“Clunky” is one of those words probably invented for sport or, more specifically, the 2018 NRL season. Its an onomatopoeic word in that clunky sounds like what it means.
Too much of the play this season is awkward, clumsy, unwieldy, inept.
Far too many forward passes, or the expected receiver isnt there, or the ball goes behind him, or it falls in front of him. Timing is out.
Ref justice: Gerard Sutton takes control in the controversial Broncos v Bulldogs clash.
Photo: NRL Imagery
The clogged order of the premiership table probably reflects this, with so many teams stuck in the middle.
Only the Dragons are dominant, famous Australian author Tom Keneally saying: “Theyre playing like a team liberated to be itself.”
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Keneally was, for a time, a St George supporter before switching to Manly, a sin deserving incarceration.
There are three culprits for the standard of play, which is far more imprecise than previous seasons: the World Cup, new playmakers and referees.
Almost all the World Cup players were slow to find top form because they either returned to training overweight, missed a large part of pre-season training or, more significantly, didnt have time to develop combinations with club teammates.
Playmaker Cooper Cronk moved to the Roosters and is still trying to find fluency with the men either side of him. He was caught in possession six times against the Dragons on Anzac Day. Melbourne, the club he left, have tried two halves.
The Dragons have improved via the import of half Ben Hunt, but he has found an ideal partner in five-eighth Gareth Widdop.
Penalty-fest: Storm skipper Cameron Smith protests a decision after Matt Cecchin and Alan Shortall handed out 33 penalties in round four.
Photo: AAP
But the crackdown by referees, blowing penalties that produce a stop-start game, has been the main cause of the clunky play.
NRL boss Todd Greenberg endorsed the crackdown, promising it would produce a better quality game. After nine rounds, the evidence on the field indicates the crackdown hasnt worked.
Even St George Illawarra werent at their best against the Storm last weekend. A stop-start game (11 penalties against the Storm and six against the Dragons) suits the Dragons defence because they defend very well at restarts. But it interrupts their attack.
We were told at the beginning of the year that fan surveys indicated dissatisfaction with the play-the-ball and NRL coaches were instructed that any player who rolled the ball without touching it with their boot would be penalised.
By the end of the pre-season, almost all players were playing it with their foot. Tunnel ball had been eliminated.
However, someone decided that if the attack had been slowed down, then so should the defence.
Coaches were warned that any defensive player who encroached inside the 10 metres, particularly off a teams own try line, would be penalised.
The assumption was that if the play-the-ball had been slowed down, the defence must be held back.
Penalties have increased 35 per cent overall as a result.
Referees have become obsessed with the ruck, exemplified by the stupid ruling in the Dragons-Storm match when referee Matt Cecchin disallowed a try to winger Josh Addo-Carr because a Dragons player infringed at the play-the-ball.
In Thursday nights Wests Tigers v Cowboys match, the referee again refused to play advantage when a try loomed.
Referees have lost any feel for the game, refusing to play advantage because of technical errors.
The stop-start nature of game is affecting the playmakers.
Halfbacks dont usually get the ball until about the third or fourth tackle in a set of six. By then, as referees search for the perfect ruck, he has often blown his whistle.
Penalties are coming in huge blocks. If a team is attacking and the defence is penalised on the third tackle, and then penalised again early in the next set, the No.7 cant get the ball in his hands and becomes increasingly frustrated. Often, when he finally does get the opportunity to shift the ball, the supporting players arent there.
The defensive line speed of some teams is so swift, the indecisive playmakers are swallowed up in a tackle before they can release the ball.
The worst spectacle of the year has been between the past two premiers, the Storm and Sharks, in round four. That game produced 33 penalties, yet not one was blown for the original reason for the announced crackdown: failure to touch the ball with the foot in the play-the-ball.
Only one penalty came from a team jumping off its own try line too soon. Most of the remaining 32 penalties were frustration at trivial breaches, which eventually became serious ones.
Last weekend, the NRLs best two referees, Cecchin and Gerard Sutton, were involved in the biggest controversies: the Addo-Carr no try and a knock on by Broncos winger Jamayne Isaako that Bulldogs coach Dean Pay disputed. Pay was later fined $25,000 for his comments about the officiating.
When the Storms Billy Slater gave himself up after dropping a ball in the round seven match against the Broncos, telling his teammates he hadnt scored a try, I thought it commendable that the video referee ignored his reaction and judged only what he saw.
Likewise in the knock-on by Isaako when Sutton ruled play on.
But if ruling on obscure (and ultimately incorrect) technicalities come at the expense of a feel for the game, then theres more clunky play ahead.
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Roy Masters is a Sports Columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.
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