It appears our coaches and masters are hoping to re-visit the past by compiling a team of forward toilers with flashy backs. It worked in the 1980s for Parramatta who, by and large, had packs that held oppositions with unwavering defence then unleashed a mighty backline of Cronin, Ella, Grothe, Kenny, Sterling etc.
I'm surmising that our tactics in 2024 will be similar. If possible we'll use our pack as workhorses (why else would we recruit Wardell?) and give our backs the ball at every opportunity.
In 2024 we could be playing an exciting brand of football, replacing the bash-and-barge style by giving early ball to attacking weapons DCE, Brooks, Koala, Garrick, Saab and Turbo. This backline is, potentially, as good as any.
Looking at our 2024 pack I can only see Guacca as the sole ball-runner and The Shoe as the sole ball-player', the latter of whom will need to regain his mojo if he is to even make the 17.
Thoughts?
I think if you look back at those days of the early 80's, of Manly v Parra, Manly had by far the best forwards in the comp and all of them played SOO or for Australia, whereas Parra, apart from Price, were toilers and they basically had 5 of the Australian back line.
Gibson's philosophy at Parra seemed to be 'if we can stop them scoring, we'll score plenty' and yet at the Roosters prior, he had the completely opposite situation, with an amazing forward pack and with only a few stars in the backline, and those he had, he knew could contest the high ball. So John Peard became 'the bomber'. Gibson really was a master of structuring his game strategy around the squad he had.
Penrith at the moment is completely different, as they just have reps across the board and barring allegiance to their home country, or through heritage, they'd probably have 9 in the Australian squad, not all necessarily starting, but in the squad. How they fit them all under the Cap I have no idea, however, they continually have to release players, and they do so, and then from their huge nursery, another few step up and become stars.
We talk about forwards and backs.
The NRL is all about metres gained in any set of 6, and usually the 'grunts' hit up at least 3 tackles a set, maybe 4, sometimes 5.
The defence has to be 10 metres behind the play the ball, whereas the attacking team can be flat, however, usually the first runners are a metre behind the play the ball when they take the ball, at which time the defence has already encroached at least a metre, and assuming each player runs at the same speed, a gain of 5m is probably equitable, should a tackle be effective. Those forwards who average over 10m a carry indicates they actually break the line far more often than not. Haas is a great example, as he can be stopped for a 2m gain and then in the next set run for a 20m gain.
So:
Plan A: Our strategy is to reduce the amount of distance the opposition gains in their attack allowing our team to attack from closer range and gradually place more pressure, as they are constantly playing deep in their half and we are likely to find errors. And that seems to be Seibs plan.
Plan B: Stuff Plan A, let's just see what happens and hope for the best. It could be an alternative!
