Monday Buzz: Broncos turn tide against Cowboys with clever thinking
IT is the most under-utilised play in the NRL, but as the Broncos showed against the Cowboys it can be a game-changer.
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RUGBY league can be a very predictable game with the emphasis on low-risk football.
Four hit-ups to get field position, a spread and a kick on the last tackle.
Then the opposition gets it and it’s the same thing.
Four hit-ups to get field position, a spread and a kick on the last tackle.
It’s all about completion rates, time in possession and a safety-first approach.
No one does chip-and-chases anymore in case they turn over possession.
Everything is so structured and even the freakish players are mostly shackled.
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Teams rarely run the ball on the fifth tackle, even with only 10 defenders in the line while the wingers and the fullback retreat to wait for a kick.
Which is why I love players and teams that are prepared to take risks.
Look at Friday night’s Broncos-Cowboys thriller at Suncorp Stadium.
The night the entire game changed on one high-risk play.
In the 14th minute, the Broncos were struggling big time.
As the cameras glanced to the coaching box, even the normally unemotional Wayne Bennett was taking deep breaths.
The Cowboys led 8-0 and had all the momentum.
Johnathan Thurston drilled a fifth-tackle kick into the in-goal area for a line drop-out.
The Broncos were seriously under the pump on the back of their poor first-up loss to the Dragons.
Then Anthony Milford called out above the noise of 45,000 fans: “Take a short one.”
This is the most under-utilised play in the game.
An actual contest for possession.
Winger Jamayne Isaako took the line drop-out. He lofted the football towards the left touchline, about 20 metres out from the Broncos’ line.
Teammate Jordan Kahu won the contest and the Broncos were back in possession.
Four minutes later they scored at the other end.
So the line drop-out became a possible 14-point turnaround. The score was 8-6. It could have been 14-0, such was the Cowboys’ energy and dominance.
A couple of years ago I asked Fox Sports statistics guru Aaron Wallace to look at the percentages and success rate of the short kick-off.
It turns out teams are about a 25 per cent chance of getting the football back.
This play is seriously a no-brainer.
Most players drop kick the ball about 50m. A front-rower will bring it back to the 30m line. By the second tackle another forward has taken the ball to the 20m line, back to where there would have been a contest for the ball.
Des Hasler often used this play with the Canterbury Bulldogs.
More teams should do it. It breaks up the monotony and makes for a much better footy contest.
And that’s what the fans pay to see.
Let’s see more of it.
Originally published as Monday Buzz: Broncos turn tide against Cowboys with clever thinking
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