. Imagine the Warriors racing it back to the half way. Would totally shift the game's momentum.

 

[docbrown]

Union scrums are absolute shit.

I would steal part of the concept of the scrimmage line from the NFL and incorporate it into rugby league scrums.

1. Ref lays the ball on the ground and stands in line with it i.e. no feeding the ball
2. He seperates the two packs by outstretching his arms to hold them apart
3. Two packs form
4. As the ref withdraws and clears the "scrimmage line", he blows time on.
5. Scrum packs collide and have to rake the ball backwards.

 

[Ninja]

The only thing better in rugby union is the actual ball.

Would love to see it used one day in league. The quality of games would improve dramatically imo. Less dropped balls, more accurate kicking

 

[Teddyboy]

Maybe take the contested scrums from Union and then keep the rest of the RL rules.

No way about the contested scrums from Union as they are f**king up that game with them.
Keep Rugby League but just add old style lineout's and 6 man contested scrums.

Anyway I wish Union be more like League as I just watched a f**king awful game of drag and drop between England and Argentina.
Notice Brutis and Everlastin is not bagging off the thread starter.

 

[Usain Bolt]

Union scrums are absolute shit.

I would steal part of the concept of the scrimmage line from the NFL and incorporate it into rugby league scrums.

1. Ref lays the ball on the ground and stands in line with it i.e. no feeding the ball
2. He seperates the two packs by outstretching his arms to hold them apart
3. Two packs form
4. As the ref withdraws and clears the "scrimmage line", he blows time on.
5. Scrum packs collide and have to rake the ball backwards.

WTF is this sh*t

 

[Perth Red]

I tuned in today and watched a kickoff which led to a scrum within 60secs which led to a kick into touch which led to a line out which led to a kick back down the field which led to a passing move (yipee) which was dropped and led to a scrum and so it started again. At that point I went out and did some weeding in the garden as it was more interesting!

 

[LazyDreamer]

One rule that came from rugby (maybe when league first broke away) is that a charge-down is not a knock-on. However, this wasn't thought through when limited tackles came into being.

I would love to see no "six again" from a charge-down. In it's current form, it rewards poor/poorly timed kicks and punishes enthusiastic defense. If you're on last tackle & your kick's charged down, then too bad, too sad. If you regather it but don't get it away, hand the sucker over.

Additionally, it would encourage defenses to rush through to try to get the charge-down, thus potentially opening up holes for more running on the last and somewhat decreasing the predictability of the kick-on-the-last option.

 

[snogard6]

One rule that came from rugby (maybe when league first broke away) is that a charge-down is not a knock-on. However, this wasn't thought through when limited tackles came into being.

I would love to see no "six again" from a charge-down. In it's current form, it rewards poor/poorly timed kicks and punishes enthusiastic defense. If you're on last tackle & your kick's charged down, then too bad, too sad. If you regather it but don't get it away, hand the sucker over.

Additionally, it would encourage defenses to rush through to try to get the charge-down, thus potentially opening up holes for more running on the last and somewhat decreasing the predictability of the kick-on-the-last option.

+1

 

[magpie_man]

The problem with such an idea is that everything league fans love about league they isn't in rugby, and everything rugby fans love about rugby isn't in league. So while the are similar sports in one way, in another way they are complete opposites.

This. League has a better chance of creating a workable hybrid with Aussie rules than it does union

 

[docbrown]

WTF is this sh*t

Blew your mind didn't it?

I tuned in today and watched a kickoff which led to a scrum within 60secs which led to a kick into touch which led to a line out which led to a kick back down the field which led to a passing move (yipee) which was dropped and led to a scrum and so it started again. At that point I went out and did some weeding in the garden as it was more interesting!

What? No pointless 1 metre passes out of the ruck and a 500mm run into a defensive line (repeated 4 or 5 times)...?

One rule that came from rugby (maybe when league first broke away) is that a charge-down is not a knock-on. However, this wasn't thought through when limited tackles came into being.

I would love to see no "six again" from a charge-down. In it's current form, it rewards poor/poorly timed kicks and punishes enthusiastic defense. If you're on last tackle & your kick's charged down, then too bad, too sad. If you regather it but don't get it away, hand the sucker over.

Additionally, it would encourage defenses to rush through to try to get the charge-down, thus potentially opening up holes for more running on the last and somewhat decreasing the predictability of the kick-on-the-last option.

THIS!

It's common sense.

If the team that charges down gets the ball, it's a new set of six. If the kicking team regathers, it's still the final tackle and either kick or run it again or get tackled and turn it over. My only variation is that if your hand is open during the charge down, then you're trying to grab it, which means you're playing at it. If the ball goes forward an open hand, it's a knock on. If you hand is closed (fist) then you're trying to charge it down.

Charge downs are brilliant and all teams should be trying to smash the kicker.

 

[Noa]

Honestly the only rule from yawnion Id consider keeping is line-outs (the old-school type) when touch is found.

 

[Mr_Ugly]

I'd be very interested to see rugby league played under 60's rules of unlimited play the ball and contested possession, rather than outright taking stuff from Union

The ABC was playing some old classics a few years ago. Was very scrappy stuff.

 

[maccattack]

One rule that came from rugby (maybe when league first broke away) is that a charge-down is not a knock-on. However, this wasn't thought through when limited tackles came into being.

I would love to see no "six again" from a charge-down. In it's current form, it rewards poor/poorly timed kicks and punishes enthusiastic defense. If you're on last tackle & your kick's charged down, then too bad, too sad. If you regather it but don't get it away, hand the sucker over.

Additionally, it would encourage defenses to rush through to try to get the charge-down, thus potentially opening up holes for more running on the last and somewhat decreasing the predictability of the kick-on-the-last option.

That gets my vote too

 

[flamin]

Frequently people say we should get rid of scrums and just have tap-restart. I believe we should get rid of scrums in the current format but rather than have a tap-restart encourage contest for the ball.


Changes in possession and momentum swings excite the crowd. We need more contest for the ball and the scrum is the best opportunity to rework something in this regard. Currently a scrum is awarded if one team commits a mistake that doesn't warrant a penalty. The offending team doesn't deserve to be punished severely. In an ideal world the purpose of the scrum is to give the ball to the non-offending team but also give the other team an opportunity to contest possession and get the ball back. Currently this chance is probably about 0.5% in rugby league.


I don't know if there are union concepts like line-outs that would be workable in rugby league. While rucks and scrums in union encourage contest, the problem is that they aren't exactly pretty for spectators. Fans want to see the ball and want to see players going for the ball, like when players go up to take a bomb. Something that gives teams the opportunity to contest the ball while also being visually appealing is one of the few on field issues left in rugby league.

 

[LazyDreamer]

If the team that charges down gets the ball, it's a new set of six. If the kicking team regathers, it's still the final tackle and either kick or run it again or get tackled and turn it over. My only variation is that if your hand is open during the charge down, then you're trying to grab it, which means you're playing at it. If the ball goes forward an open hand, it's a knock on. If you hand is closed (fist) then you're trying to charge it down.

Charge downs are brilliant and all teams should be trying to smash the kicker.

Like the idea in theory, however I think it'd be way too hard for the ref to be able to rule on, and it's the type of play that doesn't allow for a video ref ruling (not that they'd get it right anyway). I reckon a charge-down's pretty easy to spot - if the ball's on the rise off the boot, it's a charge-down.

 

[Misanthrope]

I can't decide how you'd go about it, but I get really frustrated with the amount of bullshit surrounding the play the ball. Between Melbourne wrestling, stupid penalties for holding down and 'shoving the head', hand on the ball penalties, not rolling aside penalties, and markers not being square - it just bogs the game down.

Surely there's a more efficient way to go about it.

 

[Parra]

I can't decide how you'd go about it, but I get really frustrated with the amount of bullshit surrounding the play the ball. Between Melbourne wrestling, stupid penalties for holding down and 'shoving the head', hand on the ball penalties, not rolling aside penalties, and markers not being square - it just bogs the game down.

Surely there's a more efficient way to go about it.

Ref calls held. Defenders release and roll away.

Even better if the tackled player could just place the ball, and the dummy half can pick it up. Uncontested. If speed and a flowing game is the aim then what is the point of needing the tackled player to regain his feet and then do a formal play-the-ball? The only purpose of this is to slow the game down to provide time for the defence to get set. I can't see such a fast game working with a 10 metre rule though. The stop-start nature of league is necessary to give defenders time to get back and get set-up.

 

[Misanthrope]

I'm not sold on the whole 10m offside thing. Stop-start is for Americans with their NFL and baseball. Just roll on.

 

[docbrown]

Like the idea in theory, however I think it'd be way too hard for the ref to be able to rule on, and it's the type of play that doesn't allow for a video ref ruling (not that they'd get it right anyway). I reckon a charge-down's pretty easy to spot - if the ball's on the rise off the boot, it's a charge-down.

Well I think at the moment we have a rule that tries to obey the knock on rule but it's out of place.

In my opinion, if you're not playing at the ball i.e. not attempting to gain possession by controlling/grabbing it, then it's not a knock on - hence why I suggest a closed fist/batting style.

You are probably right re it being difficult to rule on. That said the attacking team getting six again if they recover is shit house.

I want defensive teams to apply pressure to kickers. They don't do that if they think it's going to benefit the opposition as currently stands.

It really does need to be fixed up.

 

[Slackboy72]

Ref calls held. Defenders release and roll away.

Even better if the tackled player could just place the ball, and the dummy half can pick it up. Uncontested. If speed and a flowing game is the aim then what is the point of needing the tackled player to regain his feet and then do a formal play-the-ball? The only purpose of this is to slow the game down to provide time for the defence to get set. I can't see such a fast game working with a 10 metre rule though. The stop-start nature of league is necessary to give defenders time to get back and get set-up.

There's a lot of ideas on here but I'm afraid to say that not many make a tiny bit of sense. The play of the ball was originally designed to replace the ruck with a mini one-on-one scrum. Now, like you say, it is just a means of allowing the defensive line to get back. Without it we'd have 40 penalties a match and get scorelines that resemble basketball scores.
If we adopt your idea we could go back to the 5m rule and have a rule stating that the dummy half cannot run with the ball.
That however would make the game more of a kickfest as you could easily kick it further with one kick than you could run it in 5 tackles.

I personally thought the idea of the hybrid game played last year with schoolboy teams was interesting with limited tackles in your own half and rucks in the opponents half. You could possibly change that to 6 tackles then you have to choose between kicking the ball away or running and rucking.

I also too will vote in favour of contested scrums.
It's a skill league has forgotten the same way that aussie rules players have forgotten how to tackle.