I don’t watch much Rugby League these days.

I used to be a big fan 20 or so years ago, but the last five years or so, I really only watch State of Origin.

So these last few years, each time I tune into Origin, it’s a bit like I’m viewing league for the first time, and a few things really stood out for me.

I’m sure over the years, anyone with at least a passing interest would have noted the similarities between the two sports, and many people did and do play both.

Each game has similar skill sets, tackle, carry, pass, kick, as well as some of the strategies, just with rugby having additional skills and more complexity to it.

While rugby may have additional skills and complexity, league has always been seen as producing players who were superior athletes, and in particular, great tacklers.

Many a rugby coach over the years has probably received a new player coming over from league and said to themselves, “well at least they will know how to tackle and carry”.

After watching Origin the other night, I’m convinced that this is no longer the case.

I saw athletes playing at the highest level, and while they were clearly fast, fit and strong, had absolute rubbish tackle technique, terrible loose carries, and are totally single side dominant with no ability to properly pass to either side, tackle on either shoulder, or even carry the ball in two hands or either hand.

Dating back to the 90’s and up to the present rugby union has jealously eyed off these superior athletes from the 13-man game, and while these players might be athletically gifted, they appear to have vastly inferior skillsets.

As a junior coach, I couldn’t help but watch the game with my coach’s hat on, and I saw tackle after tackle that was high, most of which would have been penalties and cards in rugby.

If I saw a junior player with the sort of tackle technique I saw in Origin, I certainly wouldn’t be selecting them for a junior rep team, let alone for the highest form of the game.

Xavier Coates is tackled. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

Then there’s the loose carries, always one-handed, offering no threat of pass, or the ability to transfer the ball to fend off with either hand, combined with an upright running style.

Now I do realise that some of this is deliberately coached in order to wrap up the ball to stop offloads, and also to give the fastest possible ruck defence or ruck speed.

You know what stops offloads, though? Tackling a player to the ground with a great low chop tackle, not to mention the head contact risk, is greatly mitigated.

Both sports use many of the same terms, “tackle”, “ruck”, “scrum”, as well as many more, and even most of the positions.

Over the years, we have seen the rugby league scrum become nothing more than a farce, and then there is the loss of the different body types in league.

No longer are the props different from the second rowers, or even the centres and wings. It has basically become a single homogenous body type.

From the viewpoint of a three-times-per-year viewer, league seems to have now completely diverged into a different sport altogether. Even the tackling, passing, and ball carrying are now totally different.

Now to the rugby part of all this. With so many young athletes playing both codes, my concern for Australian Rugby is that so many of our players are actually being taught these poor skills or at least not having them corrected.

If the players at the top of rugby league are demonstrating these skills, then monkey see, monkey do.

So the real question here is: how does rugby stop its players from being taught these poor techniques?

Furthermore, has it all come full circle now? Will rugby league start having to poach rugby union players due to their vastly superior skillsets of actually being able to tackle properly, tackle on either shoulder, pass both ways, and carry the ball effectively?