My observations on yesterday‘s game.
Rugby League is not meant to be played in close to 37 degree heat.
We played the game at a very fast tempo and during the early stages of the 2nd half it was fairly obvious some of our players, particularly in the forwards were flagging.
On days like that it is essential at stages to slow the game down to a pace the team can manage.
The best way to do that is to take penalty kicks at goal when they are on offer in easy positions. If we had done that after Klemmer was penalised we would have been 14 nil up, and the Naden intercept doesn’t happen.
It is also useful to use all your bench players. Okunbor wasn’t used and Tanner didn’t exactly play big minutes. I know we are short of middles at present but surely there is someone in N.S.W. Cup who would be of more use than Okunbor.
There is also very little doubt that our best goal kicker is Flanagan who in other respects is not exactly a first grade halfback. However he is much better kicker than Burton and whilever Flanagan is in the team I believe goal kicking should be in his hands.
We have a potentially good situation with 2 kickers who kick with different feet, so Burton could perhaps be the best option for kicks out wide on the right hand side, with his ball flight more suitable to that side of the field.
Having said all that it is long overdue that No Real Leadership woke up that scheduling should not be about pandering to TV stations. NRL say that player welfare is important. Saying that and doing something about it are two different things.
A perfect example of lack of thought was Saturday‘s schedule of 3pm on the Gold Coast, 530 at Townsville and 730 at Brisbane.
The more intelligent way would have been, 5:30 Titans, 7:30 Broncos and 8:30 (QLD time) 9:30 EDT for the Cowboys. It also wouldn’t be the worst idea to conside playing a game on Monday Night, and scheduling 4pm Sunday games in bigger stadiums that cast large shadows over the playing area, and potentially reduce the impact of heat.
in 1989 Roosters Prop Danny Shepherd nearly died at the old SFS from heat exhaustion. A succession of administrative bodies did not heed that lesson. Does someone have to die before an attack of brains finds it‘s way into NRL headquarters.
All in all. We played the better football for 75% of the game, but we need to learn some lessons from this game, because in the end we could have easily lost.