I watch a fair amount of junior footy due to nephews and family friends having kids of that age and there is a scary amount of talent out there involving kids who play footy for fun and possess such unique abilities that they are able to bamboozle defences with their footwork, slight of hand and vision. Unfortunately when they are signed up, a lot of this is coached out of them in favour of what has become the blue print for how these guys should play today's game.
So for starters, I would suggest that a review of coaching requirements for junior rep and train on clinics should be held to ensure that these kids are encouraged rather than discouraged. Obviouisly structure is important but it is not the be all and end all that most claim it to be.
As for the game itself, 5 suggestions to allow creativity to again feature in RL:
1) Reduce the interchange.
Allowing 10 replacements during an 80 minute game is ridiculous. It was supposed to help speed the game up but IMO has had the opposite effect. All it has done is allowed the forwards to remain relatively fresh throughout the game. It has taken away the advantage of the smaller, more skillful players who used to come into their own when the pigs started fatigueing. So instead of seeing backs make breaks or halves carve up the middle during the 10 minutes before half time and at the end of the game, we are seeing forwards who have only played 45 minutes of game time chasing down backs who have played the full game.
It has also given coaches the power to have a bet each way on the naming of the team each week by having players on the bench who can cover for other guys who should not have been selected in the first place. Sometimes players are out of form and they are targetted by smart halves who are watching the game closely as it is being played out in front of them. It is too easy to replace the weak link these days rather than force them to play themselves back into form. For mine a reduction to 6 interchanges would allow the creativity and skills of players to shine when the stronger, more dominating players tire.
2) Erradicate the wrestle.
We showed the league in 2005 that if you play the game fast and use all skills available, you can beat any side in the comp. The game has changed for the worse ever since as coaches plotted to slow the play the balls down. Instead of being tackled, quickly playing the ball and allowing others to capitalise on the good work already done, we have been left with two monsters wrapping the player up and slowing the play the ball to the extent that the defensive lines are constantly set for each play. Those that would historically back their skills against retiring defenses are now left with no time at all to attack properly as they have defenders in the face 1 second after they recieve the ball. For this reason we rarely see any enterprising backline moves involving a couple of switch plays etc…as there just is not enough time or room to pull these things off.
3) Time suspension for stoppages.
I would hazard a guess that a typical game of RL would only see 65-70 minutes of actual game play out of the 80 allocated. There are so many ways to run the clock down with kicks into touch, penalty conversion attempts, try conversion attempts, kicking the ball dead, scrums, line drop outs, arguing with ref, purposely giving penalties away etc....all of which are designed to allow players to regain their breath and slow the game down even more. I suggest that any of these instances should see the clock stopped so that we the punter get our money's worth for starters, and more importantly fatigue is allowed to set in which once again brings the creative talents of the smaller men into the fore.
4) Scrap golden point.
I am all for extra time but this latest trend of a field goal-a-thon is so dull that it is barely even worth it. For mine, extra time should be 5 minutes each way with the only thing that can end this period being a try. In finals and rep footy a second 10 minutes should be allocated to ensure a victor. this means if the scores are level, you have to play on for a further 10 minutes. Once again this will witness the skillful taking charge and securing the result.
5) Bonus points for tries.
As in the Super 15, I think the team who scores the most tries should be rewarded with a bonus point. There has been numerous occurances where a team has scored more tries but lost due to the other side playing methodical, penalty pulling football and kicking a heap of goals. The game has to get back to attack being of vital importance and scoring tries the main focus. This will persuade coaches to pour more effort into skills based training and actually work to innovate attacking moves. It will also force the play makers to take a couple of risks which will see creativity levels increase.
Anyway thats a few thoughts there are probably more out there...
So for starters, I would suggest that a review of coaching requirements for junior rep and train on clinics should be held to ensure that these kids are encouraged rather than discouraged. Obviouisly structure is important but it is not the be all and end all that most claim it to be.
As for the game itself, 5 suggestions to allow creativity to again feature in RL:
1) Reduce the interchange.
Allowing 10 replacements during an 80 minute game is ridiculous. It was supposed to help speed the game up but IMO has had the opposite effect. All it has done is allowed the forwards to remain relatively fresh throughout the game. It has taken away the advantage of the smaller, more skillful players who used to come into their own when the pigs started fatigueing. So instead of seeing backs make breaks or halves carve up the middle during the 10 minutes before half time and at the end of the game, we are seeing forwards who have only played 45 minutes of game time chasing down backs who have played the full game.
It has also given coaches the power to have a bet each way on the naming of the team each week by having players on the bench who can cover for other guys who should not have been selected in the first place. Sometimes players are out of form and they are targetted by smart halves who are watching the game closely as it is being played out in front of them. It is too easy to replace the weak link these days rather than force them to play themselves back into form. For mine a reduction to 6 interchanges would allow the creativity and skills of players to shine when the stronger, more dominating players tire.
2) Erradicate the wrestle.
We showed the league in 2005 that if you play the game fast and use all skills available, you can beat any side in the comp. The game has changed for the worse ever since as coaches plotted to slow the play the balls down. Instead of being tackled, quickly playing the ball and allowing others to capitalise on the good work already done, we have been left with two monsters wrapping the player up and slowing the play the ball to the extent that the defensive lines are constantly set for each play. Those that would historically back their skills against retiring defenses are now left with no time at all to attack properly as they have defenders in the face 1 second after they recieve the ball. For this reason we rarely see any enterprising backline moves involving a couple of switch plays etc…as there just is not enough time or room to pull these things off.
3) Time suspension for stoppages.
I would hazard a guess that a typical game of RL would only see 65-70 minutes of actual game play out of the 80 allocated. There are so many ways to run the clock down with kicks into touch, penalty conversion attempts, try conversion attempts, kicking the ball dead, scrums, line drop outs, arguing with ref, purposely giving penalties away etc....all of which are designed to allow players to regain their breath and slow the game down even more. I suggest that any of these instances should see the clock stopped so that we the punter get our money's worth for starters, and more importantly fatigue is allowed to set in which once again brings the creative talents of the smaller men into the fore.
4) Scrap golden point.
I am all for extra time but this latest trend of a field goal-a-thon is so dull that it is barely even worth it. For mine, extra time should be 5 minutes each way with the only thing that can end this period being a try. In finals and rep footy a second 10 minutes should be allocated to ensure a victor. this means if the scores are level, you have to play on for a further 10 minutes. Once again this will witness the skillful taking charge and securing the result.
5) Bonus points for tries.
As in the Super 15, I think the team who scores the most tries should be rewarded with a bonus point. There has been numerous occurances where a team has scored more tries but lost due to the other side playing methodical, penalty pulling football and kicking a heap of goals. The game has to get back to attack being of vital importance and scoring tries the main focus. This will persuade coaches to pour more effort into skills based training and actually work to innovate attacking moves. It will also force the play makers to take a couple of risks which will see creativity levels increase.
Anyway thats a few thoughts there are probably more out there...
