Make no mistake: Queensland coach Billy Slater got his tactics hideously wrong in Origin 1.ย ย
The ruck (each play-the ball) is the centre of the rugby league universe.
Win the ruck in attack and your team can look to exploit a defence struggling to stay intact.ย
Win the ruck in defence and you can control that attack, with your defence.ย ย
Get it hideously wrong in defence and attack - like Billy Slater's men did in State of Origin Game 1, and the results can be horrendous.ย
Or in this case, the result is residents north of the Tweed scratching their collective heads as to why their attack is so impotent, and why the fierce enemy seem to have found some players that are more powerful than their own, all of a sudden.
The post-origin chatter in the lounge rooms, pubs, clubs and the media narratives were quick to highlight that Queensland were physically dominated by the Blues, particularly in the forwards, and that their attack is so poor, they've scored one try in the last two matches.ย
Cue the calls for the end of Daly Cherry-Evans career, thanks mostly due to his age.ย ย
We also now have the history buffs tell us that the Queensland record in Perth is poor, because they got flogged there in their last two visits.ย We are also told that the Blues will win at home in Sydney for game three.
Well, New South Wales have blown away the spectre of going up to Suncorp Stadium by bringing home the bacon, and professional footballers these days play so many games at places like the Accor and Optus Stadiums that these are, quite frankly, irrelevant statistics for players.ย
As poor as Daly Cherry-Evans was in Origin One, he was playing to instructions.ย So was hooker Harry Grant - who had his worst game in a Maroons jersey - and Cameron Munster, who was largely anonymous as DCE's halves partner.
ย The instructions from Billy Slater and his coaching team failed miserably.
It was so obvious, that, even if he were to keep the same players but change game day strategical approach, a series-levelling victory in Perth on 18th June is well and truly within reach.ย ย ย
There were only two things wrong with Queensland:ย ย
- Their defence
- Their attack
ย Jokes aside, this all falls back on the coach.ย The Billy Slater coaching honeymoon is well and truly over.
Let me explain where he got it hideously wrong.
This week I talk about defence and have a video here and at the end of this article to help your understanding of my analysis.ย ย
I'll do the same next week for the Queensland attack.ย
Unfortunately, that attack analysis might come too late for Daly Cherry-Evans, who is likely going to be made the scapegoat.ย ย
If Billy doesn't change his tactics, he'd better hope any new personnel spark their attack and save his skin. But I fear his defence will need some divine intervention if they don't change tack.
Queensland employed a compressed defence system. When the Blues were returning the football from their own red-zone, Billy's boys were so tight together, their whole team (except the fullback) were positioned within the middle twenty-eight metres of the field as you look at it โpost-to-post'.
When the likes of Brian To'o, Zac Lomax, Payne Haas and Mitch Barnett were charging up their runs into this Maroon wall, they would have expected a very physical defence to tackle aggressively, working to drive them back from whence they came.ย ย
Instead, Billy had seemingly instructed his team to โcatch and control', rather than โhit and drive'.ย ย
We all know what a big defensive hit looks like; the shoulder goes in either on, or under the ball, backs are straight and legs are bent, with feet firmly entrenched in the ground. Those same legs are used to drive the attacker back towards his own goal-line.ย ย
A โcatch' technique, often involves the contact point being the chest of the defenders, who go โover' the ball in order to control the attacker's movement to the โfloor', in a mission to slow down the play-the ball. The defence is also comfortable bringing the opponent towards their own goal-line; conceding a couple of metres isn't a problem if the ruck speed is controlled.ย ย
This can be a very useful tactic for coaches to employ... when you have your squad full-time in a club environment, that is.
Yet in Origin, where players have been hitting each other with everything they've got since 1982, this can cause paralysis by analysis.ย ย
As much as we can likely categorise the defensive strategies into two main approaches, a) collision, and b) ruck control, the variety in coach interpretations on how to carry out said processes varies from club to club.ย ย ย ย
So, employing this system in a short-term representative environment, can be very risky.ย ย ย ย
Many Queenslanders were upright in the tackle with legs straight and powerless, in an attempt to carry out their coach's instructions.ย ย
This system requires defenders to think a little more when they tackle, and takes their mind away from the primal desire to hurt the attacker, who dares to run at you.ย ย
This was manna from heaven for the rampaging Blues forwards, who were very happy to be tackled in a way that supported their desire to drive the Maroons defence backwards.ย ย
Remember the commentary narrative โ New South Wales played an attritional, simple game of football taking few risks.ย ย ย
In other words, they were all playing โdirect', giving everything they had, and running to bust!
They also, smartly, sent their big boppers to target the smaller or most influential players in the Queensland defensive line; namely DCE, Harry Grant and Munster.ย ย ย
It gave the impression to the casual viewer, quite rightly, that the Blues were dominant over their mentally paralysed opponents.ย ย
Watch the game in the cold light of day. In many of the early exchanges, it looks like the Maroons - even the forwards - were โhelping' the power-focused attackers to the ground, and giving them a few extra metres in the process!ย
Imagine three people dressed in Maroon laying a delicate (yet very heavy) baby dressed in blue, to lie down on a grass bed, repeatedly, and you may get the picture!
After several sets of this, you could see the Queensland defenders thinking โwe are losing things here'.
Their response, was occasionally to try and pull off some โbig hits', thus going against their practised system.ย
At times, this meant they missed their intended target, at other times it meant they didn't miss at all, giving away a penalty in the process.ย ย
As New South Wales created more and more go-forward, Queenslanders were desperately trying to scramble back in defence, before rushing back to tackle; their individual tackling techniques being exposed time after time.ย ย
North Queensland Cowboys duo Reuben Cotter and Jeremiah Nanai got things horribly wrong on several occasions, which is not helpful when they were both defending next to the halves. Their hideous tackling techniques in this match potentially going some way to explaining why the Cowboys are conceding, on average, 26 points a game in the NRL.ย ย ย ย ย
By the end of the first half, and in several parts of the second, the New South Welshmen were playing the ball with their troubled opposition lying on the ground, not in position at marker, and with the defence only just back in line with the referee.ย ย
This impacted the whole Queensland defensive system, which spent most of the night scrambling and trying to simply stay with their opponents, physically and on the scoreboard.ย ย
If you watch the first two tries the Blues scored, have a look at the Queensland defenders scrambling, at best hanging on for dear life, at worst getting in position too late to stop the onslaught.
For an individual to tackle strongly, they need to launch their tackle close to the oncoming runner, with their feet close, so legs can be bent to bring power into the equation.ย ย
If you've ever done a squat in the gym, you'll put your shoulders under the bar and your feet and legs will all be lined up, with your back straight. Not your arms or your shoulders, but your legs.
Queensland players were trying to tackle the runners as if they had the squat bar on their chest, with straight legs and feet a metre or so back away from the bar.ย ย
In the most essential part of the rugby league game, the ruck, Queensland were clearly second best.ย ย
Next week, I'll tell you and show you why they got it hideously wrong with ball in hand, too.
Check out this video for more!
Lee Addison is a former club coach at the Sea Eagles and Panthers, and the founder of rugbyleaguecoach.com.au. His recently published book โRugby League Coach' is available now on Amazon and www.rugbyleaguecoach.com.au
Lee.
That is some of the most intelligent, informed analysis I’ve heard in years.
You need to market yourself, sir.
Newcastle will be after a new coach by the end of year, Titans maybe as well.
Perth Bears
PNG
Sharks (when the board realise that Coach Fitzgibbon is not getting anywhere near the best out that squad)
Get your face more well known.