Wally the Fly

Its been a another quiet week in league. No coaches abusing administrators, no mention of off-field incidents (arrests, sexual assaults etc), no suspensions of high profile players in high profile matches and all the games have been relatively boring. Of course, we’ve seen a brilliant finals series and lets hope Manly can send Beaver Menzies off with the farewell he deserves when they take on the WWE Storm.

While I’m in rant mode a big congrats goes to Adelaide United’s entry into the semi-finals of the ACL, a huge achievement.

To 18-year-old James O’Connor, who Spiro Zavos tipped as ‘the next Tim Horan’ before his first Super 14 game earlier this year, who was selected in the touring Wallabies squad for its tour of Europe. A couple more like him coming through the ranks, the future is a lookin’ good.

Also, while the headlines go to Manly’s big win the best game of the weekend was the Brisbane v NZ game in the under 20s. A lot has been said of how league is travelling (and plenty by me) but you have to say that the Toyota Cup has been a huge success and a great thing that’s been put together this year.

And most importantly, one of the greatest athletes in living memory, Haile Gebrselassie beat his own world record over the weekend in the Berlin marathon. This is the same bloke who won one of the most incredible races in Sydney 2000, coming from 100 metres behind the man coming first in the 10,000m race to beat him by a fraction of a second to take Olympic gold. Eight years later he’s beaten his own record in one of the toughest events imaginable (only a few months after competing in Bejing 10,000m final). You are a genius.

The future of the rugby codes:

On the crisis Footy Show, Sterling said the game itself needed improvements. Rugby has improved thanks to the Experimental Law Variations (ELVs) so could league? Here are a few ideas, not necessarily endorsed by Wally, that could be considered to improve the game. The Toyota Cup would be the perfect vehicle to trial them.

Interchange – reduce it from 12 to say six or employ the rugby union system where once a player is replaced he cannot go back on (in the latter case perhaps an extra reserve may be added).

Scrums – are pathetic time wasters. These guys are bashing the crap out of each other but as soon as a scrum is called suddenly the contest ends. Either allow pushing and have serious scrums or get rid of them entirely.

Video ref – only allow video ref decisions for tries and not for other plays and reviews. An even more dramatic move might be to allow teams a set number, say two, ‘appeals’ for their disallowed tries or opposition’s allowed tries to be looked at by the video ref.

Play before half and full time – again the entire game is a tough contest but suddenly in the last five to 10 seconds suddenly the play slows down and the last ‘tackle’ is usually the player with the ball just running up the opposition and looking at the ref once the opposition player has touched him. Play to the bell.

Dummy half – a lot of criticism has been made about constant dummy half runs leading to boring play. Perhaps employ the touch footy rule where a dummy half can run but if touched (or in this case tackled) the ball is turned over to the opposition. Perhaps an exception may be when in own 20 or 10 metre line. Maybe there could be a rule where a team designates a player that can run from dummy half.

In goal – there’s talk of changing the rule for the team defending a kick so that instead of a drop out it’s a 20m start. People aren’t happy about so many tries being scored from kicks. Another option could be to reduce the points for a try if it comes from a kick to 3.

5 metres – going back to the five metre rule to cut out the wrestle mania on the ground as tacklers wait for their defensive patterns to get set before they allow the tackled player to get up.

Grapple tackle – any sign of the grapple or Hulk Hogan style move is an automatic sin bin, put on report and sent for a year to Azkaban.

The future of the rugby codes:

In the last few months of league-in-crisis talks the idea of getting a more national game with teams in WA and Adelaide to better the NRL’s TV deal has been put forward. Gallop on the Footy Show rubbished the idea, although it was his fault the argument came up in the first place after he defended the NRL’s poor deal saying that (truthfully) the AFL had a more national game.

Given that Melbourne Storm have been struggling crowd wise it seems unlikely that a future Adelaide Rams or Western Reds have much hope.

The fact is, before getting a team of their own the NRL need to promote their best asset; State of Origin. Giving up one Origin game a year to Melbourne or Perth (or even Adelaide?) will promote the game to the heathen masses. At least in the short term it should mean that while most West Australians, South Australians and Victorians don’t care or watch much NRL, it could convert some to at least watching come Origin time (not unlike a lot of sports fans in the Eastern states).

The ARU didn’t start promoting rugby in WA by giving them a Super franchise straight away. They played a Test match there every year for some time before they felt there was enough support to grant them a Super 14 team over Melbourne.

The future of the rugby codes:

WHAT?

Adelaide?

Wally’s lost his marbles you say, well lets just take it back a wee bit and you’ll see why the game they play in heaven shouldn’t ignore the City of Churches.

It all begins with the 5^th Australian Super rugby side that should/could/will come into existence sometime in the future.

John O’Neill has flagged Gold Coast and there’s talk of businesses putting their bucks into a western Sydney franchise.

These are areas that aren’t exactly ripe for the picking. Gold Coast just got a brand spanking new (and popular) league side and an AFL and A-League team are also about to call it home. Western Sydney (and the four NRL teams that live there) are also about to have an AFL team dumped on them and an A-League team can’t be too far off.

Could a Super rugby team really squeeze in there?

Even if it could, then what happens to the Waratahs? They are no longer the State team. The NSW v Queensland rivalry is gone and Reds and Tahs are increasingly seen as a team that represents a small portion of certain areas in their capital cities.

Clearly both teams need to do more to combat this but we’ll save that debate for another time.

The best option for a 5^th side is Melbourne. It is Australia’s second largest city and to be fair, the sports capital of the country.

Like Perth it is an AFL town but rugby should be positioning itself to be the second winter sport there. While the Western Force in Perth has its advantages in its South African ex-pat population, this should be offset by the fact Melbourne has a couple of million more people.

But rather than calling them the Melbourne Rebels (just for arguments sake lets use the ARC name) or the Victorian Rebels lets call them the Southern Rebels. And while the team should be based in Melbourne and play primarily in Melbourne, why not have at least one or possibly two games a season in Adelaide?

While AFL-mad Adelaide with its small population may not be able to sustain a Super rugby team on its lonesome surely plenty would flock if they had one or two Super rugby games a year. (It wouldn’t hurt if they picked weekends when the Crows and Port weren’t playing at home either). The Adelaide Sevens from all reports was a resounding success and in a few years hopefully Adelaidians will be ready and raring to go and see a couple of games of rah-rah.

It would also mean South Australians (even in a small number at first) would have a team they could follow / support during the Super 14/15 series.

Hey, they could even do a Hawthorn and play a game down in Tassie to extend the ‘Southern States’ mantra.

If TV audience and therefore revenue is so important to the financial success to the sport then surely creating a team that represents two (or even three) extra Australian states can only help rugby union when the next TV deal comes into effect in 2012.

While it might take a while to get into motion what a great position rugby would find itself in down the track with teams representing most of the country.

See Wally on The Roar http://www.theroar.com.au/2008/09/22/rugby-dont-forget-adelaide/ 

Caption: The famous Adelaide Oval score board showing the scores at the Adelaide Sevens this year

The future of the rugby codes: 

Rugby league’s detractors point out that rugby league is a sport played in NSW, QLD and northern England.

They laugh at the fact its pinnacle event is not Tests but State of Origin.

It’s true, but why get downhearted? Why not embrace it and make the most of it?

With the World Cup coming up and the (understandable) talk about its legitimacy I’ve put together a few ideas for some rep tournaments/games that can be played after the NRL and Super League seasons.

First proposal: a world club championship. No not the one-off trial match that’s played in England every year. To make the finals race more exciting why not say the teams that make the top 4 or 5 of the NRL and of the Super League play off in a world cup style tournament.

Second idea: a three match series between the best players in the NRL up against the best of the Super League. This wouldn’t be a hypothetical Australia v England, rather the NRL All Stars would involve Australians and well as Kiwis and any other nationality that was good enough to make the side. Likewise the Super League side.

Next, ‘World Origin’: Australia is so dominant in rugby league it justifies splitting us up. Instead have five teams made up of NSW, QLD, NZ, Great Britain and Emerging Nations (euphemism for ‘rest of the world’). This would be a much more even competition than the Tests and certainly in Australia have a huge amount of interest, more so than the Internationals.

World Cup: if rugby league still feels it needs a world cup then go for it. This year’s format of having the top teams in the one pool is the best as it’ll stop the meaningless floggings we’ve seen in previous tournaments. There should also be a play-off for the bowl and plate like in Rugby 7s, give the minnows that don’t make the semi-finals a chance to compete for some silverware.

So a five year representative cycle would be:

Year one – World Club Championship

Year two - NRL All Stars v Super League All Stars

Year three – World Origin; NSW, QLD, NZ, GB and Emerging Nations

Year four – Tri-Nations GB, NZ, Aus (and all other teams in another tournament) 

Year five – World Cup

What do you think?

See Wally on The Roar: http://www.theroar.com.au/2008/10/18/how-rep-league-could-work/

See Wally on The Roar:

http://www.theroar.com.au/2008/09/17/farwell-beaver-menzies/

Brookvale oval said goodbye one of Manly’s greats Steve Menzies on Saturday night.

The statistics tell a story;

If Manly make it to the Grand Final he’ll be equal with Terry Lamb as having played the most first grade games in Australian rugby league history.

He’s the highest try scoring forward of all time and the second highest try scorer of any position, ever.

He’s played State of Origin, for the Kangaroos (including a world cup triumph) and was part of Manly’s premiership side in 1996.

Menzies made the Australian tour in his first full year in first grade in 1994 and was the top try scorer for the season in his second year full season in 1995 (and joint top try scorer in 1998).

While the stats tell plenty what is most remarkable is the fact that Menzies has played all his football on the northern beaches from the Harbord Devils to his decade and a half at the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.  

Menzies stayed despite the offers of earning $150,000 extra to leave the disaster that was the Northern Eagles and play for top sides with top players. This was to the detriment not just of the pay packet but also of another shot at a premiership and arguably for his representative chances.

This sort of one-club loyalty (if you include the time at the joint-venture Northern Eagles) is almost unheard of these days but Menzies didn’t want to leave the club his grandfather played for in the club’s inaugural year in 1947.

The future of the rugby codes:

The rep season is a vital part of the future of rugby league. But in the past it’s managed to get in the way of the regular club season.

The disruption was most obvious this season with the half-round byes that occurred around the two and a half month long State of Origin series.

Fixing the rep season will guarantee the prominence of these games and make sure that it doesn’t interrupt club games to their detriment.

Firstly its time to scrap the City v Country match. Sure it creates a slight spike in ratings once every year but why get these guys away from their club commitments for a meaningless game? Some of the guys have already played in the ANZAC test but apparently still need to play a ‘trial’ game to get selected for NSW. The real winners every year are the Queenslanders.

Secondly the Aust v NZ Test match should be put to the end of the year (if there is to be one, see part 2) after the Grand Final. Let’s see Australia’s best 34 players fight it out in the Blue and Maroon jerseys first. While pre-Origin there is talk about who will get picked it makes it less interesting when guys have already given the nod for the Kangaroos, because you assume they’ll play Origin (unless your Brent Kite). It would also be a good way to talk up Origin dead rubbers as being a ‘battle for Kangaroo spots.’

The biggest and most important change however is to dump the two and a half month long series and have the three games on consecutive Friday or Saturday nights. In those three weekends there should be no NRL games.

The current system buggers up the NRL in terms of interest, crowds and TV audience because;

1. Games sans Origin stars can be, frankly, pretty crap (Titans v Melbournegame this year)
2. Good sides sans Origin stars don’t get done over (Roosters 46-0 loss to Manly, Melbourne’s loss to Titans and Dragons and near-loss to Souths)
3. Fans only want to spend their hard earned to see the best players and if they’re not playing, a lot of people won’t go
4. The half-round byes were a joke. It would mean you’re favourite team would be out and there was less footy on tele. Sides like Souths with no Origin players got byes on Origin weeks.

It should also mean that the real focus for those three weeks is purely on Origin and people can really get into it.

If that’s too long a break for fans, why not use those three weeks to encourage fans to attend matches of their feeder clubs? Or even better in those three weeks, continue on the ‘State of Origin’ theme by having a three match series between the previous years NSW and QLD Cup winners?

Go Hoppa! Go you good thing! While you may no longer be ‘the defensive genius of rugby league’ (thanks HG Nelson) but you absolutely powered home to be Australian heavyweight champion. Mate you can punch, what a fight from the ‘date hunter’ (HG again).

Souths golden boy Craig Wing said he was breaking with Redfern tradition and would be supporting Easts in the finals, Wally wonders how he would have felt watching Riley Brown on Friday night, the bloke whose gutless tackle put him out for the first half of the season, walking off the field with a broken arm.

Good on the ABC for showing the paralympic games. Some of these guys have only just missed out on being selected to the Olympics, that’s how good these athletes are. Helps when the coverage isn’t completely botched Channel 7 style too!

If you believe what you read, it’s the dawn of a new era in English football. The 4-1 away win over Croatia was a fantastic win. But we’ve heard all this before, we’ll be watching

And how ‘bout them Warriors? Great game, great win, looks like we’re in for an interesting few weeks of footy.

It was heart breaking. A final surge at the end of last night’s match couldn’t put the Wallabies over the line to take back the Tri-Nations for the first time since 2001.

But this was after all meant to be our rebuilding year after being flung out of the World Cup by an overrated England team.

Now is the time to look back over what worked and what didn’t, and to find what Australia needs to do in the next three years, including the Spring tour, to set the platform to lift the William Web Ellis trophy in 2011.

FORWARDS: Australia’s biggest weakness, the key over the next three years is to find the right people for the job and get them into the side as quick as possible.

Firstly, we have found a lock in James Horwill that gives our tight-five the aggression that’s been missing since Harrison’s retirement. The Wallabies would have a perfect lock partnering if not for Vickerman leaving these shores. The search is now on to find who is the best person to scrum down next to him. McMeniman and Mumm are both solid players but not yet there in terms of being world class second-rowers. Sharpe, despite playing well last night, is probably on the way down of his Test career.

While the front-row has been the laughing stock of world rugby in recent memory, Stephen Moore is a quality rake and good enough on the field as well as line-out throwing to cement his place in the squad. Baxter, the infamous Al Baxter, possibly the most criticised prop in world rugby let alone Australia is better than people give him credit for. The fact Deans didn’t put Dunning on at all last night shows that he’s the best we got and also that we have the playing depth of a shallow puddle. The front row continues to be priority number one for Australia.

At the back row Elsom didn’t shine like he did at the beginning of the series. Smith is a genius of course but the fact that Richie McCaw is just a bit better than him means its hard to get parity at the breakdown (against NZ anyway). Palu shows some signs of being the enforcer you need at Number 8 but isn’t consistent for the full 80 minutes. Richard Brown impressed on debut and is a possibility for filling in for Elsom as he goes off to Leinster later this year. Alternatively, Brown could be used at the run on Number 8 with Palu coming on as impact player in the last 20 minutes of the game, Willie O style.

BACKS: Clearly our strength is the back line and when fully fit is one of the best in the world but the combinations and player placements aren’t there yet.

Australia missed Burgess in the latter half of the Tri-Nations, while his passing wasn’t great at Test level compared to at the Waratahs with more experience the speed and pace Burgress brings to the Wallabies will really lift the side.

In the halves, Giteau hasn’t convinced in the fly half position and Barnes isn’t an inside centre. Both these (small) guys are brilliant in defence with the good ol’ traditional ’round the legs’ tackling that is so critical in the 10 and 12 channel. In attack its not quite there and it might be time to do the switch-a-roo. Having a ball playing inside centre and a second kicker is a huge advantage, especially given that Gits is a left foot specialist and Barnes a right footer. Gits played really well this year but could be even more dynamic given more space at inside centre and Barnes would be more commanding and has better positional play needed at first receiver.

Cross looks to be the man to wear 13 in the future, once Mortlock goes to that great cash cloud in the sky (i.e. Europe). Despite a terrible attempt at tackling Carter which led to a try last night (you need to use your arms in union Ryan) his running of angles and ability to crash over tacklers (like his try last night) place him in good position.

On the wings Peter Hynes has the speed and awareness to deserve his spot while Tiquiri still gets lost and doesn’t always turn up. Given he is paid more than the GDP of Ghana to play rugby, there’s no chance he won’t be apart of any World Cup charge.

Adam Ashley-Cooper is not a full-back. His charge for a try last night looked like the brilliant running of an outside centre. With Latham’s departure there is nobody ready to fill the spot and step up to Test level. AAC does some good things but his mid-field kicking (with no chase) killed us against the Boks and poor decision making when he gets kicked ball isn’t indicative of a Test full back. Wonder if Billy Slater has considered switching???

There’s a long way to go to get to where the Wallabies want to be in 2011. But to get from where we were last year to falling just four points short of winning the Tri-Nations this year shows the difference Robbie Deans has made and how critical the new guard of Horwill, Burgess, Hynes, Cross, Barnes have been to Australia’s success.

To some commentators the departure of Sonny Bill Williams was the death knell of rugby league; the beginning of the end. It was the reverse of Daily Messenger walking out on rugby 100 years ago.

But the SBW affair might just be the best thing to ever happen to league in this country. Now he’s long gone and the semi finals are about to begin we can take a deep breath and look more objectively at the game and what SBW’s departure means for the future of the game.

In the last decade we saw the game ripped apart with the Super league war, clubs killed off and heaps of supporters lost from the game not to mention that player payments have been restricted and there’s been more off field debacles than you could shake a stick at.

While in other codes…

In the last decade or so rugby union went professional and the Brisbane Lions and Sydney Swans cemented their place in QLD and NSW respectively, both winning premierships. In the last decade football moved into Asia giving the Socceroos a stack more games against quality opposition, created a new and improved national league and Australia qualified for the world’s most watched tournament for the first time in 32 years.

All the while league officials and commentators have dismissed competitor codes as ‘aerial ping pong,’ ‘rah rah’ and ‘wogball’ and insisted that league was ‘the greatest game of all’ and that nothing needed to be done.

Suddenly, Gasnier goes and then in the dark of night SBW. Now everybody is questioning everything about the game from the rep season to the clubs to the salary cap to the fan base.

What an opportunity league has now, to look at what the game needs for the next decade and look at how they are going to achieve it.

RUGBY is in an even worse position. The Waratahs Super 14 success, the new laws (ELVs), a new coach and a resurgent national team have masked the problems that have existed since the high of the 2003 World Cup in Australia.

Waratah home games that used to command 30,000 plus crowds now get crowds that just hit 20,000. Juniors are dropping out and the average sports fan will watch the odd Wallaby game but have no idea about the Reds or the Brumbies, much less club rugby which is still has divided city-based comp, a fossil of the amateur age.

Like in league, rugby players are being poached to play in the European Cup or Japan and while the best have usually waited until their international career has peaked before they head off there is no reason why this will continue.

As easy and tempting it is for rugbyites to laugh at leagues expense (and a good sense of irony) as league players take the cash to play rugby, the huge money offers to play in the north affects rugby just as much as it affects league.

For the next couple of months The Sideline Eye will be looking at the future of the two rugby codes in Australia.

Everything from bringing in the masses, getting a better game on the field and how to get enough samolians (read $$$$) to keep the players down under.

There are no easy answers and plenty of the ideas that will spurt out may be well outside the proverbial square, but its time to work out what can be done to save and maintain the two great games.