Some interesting comments in this article. Headline is "closer games and higher attendance", but there are some comments there about ball in play and duration.
He said the ball was in play for longer (62.6%)
Maybe the first one is believable. That is consistent with what happened in the trials. About 12 minutes out of each 20 was ball in play. This 62.6% number would definitely exclude stopped clock scenarios.
... and the elapsed time per match, which is how long a game takes from kick-off to full-time, was significantly less (91.48m).
The second one, no freakin' chance. That would mean less than 2 minutes per game of stopped clock, and half time is exactly 10 minutes whistle to whistle.
Duration of the Sharks/Bulldogs trial was ~95 minutes
excluding the drinks breaks and half time.
We're not that dumb NRL.
Games have never been more evenly contested, remain closer for longer and feature more action.
www.nrl.com
www.foxsports.com.au
