StephenP
ArnoldHow does the NRL stop serious injuries?
April 12th 2007 04:02
The NRL world has been rocked this week with the forced retirement of one of the games great players, Andrew Johns. With the current media saturation of this announcement, I see no real reason to add my sentiments, but I do wish to congratulate Andrew on a glittering career, and also to have both the guts and the brains to realise that the right decision has been made.
Joey, I wish you all the best for a healthy future, and hope that you enjoy the next phase of your life, which you described as your "new career".
The North QLD Cowboys Luke O'Donnell also received some shattering news this week, with the talented backrower set to miss the remainder of the season thanks to an ugly 'wishbone' tackle, which tore his hamstring completely from his pelvic bone in last Saturdays victory over the Tigers.
Add to that the fact that players of the calibre of Matt Rogers, Mark Gasnier, Chris Flannery, Mark Riddell, Carl Webb and Simon Woolford are all out of action for extended periods due to match related injuries sustained this season, than an alarming pattern is starting to manifest into one of the physically toughest sports in the world.
The question must be asked - Has the era of rugby league professionalism actually harmed the sport, not enhanced it? With NRL players now contracted as full-time professional athletes, the emephasis and increase in strength and speed training has turned our players into rock hard, powerful machines.
The era of rugby league professionalism also brought about about a few interesting rule changes, most noticeably the increase in workload of the interchange or bench player.
Ever since the need for 12 interchanges for each team came into existence in the late 1990’s, rugby league has developed into a much more physically demanding, faster sport. No longer is the sport merely a 13 on 13 contest – it is now a 17 on 17 battle of the strongest, fittest and smartest.
With the game becoming faster and faster each season, match officials are copping more and more flak at their inability to keep up with the pace of the game. Australian Coach Ricky Stuart first floated the idea a few months back, but we here at NRL News think that cutting the number of fresh interchange players back to 8 is an integral part of rugby league’s future success.
In the past few seasons, the NRL's interchange bench usually consists of three big forwards and a utility that can slot into either hooker or half. This essentially means that teams have a rotation of up to eight fresh forwards throughout the entire eighty minutes of a match, with the majority of clubs utilising the two hooker rotation.
Basically, today’s game has four fresh forwards barging into each other for the entire match, which means that defensive units don’t tire as mush as they used to. The three bench forward option also enables a few clubs to carry one big, usually unfit, but prop forward, who can only compete in 15-20 minute bursts, ala Parramatta's FuiFui Moimoi in season 2005 06 and most recently Manly's George Rose last weeekend.
The days of the chip and chase are virtually non-existent, as players are fitter and fresher, and therefore are able to cover these once genius attacking kicks easily. With the current rule of 12 interchanges in place, rugby league is becoming too structured, and is starting to lose some of it’s unpredictability and mystique about it.
Cutting back the number of interchanges to 8, will ensure that only the fittest players survive, while also ensuring that some of the old attacking creativity evolves back into the game. As the forwards are forced to play more game time, this tires and opens up the defensive lines, which in turn will re-introduce the chip and chase, ball playing forwards and eliminate the excessive amount of gang tackling currently plaguing the game.
As the players tire form spending more time on the field, the pace of the game should also slow down a few cogs. This will benefit the match officials as well, as a slower game will increase the decision making time for the referees.
Have all these above factors contributed to the rise of serious injuries in the National Rugby League? What do you think?
Cheers,
StephenP
Joey, I wish you all the best for a healthy future, and hope that you enjoy the next phase of your life, which you described as your "new career".
The North QLD Cowboys Luke O'Donnell also received some shattering news this week, with the talented backrower set to miss the remainder of the season thanks to an ugly 'wishbone' tackle, which tore his hamstring completely from his pelvic bone in last Saturdays victory over the Tigers.
Add to that the fact that players of the calibre of Matt Rogers, Mark Gasnier, Chris Flannery, Mark Riddell, Carl Webb and Simon Woolford are all out of action for extended periods due to match related injuries sustained this season, than an alarming pattern is starting to manifest into one of the physically toughest sports in the world.
The question must be asked - Has the era of rugby league professionalism actually harmed the sport, not enhanced it? With NRL players now contracted as full-time professional athletes, the emephasis and increase in strength and speed training has turned our players into rock hard, powerful machines.
The era of rugby league professionalism also brought about about a few interesting rule changes, most noticeably the increase in workload of the interchange or bench player.
Ever since the need for 12 interchanges for each team came into existence in the late 1990’s, rugby league has developed into a much more physically demanding, faster sport. No longer is the sport merely a 13 on 13 contest – it is now a 17 on 17 battle of the strongest, fittest and smartest.
With the game becoming faster and faster each season, match officials are copping more and more flak at their inability to keep up with the pace of the game. Australian Coach Ricky Stuart first floated the idea a few months back, but we here at NRL News think that cutting the number of fresh interchange players back to 8 is an integral part of rugby league’s future success.
In the past few seasons, the NRL's interchange bench usually consists of three big forwards and a utility that can slot into either hooker or half. This essentially means that teams have a rotation of up to eight fresh forwards throughout the entire eighty minutes of a match, with the majority of clubs utilising the two hooker rotation.
Basically, today’s game has four fresh forwards barging into each other for the entire match, which means that defensive units don’t tire as mush as they used to. The three bench forward option also enables a few clubs to carry one big, usually unfit, but prop forward, who can only compete in 15-20 minute bursts, ala Parramatta's FuiFui Moimoi in season 2005 06 and most recently Manly's George Rose last weeekend.
The days of the chip and chase are virtually non-existent, as players are fitter and fresher, and therefore are able to cover these once genius attacking kicks easily. With the current rule of 12 interchanges in place, rugby league is becoming too structured, and is starting to lose some of it’s unpredictability and mystique about it.
Cutting back the number of interchanges to 8, will ensure that only the fittest players survive, while also ensuring that some of the old attacking creativity evolves back into the game. As the forwards are forced to play more game time, this tires and opens up the defensive lines, which in turn will re-introduce the chip and chase, ball playing forwards and eliminate the excessive amount of gang tackling currently plaguing the game.
As the players tire form spending more time on the field, the pace of the game should also slow down a few cogs. This will benefit the match officials as well, as a slower game will increase the decision making time for the referees.
Have all these above factors contributed to the rise of serious injuries in the National Rugby League? What do you think?
Cheers,
StephenP
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