lukemcm / siesta-rugby-league

Rugby league today is a game of hit ups, wrestling and kicking. It is a game that favors the athlete rather than the footballer. “The greatest game of all," once a 13-a-side game, is these days a 17-a-side game. At one time you could only replace an injured player in the first half but now tired players, usually forwards are given a “siesta" and then sent back on again. When we had the 13-a-side game teams were made up predominantly of footballers rather than athletes but now in our game we have a predominance of athletes. Chris Anderson in an interview Anderson Laments Demise of the Little Men (Sydney Morning Herald, March 8, 2007) "claims most NRL teams contain two to four pure footballers, with the rest made up of athletes - big, strong and fast players without skill or instinct.” He goes on to point out that, "[I]t's easier to produce athletes than to produce footballers. It's easier to drag a bloke in and make him big and strong and fast. It's hard to give them football instincts.” And on the small players in rugby league Anderson comments, "I want to give the little blokes opportunities to play footy. The little blokes are really struggling in the game. Rugby union have always said that they're all becoming the same size in rugby league - it's not a game for the little bloke. I think there's a bit of truth in that. You don't want to lose the 'Alfie' Langers and Steve Mortimers of this world. Hopefully they don't disappear out of the game.” Our game is basically five hit-ups and a kick so you really don’t need that many footballers in your team – just a few in key positions. The rest of the team can be made up of athletes who hit the ball up and are good at “the wrestle.” The other crucial ingredient is to have someone with an excellent kicking game. The question we need to ask is, "How many athletes do we need in a team?" Wouldn’t the game be a better spectacle if second rowers, locks, five-eighths, centres and wingers were footballers rather than athletes? When you look at country rugby league in NSW you see smaller footballers dropping out of the game once they reach their teens and the big athletes surviving. You have some talented footballers who make it through to Under 18s then drop out because they come into Reserves and get smashed by big athletes who thrive in the game because of the replacement rule. This rule is causing country rugby league to slowly die. What, I believe, we need to do is to remove the situation in our game that creates the athlete rather than the footballer. How do we do that? My suggestion is that we need to return rugby league to a 13-a-side game: 1. Make the Under 20s Toyota Cup an Under 23 competition with two players over 23 allowed. 2. NRL games to have four replacements (including extra time) plus a designated half back (See 4). All these players must have played a full game in the Under 23s. Any number of replacements can sit on the sideline but only four can be used. (You would be able to have four fresh replacements in the finals.) 3. Once a player is replaced he cannot return to the game. (Injury resulting from an illegal tactic would be exempt.) 4. If a half back is injured he can be replaced by the designated half back. He is not included in the four replacements. The original half back cannot return to the game. (In the NFL if the quarterback is injured he is replaced by another quarterback. This year we had the situation in the Finals where the South Sydney half, Adam Reynolds, had to be replaced. Even though South Sydney were leading at the time Reynolds’ departure finished the season for Souths. It seems unfair that an injured half back, who is the usually the play maker in a side, cannot be replaced by another half back. The above replacement rules would start producing more footballers than athletes at the NRL level and once the “siesta” mentality disappears from our game the other levels of our game will have a springboard for development. Luke McMahon Byron Bay