Round 20
St.George-Illawarra Dragons 24 l. Bulldogs 28

2007 NRL Telstra Premiership Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: Aus_NZ > National > First Grade Competition: NRL Telstra Premiership

Opinion: Thank goodness for technology!
Fri August 3, 2007
The use of technology in sport, not just Rugby League, has been the centre of many an argument.

Face it, there are pro's and con's when it comes to technology and sport. In Rugby League for instance, we've seen the introduction of more video's with slow motion replays, and now even slower motion replays - all in support of the relatively new concept of the "Video Referee". In cricket, we've seen the introduction of things like "Snicko", which basically picks up changes in sound waves caused by impact of bat on ball. All of these things either assist the human referees / umpires or, in some cases, take the place of human decision making. For every positive; such as greater accuracy in decisions, there's a negative; such as lengthy delays with inconclusive results.

So most people reading this will already know I was the person who suggested to the Bulldogs that they should use NineTrack etc from the cricket coverage to get Andrew Ryan off his careless high tackle charge on the Dragons' Jason Ryles. I'm a technologist, I'm in the IT industry and whilst I'm not a "gadget guy", I've grown up around technology and I've embraced it. It's a big part of why I'm involved in rleague.com, in addition to my love of sport and Rugby League specifically.

Since Ryan was exonerated, some of the reactions have raised my eyebrows.

For instance, I've been criticised by some people for not suggesting this to other clubs in the past - claiming I am only looking out for the Bulldogs and I wouldn't have suggested it had I thought of it for some other club.

But the reactions, full expected mind you, that raised my eyebrows the most are those where the word "precedent" or a synonym of the word is used.

There's two variations on this theme.

The first is the "in the past guys have gotten x weeks for the 'same' thing, the precedent was set"; people believing because a result occurred previously that it must occur again in the same set of circumstances. The 'same' bit, of course, is purely subjective; in the eye of the beholder if you will.

The second is of the Nathan Brown kind, that this decision "sets a precedent for future hearings"; the belief that the same kind of tackle should be let off in future should itbe challenged.

The first I do NOT agree with. The second I partially agree with.

In the case of the first line of reasoning, it's pretty simple. If you see two tries being scored that look more or less identical, but one was pre-slow motion and the other was this weekend, should the decision for the pre-slow motion try be the "precedent" for the one scored this weekend? If the slow motion shows the ball was lost by the possible try scorer, but it's only detected in slow motion, do you go ahead and reward the try just because something almost the same was awarded before slow motion technology was avaialble? No. In the case of Ryan and Ryles, it may have "looked" almost the same as other tackles that were penalised, but the use of technology revealed quantifiable facts - not subjective opinions - about what actually happened. Consider this the same as like the application of slow-motion replays to questionable tries.

In the case of the second line of reasoning, I agree so long as the defense uses the same kinds of technology to prove their case. There's no point using subjective "it looks almost the same as Ryan's and he got off", because that's no better than people who subscribe to the first line of reasoning. It's only a precedent if the same kind of case is presented by the defense.

One positive I hope to see of this is greater consistency and more challenges at the judiciary. There have been so many tackles attracting a suspension in the past that I've felt were completely accidental and out of the control of the tackler, but charges were laid on the basis of the idea of "carelessness". At least now, clubs and players have a new way of demonstrating the player in question took all reasonable precautions to make a legal tackle and it was unforeseen and unlikely events that were unable to be reacted to that caused accidental head contact.

Despite the positive, the judiciary need to be proactive now.

Things like "what is a reasonable amount of time to react" and "what degree of change in momentum is considered not normal or to be expected" really need to be established. In the same way the cricket fraternity have measurable rules for bowlers and the degree of bend at the elbow, Rugby League need to get on the front foot and set it in stone before the next case using similar technoogy comes along.

Such things are attainable; Channel Nine could analyse 100 typical tackles and come up with an average, or reasonably expected, change of momentum in a players head and neck in the same way they measured it for Jason Ryles. Human movement or bio-mechanics experts could easily give the NRL a measure on reasonable time to react that can similarly be measured.

At the end of the day, I hope the continued evolution and application of technology drives up consistency from the game's decision-makers. If the Andrew Ryan case helps make high tackles charge determination more consistent, then it can only be a good thing.


Bulldogs comeback to beat Dragons in classic derby
Mon July 30, 2007
The Bulldogs and Dragons consistently manage to produce the extraordinary and the controversial when they meet up and these two great clubs delivered another classic derby played before 19,051 fans in Wollongong.

St George Illawarra raced out to an early 14-0 with Beau Scott (14th minute), Matt Cooper (22nd) and Keith Lulia (29th) minute scoring the tries as the Dragons inspired by Jamie Soward had too much pace and were right on their game.

Soward failed to convert all three tries and his only goal of the half came when Jason Ryles was cleaned up by Jarrad Hickey in a classic copybook tackle. The problem was that Bulldogs captain Andrew Ryan made contact with a clearly falling Ryles across his head. It was no surprise that Fox Sports 3 commentator Laurie Daley called for Ryan to be instantly dismissed from the field. Daley did or still does have a high involvement with the Dragons coaching staff and Daley was the prominent selector that axed Ryan from NSW State of Origin squads in 2004 and 2006.

Ryan today has been charged with a Grade Two Careless High Tackle where he'll miss a week (at worst two) and considering the trial by media he copped from Daley, both Ryan and the Bulldogs can be happy with that result. Although the tackle from Ryan is nothing compared to Tonie Carroll's tackle in the opening State of Origin where the Queensland back-rower wasn't charged for the offence that left Brett White clearly injured from the incident.

The Bulldogs finally got into the match three minutes before half-time when a cross field bomb from Brent Sherwin was allowed to bounce by the Dragons with Hazem El Masri swooping on the ball to score in the corner. El Masri's conversion attempt from the sideline on the hill side of the ground was well wide of the posts as the Westerly breeze got hold of the kick.

El Masri scored his second try two minutes into the second half when he lurked around the middle of the field and backed up a nice offload to score under the posts. El Masri added the extras with the Dragons still up 14-10.

Soward continued his excellent game with a smart try in the 46th minute coming from an error by Sonny Bill Williams who otherwise had an outstanding match. Soward converted his own try for the Dragons to lead 20-10.

The Bulldogs are one of the few NRL clubs that don't lay down for the cheap penalty and they bore the fruits of that in the 55th minute when Chris Armit was clocked high in the tackle just inside the Dragons half. Armit got up to play the ball and the Bulldogs attacked down the left hand side with Nick Kouparitsas backing up on the inside to score halfway between the posts and sideline. El Masri landed his second goal as the Bulldogs came back within four points.

Cooper scored his second try when he capitalised on a great break by Soward who despite kicking just two goals from six attempts in very windy conditions was easily the Dragons best player on the field and close to the best on the ground for both sides. The referee and touch judge made one of the most blatant and howling errors of the season when Rangi Chase knocked on from the kick off only for the match officials to amazingly rule a knock back. The Bulldogs had to survive a 40-20 kick and two goal line drop outs before they could mount any comeback on the Dragons.

Reni Maitua bombed a try in the 70th minute and appeared to have ended the Bulldogs night. However, from the Dragons scrum win in the 71st minute Williams stripped the ball from Ben Creagh in a one-on-one situation following near the their own line. Williams stole the ball and scored the try where the video referee looked at a possible second man in tackle from Brad Morrin, but replays showed that Morrin made impact after Williams had possession of the ball.

The freakish piece of play from Williams, which is why he's one of the highest paid players in the game, turned the match on its head and the Bulldogs were coming home with the momentum.

It took a glaring error from Dragons winger Josh Morris when he took a Sherwin bomb on the bounce only to make a meal of it saw Trent Cutler emerge from the clouds to swoop on the ball and score the match winner.

Canterbury closed out the match and won a classic derby 28-24. Soward was outstanding for the Dragons and Cooper saw plenty of clean ball outwide. Williams was the inspiration for the Bulldogs and even before his try was the one player who kept them in the game when the chips was down.

The Dragons dominated the match in every department except the scoreboard and the stats below show this:

Completed Sets: Dragons 35 Bulldogs 26
Line Breaks: Dragons 7 Bulldogs 3
Tackles: Dragons 233 Bulldogs 280
Missed Tackles: Dragons 37 Bulldogs 59
Line Dropouts: Dragons 1 Bulldogs 4
Metres Gained: Dragons 1428 Bulldogs 1161
Penalties: Dragons 6 Bulldogs 5

How did the Bulldogs win the match with these statistics?

It was a classic derby between two great rivals in what as a traditional St George and Canterbury blockbuster. The Dragons may have added Illawarra to their name and Canterbury just prefer to be known as the Bulldogs, but when these two clubs meet it's all about the Red and White from St George and the Blue and White from Canterbury and neither club disappointed. The gates had to be closed at Win Stadium with many fans turned away and the atmosphere of the 19,051 supporters was completely electrifying and awesome.

Wed July 25, 2007
• Brown retains winning line up
  
Tue July 24, 2007
• Phelps returns in Bulldogs only change, Patten cleared to play
  

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