The Wayne Bennett Super thread!

[tommy]

“I remember in 2010 when St George were criticised a lot for being a boring team and Wayne said he didn’t give a rat’s arse,” Bellamy said.

2010 St George might have been boring but they didn't wrestle like the Storm

 

[Cult]

People are responding to the Storm wrestling hate by saying "It's not illegal" but it actually is, the refs just aren't blowing their whistle. They need to be penalized a lot more.

 

[Stix]

People are responding to the Storm wrestling hate by saying "It's not illegal" but it actually is, the refs just aren't blowing their whistle. They need to be penalized a lot more.

I don't think the 'wrestle' is the illegal part but the laying around in the ruck too long every bloody tackle is... I remember early this season refs were yelling bloody 1-2-3 as soon as the tackle was made. The other night in the Storm v Chooks game I saw two penalties in every set for laying around in tackles yet I think the Chooks only recieved 1 penalty? And it was early in the game.

 

[Super Freak]

I don't think the 'wrestle' is the illegal part but the laying around in the ruck too long every bloody tackle is... I remember early this season refs were yelling bloody 1-2-3 as soon as the tackle was made. The other night in the Storm v Chooks game I saw two penalties in every set for laying around in tackles yet I think the Chooks only recieved 1 penalty? And it was early in the game.

It's the NRL way.

Create a new rule and have a crackdown on it to please the fans.. Then, after a while, just forget about it completely.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

The only one out of step on this is Bellyache. The competition is fed up with this slow, boring style of footy and he is the only one who can't be bothered developing a new strategy that isn't built around the wrestle.

I do hope we meet Melbourne in the Grand Final, because when we inevitably stick our massive boot in their ass with our better style of play which is tailor built to exploit their wrestlemania with offloads from our ball playing forwards to our speed men, Bellyache will finally see that his style can't compete anymore.

 

[Big Pete]

Bellamy is going after the wrong person here.

If anyone deserved his wrath, it was Robinson who made a deliberate point about the wrestle, conveniently ignoring that his team is quite adept at it and got away with their fair share of ruck infringements through out the year as well.

Then you got guys like Gus and Freddy who obviously still have their associations with the Roosters and will use their influence to speak up on their behalf. Gus is a funny one. Will bitch and moan about ruck penalties yet loves the Dogs of War and always installs them as the premiership favourites, whether they deserve it or not. How are they the Dogs of War? Because of their defence and the way they physically impose themselves on the opposition and niggle at them through out the game. I think he calls what he sees, but his perspective is coloured in a way that makes him out to be hypocritical.

Meanwhile, Freddy can't help himself. His option is always to complain on behalf of the Roosters. Whether it's about unfair penalty counts or ruck interpretations, Freddy will always get on his soap box on a Sunday morning and plead their case. Which is what he did on Sunday in a fairly funny segment. Freddy had footage of the Storm's 'wrestle' and Joey pointed out that none of it looked illegal. He was right too, the Storm have perfected an art-form and for the most part it's all above board.

From my perspective, the media are just being the media. They didn't get the result they wanted, had to find a reason to justify their bitterness and they've gone back to the old chestnut. Nevermind that other teams are just as bad if not more blatant, just whinge and create a false perception and pressure the referees to do their bidding.

Remember knee-crowding and how the Maroons were ruining Rugby League?

Same deal.

 

[broncos4life]

Bellemy is a stain on the game. The sooner he pulls the pin the better for the game

 

[redbur95]

Bellamy is an outstanding coach, regardless of the illegal squads he had at his disposal. The problem is that from 2006-2009, the Storm teams became the dominant forces of the NRL because they revolutionised the type of defence which strangled the life out of teams, leaving them so tired that Melbourne would run in three tries in the last 15 minutes to end the contest.

This early form of wrestling was tolerated by the NRL and was so effective that every premiership-winning team from the last 10 years bar the Dragons has used it to great effect. While the Storm may have started the wrestle, the NRL should have finished it long ago.

I'm not a Bellamy fan, but he has expertly created a style of play which flirts with illegality but is always one step ahead of the NRL in terms of what he can get away with. This is why the Storm haven't gone away since 2010, unfortunately.

 

[BroncO(SM)]

In fairness to Bellamy, his hand has been forced and essentially he has had to also play out his own agenda in the press.

If he doesn't get on the front foot, how do you think the next couple of Melbourne games will be refereed.......particularly if they end up playing the Roosters in the GF (heaven forbid)?

 

[vertigo]

Banter.

Good attack and execution will nullify whatever defence is thrown at it.

 

[1910]

Bennett lights fire, Bellamy adds fuel

Has Bennett actually criticised the Storm's style of play? It sounds to me like Bellamy is dirty that he isn't on that panel.

No that's his point- no coach should be on the rules. Coaches will always do what is best for their team. His example is right; did Bennett want quick play the balls and a clear ruck in 2010- no because the Dragons didn't need that.

2015 and quick clear rucks suit the current Broncos so he wants that- nothing wrong with that but you shouldn't be in a committee that can just change the rules to suit your team.

 

[1910]

Not from what I have seen, Bennett has spoken in general about his dislike of the the wrestle but I don't recall him ever publicly naming which clubs are guilty of it, Bellamy knows his side employs it and he can't stand the style being criticised.

I think his issue is rhetoric that just gets thrown out every September; they're not doing anything they haven't done all year. But last Friday was worse than ever.

Prozone email doesn't back that up at all. The Storm v Roosters game had the lowest number of slow play the balls out of four games.

Roosters and Storm both produced the same amount of slow play the balls as each other.
Sharks v Rabbits had the most SPTB.

 

[1910]

The only one out of step on this is Bellyache. The competition is fed up with this slow, boring style of footy and he is the only one who can't be bothered developing a new strategy that isn't built around the wrestle.

I do hope we meet Melbourne in the Grand Final, because when we inevitably stick our massive boot in their ass with our better style of play which is tailor built to exploit their wrestlemania with offloads from our ball playing forwards to our speed men, Bellyache will finally see that his style can't compete anymore.

Again not backed up at all by Prozone.

Only three of the 284 rucks in the Storm (141) v Roosters (143) were slow- more than three seconds. Both had 1%.

Sharks v Rabbits 8%
Broncos v Cows 2%
Dogs v Dragons 4%

Brisbane overcame 3% SPTB on behalf of the Cows defence; where is the Cows critics?

 

[I bleed Maroon]

Again not backed up at all by Prozone.

Only three of the 284 rucks in the Storm (141) v Roosters (143) were slow- more than three seconds. Both had 1%.

Sharks v Rabbits 8%
Broncos v Cows 2%
Dogs v Dragons 4%

Brisbane overcame 3% SPTB on behalf of the Cows defence; where is the Cows critics?

If the Cows were slowing down the ruck as much as Melbourne why was our game much faster than theirs?

 

[1910]

If the Cows were slowing down the ruck as much as Melbourne why was our game much faster than theirs?

Cowboys v Broncos had 20 more PTB than the Storm v Roosters but the Storm v Roosters had two more tries. Tries take time out of games with restarts. So those 20 PTB can be accounted for.

Time doesn't lie Cows 3% caused more SPTB than the Storm 1%.

Storm also had 25 quick PTB (quicker than 3 seconds)- Broncos 15. Which further highlights the Cows.

 

[1910]

I am not picking on the Cows I am just pointing out the standard of QPTB and SPTB is there and the stats clearly show that the boring Storm rhetoric isn't true.

Other games were much slower than what the Storm game was.

 

[Big Pete]

How do the statisticians measure slow play the ball?

Time of contact being initiated? Or time between referee calling held/move?

 

[Porthoz]

When does the PTB count start? Pretty sure only once the tackle is deemed complete.
The whole Storm tactic is based on slowing the whole process until the tackle is actually completed, but then they're pretty quick to get off the player to avoid penalties...