Jamie Soward just doesn’t get it – how can changing the logos on a rugby league ball completely alter the way it works?
To honour the wonderful contribution of women to the game, the NRL adds pink logos to a ball every year as part of the Women in League round, but it appears it’s having a dramatic effect on the game itself.
St George Illawarra five-eighth and kicker Soward was at a loss to explain the phenomenon following Friday night’s 8-6 win over Gold Coast in Wollongong.
“You can kick that ball a mile – it’s like a rugby union ball,” Soward said.
“It doesn’t make sense how different logos can (make) different balls.
“It’s completely round … you get more height, you don’t have to kick it as hard – if you have a close look its like a rugby union ball.
“So one round a year we use a rugby union ball – weird.”
This isn’t a one-off either, with Soward insisting it’s the same every year they add the pink to the ball.
“Every time you kick it, it just goes rounder and you can kick it 10-15 metres further,” he said.
“I pretty much nailed one of those dropouts – I think it went about 58 (metres).
“I’m not the biggest kicker in the world, guys like (Jarryd) Hayne and that probably kick it 70 or 80 if they got onto it.”