Not posted in ages but thought I'd share my thoughts now there's actually signs of life in the team!
The turn around in our defense is quite remarkable really. Fair play to Agar for that, and to the players as they're finally starting to play as a unit.
Stand outs for me were Ava - what an effort just after stepping off the plane on Weds. Myler gets some bashing on here but having Lui in the team seems to have taken some of the pressure off his shoulders. Always seems to come up with some big defensive plays dislodging the ball. Also thought Newman put in a really good defensive effort, looks to be getting better at knowing when to jam in and shut down a play. Fair play to Sutcliffe as well as I thought he put in a shift. Think second row is his best position and thought he coped fairly well with McMeekan tonight. Also pleasing to see Cuthbertson and Singo showing some form!
Glad we've got Lui in the team now too, he's a far more dependable player than Lolohea, and looking forward to seeing more of Martin who despite the errors tonight I think he'll come good.
Also think the criticism of Handley is a bit wide of the mark - dropped a high kick but also came up with some important plays too. Yes our wingers make some bad errors and I wouldn't be against bringing in better quality at some point should it be available but I think we have other areas to fix up first.
Anyway, a good win and let's hope we get a run going!
People have to realise with regards to the ruck that if you speed it up so much that teams can literally roll down the field with one man rugby as the defence cant get back in time and I see this a lot in the NRL.
If you can make 60 or 70m a set by taking no risks why would you? Watch an NRL game and every set of 6 is the same. Drive, drive, drive, structured spread set play on 4th, drive and attacking kick cos you are upto opponents 30m line.
With regards to ruck speed impacting TV viewing figures for Sky I just dont buy it. RL fans will watch RL games regardless if they can. Non RL fans out of the heartlands will watch a game now and again but I dont believe for a second they will turn off cos there is too much wrestling in the ruck.
The 2 on 1 ball steal was brought in initially because likes of Gavin Clinch and Paul Dixon was becoming experts and literally stripping or stealing the ball while teammates held the player up. Now players get penalised for making a tackle and touching the ball in that tackle which makes the ball carrier lose the ball. That shouldnt be penalised but its difficult for referees who haven't developed eyesight that can see through 3 human bodies sometimes. It's impossible for them.
With player safeguarding becoming more and more important, it will be interesting to see if there are more rule changes around welfare - and if emerging evidence makes it even more difficult to attract youngsters to the game going forward.
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