"Are you not entertained?"

General Rugby League
1

I sat and watched the Knights v Rabbitohs match yesterday in the lead up to our match in the evening. The scoring was high and the commentators were really into it. They were highlighting how exciting it was, the “non-stop” action. 80 points were scored in that game, the commentary team exclaimed “Are you not entertained?” — a nod to the 2000 blockbuster Gladiator.

I stopped for a moment and thought to myself… “No, I’m not”. What I saw was an error-laden, sloppy defensive effort by two sides that seemed like turnstiles. At 80 points, the game was turning over a point a minute. It was boring to me, not something I would associate with rugby league.

Then it was onto the Sharks v Tigers. A terrible match — error-laden again, with a lot of turnover, compounded by a capitulation of the Tigers side at the back end of the second half (much to Benji’s displeasure in the post-match presser). 62 points in total and, to me, another snoozefest.

The main event, Panthers v Sea Eagles. Not the most polished game of football — to be honest Penrith seemed a bit off their game, much like the loss to the Bulldogs. A fair few simple errors on both sides, but the match was kept entertaining: strong defensive efforts, tight margins. There weren’t fewer scoring opportunities than the other two games, but there was some rock-solid goal line defence from both sides. I may sound a bit biased, but I enjoyed it. There was strong defensive effort, and to put points on you’d have to work for them.

So my question is this… are you entertained? Am I alone in saying I am not? Defence thrown out the door for point heavy borefests.

Also, if I am not alone, what are the NRL trying to engineer? Clearly they wanted to open games up for higher scoring.

I decided to crunch some numbers this morning and look back at previous seasons. What it suggests is that while match margins are not changing dramatically from season to season, there has been a clear increase in total points scored per game.

Higher scores are the result, not because games are becoming more one-sided, but because both teams are scoring more.

Is this a mere coincidence, or is this by design?

Here are the raw numbers for the stat nerds out there. there is a full season break down and a set adjusted for the first 9 rounds only (to equate better with the current season).

Mean (Average)
Whole Season After 9 Rounds
Season Difference Total Season Difference Total
2026 17.43 50.40 2026 17.43 50.40
2025 14.88 46.21 2025 14.94 46.26
2024 14.53 43.86 2024 14.76 46.77
2023 11.08 42.56 2023 14.95 45.29
2022 14.92 39.58 2022 16.24 43.40
2021 17.65 43.43 2021 18.00 45.87

Standard Deviation
Whole Season After 9 Rounds
Season Difference Total Season Difference Total
2026 12.57 12.83 2026 12.57 12.83
2025 9.93 13.51 2025 12.01 13.97
2024 11.51 12.62 2024 11.97 13.91
2023 10.30 12.91 2023 12.54 12.92
2022 12.38 13.05 2022 12.14 12.90
2021 12.78 12.33 2021 13.22 13.27

Coefficient of Variation
Whole Season After 9 Rounds
Season Difference Total Season Difference Total
2026 0.72 0.25 2026 0.72 0.25
2025 0.67 0.29 2025 0.80 0.30
2024 0.79 0.29 2024 0.81 0.30
2023 0.93 0.30 2023 0.84 0.29
2022 0.83 0.33 2022 0.75 0.30
2021 0.72 0.28 2021 0.73 0.29
2

There are people that just like to see lots of tries, no matter how poor the quality.

I can guarantee that those team’s mistakes will be less when they are up against the 4 time premiers.

3

I stand by my theory that the NRL have a very strong influence over the adjudicators of our game in the fact, “we are in the entertainment industry”. I doubt they specifically go out and make it happen the way it has, BUT years gone by we have not seen the momentum shifts like we see in today’s game. This IMO comes down purely and simply to the guess agains and the impact of constant attack until the team getting beat 18 nil scores and or the defensive effort impacts the result anyway.

I would support any ruck infringement worth noting on the 4th or 5th remains a penalty. 2 things happen, the side in possession gets more free metres and a new set, however the defending team get a short breather - I don’t think the modern game is built for 11 tackle sets or greater, it is just too much.