Part 1 – Shute Shield Shape of the Game 2024

As the dust settles on Season 2024, the last Head Coach Focus will review the season as statistically as possible while providing some insight into the game’s trends and tactics and why some game elements played out as they did.

With significant law changes and trials on the horizon in 2025 designed to enhance the game’s pace and player safety, we will delve into their potential impact on the Shute Shield. This discussion will also include a review of SUFC’s development in 2024 and our direction and progression in 2025 based on the introduction of further laws.

We will review the season through the Lenses of the following elements:

  1. Shute Shield Shape of the Game 2024
  2. SUFC Statistical Review
  3. SUFC Performance
  4. SUFC 2024 Development & 2025 Progression

 

It has been a challenging year for the squad, to say the least, with a significant injury toll, inclement weather causing washouts and postponements, games played on what looked like flood plains, and constant venue changes. To this point, the squad couldn’t be faulted for how they adapted every week; they just got on with the job and prepared as best they could each week. The entire squad showed great character and commitment through one hell of a Season grind. On the flip side, experiencing the tough grind of the 2024 season has given them great experience and grit for future seasons.

 

Let’s jump into the Season review.

  1. SHAPE OF THE GAME 2024
  • Ball in Play = As discussed, World Rugby is speeding up the game and increasing ball-in-play time. The effects of these laws are already filtering down to Shute Shield, with both the Maul and Scrum being refereed slightly differently this season and the Ball-In-Play time substantially increasing, placing greater athletic demands on the players. First grade Ball in Play increased significantly and averaged between 35 and 41 minutes.
  • Ball In Play – Time Periods = This season’s average ball-in-play period was 35 seconds, followed by 90 seconds to 150 seconds. The worst-case scenario ball-in-play period was 270 seconds, and what distinguishes this effort is that it was against Easts Round 9 on SUFG 2, a river that night, making the ball hard to handle.
  • Game Speed = We went into the season with the tactics to increase the overall game speed so that teams struggled to go with us, and by all GPS measures, we could do this when playing on a dry field. We didn’t expect the number of heavy, soaked playing fields, which took the speed out of the game and played into slower teams’ tactics. Eleven of the eighteen were on a slow-to-flood plains track, so creating game speed was not optimal.
  • Maul Tries = Across the competition, the number of Maul tries has decreased considerably compared to two seasons ago for all Teams and Clubs. To put this into perspective, a 33% conversion rate of genuine Maul try opportunities in Season 2024 decreased from 84% in 2022.

The referees called to use the ball or penalise anything that looked grey quickly. This is in line with speeding up the game and eliminating grey areas.

In response, teams worldwide are shaping to maul and then playing intricate moves around the edges of the static Maul. Five-man lineouts with a forward at halfback are the most prescribed to show various pictures and to have an attacking forward floating in the backline.

  • Lineout = Due to the trial tackle height law below the sternum, penalties have increased; therefore, lineouts have increased to an average of 34 per game, the second most significant source of possession. The Lineout is extraordinarily technical, with many moving parts; turnovers and overthrows at the Lineout have increased across the competition. Lineout defence has increased considerably, particularly with the diminishing Maul success.
  • Scrum = Like the Maul, scrums are being refereed slightly differently to reduce resets and speed up the game. Scrum dominance this season was hard for all teams to establish. The scrum continues to be a key metric for winning any competition. However, this is mainly due to penalties, with the Props being the number one position penalised in the competition.
  • Sternum Tackle Height = The trial tackle height law created several changes to the game across the competition
    • Penalties increased, increasing the number of lineouts per game to 34
    • Gain-line became more accessible to obtain.
    • Offloads increased as the chop tackle became prominent.
    • Second-man choke tackles decreased, and soak tackles increased.
    • Missed tackles increased to an average of 24 per team.
    • Scramble Defence became more prominent.
    • Due to the penalty increase, playing territory became a prominent tactic, so kicking strategies were vital.
  • Reserves = Due to the increased speed and athletic demands on the players and Clubs attempting to attain a competitive advantage and performance, the Top 6 Clubs ran with 6 to 8 fresh reserves, with the bulk of these in the tight five.

 

Tune in next week to read part 2 of 4 of season 2024 Grade Head Coach review

 

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