KEY POINTS:
One hundred years ago a couple of pioneering footy players decided that they needed to be paid for time off work when they got injured playing rugby.
One thing led to another and these guys got hold of the grand old game, gave it a shake, ditched two players and changed a few rules. These included legislating that the ball must bounce out from a kick in play and allowing a tackled player to stand up and play the ball.
And what do you know, next thing we had league.
I don't know if those involved at the time were disenchanted with rugby but they knew they had to come up with a game that could draw spectators, and even better, help pay the wages when a bloke was forced off work with a football injury.
Obviously, there was no television in those days. Popularity wasn't measured by ratings or sponsors clambering over one another to "own" a team.
In all honesty, from what my research tells me, I think they stumbled across league by pure chance.
While much has stayed over the years in the 13-man game, there's one particularly important aspect that has endured from those earliest days and that is the powers-that-be in league listen to their market.
No matter what a rule (or should we call it a law?) is, if the public thinks it doesn't fit they've been altered to ensure the game has kept up in the entertainment stakes.
Take for example, the unlimited tackle rule.
It's from days gone by, which is very much like modern-day rugby.
Because of adverse public reaction and pressure, it was changed from unlimited, to four, then six tackles because these modifications opened the game up and increased its value as a spectacle. Slowly, the onside rule has crept from one metre out to 10m because the speed, ball movement and defence of the modern game requires that space to play in.
The NRL's latest change, as a result of increasing public concern, is the rule (law) regarding the grapple tackle. The tackle was introduced to the game by various clubs using Olympic wrestling coaches.
Obviously NRL coaches are always looking to give their sides as much time as possible to either use the ball or, conversely, organise their defences. The grapple tackle used as a defensive ploy can certainly add valuable seconds to the play-the-ball function, but blind Freddy can tell it's dangerous.
The NRL - and David Gallop in particular - is to be congratulated for making adjustments to thwart this latest ploy. I would certainly hate to watch one of my sons having his head unwound off his shoulders as appears to be happening at times over recent weeks.
What pleases me most of all is that the coaches of tackling, which is the traditional and most basic part of the game, have won out over the wrestlers. But the point I'm making is that the NRL is not bogged down by tradition and will act on something that obviously doesn't look right to the public.
One of the reasons a Warriors home ticket is now the hottest pass in town is that the public has slowly but surely been educated to expect the dynamic ebbs and flows of rule changes when necessary.
The nimble fingers on the television remote are telling a story that the public loves what's happening in league. And it's not only the fingers on the remote, the clicking turnstiles in world rugby's heartland are from the previously poor cousins of the 13-man code.
My feeling is that many people think the same approach should be made to the ruck and maul area of the 15-man game. That area alone could prove in years to come to be as telling as the decision to drop two players, stop lineouts and not allow the ball to be kicked out on the full.
Bias from one code to the other will always exist and I'm as biased as the next bloke. But I don't know of anyone who wouldn't agree that in its present form league is proving to be a significantly more popular spectacle than rugby - and I love it.
Notwithstanding this emphasis on entertainment, Warriors' coach Ivan Cleary won't give a toss if his side wins ugly against my old joint, the Manly Sea Eagles, on Sunday as long as it puts two precious points in the play-offs bank.
Manly looked ordinary in the Monday night loss to the Rabbitohs, but they were missing freakish playmaker Matt Orford, and their attack looked muted as a result.
Despite their secure top-four position, Manly won't want to lose further momentum with back-to-back losses.
The wet would suit the Warriors because Manly have the edge with their speed in the outside backs and back row.
* The Auckland Lions' season is effectively over but it's been a great effort by all involved to get this team up and running - and beating top sides - inside 12 months.
