Rugby 7s general chat

[Up the Guts]

What are the similarities between league and sevens as you see?

A few areas: less focus on the set piece; greatly reduced competition at the breakdown in 7s (rarely more than one defensive player in the ruck) and it is often play the ball like; kicking basically only tactical, no territorial back and forth kicking duels like 15s; emphasis on keeping the ball alive, players will often run from side to side looking for an overlap; often space around the ruck, in League through the middle of the field when the props are tired and struggle to get square at marker and in 7s when the opposition is gassed or they just don't have the number to get there. I could probably name more but those are the ones that spring to mind atm.

I don't think our Women's 7s side is weakened by having players running around in NRLW. In fact, the competition looks to be quite good and they may well be better for it.

 

[wamberal]

If they are earning money for running around with a rugby shaped ball, playing a game that has some rough similarities to rugby Sevens, good on 'em.

 

[pnut]

Set piece and breakdown has been a crucial area in sevens. Look at SA and the work and scoring opportunities that arise from it. SA score huge amount form set piece and turn overs at break down.

It’s one area that aussie woman’s have fallen behind the pack.

On average top teams score off 3 to 4 ruck possessions. If opposition can push them to 5 80% of the time it leads to a turnover. Hence the importance of the breakdown.

Kick off as a set piece is also a crucial element to retain possession.

Totally agree re kicking dual. Thank God.

 

[TSR]

True - but one of the problems the Aussie women have with the break down is that they are getting physically outmuscled there. Some of the girls spending some time playing against the league girls won’t hurt from that point of view I wouldn’t have thought.

 

[Jimmy_Crouch]

Biggest issue is that I can't see the Olympics and the World Series happening next year. We might loose some of these girls for good.

 

[qwerty51]

Biggest issue is that I can't see the Olympics and the World Series happening next year. We might loose some of these girls for good.

Nah really don't think so once 7s is back up. There's nothing in it to play league. 7s would be just as high paying surely and you travel the world. It's not like in Men's where NRL would have higher wages.

And I like to look at the positive that they might convince some of their teammates to make the transition. The Olympics has to be bloody appealing.

 

[Jimmy_Crouch]

Nah really don't think so once 7s is back up. There's nothing in it to play league. 7s would be just as high paying surely and you travel the world. It's not like in Men's where NRL would have higher wages.

And I like to look at the positive that they might convince some of their teammates to make the transition. The Olympics has to be bloody appealing.

Agree but if the Olympics don't happen and the World Circuit doesn't happen for the next year or two many of the 2016 girls won't push to 2024.

 

[dru]

Kudos to the NRL for achieving gender equity though - league is boring whichever gender plays.

Haha! Absolutely.

 

[pissedoffihavetoregister]

I like the fact that the oz girl 7's players have games that help with fitness and similar competitive skills to 7's. I don't think any of the other counties will be able to do that.

That should put them well ahead come next year!

 

[kiap]

^ Except the No.1-ranked opposition unfortunately, POIHTR.

Players in the same comp. But I agree it's a good alternative during COVID.

 

[PhilClinton]

I think it would be silly not to think at least some of these girls won't return to 7s, especially the ones who have already won a gold medal.

The NRL have proved they are the quickest fox in the yard, they'll already be plotting how to increase the pot of gold to keep these women in the game going forward. At the end of the day the world of 7s is so up in the air, so if the NRLW come knocking with a 5 year plan to increase wages, increase recruitment and add more teams, I think the 7s program will be hard pressed to hold onto a few high profile players.

 

[RugbyReg]

isn't it a 4 team competition? Only played over the NRL finals? Unless they go fully professional and expand the season they won't compete with the money the 7s players can earn.

I hope we actually recruit a few players from the NRL

 

[sendit]

isn't it a 4 team competition? Only played over the NRL finals? Unless they go fully professional and expand the season they won't compete with the money the 7s players can earn.

I hope we actually recruit a few players from the NRL

Not going to stay that way for long though, there's multiple clubs banging on the door for a team, no representation from Western Sydney currently, and the development pathway competitions below them are expanding every second year or so

 

[PhilClinton]

isn't it a 4 team competition? Only played over the NRL finals? Unless they go fully professional and expand the season they won't compete with the money the 7s players can earn.

I hope we actually recruit a few players from the NRL

It is likely to be 6-8 teams by 2022, but I imagine that timeline may even become next year if they believe they can pillage the 7s players. The thing the NRLW have in their favor is a product which is proven to be successful domestically. The 7s circuit is heavily reliant on the international game and there is no way to predict when exactly it will start and what restrictions may be in place.

I just think the guys at the NRL are too crafty to let the likes of Caslick and Green etc. slip away without a fight. And you'd have to say some of those girls have 'done it all' now that they've got Olympic Gold, they may be looking to pioneer a new pathway in women's professional sport.

Let not forget these girls aren't rugby loyalists from way back. Most of them came from a representative touch football background and have never played 15s, so it is a different situation in terms of loyalty and roots to say the NRL poaching some of our male stars.

Essentially my point being I think we're screwed.

 

[Braveheart81]

It is likely to be 6-8 teams by 2022, but I imagine that timeline may even become next year if they believe they can pillage the 7s players. The thing the NRLW have in their favor is a product which is proven to be successful domestically. The 7s circuit is heavily reliant on the international game and there is no way to predict when exactly it will start and what restrictions may be in place.

I just think the guys at the NRL are too crafty to let the likes of Caslick and Green etc. slip away without a fight. And you'd have to say some of those girls have 'done it all' now that they've got Olympic Gold, they may be looking to pioneer a new pathway in women's professional sport.

Let not forget these girls aren't rugby loyalists from way back. Most of them came from a representative touch football background and have never played 15s, so it is a different situation in terms of loyalty and roots to say the NRL poaching some of our male stars.

Essentially my point being I think we're screwed.

It's going to come down to how quickly the NRL is going be willing to fund it.

The minimum salary in 7s outside of a pandemic is $44,500 and the top players are on substantially more.

The AFL is much more of an economic powerhouse than the NRL and they have been totally unwilling to pay their best players anything like that.

 

[PhilClinton]

Point taken BH - but the AFL aren't in a position to acquire a group of Olympic Gold medalists who are established names. All the talk on the weekend was how the 7s girls would perform, the commentators spoke about it, the media did. It's the best hype the NRLW team could have wanted and I worry they won't want to lose it.

 

[Braveheart81]

Point taken BH - but the AFL aren't in a position to acquire a group of Olympic Gold medalists who are established names. All the talk on the weekend was how the 7s girls would perform, the commentators spoke about it, the media did. It's the best hype the NRLW team could have wanted and I worry they won't want to lose it.

Sure and they generally performed really well but there isn't going to be the capacity to pay these few players 80k to poach them from 7s unless they set a low water mark for all their players at a reasonable level with all the star players getting strong salaries.

It's not like Caslick, Green and Pelite made everyone else on the field look like kids playing against adults. They were good but not completely dominant. If they want to pay them, they need to pay everyone.

 

[sendit]

Sure and they generally performed really well but there isn't going to be the capacity to pay these few players 80k to poach them from 7s unless they set a low water mark for all their players at a reasonable level with all the star players getting strong salaries.

It's not like Caslick, Green and Pelite made everyone else on the field look like kids playing against adults. They were good but not completely dominant. If they want to pay them, they need to pay everyone.

I imagine a lot of players would take a lower pay grade for the chance to play domestically and earn a living. Travelling the world playing footy is amazing but after a few years it’d be a bit of a drag, can’t imagine partners would be too keen on their girlfriends travelling around the world half the year etc etc. A few more years and the only thing we will have going for us is the Olympics all NRLW have to do is decentralise their top 20 athletes that are paid and spread the love a bit more

They were pretty fucking dominant, Caslick was easily the best back on the field for either side and Green and Pelite would’ve gone very close to making a game of it for the warriors if they actually got the ball a bit more.

 

[Jimmy_Crouch]

It's not like Caslick, Green and Pelite made everyone else on the field look like kids playing against adults. They were good but not completely dominant.

It was their first ever game of the sport.

 

[Braveheart81]

It was their first ever game of the sport.

They've also been full time professional athletes for a number of years against players who are amateurs.

This is the big advantage the Aussie women's 7s team had a few years ago and we've subsequently come back to the pack a fair bit since 2016 as other countries have caught up.

Over time the tide might turn as NRLW improves its professionalism but initially I think it will provide a recruitment opportunity for rugby.

The drawcard of the travel and Olympics for 7s is pretty strong for young athletes.

Absolutely NRLW is likely to become a threat in the next few years. I think it will be a while before the money starts to flow though.