Hey SportsNostrs. Prompted by recent comments I made about NFL and All-Star weekend. Wanted to give you a primer on the best physical contact sport in the world — rugby league ("league").
I say this because a) it’s what I grew up with, and b) it’s arguably true.
A big thread 👇
INTRO:
Some history, some rules... I'll talk about why it’s better then the NFL, why State of Origin shows All-Star weekend to be a waste of time, and a breakdown of gameplay demonstrating the physicality, athleticism and IQ that makes it great.
HISTORY:
- Been played since 1895
- Not same as rugby union (“Rugby”) which is also inferior
- One of Australia's dominant sporting comps
- National Rugby League (NRL) is played by 21 Australian and New Zealand-based teams
- Also played in England, Samoa, Tonga, Papua New Guinea (though their best players play NRL).
📖 RULES - GENERAL:
- 80 mins long (2 x 40 min halves, no stoppages)
- Field is 100M (109 yards) x 68M (75 yards)
- At each end is an in-goal area (like an endzone)
- Points are scored by placing the ball with control in the in-goal area (called a “try”)
📖 RULES - GENERAL (cont.):
- try = 4 points
- conversion = 2 points
- field goal = 1 point
- 13 players on the field for each team
- 4 reserve players per side and 8 interchanges per game
📗 RULES - GAMEPLAY:
- 6 tackles (like a “down”) to score a try
- When tackled, you must stand and “play the ball” back between your legs
- If you don’t score you turn the ball over (like failing to convert a 4th down)
- Defending team must retreat 10M from each play the ball
- Can't drop ball forwards (only back)
- Can only pass backwards (can’t pass to a player in front of you). Underhand passing far better for this than QB style overhand throws
- If you kick down field, players must be behind you to get involved in play
- When defending, can't make dangerous contact with attacking player (no head, ankles, knees, etc)
- No timeouts, no in-between play stoppages to reset. It’s just continuous gameplay
- Lack of NFL helmets/padding also makes it a safer contact sport, as there’s more technique applied to tackles than the NFL
🧐 NRL VS NFL:
- NFL is too stifling
- Athleticism neutered by huddles, timeouts, time stoppages
- Coach has too much direct influence. There’s no continuous play that lets the players play
- Spontaneity is crushed and robotic procedure is rewarded
- Basketball is America’s greatest athletic sport but that also would benefit from less stoppages and timeouts
- Minutiae of American sports rules and their application destroy watchability
- NFL "safety" equipment only encourages dangerous collisions. That’s all they are—collisions. There’s no technique.
- Best players from each state (and for most part, best players in the game) play against each other
- Not pointless spectacle. There’s a lot of pride on the line
- Rugby league at its most athletic, brutal and brilliant
- Execution of all-star games in US sports are a waste of time in comparison
✍️ GAMEPLAY BREAKDOWN:
- Going to use an example from 2013 State of Origin game
- https://youtu.be/ctsjPu-iP40?t=378
- NSW (blue) kicks off to QLD (maroon)
- QLD work through the first set of six of the match, playing for field position with a kick downfield at the end
💡HOW TO WIN IN ATTACK:
- If you’re getting tackled, your goal is to “find your front” as quickly as possible.
- Means you can play the ball faster, defensive line can't reset, and gives your team momentum
- You can see the QLD player do just that
💡HOW TO WIN IN DEFENSE:
- Wrestle the attacking player onto their back and slow the play the ball down.
- Give your team more time to reset in defense and slow attacking momentum
- You can see NSW defenders to this here
- Both instances require explosive power for the run, solid strength for contact and great core strength to win the play the ball
- And this is all continuous
- Every tackle requires an incredible level of skill and athleticism
- Players will average 8km running distance per game
🧠 GAME IQ:
- League constantly demands you to play “heads up”
- Playmakers are constantly looking to take advantage of bad defensive decisions
- Lead up to QLD’s 2nd try (https://youtu.be/ctsjPu-iP40?t=1402), the QLD dummy-half can go left or right. He goes left. Here's why:
- In defense, you have 12 players in the defending line, with a fullback behind the line organizing the defense
- If you split the field at the goal posts, the ideal defense has 6 players on either side of the field
- the QLD playmaker goes left because doing a split-second count, identifies a miscount
- the right side defense only has 5 defenders against 6 attacking players
- so he runs the play that way, they create an overlap, and QLD score a try
🌞 SUMMARY:
- The strategy that's in NFL? Rugby league has it AND it happens at a much faster pace in a much more physical and athletic game
- 2023 season has just started
- Fubo TV usually show 1 game per week or you can get a gamepass at http://nrl.com.
- Americans should watch better sports. Rugby league is one of them.
Oh, and about State of Origin:
- It's really state against state, mate against mate
- often these players play for the same team outside of state of origin
- but playing against each other, for their state, will belt the shit out of each other too
- All-Stars would never
