Peter V’landys vindicated by NRL round 3’s game-changing stats and record TV ratings
In one action-packed weekend, ARLC boss Peter V’landys’s rule changes have shot down the naysayers, ignited the fans and released rugby league from the curse of wrestling.
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Here is the proof that wrestling’s sleeper hold on rugby league has been released — and the fans love it.
The NRL’s highly anticipated return arrived in conjunction with the switch to one referee and the new six-again rule, and vindicated ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys has praised the players and previously under-fire whistleblowers for working together to give us back the game many feared was lost.
“It showed that when you have a united game what you can achieve,” V’landys said.
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Statistics show how the game has been transformed in one action-packed weekend.
And with that transformation came the highest-rating regular round for rugby league on pay TV since Fox Sports acquired every match live in 2016.
The figures were up a whopping 11 per cent on the previous record, and did not include streaming service Kayo.
It was also the fifth-largest regular-round TV audience for Fox and Channel 9 combined in NRL history.
Gone was the go-slow wrestling contest that looked like it belonged in an Octagon and in its place was one that featured more tries and linebreaks, more tackles and faster play-the-balls.
Coaches and experts had been critical of V’landys rushing to reintroduce one referee and bringing in the six-to-go call, but after eight quality games the overall consensus was that the footy was brilliant.
Perhaps best of all, there was more eyes-up footy that came on the back of more fatigue and tries being scored by players running the football, as opposed to scoring off kicks and boring block plays that ruled for most of the past decade.
Fox Sports Stats also shows that most of the figures which suggest the game is faster and more entertaining were up on rounds one and two this year.
Many were above where they had been for a decade, in some cases dating back to the start of the NRL era in 1998.
Fifty tries were scored last weekend, compared to a total of 91 in rounds one and two.
In the opening two rounds, 30 of the 91 tries were scored from kicks (33 per cent), while on the weekend there were just nine of 50 (18 per cent).
There were more linebreaks — 77 last weekend compared to a combined 102 in the opening two rounds — while the average of 9.63 was the most since the 2010 season.
There were far more metres run — an average of 3069m per game in round three.
Never has there been a season when the average running metres was above 3000m per game.
The stat of 677.13 tackles per game was far and away the most since 1998.
The average time in play between stoppages was up 10.3 seconds from the opening two rounds, while penalties were down by 40.
There were 53 six-again calls which resulted in 10 tries.
The stats confirm that the new brand of footy has given us back the game we loved before wrestling was introduced in the early 2000s.
Asked if he felt vindicated by the weekend’s onfield success, V’landys said: “I always do what I believe is right and I promised we would have a free-flowing game that was more entertaining.
“Now I don’t want to go the early crow because it is only one round. I’d like to look at it again in five rounds.
“But if it continues in the manner it did on the weekend, the fans are in for some very exciting and entertaining football.
“I wanted to go back to the days when someone like a James Tedesco got the ball and everyone got to their feet to watch them.
“I use Teddy Goodwin as the example when I was a kid. When he got the ball the majority of the crowd would stand up because you knew he would do something brilliant.
“And that is what you want. You want those players to shine. Let’s bring out the skill and brilliance and show the best of our game.”
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The ball was in play for an average of two minutes and 49 seconds more per game than in the opening two rounds.
“So that’s more time the fans are watching football rather than stoppages, so that’s a great result so far,” NRL’s head of football Graham Annesley said.
“Linebreaks are up, less stoppages, more unstructured play is starting to come through in some of those figures.
“Less stoppages, more football, less impact by the referee. One thing we’re always trying to do is reduce the noticeable involvement of the referee.
“It’s probably what we were hoping for rather than expected.”