There’s been a lot of talk about how short dropouts have become more prevalent in the NRL this season. The rule change this season has somewhat promoted that as well, reducing the punishment if you do kick a drop out on the full or less than 10 metres. Teams are preparing for them now. Anthony Seibold mentioned recently that Rugby Union was more about contestable events, and how do we create more of those contestable events in rugby league? Short drop outs are one way to create them. Friend of the site Jason Oliver from Rugby League Writers put together...
Continue reading...March 2024
Did the NRL width revolution continue in Round 2?
Last week on the site I noticed that in Round 1, NRL teams were playing slightly wider than they were in previous seasons. This week I’m going to have a slightly deeper look as to why that is happening, which teams are driving it and where the changes are happening on field. Before we get into that, a few quick plugs. Friend of the site AJ Mithen has his usual great recap of all the big talking points from last round on the Roar, with a look ahead to this weeks upcoming games if you need to catch up on...
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Are NRL teams starting to play wider? All the Round 1 advanced stats
Round 1 of the 2024 season was full of upsets that stumped many tipsters, and with some low scoring games it was a stressful fortnight for NRL Fantasy and Supercoach players alike. Thankfully the Eye Test is here to get to the bottom of some of the numbers from Round 1 and try to make sense of it. Let’s take a look at how close the games were to start with. The average margin after 80 minutes for round 1 was 14.6 points, which is very similar to the opening of the 2019 season where the margin was 14.4 points,...
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How did the smaller field impact the NRL’s Las Vegas games?
The NRL’s 2024 season launch in Las Vegas was incredibly successful, exceeding most expectations with two excellent games held before a crowd of over 40,000. I’ve been critical of the games current administration for several reasons, but credit where credit is due, and this event was a huge achievement. Both games were high quality and entertaining, something that always isn’t the case with Round 1 matches. It’s even more impressive given the lack of trial minutes played by the participants, although this did become evident late in the first game when fatigue appeared to set in. I don’t usually break...
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