fast PTBs are why English RL will never catch up to australia. legally slowing down the PTB is a very important part of the game.



if you think its all about fast PTB then you are missing half the action

I'd question the entertainment factor of watching defenders standing with their hands on their heads watching the opposition run past them or being penalised for being offside.

Wholehartedly agree.

Absolute rubbish fella, have a look at the only time we troubled the aussies last time we played them, we should play to the strengths of the players avadible to us at any one time.

park RL will never beat the cutting edge of the game consistantly.

If our main ‘strength’ is a quick PTB we deserve all the criticism we get. Dally is right, and it’s no coincidence that quality GB scrum halves are as rare as Paul Cullen using single syllable words, quick PTB’s have killed them off.

Watching you team run the ball from dummy half against an unorganised defense making great yards and being roared on by the crowd is, no doubt, exciting to watch, especially if the result of the play is a try scored for your team.



Watching your team fail to make any sort of impact against a well organised defense perhaps doesn’t quite have the obvious excitement factor as the above, but it will, over time, increase the ability of the pivots to break defenses down rather then just capitalising on players out of position.



The teams who used the quick play of the ball as the predominant weapon in attack are suffering but still have players of high enough caliber to win games. These players should improve their skills as defenses get tighter.

We have not got one single half back be it overseas or home grown, who can break an "in the face" defensive line after a slow play the ball.



The wrestle tackles have even eliminated or dramatically reduced the players ability to offload. There are also a lot of messy interpretations of whether a player has dropped the ball or reefed out.



The slow play the ball is only beneficial to give the referee a bit of a breather, how many times do we see a referee turn a blind eye to the slow flop.



Also what happened to the two feet behind the referee defenced, as this been abandoned now.



The british game now is a forward drive between the 20metres marks, then a speculative stab kick to the try line or a hoist kick to the defending winger.



If this set up is going to make the backs skilful, then I think I'm going to be waiting a lot time.

It will take time, and lets be honest a heap of British halfbacks are going to look far less effective than they have in the past. The only hope lies with younger players who hopefully will get used to facing organised defences from a young age.



Again though, I think the balance has to be got right. If the PTB is speeded up in Aus, and then we play against Aus with faster PTB we'll be at a disadvantage the other way round. In the end the rules should be the same in both comps. Anything else is just daft.

Over here we find repeated dummy half running boring.

It may be boring, but for NSW vs Qld it's a key area where they have a big advantage.

as long as SL doesnt go down the wrestling route, it needs to really look at legally slowing down PTBs.



this involves :



1. getting 3 or 4 men into tackles.

2. getting the tackled player on his back

3. other such methods that are within the rules.



if you dont slow learn how to do this all the time, you will never be able to compete with australia. most australian teams would spend as much time on this as on attack.



having a fast game which is pretty for spectators isnt what RL is about. you have to earn the right to attack, you cant just attack all the time. if you try and do that, you will never win.



RL is often an arm wrestle. once you establish dominance in the ruck you can then throw the ball around a bit and try and play pretty.



winning the ruck means slowing it down until your defensive line is fully set.



some of the posts on here about pretty RL would be more applicable to RL 20 years ago than modern day RL.



if you think its just about throwing the ball around, you arent watching the right sport



i havent much much SL this year but have no doubt huddersfield success lies in nathan brown teaching LEGAL methods to slow down PTBs as will as the little things like having a good kick / chase.