League: Dream start to season with big crowds, records and close matches

The Dragons lost to Melbourne by a single point. Photo / Getty Images

The change to two referees has meant a marked increase in the speed of NRL games, with tackle counts at the weekend up by around 20 per game on 2008's figures to an average 301.

The competition's administrators could not have asked for a better opening weekend, last-minute field goals producing two one-point outcomes on opening night, big crowds all round and the 2008 winners Manly thumped by last season's wooden spooners the Bulldogs. Torrential rain during the Bulldogs' 34-12 win didn't stop Hazem El Masri breaking the all-time scoring record, pushing Andrew Johns' mark of 2176 out to 2184 with seven goals from seven.

Manly's dry-as coach Des Hasler is the only critic of the two-referee system and preferred to talk about that afterwards rather than the sexual assault allegations that have put fullback Brett Stewart out for at least five rounds.

"We're all professional footballers, it's our job and definitely not one player in our team would use that as an excuse for how we performed," he said of the Stewart distraction.

The Warriors' captain Steve Price became just the 11th player to surpass the 300-game mark and the team will go to Manly next Sunday with plenty of confidence after a well-earned 26-18 win over Parramatta at Mt Smart.

Both Price and opposing skipper Nathan Cayless said they did not notice the new "pocket" ref who stands behind the attacking team to watch the play-the-ball. "It was a bit quicker, the play-the-ball sped up, it opened gaps and that's what people want to see, not lots of boring dummy-half running," Cayless said.

The new set of eyes watching play meant few try-scoring decisions were sent "upstairs" for video review during the weekend, another reason for the increased time with ball in hand and the rising tackle count.

Both the Eels and Warriors as well as other teams tired noticeably towards the end of the 80 minutes and mistake rates climbed. But the errors totalled around 10 per team per game, the same as the 2008 average.

When the Warriors beat the Eels 30-16 in round two last year the tackle count was Warriors 282 - Eels 285. On Saturday at Mt Smart it was Warriors 309 - Eels 322. That is higher than the average from the four games in the first week of the 2008 playoffs (282).

Parramatta coach Daniel Anderson agreed he could see teams taking advantage of the increased speed and the fatigue factor it induced at the back end of games. "I'd spent all my subs with 10 minutes to go. In forthcoming games I can see it going either way."

The junior Warriors copped another lesson in 80-minute football when they led for 79 against Parramatta before conceding a late try to drop 28-26 in their season opener at Mt Smart.

It was a mirror image of their defeat in the semifinal in Sydney last year but coach Tony Iro was far less disappointed than in September 2008.

"I was really happy with the effort. As I said to them afterwards - as long as they learned from it."

Iro was pleased with his new five-eighth Shaun Johnson who scored a good solo try in the first half, a chip then regather and step to send Elijah Niko in just before halftime before scoring a support try in the second.

The club's feeder side the Auckland Vulcans, which included former Warrior and Shark Vince Mellars, 25, who hopes to force his way back to the NRL as well as NRL regulars Michael Witt and Patrick Ah Van, were beaten 21-20 by Balmain-Ryde at Western Springs.