The Art of Butchery

Once again, I’m incredibly proud to have helped guide the acquisition of the 30th QLD Rugby Premiership for the illustrious Brothers Rugby Club.? This unique back-to-back championship was particularly rewarding considering the quality of the opposition that we had to overcome in the Grand Final.? Indeed, prior to the game, legendary Wallaby and Stan Sport commentator Tim Horan repeatedly boasted that the Wests team should be considered as the favourites as they were ‘stacked’ with a cornucopia of professional players.? In some respect he was right as the starting team for the Toowong based outfit consisted of 11 professional players (Faingaanuku, Dobbins, Tauakipulu, Smith, Uru, Anderson, Werchon, Gordan, Paramore-Naea, Vaihu, & Vunivalu) compared with only 3 contracted players that donned the Butcher stripes (Hoopert, Smith, and O’Connor).? This is not a cry poor situation as on another day Brothers could possibly select from a talent pool consisting of the likes of Matt Faessler, Taniela Tupou, Fraser McReight, Harry Wilson, Hamish Stewart, Josh Flook, Tim Ryan, and Lawson Creighton, however all were either injured or on Wallaby duty.

To illustrate the potential mismatches that existed, one can only look at the sporting resumes of the wingers that lined up against each other on the Eastern touchline in the first half.? In the blue corner we have Will Cartwright who is of diminutive stature and played 2nd XV at Nudgee College prior to bouncing around Colts 1 & 2 at Crosby Park before graduating (this year) into the Premier Grade Squad (as a half-back) after paying his $500 subscriptions to play the season.? Opposing him and in the green corner was the towering Suli Vunivalu standing at 1.9m with a hulking 100+ kg frame with a wingspan of a wedged tailed eagle and the vertical leap that would make a kangaroo jealous.? Before transitioning to Rugby Union Vunivalu played 111 professional Rugby League games for the iconic Melbourne Storm winning 2 Telstra Premierships in one of the toughest professional collision sport competitions that exists on the planet.? Since making the switch to the ‘game they play in heaven’ Vunivalu has been capped by the QLD Reds, Australia ‘A’, and the country’s flagship team the Wallabies.?

However, as history has often showed us, sporting results aren’t necessarily determined by the names on backs of the jerseys but rather a combination of interpersonal, intrapersonal, and tactical knowledge that together to form team cohesiveness.? Team cohesion is the degree to which team members stick together and work collaboratively to achieve common goals and can offer some explanation as to why sometimes much fancied teams can be humbled by their less resourced rivals.? This commodity can be considered as the metaphoric glue that binds teams together and encompasses a blend of both social and task components which contributes to overall team performance.? Last year I outlined how social cohesion was fortified amongst the Brother’s playing fraternity through decades of playing alongside each other so I thought it was only fitting that the focus of this article would be on task cohesion.

Task cohesion for the brethren was centred around the overarching objective of building a philosophy of play that enabled us to express ourselves by pushing the boundaries of our skill level.? This playing style encapsulated the tactical phases of the game including transition to attack, structured attack, transition to defence, and structured defence.? Principles of play were developed within each of these moments of the game which looked to embody the philosophy of play being espoused to provide clear direction for the players in the chaotic environment that characterises rugby union.? The culmination of this process helped formulate an Integrated Game Model that was tailored to our skillset, values, and beliefs and was remodelled throughout the season.? For communication purposes, this playing style was further accentuated using the “Art of Butchery” as a thematic representation of what we were trying to achieve.

To operationalise this theoretical integrated game model a non-linear pedagogy was predominantly adopted that emphasised learning in complex, dynamic environments.? This player-centred, inquiry-based approach uses variability in training, allows for players to self-organise, offers an appropriate level of challenge, and is representative of real game environments.? More specifically, it requires the careful and strategic manipulation of task, environmental, and individual constraints for players to interact with so that they can develop skills naturally and adaptively.? This approach enhances creativity, decision-making, and adaptability, fostering more effective learning and may help people understand why the brethren performed so well throughout the year.

Unfortunately, this explanation of success viewed through the lens of task cohesion has been overshadowed by criticism of the officiating.? The verbal abuse hurled at the referee by players, spectators, and faceless keyboard warriors in both face-to-face interactions and online formats questioning his integrity has been simply a disgrace.? It should be noted that the man in the middle, Damon Murphy, is a fully professional referee that has performed at the international level and was appointed to officiate the game with both teams coaching staffs agreeing that he was the best referee available, a notion that was fully endorsed by the governing body.? As I scrolled through the comments made on numerous social media platforms following the game it was clear that people easily get caught up in the emotion of the occasion and sadly struggle to be reflective, preferring to look outward at what they can’t control as opposed to inward to what they can.? As such, now that the initial emotional reaction has subsided, some key questions come to mind about the game for these people.

• Who is responsible for missing 2 conversions directly adjacent to the goal posts? (4 points)
• Who should be held accountable for giving 2 penalties (and a yellow card) for foul play when the ball was out of play?
• Who is at fault when attacking players pass the ball to the defenders allowing them to score a try? (7 points)
• Who is to blame when defenders are tricked (twice) into thinking that a lineout is about to occur when an orchestrated tap play is executed instead leading to 2 tries?? (12 points)
• Who should be blamed when outside defenders get ahead of their inside defenders creating a hole for attackers to run through to score a try? (7 points)
• Who is at fault when a tackler fails to get to his feet, doesn’t show a clear release and enters the breakdown from the side when jackaling for the ball? (3 points)

All the above actions accounted for a total of 33 points being scored by Brothers or not by Wests and if any of the above scenarios were played out differently the eventual 2-point deficit could have easily been overhauled.? It should also be noted that our performance (Brothers) was also riddled with errors.? Indeed, our 1st phase defence was haphazard, our lineout didn’t function, and our attack never flowed the way we intended due to the pressure applied by the opposition.? I, as the Attack and Backs coach look after most of these elements of the game so this ineptitude falls squarely on my shoulders.? Players, coaches, and referees all make mistakes during the game but that doesn’t mean that either party is trying to manufacture a predetermined result.?

I am happy to receive criticism regarding this article but kindly ask that if you choose to do so you a) respond to the questions that were posed above before doing so and b) outline what you have done for the growth of the game in this country that entitles you to eviscerate the referee and his performance.? Unfortunately, I am at risk of burying the lead of this article which is about team cohesion, but I feel it is necessary to address this referee abuse which seems to have escalated this year and needs to be stamped out at all levels of our game.? Club Presidents, Head Coaches, Coaches, Managers, and on field Medics need to be the leaders in this area by modelling exceptional behaviour and reprimanding undesirable behaviour that emerges so that referees feel respected, safe, and valued.

?Finally, as I said last year, whilst the Brothers Rugby Club doesn’t appear to be everyone’s ‘cup of tea’ for more historic reasons than anything it is futile to not admire the manner with which it creates its own sustained success.? Team cohesion is a vital part of sport and this year the task cohesion was the secret sauce that helped deliver its 30th 1st Grade title making this great club only a field goal away from chasing down UQ’s gobsmacking 33 Premierships.? Here we go….