Excuse my question Burgo because I must admit I never played the game but aren't all junior players taught to pass the ball as a fundamental of the game? This has always puzzled me - forwards I could probably excuse not being able to pass much, but anyone with 1-7 on their backs and 9 of course should have this embedded in them from an early age. Surely they can see how important it is in the NRL so why not get them started on it early in their development?
WIthout quoting all of bort's stuff, I'll say he is on the money. Most fullbacks are put there for their running game. They know how to pass, but all of those other things like positioning your body, reading defence etc. need to be learned. If you are not being put in those situations regularly in games you are not learning it. Drills can only take you so far.
Now, as for whether every player is being taught fundamentals
currently in junior footy, that is a different issue. There is a mountain of research which says that up to about 15 or 16 for almost any sport, the most important thing is making it enjoyable so they stay in the game, but from a long-term development point of view the most important things are 1) body movements, and 2) fundamentals of the sport. There are exceptions (e.g. gymnasts peak very young, and you can't be an ice hockey player if you can't skate) but this is the case for most sports.
When I say body movements, what I mean is that you are primarily training an athlete, not a footballer. He's not going to be good at his chosen sport if he can't run, jump, turn, push, pull, roll over, get off the ground quickly etc. These are not things that you runs drills for. They are things kids can learn playing in the back yard, playing in the park, playing fun games at training, or by doing another sport. Without a strong base of this stuff, no kid is going far in the game. As a very small sample, all of the best players I've coached are the ones who play more than one sport (they play basketball or soccer at school, or mountain bike on the weekend etc.).
As far as fundamentals are concerned, what constitutes a "fundamental Rugby League skill" can be a bit open to debate. The way I coach, I tend to define a fundamental as "something that anybody can learn to do well regardless of their natural talent or previous experience". For example, while "tackling" is a pretty important part of the game, proper tackle technique is something that different players grasp at different times of their development. Not everybody can tackle, but everybody
can move up in defence, get their body in front of the opposition player, and get their head out the way so they don't get hurt. The mechanics of different tackles is definitely something I teach, but again, without doing those other 3 things first they don't have much hope of learning how to tackle properly.
If we say that is #1, some of the other things I consider fundamentals would be:
1. Moving up
together in a line, body in front, stay safe
2. Running on to the ball
3. Catching the ball (ideally with their hands up ready beforehand),
4. Calling for the ball
5. Passing (just short passes of 2-3m)
6. Playing the ball (properly)
7. Supporting the ball carrier
8. Finding your front (playing the ball from your front if possible)
9. Following the play (chasing kicks, cover defending if you are able, etc.)
10. Diving on loose balls
I wouldn't call that an exhaustive list - but these are all simple things that
every player can at least try to do, no matter how big/small/fast/slow they are. No matter how talented your kids are, if they turn up to training and you can get them to do these things, they will all improve both individually and as a team. You would be amazed at how many kids can't do these things when I start coaching them, and how few coaches take time to teach this stuff. I know kids on Broncos scholarships who can't do more than 3-4.
Once a player has a good base of body movements and fundamental skills, you start to move in to tactical skills. These help you win, but you wouldn't call them fundamentals. Marker systems, edge defence, line running, attacking shape, defusing kicks, etc. are all very useful in the context of winning games, but they are not fundamentals. In particular, I have always done a lot of work on attacking shape - but with a specific goal in mind regarding fundamentals. I want to make sure that all of my players get put in eyes-up run-or-pass situations at some point during the game, so I play a structure that creates it. My teams will never have a front rower who only runs one-out, or a winger who only ever gets the ball on dummy half scoots.
Finally, we have position-specific skills. The big question is
when to start introducing this stuff. What most coaches do is look at their players and say "he looks like a second rower, that chubby kid is a prop, and that skinny kid who can pass would make a good 7", and so on. He sorts the in the kids into groups of "backs, forwards and ballplayers" and trains each group accordingly. This is a great way to
win games but a terrible way to develop talent. The earlier you do this, the bigger the gap you are creating. Kids learn more if they are put in different situations during games, and by seeing the game from different points of view. That 13yo winger might end up being the ball-playing lock when he is 17 - but only if he learns to pass
during games. That skinny hooker might be your best back rower in 3 years, but only if he learns to take hit-ups. Doing the drills isn't enough. The research says that the longer you can delay pinning a player in a specific position, the better off he will be long-term. This is the complete opposite of how most junior sport (not just Rugby League) is coached.
As a bit of experiment, go to YouTube and search for a random game between u11 and u15, watch for 15-20 minutes and count how many times someone other than the 6, 7 or 9 passes the ball, and how many times a winger touches it other than a kick return or a dummy half scoot. There are some teams who do it well, but they are the exception rather than the rule. By ignoring fundamentals and pinning kids to positions too early we have created a situation where on most teams 3 kids do 95% of the passing, the other 15 are just ball runners, and we play 99% of our footy in the middle 60% of the field.
