The frustrating reality of set restarts

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josie andrews
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The frustrating reality of set restarts

Post by josie andrews »

Has the NRL gone a little too far in its attempt to speed up the game?

Faster play, more tries, less dead clock time and an improved entertainment package for fans. Those have been the intended results of a host of NRL rule changes over the last 20 years.

During that time the Australian game has seen tweak after tweak with the clear intention to lessen the number of scrums, crack down on wasted minutes and generally quicken up the pace of play. The majority of those changes have produced positive results, very few have been reversed, despite the powers at-be consistently streamlining and attempting to improve the overall spectacle.

The result has been a continually morphing game that rises in intensity and speed as each and every season rolls by. Wingers produce more and more astonishing feats when grounding the ball in the corner, 80 minute forwards work increasingly tirelessly and expert use of the interchange bench has become more important than ever, considering the pace of play.

Season 2021 saw the NRL rule makers take a huge swing at the game. Some questioned the thinking behind a host of new rule initiatives that seemed likely to change the very fabric of the competition; concerned that it was perhaps a case of too many all in one fell swoop.

A key part of those changes was the expanded use of the set restart rule, originally implemented in 2020.

Well the fabric certainly has changed. In just four rounds of football, the NRL competition has produced nine comprehensive thrashings, where the margin of victory has been in excess of 26 points or more.

In the 2020 season, it took until the final match of Round 7 to reach that point and with the Bulldogs, Sea Eagles, Cowboys already owning for and against deficits over the 100-point mark, the likelihood of some more beltings is high over the coming month.

The frenetic nature of the game and fewer stoppages have kept the Steeden active for longer. However, it is the more frequent awarding of set restarts when defensive players infringe that is most significantly driving the inflated margins of victory.

Canterbury have been the worst penalty offenders in 2021, yet conceded just 21; a relatively low number across four weeks of play. However, it is the countless set restarts they and other teams have conceded that have made their efforts to limit scoreboard damage near impossible.

The results have made the task of reclaiming ascendancy or altering the flow of play near impossible as teams roll down the field off the back of six again calls. Whilst we all want to see the better team win the contest in the end and one could argue that the three teams winless and at the bottom of the ladder deserve nothing at this stage of the season, one must also ask whether the bashings handed out to them and subsequent disillusionment of their fans is a good thing for the competition.

Shifting momentum in a game of rugby league has traditionally been a skill. The late Tommy Raudonikis was a master at it. His ability to get under the skin of an opposition player and distract them from the task at hand was legendary.

The clever milking of a penalty or excellent ruck technique to reduce the speed of attacking waves were also effectively used in the past when teams felt a match slipping away from them. When under the pump, teams did whatever they could, as referees too often turned a blind eye.

Sadly, the balance has now shifted too far the attacking team’s way, with the set restart rule producing 10 to 12 tackle sets and almost guaranteeing points at the completion of them.

Lesser teams have few options to alter the waves of attack other than pushing the boundaries in the ruck, thus conceding more and more restarts.

That is all fine if the NRL wishes to officiate the game in such a manner. However, when fans of lowly placed teams become sick of suffering hammerings each week and cease attending matches, the powers at be may well review the rule and perhaps alter the frequency at which it is applied.

Fans of at least three teams are probably nearing that point already.

https://www.zerotackle.com/the-frustrat ... rl-102853/
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Mike
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Re: The frustrating reality of set restarts

Post by Mike »

I think there are a lot of valid points in this article, but I don't agree with the final point about fans deserting teams that are not doing well. We've seen the opposite at Wigan, where fans didn't desert us in our losing season, despite going down 75-0 and 70-0 in consecutive weeks, we actually seemed to increase enthusiam to support the team that year.

However, IMO the set restarts do end up magnifying small differences in quality and fitness between two fairly equally matched sides. Eventually the weaker team ends up being unable to cope and the slight different ends up as a thrashing by the end of the game. I've been wondering, even as the standard of the players across SL has become much more equal, why the league is still dominated by the smae usual suspects every year. Surely by now some of the other sides should be having some success, their squads are fine, they sohuld be equally fit and only marginally less skillful than the major clubs, but we still get 20-30 point winning margins as a regular thing. Perhaps its consistency they lack, or perhaps the game is designed to take those small margins and amplify them throughout a mach, and the set restart is making that worse.

Personally, I like the set restarts as a spectator. I was getting very frustrated with constant penalties and it was driving me away from the game. It seems like set restarts should have less impact on the game than a penalty, but perhaps they end up having more.
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jaws1
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Re: The frustrating reality of set restarts

Post by jaws1 »

To have a set restart the original indiscretion would have resulted in a penalty anyway so when you think about it the team that is having the set restart is actually losing ground as the penalty kick on average gains 20 metres down field.
Caboosegg
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Re: The frustrating reality of set restarts

Post by Caboosegg »

I prefer set restarts to penalties. The amount of time players have trapped opponent's to get a pen in front of the sticks was annoying. While it can be frustrating seeing your team give away another set of 6 I prefer it to the game stopping.
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Charriots Offiah
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Re: The frustrating reality of set restarts

Post by Charriots Offiah »

Caboosegg wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 1:59 pm I prefer set restarts to penalties. The amount of time players have trapped opponent's to get a pen in front of the sticks was annoying. While it can be frustrating seeing your team give away another set of 6 I prefer it to the game stopping.
I think the interpretation needs to change, the referees need to recognise when the defender is dominant in the tackle and that should consequently result in a slower play the ball. The ball carrying player holds all the good cards at present and that cannot be right.
moto748
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Re: The frustrating reality of set restarts

Post by moto748 »

I like the concept of set restarts, but there are a few issues. First of all, the value of a restart varies a lot. A set restart on the first tackle usually has much less effect than a restart on say the fourth tackle when a side is struggling to make ground out of their own end. In such cases, a restart is a godsend. And when you are already attacking and camped in your opponents 20, a restart paradoxically almost seems less valuable; a few more low-risk plays, cos most teams don't seriously try to score until the fourth or fifth tackle. And if you're denied a penalty which could have given you the two points you need...

In general, though, I agree that the odds are stacked too far in favour of the ball-carrier. And offences by the side in possession, such as moving off the mark, pushing markers over, etc, often seem to go unpunished.
jobo
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Re: The frustrating reality of set restarts

Post by jobo »

Think the concept is brilliant and it's great to see how the play the ball is much faster and also great to see big forwards blowing.

I agree that teething problems exist but reckon the idea is worth sticking with and developed.

For example, set restarts on the first two tackles should really be given as penalties maybe?
Barney841
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Re: The frustrating reality of set restarts

Post by Barney841 »

I like the set restarts. But I do think the ref should take in account if the team with the penalty for them, would benefit with the stop in play penalty or a set restart.
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