Why we need a controlled play the ball

Quote: Big Steve "If we ever want to compete against the aussies we need to develop our game to make sure team's have to develop a wide range of skills to break down a well organised defence.

IMO, we have been far too reliant on quick scoots and penalties gained from percieved holding down at the ptb. As soon as we come up against a good team with excellent defence and fitness (eg australia) then we struggle to gain advantage because we have become too over reliant on quick ptb's to gain an advantage, and - as has been clearly demonstrated over the past world cups, we are completely clueless at reading creative attacking play, and our defence is exposed as we have no experience of consistenly defending against such a varied and skilled attack.

There is a place for a hooker spotting an opportunity to exploit a gap around the ptb, but with our obsession with a lightening fast ptb we have become far too reliant on this.

From a wigan perspective I have enjoyed watching the skill and variety in wigans attack this season far more than many recent seasons and that is due to moving the ball at speed to both sides of the pitch and having players fit and committed enough to provide dummy runners and multiple options. Huddersfield have also played some brilliantly creative attacking football - neither of which has required scooting to get the defence on the back foot. I know which style of rugby i'd rather watch.'"

Top post.

The rule makers need to sort out what they want and stick to it.

We often see changes within the same season for petes sake.

One minute slower PTB's the next if you're not rolling away within an instant of contact its a penalty.

Must be a nightmare for a coach to work out defensive game plans when from one week to the next you dont know whether you're going to get away with a 9 second PTB or be restricted to about 4 seconds.

Also,isn't it about time we had one set of rules for Rugby League no matter where in the World it is played as opposed to have Super League rules and interpretations,NRL rules and then international rules. Its a joke.

One minute we are speeding our ruck up to match the Aussies the next we are slowing it down as the NRL did a couple of years ago and now we seem to be speeding it up again.

For a classic example of this refer to how Silverwood Policed the Leeds v Melbourne PTB to how the same ref Policed Saint v Leeds last weekend.