The Synopsis - NRL Round 1

Round one is over and I am glad to say that the so-called experts turned out to be wrong.

The changes to the rules around the ruck aimed at eliminating the wrestle and speeding up the play the ball, were, according to the experts, going to create a boring game with everyone running from dummy half - or at best with just one pass from the ruck. While it's true, there was more dummy half running, it was far from boring.

In fact, the changes were a success and gave the little guys their chance to shine. All the players quickly realised that wrestling the tackled player, laying in the ruck area or placing their hands on the ball (all strategies used by coaches to slow play) put them on the fast track to a penalty and their team onto the back foot.

Issac Luke at Souths and James Segeyaro at Penrith both had fantastic games and their teams were dominant for most of their respective matches. This happened because the tackled player was able to rise faster, play the ball and give their respective numbers 9s that little bit of extra time, allowing their skills to shine. But it wasn't just in Penrith and Brisbane that we saw brains stand up and challenge brawn. Over at Pirtek Stadium, Nathan Peats and Issac De Gois racked up over 120 metres between them, and De Gois particularly enjoyed the freedom he had to spark Parramatta's attack. (Jarrad who?)

The quality of the Brisbane vs South Sydney and Parramatta vs Manly matches were very high, despite the lop sided results. Clearly all four are headed for a good season. Melbourne were methodical and when Cameron Smith gets back to full fitness, the new rules will work in his favour as well.

The Roosters, even without Jake Friend were a surprise packet, although why we thought last year's Minor Premiers were suddenly going to become has-beens I have no idea. However, their completion rate was poor, they made too many errors and they will need to lift their game considerably to get anywhere near South's in next Sunday's match of the round. The Cowboys seem to have forgotten when kick-off was - they were thoroughly outplayed - hopefully they'll lift their game next week.

On the downside, Cronulla and Canberra spent most of their match thinking up ways to hand the result to their opponents. Between them they managed 40 stoppages from penalties and dropped balls. Canberra's fullback thought starting a fight, while in possession, was a good idea and Cronulla's Ben Barba couldn't find touch, even when the opportunity was given. To add insult to injury, Andrew Fifita, admittedly one of Cronulla's best, managed to lose possession on the first tackle after his team had scored inviting the Raiders to hit back, almost straight away.

The Titans and Tigers were awful at times, and the only reason the crowd and commentators stayed interested was that the scores were close throughout. I covered this game for LeagueUnlimited and my fingers soon grew tired of hitting the unforced error button. DCE can't get back over the border fast enough, as far as the Gold Coast are concerned. The Titans attack was very poor and no one seemed to know what to do, or when. The good news for the Tigers is that the majority of their squad are young and should improve under the skillful guidance of Coach Jason Taylor. Their 'spine' 1, 7 and 9 (Tedesco, Brooks and Farah) will keep them competitive in every match, and Pat Richards all round kicking game and professional wing play is an asset many teams will envy.

I managed to watch six matches out of the eight and listen to a seventh. I will catch up with Newcastle and New Zealand in the weeks ahead, although from what I have read neither team set the house on fire, but the home crowd got the result they wanted - not entirely unsurprising as the Warriors started slowly for the umpteenth year in a row. The Warriors have lost 15 games since the beginning of 2013 after leading at oranges.

Who'd be a coach?