The League Media

[wamberal]

Meanwhile Mitchell Pearce's antics are generating acres of print and hours of tv interest, and presumably a squillion clicks.


As David Gallop so famously pointed out, whenever there is a scandal, ratings go through the roof.

Or to quote moi, people slow down to look at a traffic accident.

 

[papabear]

the generalisation is from the game play.

Rugby league players do not spend any time contesting possession ... 100% of their time is either attack (run , pass etc) or defence (tackle).

Where as union depending on the game will spend a portion of time on possession. Thus they have to have the skills for that possession side of things and there time spent at training on other things is limited by the amount of time learning technique (and getting strength in the appropriate muscles) to retain or turn over possession, whether that be by way of contested scrums, line outs, rucks or mauls.

It was not meant to be offensive, just a short summary because I cbf going through each position, but I actually agree with a lot of the posters regarding the limitations of a general rugby league player skill set (ie players playing in corridors , thus they spend there entire career on the left side and only learn to pass left well).

But with that specialisation becomes increased ability in those particular skills that they are specialised in.

Sort of like NFL players, whom are more specialised than league players, but have less wide array of skills. Obviously the difference between the two is bigger but the same principle is involved.

You can not have your cake and eat it. Union by its nature has a attack / defence contest and a contest for possession. Thus players have to be good at both. League only has an attack/defence contest, thus they have to be very good at that and not worry about skills learned in fighting for possession.

 

[papabear]

Very biased. Perhaps once upon a time some 30 years ago the above statement may have been true. But it most certainly isn't now. You may not have noticed but there's actually quite a lot of that tackle, pass, run stuff in Rugby as well. The biggest difference in the space available. League players have twice as much as their Rugby counterparts.

personally I don't see it. I think that was the whole thrust of posting the interview, to combat entrenched fixed ideas of this nature.

I think you are a league guy who also watches rugby. Maybe you are right? OR, maybe you are seeing the stereotype.

I, for one, (being honest tho I hardly watch more than five minutes of league a month say) don't see these examples of 'better tackling' in league (for example) To me, most of the time (or at least during the small amount of viewing) the league tackles are incredibly soft. A guy runs into three others who hug him, sometimes to the ground.

there used to be the big dramatic 'tackles', but removing the shoulder charge (as that was usually what they were) has taken that impression away.

Rather I see that in rugby the tackles are effective, get the guy to the ground and so able to contest the ball. That is not to say there are never bone crunching tackles in rugby, there are many.

Anyway, of course I too could be viewing thru my own tinted glasses, with very limited time watching league. I just see broad brush strokes like these as part of the code war and have very little to do with reality.

imo the hugging decreased a lot last year as you werent allowed to peel 1 off 2 off then 3 off when getting off the tackled player so there was no advantage for putting so many in the tackle.

With the limited interchange moving to 8, the hugging will decrease even further.

 

[papabear]

also stuart and lewis, played both league and union growing up getting best of both worlds.

I don't think anyone would argue against the advantages a kid could get from playing different types of games with similar skills, even touch footy is great for catching /passing / fitness skills.

 

[terry j]

Hope you agree with me PB, but boy am I glad they will clamp down on rolling the ball instead of playing the ball. Talk about bloody lazy! One less turn off for the game in my book.

Funnily enough, this too falls into the code wars (I reckon anyway)

League fan-union is so bloody complicated with so many obscure laws, hence too many penalties. Well yeah, fair cop. Equally tho, if you are a fan then there is no harm in learning (as best you can haha) the laws of the game.

Yet, that same league fan will usually turn a blind eye to constant violations of the written rules of league (in this example, the rolling of the ball)-or worse-the refs and governing bodies do the same thing.

I mean league is such a simple game (not a dig in this case, but certainly simpler than rugby) it irks me that they cannot even enforce these simpler rules.

 

[wamberal]

As a huge generalisation, working class Australians do not like referees on principle. When I first started watching loig I was always amused to hear the insulting remarks by the crowd about the "coppers" - i.e. the referees.


There was a bit of merit in this. Some of them were real show ponies, and at least one was found to be corrupt (but pounds to peanuts others were buyable). That was back in the days of illegal casinos, SP betting, and a very corrupt police force (many of the loig referees were actually coppers in their day jobs).

I think some of this contempt, or its vestiges, are still in the game's DNA.

 

[Antony]

the generalisation is from the game play.

Rugby league players do not spend any time contesting possession . 100% of their time is either attack (run , pass etc) or defence (tackle).

Where as union depending on the game will spend a portion of time on possession. Thus they have to have the skills for that possession side of things and there time spent at training on other things is limited by the amount of time learning technique (and getting strength in the appropriate muscles) to retain or turn over possession, whether that be by way of contested scrums, line outs, rucks or mauls.

It was not meant to be offensive, just a short summary because I cbf going through each position, but I actually agree with a lot of the posters regarding the limitations of a general rugby league player skill set (ie players playing in corridors , thus they spend there entire career on the left side and only learn to pass left well).

But with that specialisation becomes increased ability in those particular skills that they are specialised in.

Sort of like NFL players, whom are more specialised than league players, but have less wide array of skills. Obviously the difference between the two is bigger but the same principle is involved.

You can not have your cake and eat it. Union by its nature has a attack / defence contest and a contest for possession. Thus players have to be good at both. League only has an attack/defence contest, thus they have to be very good at that and not worry about skills learned in fighting for possession.

I think that's a pretty fair summary.

I've always also thought that league (at least at the NRL-level) is about very good players beating pretty average players. Because of 16 teams and the salary cap, every side has a whole bunch of fairly mediocre players, and the likes of Thurston etc. just look for unequal match-ups and cruise past them. That is to say: rugby league players rarely have cause to practice the unlocking of good defences, and therefore never develop those skills. That's why state of origin can be a bit of a dirge these days - there are no crappy players to run past.

 

[Strewthcobber]

That's why state of origin can be a bit of a dirge these days - there are no crappy players to run past.

18 tries in the series last year.....

 

[Lindommer]

Many years ago Bob Dwyer made the statement "rugby league is a media beat-up". Putting aside all the merits and bagging of the two codes expressed in the last 30 posts, isn't that remark by Bob so prescient when reading/hearing these last few days all the crap about Mitchell Pearce returning to our shores? Check today's SMH: three articles on Pearce with a total of 141.6 column centimetres. Add in another rollicking story about Shaun Kenny-Dowell's latest drama (another 38.1cm) and that's the three back pages taken up with negative stories and THEY'RE NOT EVEN PLAYING ANY GAMES!

All this carry-on about Pearce really has gone too far. How many interviews and mea culpas does the poor bastard have to do before the media leave him alone?

 

[Antony]

18 tries in the series last year...

One swallow (in this instance, the swallow is a 9-try flogging) does not a summer make. The past four years have yielded: 16-12, 18-8, 10-18, 16-12 (again), 14-6, 10-12, 8-12, 6-4... Hell, even last year managed a 10-11.

Compared to typical NRL scores, those are very low. It suggests that the quality of defence improves much more significantly than does the quality of attack, and I think that's because the same old tricks (largely speed and size) just don't do the job against good tacklers.

Summary: a lot of the really good league players never reach their potential, because week-in-week-out they don't have to.

 

[I like to watch]

A lot of League players dont reach their potential,because it's coached out of them by risk averse coaches.

 

[papabear]

Hope you agree with me PB, but boy am I glad they will clamp down on rolling the ball instead of playing the ball. Talk about bloody lazy! One less turn off for the game in my book.

Funnily enough, this too falls into the code wars (I reckon anyway)

League fan-union is so bloody complicated with so many obscure laws, hence too many penalties. Well yeah, fair cop. Equally tho, if you are a fan then there is no harm in learning (as best you can haha) the laws of the game.

Yet, that same league fan will usually turn a blind eye to constant violations of the written rules of league (in this example, the rolling of the ball)-or worse-the refs and governing bodies do the same thing.

I mean league is such a simple game (not a dig in this case, but certainly simpler than rugby) it irks me that they cannot even enforce these simpler rules.

I agree, I wrote a thread on lu regarding Hull just rolling the ball in the super league. It is ridiculous, it gains a massive unfair advantage, two pet peeves of mine is not playing the ball on the mark and now the touch footy rolly ball.

 

[papabear]

One swallow (in this instance, the swallow is a 9-try flogging) does not a summer make. The past four years have yielded: 16-12, 18-8, 10-18, 16-12 (again), 14-6, 10-12, 8-12, 6-4. Hell, even last year managed a 10-11.

Compared to typical NRL scores, those are very low. It suggests that the quality of defence improves much more significantly than does the quality of attack, and I think that's because the same old tricks (largely speed and size) just don't do the job against good tacklers.

Summary: a lot of the really good league players never reach their potential, because week-in-week-out they don't have to.

You are right to a degree.

Sometimes excellent attacking players are poor defensive players and visa versa. Same with Rugby Union as well, see Quade Cooper. Nigel Plum, was/is (not sure if hes still going around) an absolute beast in defence.

In all games, NFL, Union, League , bball you are going to run plays where you think you will get most value i.e. at the weaker defender.

Origin, QLD and NSW have different philosophies and tbh it hasnt been working for NSW for a while. QLD generally just pick the best player for each position. NSW tend to be a bit more conservative and only pick a player who is a capable defender first, and then the best player... i.e. JT type players get a harder time to get a look in, whereas he was pretty young when dropped into qld.

Also a lot of defensive, errors are a result of fatigue / laziness (ie the professional level of laziness not the pub level) you are hardly going to slack off in origin games, so you have to really really earn that try.

 

[papabear]

As a huge generalisation, working class Australians do not like referees on principle. When I first started watching loig I was always amused to hear the insulting remarks by the crowd about the "coppers" - i.e. the referees.


There was a bit of merit in this. Some of them were real show ponies, and at least one was found to be corrupt (but pounds to peanuts others were buyable). That was back in the days of illegal casinos, SP betting, and a very corrupt police force (many of the loig referees were actually coppers in their day jobs).

I think some of this contempt, or its vestiges, are still in the game's DNA.

tbh, I bash refs as much as the next person when I am watching the raiders. But then I watch a neutral match and I think the ref bashing is outragously ridiculous and the fans have ridiculous biased eyes.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

"Rugby league's players union is seeking to address the issue of blanket booze bans, believing a more sophisticated approach will bring benefits to clubs on and off the field..............."

What could POSSIBLY go wrong?

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/rug...-booze-ban-players-union-20160312-gnhdfg.html

 

[p.Tah]

Reg Ragan's new t-shirt slogan will be "Bring back the piss"

 

[Inside Shoulder]

My god. I thought we had another Darren Lockyer farewell in the stands:

 

[TOCC]

Whilst I don't like golden point, the end of the Broncos v Cowboys game was much more exciting then the end of the Reds v Blues game the week before where they kicked a penalty goal on full time to take a draw.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[I like to watch]

yeah,it was a good ending.
I was gobsmacked at player interviews after the game.
One player said he was telling whatever lies he could,trying to influence the ref.
Then Saint Jonathon with his lip curled like a 3yo having a hissy fit,complaining about the ref.

Here's a tip champ.
When the ref says no try cos of a knock on,it's not an opening statement for a debate.

 

[Sully]

It was even more boring when you saw the Blues one out rucking until the penalty came. It was like rugby in slow motion.