The NRL ain’t broke, but coaches say there is one half of the playing field it can’t fix.
The action at the attacking end of the field is absorbing but nothing happens in the defensive half. A team receives the ball in their own territory from a 40-metre kick and, after the first tackle, runs it back from dummy half or one out.
There are no shifts of the ball simply because there is no-one there on early tackles for a winger, fullback or a centre to link the ball. Forwards stroll back after the kick, taking three tackles to position themselves behind the ball. So why are the forwards, especially the middle ones, straggling back?
Well, for the past four years, Rugby League Central has been on a mission to eradicate stoppages from the game, that is, increase ball-in-play time. Scrums have been replaced by play-the-balls; a shot clock applies to re-starts; the six again ruling replaces penalties.
This frantic pace has resulted in the middle forwards walking back to an onside position to conserve energy following an opposing team’s clearing kick.
The Holy Grail of the game was the third State of Origin match which set records for non-stop fury.
Roosters forward Sitili Tupouniua and lock Victor Radley walk back and catch their breath while teammate Dominic Young plays-the-ball up-field after being tackled by Manly forward Haumole Olakau’atu during week two of the 2024 NRL finals.Credit: NRL
“It was the hardest, fastest, most physical game ever,” says Canberra coach Ricky Stuart. “The players have never been so fit and it was the most relentless game ever. The ball is kicked an average of 40 metres on the last tackle and it takes three tackles for the middle players (who do most of the work) to get back behind the ruck.”
So, given the NRL’s obsession with a non-stop game, what can be done about negative backfield play – a design fault of the game’s own making?
“There is no fix,” says Stuart.
Parramatta’s Jason Ryles agrees, saying, “I don’t know what they can do about it. The forwards are getting smaller so they can keep up.”
Brisbane’s Michael Maguire says, “You can’t put expansive play on because you can’t get back.”
The Dragons Shane Flanagan said, “I don’t know what the solution is. The middle forwards are expected to put kick pressure on, which means some of them have to run even more, maybe 50-60 metres down field.”
Graham Annesley, the NRL’s Executive Manager of Elite Football, says the NRL has attempted to address the problem by punishing the defenders, pointing to the success of last season’s crackdown on the downtown rule. “We tried to address the issue by penalising players who raced ahead of the kicker and circled the receiver, effectively preventing him from running more than ten metres before he was tackled.”
Annesley cited statistics to demonstrate the success of what he called, “a change to the interpretation of ‘downtown’.”
‘You can’t put expansive play on because you can’t get back’
Michael Maguire
“In 2024 we saw an almost 40 per cent increase in kick return plays of more than 30 metres (139), with 75 kick return plays of over 40 metres. We also saw 33 tries scored directly from kick returns.“
Annesley concedes the object of the crackdown was to liberate the isolated backs receiving the ball, rather than involve more forwards in backfield play. “We did see players carting the ball back significant distances and catch up with the straggling forwards,” he said.
“But that wasn’t the objective, more of a consequence of the rule change.”
The NRL is not about to change from its mission to eliminate stoppages from the game, especially as it tries to establish a point of difference with rugby union, or compete with the action of AFL.
In any case, despite the negative backfield play, the rugby league public like what they are seeing. Last season, the NRL beat the AFL in TV ratings, despite the inevitability of the Panthers and Storm meeting in the grand final.
Sure, the AFL grand final was a dud but multiple combinations of teams could have made it with premiers Brisbane beating GWS by five points and Geelong by ten in the finals and Port Adelaide and Hawthorn in good form in the latter part of the season.
The Panthers and Storm are expected to challenge again for the title in 2025, with the Panthers the trend setters, cleverly capitalising on the rule changes of the past four years.
This season will be the first without a rule change and while coaches are notoriously conservative, hopefully one club will break from the endless cycle of kick and carry and open up back field attack.
