Kent: Held fast in wrestling’s grip

NRL coaches and identities including Wayne Bennett, Trent Robinson and Darren Lockyer attend the NRL Rules Conference at the Pullman Quay Grand Hotel, Circular Quay Source: Stephen Cooper / News Limited

THE problem for the NRL, as it tries to figure out what it is and what it wants to be, is the coaches and players can't get dumber.

They can't unlearn all they have about wrestling techniques and defensive structures.

They can't get less fitter or stronger.

So on Tuesday the NRL's Competition Committee, the most important posse in the game behind the ARL Commission, came together to figure out a way to unring the bell.

How do we eradicate what many believe are negatives of the game, given what we already know and can do?

For more than an hour the NRL's Head of Football Todd Greenberg presented a statistical look at the game now and as it was 10 years ago, before wrestling was part of the rugby league language.

Players are heavier and taller. Where they spent 13 hours training per week a decade ago they now spend more than 30.

NRL coaches and identities at the NRL Rules Conference. Source: News Limited

Wrestling was not part of the game 10 years ago. Not one wrestling charge was made or ever had been made.

In 2014 there were 28 wrestling charges.

And the concern for the game is the deeper you looked the more worrying it became.

Not revealed in the statistics was the changing nature of tackling. Back then, it was collide as hard as you could and get the man to the ground as quickly as you could.

Now, tackling is the opposite. They "catch" more than collide and then work on conning the referee they are trying to complete the tackle when in fact they are slowing it down.

Tackling nowadays is all about control after initial contact.

"In 2004 the object was to get the ball to the ground as hard as you can," said Ben Ikin, helping Greenberg facilitate.

"In 2014 you can see that it is all about controlling the speed of the play-the-ball."

Coaches realise slowing the play-the-ball is the key to winning football games. The better they do it, the longer opponents are running at a set, rested defence and the harder it is to bust through and score.

NRL coaches and identities at the NRL Rules Conference Source: News Limited

It is why average linebreaks have dropped from 10.1 a game in 2004 to eight this season.

Tries have dropped from 8.4 a game to 7.3. If it were to continue along this same plane, which it won't, figures show a further drop to 5.7 tries a game by 2024 and 5.4 linebreaks.

In reality, the drop will be even steeper as players get fitter and better trained in their tackling technique.

Worrying trends were elsewhere, too.

In 2004 25 per cent of tackles involved one tackler, 55 per cent involved two and 20 per cent had three men or more.

This season it dropped to 18 per cent for one man tackles, dropped to 46 per cent for two man tackles and rose to 35 per cent for three men or more.

Again, not contained in the statistics is exactly what how the ballrunner finds the ground, more often these days twisted and dropped on his back rather than elbows and knees of 10 years ago which equates to an even slower play-the-ball.

And if the trend was to continue then by 2024 one man tackles would drop even further to 13 per cent, two men tackles to 37 per cent, and three men or more would rise to 50 per cent.

The game is caught in a slow death clutch.

Daniel Anderson at the NRL Rules Conference. Source: News Limited

And the hard part is that, having learned these new, effective techniques, the game cannot untrain them but must find a way around them.

One solution widely suggested to counteract wrestling dropping the interchange to increase the fatigue factor will not be implemented next season but is under consideration for 2016. Why it can't be done now is anyone's guess.

If there is good news, it is that Greenberg spoke often about the number of football experience in the game at the meeting.

Among them were Wayne Bennett (754 games), Tim Sheens (875 games), Darren Lockyer (459 games), Wayne Pearce (421 games), Laurie Daley (318 games), Michael Buettner (269 games), John Lang (443 games), Trent Robinson (57 games), Mark O'Neill (223 games) and Daniel Anderson (152 games). A total of 3,971 games coaching or playing or both at NRL and rep level.

The evidence they saw revealed a worrying spiral to a game becoming more dour and less spontaneous in a game that is already heavily over-coached.

After Greenberg finished his presentation they broke briefly before small groups were actioned to come up with solutions for the problems.

The solutions were then presented and workshopped but, unfortunately, those armed with their notepads and pens had been removed from the room by then.

So all that is left to report is the dire warning that kicked off the meeting. Not one valid solution can be reported.

"You guys are looking for answers out of this and we don't have the answers," Greenberg said.

"What I am trying to demonstrate is we will get to the answers."

So in them we trust.

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