Four hundred milliseconds is a mere blink. Nathan Cleary, the halfback for the Panthers, can make his next play that fast.
It seems subliminal to him that the decision was made in a split second. It would take at least 1000 milliseconds for a normal individual wearing the Penrith No. 7 jersey to do the same.
That’s the difference between being referred to as a Muppet on social media and making a brilliant play during a rugby league match.
Cleary, a recent four-time Premiership winner, may be the epitome of football intelligence, dispelling the myth that rugby league players are all brainless brawns.
“Nathan Cleary is one of the smartest players I’ve ever seen, so I would love to have him do a neuropsychological assessment with me,” said Dr. Alberto Filgueiras, a researcher in sport and exercise psychology at Central Queensland University.
Halfbacks in general play important strategic roles and are mostly in charge of making plays and guiding the team’s attack, so it’s not simply Cleary leading the pack.
According to Filgueiras, “Halfbacks are able to see things that most players are unable to, which implies that they are likely able to see things that the majority of us, regular people, cannot.”
Because the game is unpredictable, players must act fast to adjust to new circumstances and make rapid decisions. As they play, players like Cleary modify their tactics according to the location of the ball or their opponents. This indicates that a player’s cognitive abilities, or “executive functions,” enable them to multitask and exhibit a high degree of intelligence in fast-paced games.
According to Filgueiras’ 2018 study, athletes engage more brain regions related to motor control, memory, and attention than previously believed. He asserted that “any sport involving balls and opponents or adversaries necessitates a higher level of executive functions to make decisions.”
Because repetitive motions become engrained in players, they can further improve their decision-making abilities. In fact, on game day, decisions may feel more like gut instincts.
“They’re going to call it guts or instincts, right? They tend to base their decisions on their feelings. They may claim that, but in reality, it’s because they practice a lot and possess certain abilities, and these enhanced abilities result in improved decision-making,” Filgueiras said
Jamie Soward, a retired halfback and former NRLW coach who helped the Dragons win the 2010 Premiership, concurs.
According to Soward, “trusting your instincts is the easiest part.” It’s really methodical. “If we make it here, we’re going to do this and that.” You have been kicking and passing for hours and hours and hours.
“You’re living and breathing football, not just playing it. I believe that people undervalue the intelligence required to play football.
Additionally, football players have exceptional spatial memory and perceptive skills. They are able to understand spatial information and infer the best probable outcome instinctively thanks to these intelligence indicators.
They are able to perceive items outside of their direct field of vision, process wide peripheral vistas, and see spaces that most of us cannot.
In addition to “perceiving more space than most of us,” players may “make calculations on the most likely spaces, and consider the movement of the opposite defensive line, which is extremely complex,” according to Filgueiras.
Filgueiras asserts that these kinds of hard-won abilities are essential for predicting the next moves of opponents.
He claimed that in addition to having superior spatial vision, they are also able to look into the future.
According to Soward, players like Cleary, Andrew Johns, and Cameron Smith are among the best in rugby league because of their exceptional ability to plan ahead and see the game a few steps ahead.
“That’s years and years of playing football and perfecting your skills. Despite their innate instincts, those guys have a unique perspective on the game. That, in my opinion, is what sets the greats apart from other NRL players.