: Tue Jun 16, 2009 10:58 pm
Half the problem with RL is that the fans are kept in the dark about tactics so cant appreciate what truly goes on, on the pitch.
As a result the only interest fans get is from seeing someone score what looks like a great try.
Many of todays trys from inside 40 metres of the opposition line are technically far better trys, than the solo long range efforts of yesteryear. Todays trys are often real team efforts that move through multiple pairs of hands and work the opposition defence hard.
Defences pre SL were very bad, so a lot of trys that were scored were very soft efforts, even if they looked good.
As a guide i got the stats for Widnes v Cas in 1989. At half time Widnes had made 126 tackles and missed 26, while Cas had made 90 tackles and missed 30. The score was 12-12 by the way. Match played in dry conditions and this was two teams in the top 6.
GB international centre Andy Currier had missed 5 tackles after just 30 minutes play.
Statistically therefore Cas had a 75% tackle completion rate
Widnes had a 82% completion rate.
Remember this percentage was likely to drop as players tired in the second half.
For Comparison Saints currently average 94% tackle completion this year, and we dont have the most miserly defensive record in the league.
In the modern game a team completing only 75% tackles would be annihilated, yet strangely this supposedly very exciting game from the 1980's was locked at 12 all, despite paper thin defence.
That to me points to a far poorer game than we see today, as clearly players were not good enough to exploit the gaps constantly appearing on the pitch. Overall application and execution was poor, and it was generally left to pieces of individual inspiration rather than great teamwork to score a try.
