Watching you team run the ball from dummy half against an unorganised defense making great yards and being roared on by the crowd is, no doubt, exciting to watch, especially if the result of the play is a try scored for your team.

Watching your team fail to make any sort of impact against a well organised defense perhaps doesn’t quite have the obvious excitement factor as the above, but it will, over time, increase the ability of the pivots to break defenses down rather then just capitalising on players out of position.

The teams who used the quick play of the ball as the predominant weapon in attack are suffering but still have players of high enough caliber to win games. These players should improve their skills as defenses get tighter.

We have not got one single half back be it overseas or home grown, who can break an "in the face" defensive line after a slow play the ball.

The wrestle tackles have even eliminated or dramatically reduced the players ability to offload. There are also a lot of messy interpretations of whether a player has dropped the ball or reefed out.

The slow play the ball is only beneficial to give the referee a bit of a breather, how many times do we see a referee turn a blind eye to the slow flop.

Also what happened to the two feet behind the referee defenced, as this been abandoned now.

The british game now is a forward drive between the 20metres marks, then a speculative stab kick to the try line or a hoist kick to the defending winger.

If this set up is going to make the backs skilful, then I think I'm going to be waiting a lot time.

It will take time, and lets be honest a heap of British halfbacks are going to look far less effective than they have in the past. The only hope lies with younger players who hopefully will get used to facing organised defences from a young age.

Again though, I think the balance has to be got right. If the PTB is speeded up in Aus, and then we play against Aus with faster PTB we'll be at a disadvantage the other way round. In the end the rules should be the same in both comps. Anything else is just daft.

Over here we find repeated dummy half running boring.

It may be boring, but for NSW vs Qld it's a key area where they have a big advantage.

as long as SL doesnt go down the wrestling route, it needs to really look at legally slowing down PTBs.

this involves :

1. getting 3 or 4 men into tackles.
2. getting the tackled player on his back
3. other such methods that are within the rules.

if you dont slow learn how to do this all the time, you will never be able to compete with australia. most australian teams would spend as much time on this as on attack.

having a fast game which is pretty for spectators isnt what RL is about. you have to earn the right to attack, you cant just attack all the time. if you try and do that, you will never win.

RL is often an arm wrestle. once you establish dominance in the ruck you can then throw the ball around a bit and try and play pretty.

winning the ruck means slowing it down until your defensive line is fully set.

some of the posts on here about pretty RL would be more applicable to RL 20 years ago than modern day RL.

if you think its just about throwing the ball around, you arent watching the right sport

i havent much much SL this year but have no doubt huddersfield success lies in nathan brown teaching LEGAL methods to slow down PTBs as will as the little things like having a good kick / chase.

Leeds already have!

And if you think I'm wrong WATCH their "tackling" technique.

Mick McManus would be proud

IMO Leeds are rewarded for their willingness to commit 3 or 4 players into each tackle, making each tackle dominant. Naturally it takes a lot longer for everyone to regain their feet, with the tackled player being the last up. Other then infuriating opposition fans (myself included – Hull ) I don’t think they’re doing a lot wrong.

I take everyones point.

Its not just because im a Saints fan, although like I have accepted it would effect us more than most.

I am getting increasingly annoyed with all the games played.

If the referees where consistent fair enough, but it just isnt clear how long you can lye on now.
Some get penelised and some dont.
Theres a lot of lying on that clearly needs to be penelised and its getting irritating.

The other problem is different SL referees seem to have a slightly different approach to it, which again is ridiculous.

I wouldnt mind knowing in the rules. How long a player is allowed to be held on his back, how long a player is allowed to be held in a dominant tackle etc...
Is it stated in seconds or is it up to the ref???

yes! i agree with the points thing!

www.saintsrlfc.com/news/1929 just read this article from Jon Wilkin he brings up some interesting points, including lying on in the tackle

www.saintsrlfc.com/news/1929 just read this article from Jon Wilkin he brings up some interesting points, including lying on in the tackle

I've written so much about so called "Wrestling".


If you want "wrestling" out of the game you don't even have a basic understanding of what Rugby League requires.

so what im reading into is

We have to create boring monotonous wrestling rugby in the hope that a scrum half and stand-off can unlock a defence, which they were doing fine with when we had quick taps and play of the ball which was actually exciting for the fans and especially the neutrals, turning our game more into the b'stard child of Rugby union to compete with Australia who we play every blue moon. Most people don't care about internationals seeing as we only have 2 and a half decent international teams.

F--- the purists and the morally superior i want fast running, high scoring rugby that punishes the slow witted and defencively inferior teams.

Im not interested in how the Aussies play
They are better than us and always will be at rugby so lets stop trying to follow them and get on with our own game.
I support Warrington so why do i want rugby that doesn't benefit the domestic game.

i don't care what people say i like my rugby fast and hard not slow and regimented.

no what you are saying is i dont understand how RL is played and i just want players to run the ball.

my attitude is why RL in england is always behind australia.

anybody that thinks RL is mainly about attack is ignorant.

any RL side can attack the ball.

its the good sides that can do the more important bits.