Gal has managed to play as a midget.
I don't think he's who people are thinking of when they say they want more small players in the game...
Gal has managed to play as a midget.
Plenty of 'smaller' players doing well in the NRL currently - I don't see it as that much of an issue really, it's a professional contact sport, only the most athletic are going to make it. Across many sports this means getting bigger, stronger and faster.
If you reduce interchange maybe some of the awesome big fellas we have running around now that weren't always the fittest may have given up and gone to another sport years ago? Maybe Fifita wouldn't have got an opportunity as early and gone over to union?
I do agree however that there is no benefit to executing a good legs tackle anymore and that is disappointing and legitimately unfair on smaller players or those with (what used to be considered) good technique.
If you rip someone down by the legs one on one all they have to do is flop their upper body around a bit and it's a penalty for not letting go when a) you tackled them like half a second ago and b) throwing your upper body around with both arms wrapped around the ball is not actually a way that you can get up so it doesn't even deserve to be considered as an attempt to play the ball.
You either let go instantly and they quickly play the ball with your defense massively on the ropes or you hang on and get penalised, if not marched off. But if you grab someone around the upper body and push them around for a bit you chew up heaps of time and then chuck them on the ground and waste plenty more time. This slows the game down a lot but is much more effective in today's game than a good legs tackle, and a smaller guy can get even more easily dominated.
I'd rather see them have a crack at fixing this up before reducing interchange again.
I know this is the exception, but who can forget this textbook tackle. Little man on big man
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Plenty of 'smaller' players doing well in the NRL currently - I don't see it as that much of an issue really, it's a professional contact sport, only the most athletic are going to make it. Across many sports this means getting bigger, stronger and faster.
If you reduce interchange maybe some of the awesome big fellas we have running around now that weren't always the fittest may have given up and gone to another sport years ago? Maybe Fifita wouldn't have got an opportunity as early and gone over to union?
I do agree however that there is no benefit to executing a good legs tackle anymore and that is disappointing and legitimately unfair on smaller players or those with (what used to be considered) good technique.
If you rip someone down by the legs one on one all they have to do is flop their upper body around a bit and it's a penalty for not letting go when a) you tackled them like half a second ago and b) throwing your upper body around with both arms wrapped around the ball is not actually a way that you can get up so it doesn't even deserve to be considered as an attempt to play the ball.
You either let go instantly and they quickly play the ball with your defense massively on the ropes or you hang on and get penalised, if not marched off. But if you grab someone around the upper body and push them around for a bit you chew up heaps of time and then chuck them on the ground and waste plenty more time. This slows the game down a lot but is much more effective in today's game than a good legs tackle, and a smaller guy can get even more easily dominated.
I'd rather see them have a crack at fixing this up before reducing interchange again.
You don't see it as an issue?
The best half back in the comp is 35 years old, and he's the best by a country mile
It's a bloody massive issue.
Fifita would be an even better player if we reduced the interchange. SJ and Moylan would destroy teams, Chad would be a great player.
The current game has too many big bodied unskilled players that we don't need. We should honestly run an 8 team comp because that is about how many good players are currently playing, and that's being extremely generous.
It's not even just about losing the smaller players, its about bringing back attrition and opening the game up so its exciting to watch again.
The best half back in the comp is 35 years old, and he's the best by a country mile
Fifita would be an even better player if we reduced the interchange. SJ and Moylan would destroy teams, Chad would be a great player
The current game has too many big bodied unskilled players that we don't need. We should honestly run an 8 team comp because that is about how many good players are currently playing, and that's being extremely generous.
If you eliminate the value of the slower tired guys they will get replaced by smaller fitter guys and Moylan and SJ won't have 'more' opportunity against tired opponents anyway.It's not even just about losing the smaller players, its about bringing back attrition and opening the game up so its exciting to watch again.
I do agree with you and ILLmac a little more attrition would be good in the form of reduced stoppages, however I like keeping the interchange at 8 to protect players and if you want to use big guys with limited capacity then that's a risk you choose to take if you get an injury. It's a tactical decision I am happy for teams to have the option to make. I think rewarding legs tackles would also be good and probably a bit more control over how long you can drag on a tackle if you throw them down after ref has called held.With the attrition thing, they really need to do something about the amount of stoppages. Watch a game from the 90's or 80's and see how long it takes to pack a scrum or take a dropout. So much faster.
You don't see it as an issue?
The best half back in the comp is 35 years old, and he's the best by a country mile
It's a bloody massive issue.
Fifita would be an even better player if we reduced the interchange. SJ and Moylan would destroy teams, Chad would be a great player.
The current game has too many big bodied unskilled players that we don't need. We should honestly run an 8 team comp because that is about how many good players are currently playing, and that's being extremely generous.
It's not even just about losing the smaller players, its about bringing back attrition and opening the game up so its exciting to watch again.
100% ILLmac, it plagues the Game, from Jnr Rep Level up. Many Small kids that are good courageous players, and who would be great senior players are beginning to toss it in from where I stand. I get the Athletic thing, and you don't have to be a monstrous sized 20 minute player to be effective. 4 runs from players, then a rest, is a joke.
Tom Brady is 41 years old... just throwing it in there...
I do agree with you and ILLmac a little more attrition would be good in the form of reduced stoppages, however I like keeping the interchange at 8 to protect players and if you want to use big guys with limited capacity then that's a risk you choose to take if you get an injury. It's a tactical decision I am happy for teams to have the option to make. I think rewarding legs tackles would also be good and probably a bit more control over how long you can drag on a tackle if you throw them down after ref has called held
Curious, what are we protecting players from? I'm going to assume injury. It is a well talked about issue in the game, so many injuries. It's because players are all so big now, they spend so much time in the gym to get size. Everyone is so big and running full speed all the time and causing injury upon themselves and other players.
There have been studies that say more attrition will likely reduce injuries due to less impact in tackles as players tire.
It's worth exploring although I do think there needs to be a bit of notice if they do reduce to 6. At least 12 months, if not more.
As I've said before though, it's not the only solution. Stoppages needs to be reduced dramatically. Not much can be done with video referrals but scrums and dropouts need to be much faster.
If you're too small to stop someone who does 4 runs and has a rest you're to small to stop Fifita and half the other props in the game.