Rugby League Coaching Manuals

Ever more our sport becomes dominated by numbers. Statistics rule in the modern game and the cold impersonal objective nature of a number I feel detracts somewhat from what's beautiful about the competition of a sporting contest. The tackle count for example, a digit. A tackle count doesn't do justice to the art, technique and orchestration of each individual attempted tackle. It gives you nothing but a number.

Numbers can never truly represent a game there is something else that can't be measured or documented and that's the drama of the unpredictable, something happening against the run of play or out of the blue, when the numbers tell you something should happen the interesting part about sport is that surprise that stats can't account for.

I much prefer words and pictures as that's what sport is all about in my mind and the words and images tell the true tale of a game in a way which reflects a game in a far superior way. Sports have become obsessed with the winning formula? Now I understand this from a coaching and playing perspective but science isn't sexy and it doesn't sell our game in my opinion.

An excel spreadsheet of numbers which you face as a player are like a code, and on a Monday morning when you review a game in an instant the code of numbers in columns paints a picture of words and images in my mind, each number and column is an action from within the game relating to your performance such as tries scored, tackles missed or percentage of rucks won, rucks lost.

The numbers mean very little to anyone else but they seem to become more and more important and in terms of performance there relevance can't be denied.

For example if a team concedes around 650-700 point through the season they will historically make the playoffs, that's around 26 average per match. Also teams that have a points difference in the positive have always made the playoffs, I actually feel that this is a good measure and sign of how many sides should feature in the playoffs.

The top six usually finish with a positive points difference and 7th and 8th place start to drop into the negative. I feel that's a good sign of where we should be looking to set the cut off point. You always hear people within Rugby league blabbing on talking about completion rates, how many times you receive the ball and then finish with a kick without error nor penalty.

If you are playing in a team that does this 80% to 100% of the time you will win more games than you lose. Poorer sides can apply this theory and slow a game to a grind and make it more competitive and keep a top team within reach.

This is where the formulas and numbers influence how our game looks, stats say you're more likely to win if your conservative with the ball hence why the game has become more clinical and less about expression. It's the most efficient way to win.

This being said Warrington scored 1075 points in 2011averaging 39 per match, which is quite amazing. This for me is what will define the difference between the top side and bottom sides this year, it's the ability to play attractive rugby and not make errors, sounds simple yet few teams achieve it and I believe it's the reason Australia have been so good at international level.

Going forward the game has to embrace science and statistics but be aware that stats don't tell the whole story and the bits they don't tell are sometimes the most interesting and engaging elements of the game. Sport isn't a science its emotion

It would be remiss of me not to mention my involvement in 1eagu3 (pronounced ‘League 13′), an association for super league players. It has been a long time coming and I am proud to be involved. The unique challenges faced by a professional super league player dictate that a specialist organisation was required to represent and truly reflect the views of its members. I believe 1eagu3 is that organisation.

All major sports in the country had an independent association and Rugby league has been missing an opportunity. The players have great views, opinions and concerns about our game. 1eagu3 gives player a chance to feed their views into a delegate at each club then into a management committee that will then be discuss this with other key stake holders in the game. This formal consultation between employers, governing body and the players is the best and only way to ensure that all parties can proactively seek to ensure potential problems are stopped at source.

The example of the players at Celtic Crusaders last year showed how the lack of a proactive body to protect the players was affecting the players. 1eagu3 would aim to discuss options with players and clubs prior to licensing rather than step in during the aftermath after the problem has reached a critical point. It's fantastic that we have been endorsed by the RPA (rugby union association) The PCA (Cricket) and the PPF (Professional Players Federation) and also the PFA.

1eagu3 will represent Super League players alone to start with until resources allow us to focus on people to whom rugby isn't a full time occupation. It's truly exciting to be involved with it and 1eagu3 aims to represent the players as our beautiful game grows and become an integral part of that growth also.

Follow Jon on Twitter@JonWilkin2012