Reduce defensive gap to 7 metres : Sun Apr 20, 2014 7:19 pm  

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... zqw8y.html What an article, fantastic. As many have said, the defensive line should go back to 7 metres. I agree. And fine stay as 13-a-side. I want to see rugby footballers playing rugby, not athletes, though obviously some are going to be athletes. And to help European RL, inasmuch that the NRL sometimes take the players back 12m, which is ridiculous, R Silverwood usually takes teams back 9m, so this will help because it'll be easier to referee the ruck from there; but, he/she will have to be very strict on when the defensive line can move forward, they should not be allowed to move until the ball has CLEARED the ruck. Also allow the markers to be at the side of the ruck, 2 metres back from the play-the-ball. And get rid of the 10m and 30m line, also bring back the 22m line, so it'll be a 40/22 then, want to see more of them. Can't take a quick tap inside the oppositions 22m area as it's too much of an advantage to the attacking side. It's too easy to score from them close to the line as is shown in RU. Have scrums only in the oppositions half. With these pitch markings, it'll be difficult to tell whether the pitch is less than 100m long, which is good for us up here. So the GF could be on an 88m long pitch at it'll look okay, have 7m in-goal areas. O Trafford is too small to have a 100m long pitch. This will also reduce the importance of the number nine, and about time, the halfback should be the most important position on the park, and this would return it to the Nr 7, so if this does come in, and there is a growing sentiment towards it in Aus, we'll probably see Cam Smith return to halfback, though passing from acting-halfback would still be very important of course. Anyway, this is NOT going to change much up here, as teams usually start about 9m back and leave a bit early, so in effect the defensive line is back 7m in SL, this is to try and get the NRL and SL closer together, so to help international RL. And to stop so much scooting from acting-halfback

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... zqw8y.html What an article, fantastic. As many have said, the defensive line should go back to 7 metres. I agree. And fine stay as 13-a-side. I want to see rugby footballers playing rugby, not athletes, though obviously some are going to be athletes. And to help European RL, inasmuch that the NRL sometimes take the players back 12m, which is ridiculous, R Silverwood usually takes teams back 9m, so this will help because it'll be easier to referee the ruck from there; but, he/she will have to be very strict on when the defensive line can move forward, they should not be allowed to move until the ball has CLEARED the ruck. Also allow the markers to be at the side of the ruck, 2 metres back from the play-the-ball. And get rid of the 10m and 30m line, also bring back the 22m line, so it'll be a 40/22 then, want to see more of them. Can't take a quick tap inside the oppositions 22m area as it's too much of an advantage to the attacking side. It's too easy to score from them close to the line as is shown in RU. Have scrums only in the oppositions half. With these pitch markings, it'll be difficult to tell whether the pitch is less than 100m long, which is good for us up here. So the GF could be on an 88m long pitch at it'll look okay, have 7m in-goal areas. O Trafford is too small to have a 100m long pitch. This will also reduce the importance of the number nine, and about time, the halfback should be the most important position on the park, and this would return it to the Nr 7, so if this does come in, and there is a growing sentiment towards it in Aus, we'll probably see Cam Smith return to halfback, though passing from acting-halfback would still be very important of course. Anyway, this is NOT going to change much up here, as teams usually start about 9m back and leave a bit early, so in effect the defensive line is back 7m in SL, this is to try and get the NRL and SL closer together, so to help international RL. And to stop so much scooting from acting-halfback

Re: Reduce defensive gap to 7 metres : Sun Apr 20, 2014 7:49 pm  

totally agree...

Re: Reduce defensive gap to 7 metres : Sun Apr 20, 2014 9:06 pm  

Would also start the match with a drop-kick, it's too easy to bash the ball into the in-goal area or towards the touchline with a spiral as P Richards does.

Re: Reduce defensive gap to 7 metres : Sun Apr 20, 2014 9:58 pm  

Nope. 10m is fine.
If we're worried about too much scooting from dummy half or the play the ball being too quick then force players to play the ball properly. Ie regaining their feet, facing forwards and touching the ball with the foot.

I think it's naive in the extreme to think that just because you reduce it from 10m to 7m that defenders then won't bother with all the tactics that have come in. Of course they will and you'll have a defensive line ontop of the attack before they've even had chance to get moving.

The tactics/techniques like cannonball, wrestling, chicken wings etc have come in because of the game finally becoming full time pro across the board and the massive increase in sports science and game analysis.

For instance, 20 years ago Leeds' backroom staff (coaches, conditioners, physios etc) was a grand total of 9 people. Now it's 26.

If there are tackling techniques that are dangerous (eg cannonball) then ban them. If the play the ball is too fast then slow it down (through applying the rules!). But a move to a closer defensive line would be disastrous and would lead to even more one-out play because the defence would be up too quick to allow the ball to be spread out wide.

Re: Reduce defensive gap to 7 metres : Sun Apr 20, 2014 10:34 pm  

It's 7 metres up here now, so it'll be no different, this is to bring the style of the NRL more in line with SL, the NRL is too structured, need to bring a little more variety into it, more off-loading and ad-lib football.

As I said, in SL teams usually start 9m back, BUT they leave early, so by the time the ball is in the area where the acting-halfback can pick it up they are usually 7m back. So there will be enough time to be able to spread the ball. But the biggest thing for me as Sean Fagan said, is to stop the markers from having to be square. J Roby should never be able to eat so many metres up, it infuriates me, it infuriates me more than seeing R Bailey at loose forward. Players and coaches have a duty to try and put on passing plays, players should demand that they do, they have a duty to try and entertain to a certain extent. Leeds won't play any different under these laws, well as I said, they're not much different to what we have now up here, it's the NRL that have a problem. Yes the Aussies have more skilful players across the board, and their passing plays are beautiful to watch, but there is too much emphasis on being athletic, I want to see more George Rose's in RL. Less time spent in the gym, as I've bn going on about for yrs.

Re: Reduce defensive gap to 7 metres : Sun Apr 20, 2014 11:10 pm  

Agree with HIM, ensuring playing the ball properly and make illegal/dangerous tackles scarce with consistantly hefty punishments.
Also, 5m gap of yore is worth about 10m now given how fast/much more athletic players are. That said the offsides at the PTB/Scrums are just crazy.

I always liked to dislodge the ball from the dummy half if I was first marker, or even dive on the little fecker if he'd been taking the mick.. can't do that nowadays it seems..not sure where in laws it says you can't but players get pinged all the time even when square.
Striking for the ball (At the PTB) as well would make players put the ball down properly too. Fail to rake it and risk another 6 to go, brings another dimension to the game that I think we are missing given the scrums are a non entity these days.

Re: Reduce defensive gap to 7 metres : Sun Apr 20, 2014 11:27 pm  

You can keep repeating it Oz, it doesn't make it so.
Unless the lines on the pitches here aren't actually 10m apart then you're plainly wrong.

Re: Reduce defensive gap to 7 metres : Mon Apr 21, 2014 10:04 am  

It's already bad enough seeing players getting away with being offside at the play the ball time and time again without giving them an extra 3 metres to work with

Re: Reduce defensive gap to 7 metres : Mon Apr 21, 2014 3:30 pm  

Adamjk wrote:

It's already bad enough seeing players getting away with being offside at the play the ball time and time again without giving them an extra 3 metres to work with

Refs would be stricter if the gap was reduced, it would be one of the reactions. And as a previous poster said, indeed make sure players play the ball properly, with the foot, and are not able to put the ball on the floor until they have regained their feet. Refs, would be told to ensure that defenders do not advance until the ball has completely cleared the ruck, at the moment they are moving when the ball has touched the floor.

I detest this obsession with having a quick ruck, I want to see passing not running from acting-halfback and one out running. Which is one of the reasons why I think markers should not have to be square.

Re: Reduce defensive gap to 7 metres : Mon Apr 21, 2014 3:32 pm  

Him wrote:

You can keep repeating it Oz, it doesn't make it so.
Unless the lines on the pitches here aren't actually 10m apart then you're plainly wrong.

You have a look later at the Dragons vs. Hull KR. They'll be offside at almost every play-the-ball. On another issue, how about the name front forward as a new name for the hooker?