‘Brain dead football’: Ben and Shane Walker on why the short dropout is just one of the ‘risky’ plays that will change the game
Ben and Shane Walker were the first coaches to test the benefits of short dropouts, but it was deemed too left-field for the time. Now that the trend has taken over the game, they pose the question if short kick-offs could follow.
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They are the premiership-winning coaching partners whose style has been condemned as “too risky” to ever succeed in the NRL.
But suddenly, the NRL world has woken to the methods of former Ipswich Jets co-coaches Ben and Shane Walker, who have proven to be 15 years ahead of their clipboard counterparts with their tactical foresight.
The Walker brothers were the first coaches in Australian rugby league to road-test the potential benefits of the short dropout and short kick-off in a sport where contests for possession are minimal.
They were derided as mad scientists.
Rival coaches privately scoffed at their left-field methods.
But the Walkers, who delivered Ipswich’s one and only premiership in the 2015 Queensland Cup grand final, have been vindicated.
Every NRL club in the 2024 premiership is now deploying the very short dropout and short kick-off tactic the Walkers first trialled in 2008 during their tenure as rookie coaches in the Burleigh Bears lower grades.
Statistics obtained by this masthead show the Walkers-inspired short dropout – once abhorred by NRL coaches – is now in vogue in the NRL.
Since the start of 2023, the 17 NRL clubs have attempted a collective 395 short dropouts for 110 successful regathers in possession – a retention success rate of 27.8 per cent.
When you consider the alternative – virtually zero chance of regaining possession from a long dropout barring a rare opposition fumble – the odds are stacked in favour of going short, just as the Walkers always argued.
CHANGING THE GAME
“We were 15 years ahead of the time,” Shane Walker says with a wry chuckle.
“Look, it’s not like we have a copyright on it. We don’t own the concept (of short dropouts and kick-offs).
“Anyone can do it, but we were just prepared to back our instincts and our knowledge of the game and the benefits for our team, or any team, from a possession-retention perspective.
“We weren’t doing it to be contrarian.
“There was a reason for doing it and the reasoning is sound.
“It’s why all the NRL coaches now encourage it.”
The prevalence of short dropouts has changed the fabric of the game.
The Walkers’ methods even unwittingly forced an NRL rule change. This season, the NRL amended the rules governing short dropouts and short kick-offs, with teams no longer penalised if a restart fails to travel the required 10 metres.
The receiving outfit is now granted a play-the-ball, giving teams further incentive to kick short in a bid to win back possession.
In the 2021 NRL season, just 15 per cent of all dropouts were short restarts. Last year, that figure rose to 45 per cent. This season, without the fear of being penalised, a staggering 80 per cent of dropouts are the shorter type the Walkers used as a rule during their decade in charge of Ipswich.
The Knights have proven to be the kings of the short dropout, regaining 40 per cent of their 32 attempts.
The Dragons possess the worst record in the NRL with just one successful retrieval from 17 attempts, but even at a lowly strike rate of 5.88 per cent, the Walkers argue that’s better than no chance at all by going long.
THE NEXT REVOLUTION
“Ben and myself both played the game at NRL level and we knew that if you kicked the ball long, you are probably 0.001 per cent of getting the ball back from that contest,” explained Shane, who played 150 first-grade games for the Broncos and Souths.
“The only hope you had was if an opposition player was unlucky enough to drop the ball from a kick restart.
“We used to keep our own statistics and we would get the ball back 75 per cent of the time.
“NRL coaches are so hellbent on field position that they feel you are giving up too much territory by going short. But in actual fact, you are only giving up no more than 15 metres, because if the opposition gets the ball from a long kick off and come charging back (from a dropout), they normally get back to the 30-metre line anyway.
“The other benefit of a short dropout is it makes it hard for an attacking team to attack from 10 or 15 metres out.
“Any coach will tell you – the easiest place to defend on the field is right on your tryline.
“We don’t see as many short kick restarts from halfway at the moment and for me that’s the next step for NRL teams.
“In fact, I would argue the short kick-offs are easier to execute than the short dropout in terms of getting the ball back.”
The Walkers blasted suggestions their style is too risky to succeed at NRL level.
When the brothers took charge of Ipswich in 2011, the cash-strapped Jets were reigning wooden spooners.
Within 12 months, they turned the Jets into the powerhouse of the Queensland Cup. They made the finals in seven of nine seasons, headlined by the Jets’ historic premiership triumph in 2015.
The Walkers went on to win the NRL State Championship in the same season, beating Newcastle on grand final day.
WE’D THRIVE IN NRL
Since the Walkers departed Ipswich at the end of 2019, the Jets have crashed and burned, winning eight of 60 games. Ipswich claimed the wooden spoon last season, losing all 20 games.
The Walkers haven’t given up on coaching in the NRL and are adamant they would deliver a title for any club who showed faith in them.
“One-out hit ups is brain dead football. To say our style is risky is ridiculous, that term shouldn’t be used,” Shane said.
“Give Ben and myself any squad in the NRL and I am confident we will win the comp.
“Our coaching record speaks for itself.
“The Ipswich Jets had the lowest budget in the Queensland Cup, we had no money, and we delivered the club its only ever premiership.
“We were criticised because what we did was different.
“Most rugby league teams just run the same boring plays with predictable shapes and because we thought outside the box, it makes people uncomfortable. And when people are uncomfortable they bag you, it’s human nature.
“We sit back and watch the NRL now and try and stay awake. All the teams play the same robotic, predictable style.
“In a lot of ways, I feel for the myriad of coaches who try and follow the status quo, play it safe, and end up out of a job, because that’s where it leads them to.
“We would take an NRL job tomorrow. I can assure you we wouldn’t fail as NRL coaches.”
CONTRACT FOOTBALL
The bedrock of their coaching success was a tactical style known as ‘Contract Football’, a methodology familiar to Toowoomba football locals and spruiked 100 years ago by Warwick legend Duncan Thompson, a 72kg halfback who steered the North Sydney Bears to their only premierships in 1921-22.
“The idea of contract football is that if there is someone in your team in a better position, give them the ball,” says Ben Walker, who played 135 top-grade games.
“That’s the best way to describe it.
“You had a contract to put your teammate in a better space than you.”
Ben is adamant they would revolutionise the NRL with their tactical approach to a sport that has been part of their family since the 1930s.
“It’s absolute nonsense that we are risk takers. If it’s so risky, why is everyone in the NRL now doing it?” he said.
“I am confident we would have some attacking structures that would shake the game up.
“At the moment, everyone is trying to play like Penrith, it’s all quite predictable and boring, but we know our coaching methods work.
“If we coached in the NRL, we would win a premiership … and fans would actually enjoy the way our teams play.”
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