The Brumbies should ditch the rolling maul and play running rugby
Watching this season has been grim, mates, we're getting outscored from open play by the Force of all teams, and some of you still reckon the maul is our identity. 😏 It's a rolling picnic that every coach in the comp knows how to stop now. Ditch it, back the backs, and if you can't see that, wait for the fanboys to pile in telling me 2004 was a fluke. 🤡
12 posts
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✓Sounds good, but show me the numbers on maul try rate versus ours from open play before we bin it. The Force comparison might just mean our finishing's off, not the tactic.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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Fellas, I grew up on the 2004 running game, that footy made the hairs on my neck stand up 😱 but nah, the maul still wins us finals footy tbh. Losing to the Force from open play is a finishing problem, not a tactic problem - bin the maul and we become every other side 🔥 CHANGE IT UP A BIT, KEEP THE MAUL 💪One love, one side ❤️
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Millie's got a point buried in there, and RobbedAgain asked the right question. Think of it like marking a class test: two kids get the same question wrong, one because he never learnt the method, the other because he rushed the finish. Same score on paper, completely different fix. The Force comparison only tells us we're scoring fewer open-play tries. It doesn't tell us why, and if the maul is still landing us tries when the field gets tight, binning it to chase 2004 nostalgia solves a different problem than the one we actually have. What I'd want before any verdict: our maul success rate versus our own penalty count in attacking zone, and our lineout win percentage. If the set piece is humming and we're still fluffing the last pass, that's a finishing and selection issue - put a proper 12 in there and see. Small sample too, one season against a side that's improved. Keen on running rugby as much as anyone, but I keep my tables tidy before I bin an identity. 📊Numbers > vibes.
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BadBeatKing, that class test line made me chuckle, my old primary teacher in Invercargill would've said the same thing. 😄 Back in the day, 2004 and the years around it, we didn't need a picnic blanket at the lineout because the backs could actually finish. Mortlock running onto a pass at pace, Gerrard chiming in, you knew within three phases whether a try was on. What worries me now is that the maul has quietly become our security blanket. Force outscoring us from open play stings more than the table shows, because finishing and attacking method feed each other. You stop practising the running shape, the finishing goes cold, and then the maul looks like the only option left. I'd keep it as a weapon for finals footy, sure, but it shouldn't be the whole toolbox at 60 minutes every week. Ah well, we'll see.Seen it all, lads.
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Would any of you lot actually put money on this maul scoring tries in June, or is that why everyone's preaching patience? 😂 Metric_nerd nailed it, the backs used to finish, now we cross our fingers at the lineout and call it strategy. Keep the maul as a Plan B by all means, but when the Force out-flair us from open play that's a proper wound. Wait for the fanboys to pile in with "it wins finals" though 😏Any stat can be bent.
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Nah BadBeatAndy, I coached juniors long enough to know a maul you can't stop is still footy, not a picnic 😤 but geez watching you blokes bash it up for twenty phases then drop it cold… Mortlock finishing those 2004 breaks gave me chills, who does that now? Ah well, nowt to do 🔥You don't abandon your own.
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Ha, BadBeatAndy, I'd put a quiet twenty at the TAB on the maul finding the line in June before I'd back our backs to run it out of our own half. Seen worse sides than this one, believe me, and I've seen plenty of pretty runners go nowhere because the forwards couldn't give them a platform. Old Rennie used to say you earn the right to go wide, and that's the bit everyone forgets about 2004. Mortlock and the lads looked like magic because the pack was winning the collision first. Ditch the maul entirely and the Force will just wait for the knock-on. Fix the finish, keep the weapon, then talk to me about flair. 😉
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FrontRow88 has a point about the platform, though, and that's the nuance here - nobody's saying bin the maul entirely, just that we've stopped trying anything else. Open-play tries behind the Force is the stat that stings, small sample caveat and all. Keep the maul as one weapon, sure, but if the forwards are giving us a platform anyway, why are we only taking the ten-point option instead of running it wide like '04? That's what I can't answer yet. 📊
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@FixIsInPTSD yeah this thread has a life of its own 😂 agree though, one trick pony stuff. I reckon even my dog's stopped falling for the lineout feed 🤣Hold my pint.
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FixIsInPTSD, you said the stat yourself, open-play tries behind the Force, so show me the numbers over more than one match before anyone rips the maul out. If the sample is that small, half this thread is guessing dressed up as analysis. Genuinely curious though, does anyone have the error count from those twenty-phase sequences? Because bashing in for twenty phases then dropping it cold sounds less like a maul problem and more of a handle problem. Swap the tactic, keep the butter fingers, same result.Hype isn't an argument.
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FixIsInPTSD, you said the stat yourself, open-play tries behind the Force, so show me the numbers over more than one match before anyone rips the maul out. If the sample is that small, half this thread is guessing dresse…@Kev_Diehard fair point I reckon, one match is thin ice for a big call like that 😅 but even I've noticed we go to the well same as every lineout lately, and I'm still learning this tactical stuff properly. Maybe the answer's more balance until the numbers say otherwise? Or does the sample need a whole season before it counts?Learning from the veterans, go easy 🙏