Graham Lowe: Flair should have surfaced earlier

You have to wonder why some have left it so late to produce this fantastic attacking style of play

Is my gameplan of more value than a player's natural talent?

It's a question some NRL coaches will have to ask themselves at the end of this season. Because many teams are playing a totally different type of football now compared to their early season efforts.

Every team is playing with more flair.

I disagree with some commentators who say the change has come because they are preparing to play semifinals footy. Teams are playing this frenetic type of game because they are desperate to maintain or position themselves in the top eight. They are in a life-and-death football struggle.

At this stage only the Dragons, Bulldogs and Titans are guaranteed a finals berth. It's not a coincidence: These three teams have consistently played the best attacking football because they have been encouraged to do so by their coaches.

I'll bet a few of the other coaches have looked at how the game is being played at present and will approach their season very differently next year.

I'd suggest if those now desperately chewing on their nails had applied that logic in the early part of the season, they wouldn't be sweating it out now.

Because the current level of desperation is delivering a quality of football in the NRL that for some just wasn't there in the earlier rounds.

But it should have been. The early rounds are no less important than these final weeks. Rounds 1-26 are all about getting a spot in the top eight. Nothing else.

A team that does not find its attacking potential from the start of the season will always be at a disadvantage come the end of the year.

Now I'm not for a moment suggesting this is done at the expense of defence.

But quite simply the game is played in two parts: In one part they have the ball; in the other part you have the ball - very simple but it needs balancing.

For too long we have been brainwashed that the key to winning games is defence.

But I'll tell you what, the winning of most games this weekend will be delivered through great attacking plays and a little risk-taking with the ball.

League in the NRL is not a sport where teams can slowly work themselves into form. Every second counts.

So you have to wonder why some have left it so late to produce this fantastic attacking style of play?

The Eels are a great example. They have gone from "also rans" earlier in the season to an "anything could happen now" stage.

It all backs up an argument regarding a sameness in the style that has pushed its way into the NRL.

There are a few exceptions, but with most coaches trying to coach the current fashionable systems, natural flair and instinct have been discouraged. The Dragons coach is one of the exceptions. Despite having a team that player-for-player looked not as good as some others, Wayne Bennett encouraged a confident style of play from day one.

Their last two games have lacked the urgency they have displayed throughout this season and it has cost them. However, they are still in the box seat and Bennett knows better than most what to do now.

But the tightness of spots in the top eight has demanded an attacking brand of football from all clubs that is simply breathtaking.

Flair is winning and pushing uniformity out!

You can't coach flair, you can only encourage it. However, you can certainly coach the flair out of players.

The coaches who have realised this are able to capitalise upon the sheer genius with which some of their players have been blessed.

I've always been a firm believer that the biggest risk in footy is not to take a risk. And looking now at the last few rounds most of the spectacular tries are coming from embracing risk.

What is being produced is simply amazing - I struggle to recall seeing a more exciting few weeks in the NRL.

And tonight's game between the Eels and Panthers could end up being the most critical match of the year. With both teams on 27 points, the Panthers are just holding the Eels out of the top eight on points scored.

The Panthers stars have risen to the challenge this year and will be a handful for the Eels.

The size and mobility of their secondrowers Frank Pritchard and Trent Waterhouse give them an advantage in the forwards, while Michael Jennings at centre is a classy speed machine always sniffing out chances.

The Eels have a strong forward pack, but apart from Fuifui Moimoi they do not match the explosive power Pritchard and Co bring to the Panthers.

But what the Eels do have is a good work ethic and heaps of confidence.

However, their strikepower is in the backs. This is their strength.

And if they get over the Panthers tonight, they may just keep marching through to the grand final.

Their superstar fullback Jarrod Hayne has guaranteed the turnstiles will be clicking over non-stop at Parramatta Stadium.

Their fans remind me of the Wigan supporters and are just as demanding.

In the early 1980s the Eels backline had Peter Sterling, Brett Kenny, Steve Ella, Michael Cronin and Eric Grothe just to name a few. True legends of the game.

And they also had a great working forward pack similar to the 2009 model.

Current secondrower Nathan Hindmarsh has the same sort of work rate the legendary Ray Price produced each game for Jack Gibson, coach of that great Parramatta era.

While there will only ever be one Jack Gibson, Daniel Anderson is showing he is one of the best in the NRL at present. He is a different coach altogether now to when he was here at the Warriors.

I always believed Anderson was not ready to coach the Warriors at the time of his appointment and, looking back, he may now agree.

But he certainly earned his credentials at St Helens in the English Super League.

And his counterpart tonight, Matthew Elliott, is another who has served a great coaching apprenticeship in the UK.

The different coaching philosophies of Anderson and Elliott are also out there to be measured tonight.

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