No. It’s not about just working hard.
When I played it was very much about marker 1 getting out and working hard, and marker 2 holding to cover the dummy half run. Players were lauded for making consecutive tackles. When I played colts (u19) we even got little prizes/bonuses any time we were able to be involved in every tackle of the set. Most people who watch the game now are old enough to have played under that old system. That’s why at every game played there is some bloke yelling “markers work”. Mums and dads telling their kids to chase from marker in situations where they shouldn’t was such a problem in my teams that I ended up just banning centres and wingers from going to marker ever.
The game moved on from this system some time ago but it still gets applied in some situations (e.g. last tackle kick pressure, close to sidelines, when you have a team pinned in a corner). Like most things though it was evolution rather than revolution. Coaches started experimenting with different marker systems when defending their own line (one marker, no markers, no chasing hard) and when they finally figured out what worked they started using it farther from their own try-line.
The "problem" with the old system is that of marker 1 chases hard but the attackers decide to bring the ball back to where marker 2 is standing it can leave a lot of space between marker 2 and each of the A defenders. This was a
pet play from DCE and Turbo on the 5th. When I played lock I was very much about trying to beat the first marker with the timing of my run at the advantage line and then stepping back in to attack between the A defenders or finding a runner straight up the middle. I had a lot of success with that.
The good thing about the old system though is that it is really easy to coach. If you have a big slow kid in the middle you just tell him his job is to always be second marker and avoid getting to first. Your workers you tell the opposite. Workers get out and do their thing, and the big kid uses less energy and ends up being in the right position for the scoot or the attack back through the ruck just by "doing nothing". In my experience for normal club/school footy where you have kids of mixed abilities and attention spans it's probably a better way to win games - because the new way takes a lot of work to get right, and
even good players get it wrong.
Except for in niche situations the "new" way to play marker isn't just about working hard. It's about creating a straight line in defence as quickly as possible, and not leaving too much of a gap (like Pollard did above). Rather than chasing out hard the markers actually want to make a backwards movement a lot of the time, because that creates a line with the A defenders either side quicker (this is called "tying in"). Defences would rather concede the extra few metres but keep the line intact. All of this requires communication between the markers themselves, and also the fullback doing a good job of placing the A defenders. If/when the ball goes to a one-off runner it is
then about the markers working hard in their first few steps to close the gap between themselves and the runner, but if the ball goes wide they hold position because keeping the line straight is still the best way to defend.
Here are a couple of crappy screen captures. Hiroti first marker (#23), Brailey second marker. Niwhai and JC are the A defenders with good spacing.
View attachment 35033
Look where Hiroti ends up here relative to the 40m line. His first movement is backwards. He's the left centre but has done his job well here to tie-in with Colquhoun at A. Once the Sharks get numbers in tackles everyone else he goes back to his edge and Brailey et al push in one spot.
If they had taken a one-pass hitup here Hiroti would have accelerated to shorten the space between he and the runner, which means either he makes contact or the player runs to his left and gets gobbled up by A, B and C.
View attachment 35034
If Cam is saying that Nikora is doing great work at marker that would be a combination of some great play in the opposition's end pinning them down in the "get out quick and either chop the legs or hold them up and wait for help" situation, but also kick pressure on the last, effort, communication and decision making in "normal" marker situations.
