Having mucked around with the stats of players I find the game actually plays ALOT better when individuals aggression ratings are lowered, and things like handling, catching etc are increased.......... (by the way a must for the next version is the ability to change existing players stats on the PS2 - even if it is an unlockable - so that we don't have to piddle about creating the same player ourselves in order for that player to have the stats we want).
When you think about it a person with a high aggression rating should never be around 8 out of 10 etc. High would be more like 4 out of ten. by lowering the aggression stats you get around one high shot a game which is far more realistic then the current settings.
Same with basic play stats like passing. Professional league players would never have passing, catching stats lower then say 7 (if they did then the shouldn't be playing!!!). Raising these stats improves the flow of attacking play, not so many dropped balls and "throw anywhere" passes. This is offset by having higher tackling stats across the board - again no player should be lower then say 6 in tackling.
With speed/acceleration, the acceleration rating should nearly always be higher, and by doing this the running becomes far more realistic, and gives defenders the chance to catch players from behind (apart from the real speedsters).
Lastly break tackle ability should be higher for forwards, lower for backs - with backs generally having higher agility ratings, and ball playing forwards better off loading skills. It is silly the way the developers have Stacey Jones for instance with a high break tackle rating, as it leads to Jones being able to run over the top of some of the big forwards in the game. By changing the stats forwards are more effective in busting the line, taking the ball forward, and offloading to the quicker players as once they have broken the line they generally don't have the speed to get all the way to the try line (as they should). Gone are the ' Webcke running 40mtrs for a try with the fullback unable to catch him" problems.
The makers of the game need to look hard at the stats they have allocated to each player, for they are poorly thought out in this version, and make the game play worse then it should. A MUST for the next version is for more stats, and a greater range to spread those stats (minimum of 20).
