Craig Bellamy is responsible for the ugly state of the game

Craig Bellamy is responsible for this mess...However the impact of Bellamy is fascinating.

League as a spectacle was the best back in the early 2000's.

Then came along Bellamy. Previously a tackle took about 3-4 secs to complete. Bellamy realised that the ruck is the most important part of the game, he then went on a mission to slow down the ruck when defending. He employed wrestling coaches. For some reason, the NRL allowed this. Why? I will get to this in a second.

Melbournes tactic of slowing the ruck was a major reason for there success. As they became more succesful, the other 15 coaches looked at melbourne and why the are succesful and they to started to employ the wrestle.

Melbourne were very robotic, set structures, very little ad lib footy, wrestle and out grind opponents. The other coaches "programmed" there players to play this way. Opposition teams were not programmed to deal with this. Effectively, it was low risk football which prayed on the opposition to make mistakes, and because the opposition teams were not programmed to deal with this, it was very succesful.

This is a reason why we see the dour state of the game. The NRL allowed this wrestle because if there is less scoring chances, the teams are brought together closer "artifically". David Gallop is infatuated with a close competiton as he should be, however, this comes at the expense of a spectacle.

But this is where Bellamy has pulled the carpet from everyone. The majority of NRL teams have been coached to be robots. They all have individual jobs. The players are essentially programmed. When something different is thrown at them, the programme cannot cope with this.

This is why Melbourne are the only unbeaten team this year. Melbourne have changed the way they play. They now chance there arm from inside there half, they now offlload the ball, cross field kicks early in the tackle, etc etc. Opposition players are not programmed to deal with this.

Effectively Bellamy is like that computer hacker that releases viruses into the cyber world, while anti virus programmes are yet to be built, the virus is eating into its target. When the anti virus companies build the software to combat it, Bellamy, continues to build new viruses.

I would have to agree with all that u have had to say here. Over the past 7 years how many different illegal tackles and other things have the storm created and then be banded. chicken wing, cruncher and now the 3rd man in low at the legs all by the storm

I agree the state of rugby league is shocking,there are robots out there rather than players but this is because it is a business and for some reason coaches believe there jobs are safer by playing this safety first brand of football as it will hopefully bring results.i for one would rather get the sack seeing my team play an exciting brand of league and losing than playing this way,atleast you wouldve had a go and i think fans would prefer this.in football in europe its a bit more understandable coaches playing defensively cause there is no salary cap so there is a big gap in teams abilities plus the fact there is relegation but these league coaches have no excuse except there own inability to come up with something different.couldnt agree more about bellamy his way ahead of these other coaches.