On the offloads thing, It is in the dna of the NZ game to pop a ball. You saw what that looks like when a coach embraces it fully in the
Daniel Anderson Jungle ball era.
The reason we moved away from it is that the game changed. It sped up in some areas and it slowed down in others (the emphasis on ptb speed, winning the ruck vs the wrestle to slow it down).
The war for the ruck became (and still is) everything. Coaches became obsessed with completions, playing the perfect sets of six tackles. This became increasingly a science with very restrictive outcomes for our type of player, the compulsive off loader.
The only teams these days that use offloads effectively as a way to win Premierships (dry balls warning incoming) are teams that have earned the right.
And the same teams mitigate the risks of offloading by defending the occasional turn over when it happens.
Lastly, second phase initiated by forwards (usually the case because they can stand in the tackle and get arms free) relies on backs who have an instinct for reacting to impulsive moments in games (people like
Stacey Jones,
Sione Faumuina,
Clinton Toopi, that can pluck a loose ball at their bootlaces and transition from stationary to attack in fluid so called [by Ray Warren watching the Warriors] "Calypso Rugby league"
Tis interesting that our backline has for years been reliant on two fullbacks (
RTS CNK) that are not support running fullbacks, they do not sniff around the ruck for popped balls like Walsh and other NRL players.
They are a factor but you can't blame them for the lack of offloads exclusively, because when the Warriors ran Walker and Harris as a combo, Tevanga too, the second phase was encouraged from those specific players as a transition from Starting line up to bench impact.
This year is different though,
Webster told them to throw it around in our last game of the season the year before, and he has continued in that approach this season with great success.
The difference in team make up that defines this new era of ball movement (as I say
Webster threw out the rule book vs the Panthers - and clearly the coaches have had long discussions about where the Warriors attack lacks, and why it looked promising in that one final against the best of the best) I digress as I was saying, the difference in the team make up is that we are in the era of
Tanah Boyd.
People talk about platforms in Rugby league, the forwards lay the platform and the halfback creates a platform, while two different things, they both refer to the fundamental physics that make up the laws of the Rugby league universe.
When
Metcalf returns, we get a player that is of the instinctive type (call it quantum physics of league)
Metcalf is the Jungle baller I was harking back to, he would have slotted into the 2002 Warriors beautifully, now that guy can read a popped ball off a forward and Go....
And since we are playing some Jungle ball now (
Tanah gives
Webster the platform to risk the offloads) it is a very exciting time for the Warriors.
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