With the first NRL 9's tournament now complete, I'd like to take some time to reflect on how the weekend went.
First of all I'd like to congratulate the Cowboys, they definitely deserved the win. It's was a very gutsy defensive effort that saw them get through to the finals & in the end, win the final.
I think we could call it a success & will definitely change the way NRL is played in the future. We've seen the game of cricket evolve since the introduction of the Big Bash and I think we'll see the same for the NRL. Here's some things I took out of this weekend
1. Drop kicks for goal
This is the one thing I would like to see improved for next year. We saw way too many missed conversion attempts. I don't see the rules being changed for next year as it takes too long too set up the kicking tee up to take a goal kick so I would hope that the players will practice a lot more before the next tournament. I think this will change golden point in a regular NRL game. Players will need to be able to kick a field goal from any angle on the field for the 9's so providing they take this seriously, it will improve the quality of golden point. It won't just be a field goal shoot out from in front of the posts. We will hopefully see teams try to go around the defence if field position is not as important as they're more confident of taking field goal attempts from anywhere on the field.
2. The referees
Overall, I think the referees did a good job. They had plenty of new rules to remember & no video ref. Wouldn't it be terrible if we were all talking about the referees performance tomorrow rather than the success of the competition? In saying that, there was one thing that bugged me with the referees this weekend. The 9's is supposed to be a quick game yet some referees still wanted to blow a penalty, walk to the spot & signal what the penalty was for. This is also something that needs to be improved for the NRL season. The NRL want a quicker game and we can't have referees slowing it down. The whistle should be blown & the referees need to be ready to go whenever the attacking team are ready to go. We shouldn't be hearing the referees ask for the players to wait. The referees need to keep up with the pace of the game. Not all refs were guilty of this, some were a lot better than others.
3. Patience, patience, patience
Patience is the key in the 9's. The teams who wanted to score off every play seemed to make more errors & cheaply hand over possession. This takes me to my next point...
4. Possession
It seems so obvious but possession was definitely important in the 9's. Unlike a regular NRL game, you don't get possession after scoring a try. This saw teams being creative in the kick off which I don't think was thought of by most teams when it came to tactics. As the weekend went on we saw more & more teams using the kick off to re-gain possession after a try.
In a game where it's easier to score a try, it's important to have the ball in your hands as much as possible.
5. Wrap it up
Allowing second phase play is what seemed to undo a lot of teams this weekend. The players need to wrap up the ball in tackles & not allow offloads. If you've got more than 1 player in a tackle it's just a really easy way to create an overlap & give the quick, agile players some space.
I loved watching the 9's this weekend. I was really interested to see each teams tactics & I'm really interested to see how teams approach it next year. I'd love to see all teams take it seriously tactics wise but I like the format with the rules on the number of star players playing in the tournament. I don't think we can expect teams to play all of their star players due to the risk of injury & player burn out. I think it's great that otherwise unknown players can make a name for themselves in the 9's tournament.
I hope you all enjoyed the weekend just as much I did. We at @LadiesWhoLeague would love to know your thoughts on the tournament.
Love,
@LadiesWhoLeague
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