THE RL1908 BLOG

News, Reviews & Opinion - Sean Fagan - RL1908.com

The third game of the 2007 State of Origin series was a great demonstration of what rugby league could be - and once was - if the inter-change rule was cut back or done away with.

Putting aside the question as to whether a heavily-concussed Dallas Johnston should have been allowed back on the field, (a "head bin" or replacement rule must always be part of the game), seeing those players, particularly the Queensland forwards, have to "dig deep" within themselves for the whole 80 minutes was brilliant.

As the Maroons' Billy Moore recounts, Origin was all about "digging deep".

In fact, the legendary "Queenslander" call has its roots in the players having to find the extra effort within themselves (not relying on an inter-change).

"Every Origin game you get to the stage of fatigue where you think you can't get off the ground to make a tackle or you can't get there to do a hit-up," Moore said.

"That was a call that was used to remind you that you had to get up to make the tackle or get to where that play the ball was and take a hit up."

As a result of tiredness in both teams in Origin 3 we saw gaps in defence, less wrestling, plenty of dropped ball (and therefore more turnover of posession), and better opportunities for attack.

And before anyone points out that having less inter-changes will lead to injured players staying on the field, I'd be willing to bet that having the current inter-change system has contributed in itself to bringing about injuries - particularly the wrestling and twisting of bodies in the tackles, and attempting to "turtle" players on to their backs to slow the play-the-ball down.

Having fresh players regularly coming onto the field to harden up the defence line and allow 3 or 4 players in every tackle must surely be the cause of many injuries.

Cutting back the inter-change to six or eight inter-changes would make a world of difference. I think we would find that much of the focus on the play-the-ball battle would be lessened, and we would see far more football being played.

Comparing Origin 2 and 3 of the 2007 series should be a required exercise for rugby league administrators and the TV executives and advertisers paying for the product.