Quality of NRL games

[Number6]

Is it just me or has this year, particularly the finals to date been poor quality football?

Low completions, bad defensive misses, lots of single player efforts that are made to look better than they really are? Or is it fatigue with injuries and 8 interchanges? Is it increased speed and pressure?

The only professional looking team are Melbourne. The other teams are making errors you don't expect in local A grade.

Is this a bad year or more evidence the salary cap breeds mediocrity?

 

[Sproj]

I think it is a combination of many factors. No JT, no Scott, no Inglis, lots of injuries throughout the year to big name players, Melbourne so far above everyone else because everyone else just can't put it together, pathetic crowds, even last night, 35000 to a final in Brisbane? Goodness me. Awful refereeing, bogan commentators, sportsbet, agendas, Sydneycentric everything, disenchanted fans, amateurish management of the game, unbelievable salary cap issues, capping off field spending, legitimate whinging about everything NRL related. There are a lot of problems with the game and brand right now but no one influential seems to care.

 

[tommy]

The lack of responses in this thread seems to indicate that it is a tough question and there is no definitive answer. But it's true, there has been some bloody mediocre footy this year, even in the finals.

 

[Big Pete]

Tom's right, it's a question that demands a complicated answer. Unfortunately the amount of time you'd have to sit through, chalk through the numbers and watch the games for qualitative data would just be a waste of time. In the end a 'You're right mate' or 'Nah, she's sweet' is probably the best you're going to get.

For the sake of sharing some data, I thought I'd compare the key stats from the first week of 2006 with 2017.

2006 Totals
Tackles: 2 673
Missed Tackles: 287
Line-Breaks: 37
Runs: 1 395
Metres: 11 582
Errors: 113

2017 Totals:
Tackles: 2 672
Missed Tackles: 238
Line-Breaks: 36
Runs: 1 443
Metres: 13 022
Errors: 85

It would be interesting to see how that stacks up to last year and the year before.

 

[heartly87]

I think the main issue is broadcasting. The game is being strangled by the broadcasters. Take fox for example, they televise the game to make money, their not in it for the game their there to generate money out of the game. The 24hr chanel needs news. It needs scandals and needs drama. Their commentators will call the game with that in mind, this means one bad call is talked about for the next 5 mins and then the next 48hr news cycle. There has been multiple examples of this all year. The high shot on slater could have been the head shot on JFK for the way 360 covered it for its 3 day cycle. Their plan to deal with this was to make the game no contact for anyone but the professionals. Idiocy of the highest order. Junior's not exposed to contact before grade would be unprepared and in more dangour then any on history. The media and its ilc will destroy the game to line their pockets. In one hand complain about the good old days and in the other complain how the game needs be more progressive and mature. The players are giving as much or more as they always have. It is us driven by media frenzy that are never happy. The sooner the NRL gets its own channel the better. To be honest i would rather hear how good the game is for once. Then all the negativity spewed out of the mouths of degenerate Slothfields and has beens like Ikin

 

[Big Pete]

More recent series

2017 Totals:
Tackles: 2 672
Missed Tackles: 238
Line-Breaks: 36
Runs: 1 443
Metres: 13 022
Errors: 85

2016 Totals
Tackles: 2 517
Missed Tackles: 218
Line-Breaks: 29
Runs: 1 271
Metres: 11 573
Errors: 70

2015 Totals
Tackles: 2 888
Missed Tackles: 233
Line-Breaks: 23
Runs: 1 443
Metres: 12 683
Errors: 108

2014 Totals
Tackles: 2 533
Missed Tackles: 174
Line-Breaks: 35
Runs: 1 295
Metres: 11 926
Errors: 62

2012 Totals
Tackles: 2408
Missed Tackles: 239
Line-Breaks: 33
Runs: 1 268
Metres: 10, 881
Errors: 81

Unfortunately I'm missing the stats for 2013, but these are the totals for every week since we've had the new finals system. Based on the figures, you would have to say that either 2014 or 2015 were the best final series, albeit 2017 provided fans with more action (largely due to extra time in Cronulla v North Queensland).

Moreover, stats alone cannot provide a sufficient answer. How do you measure the quality of the contest? What do you feel are the vital elements? Completion rates? Defensive efforts? Are we down on this year because one team appears to be so far ahead of the rest?

 

[Slaiman]

I think the finals series has been really good. Maybe not as high quality as the last few years but the competiveness of games and excitement factor has been way up imo.

The last 4 sides have definitely been the best performing sides all year. Despite the ladder position Cowboys have been more consistent then the 4 gone. Just had some bad luck throughout games and a tougher draw.

Will be massive efforts if the Broncos and Cowboys win after the injury tolls they have had throughout. Not only season ending ones but constant 3 to 4 week stuff.

Would love to see a rematch of 2015.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

The rot has set in.

Personally I really don't think it's rocket science. What is there to be optimistic about for Rugby League fans in Australia? That Rugby Union is doing even worse? Set that bar any lower and you're gonna need a limboist. The AFL is kicking the NRL's ass in pretty much every facet and it's not a fun thing to witness. Crowds, ratings, media coverage, they dominate all of it, and not because they necessarily deserve to do so, it's just that the NRL is so ineptly administered that 90% of the time, it's own goals that are damaging them, not anything the AFL is doing. We have State Of Origin for **** sake, easily the biggest sporting event in the country involving a ball and still we can't bruise the chip chasing Seagull filth down south.

Todd Greenberg is out of his depth, it's as simple as that. All of this new shit like the RL commission and finally being free of Newscorp and their garbage, all of these big changes that were supposed to give us cause to think big about our favorite sport and all of it has gone off like a fart in a balloon. And don't even get me started on recent rule changes.

The way the NRL have been fucking with the rulebook in recent times just goes to show you how lacking in vision they are in everything else. The 2 referee system sucks and doesn't work like they said it would, neither does the bunker (what a monumental disaster that has turned out to be after all the hype), the 7 tackle set has ruined the playmaking potential of sides in attack because nobody wants to risk giving away an easy out of the opposition half with a flashy move into the in goal, the shoulder charge rule, well where the **** do you start with that. Taumalolo had a textbook one on the weekend and he is playing next week. So what the **** is the point then?

I could get into Melbourne and their bullshit style of play that the NRL allows them to strangle the comp with but I've given up expecting anything to be done about that. It's old man shouting at clouds stuff at this point. I understand that people will read this and think it's just raw cynicism, I get why you would think that, but I really don't like it being that way. I love this sport with all my heart, and I want it to be the best it can be always, but it has gone nowhere but backwards in recent years and that is only accelerating. The JT/Cronulla fairytales don't do much to help the idea that the NRL have agendas they try to fulfill at the expense of others either, so why be so surprised that people are disenchanted.

 

[Alec]

Greenburger probably has an MBA. MBAs ruin everything.

 

[Nashy]

Can some of the smarter heads compare our 2006 team with our team today? My theory is that the constant reward of mediocrity in managing a club, the salary cap, is really starting to take hold of our game.

 

[Waynesaurus]

I think the referees have been really soft on the 10 metres and the slowing of the ruck/play the ball this year and whilst it has kept the finals games artificially close by keeping the scores low it has turned them into a bit of a grindfest.