The rule changes necessary to bring fan enthusiasm back to Rugby League

[betcats]

Similarly, we should not be sacrificing the entertainment value of the game to chase the unachievable goal of getting every soccer mum onboard with rugby league...

Of course but things like the concussion rules are not about soccer mums.

 

[adamkungl]

Of course but things like the concussion rules are not about soccer mums.

As much as I miss the old days of someone shaking it off and getting back out there, I haven't complained about concussion rules (....much).

The bans on shoulder charges and fighting are 100% about soccer mums though.

 

[PARRA_FAN]

7. Repeal the 7 Tackle rule

Half-agree - the current rule punishes poor kicks or negative tactics, but perhaps it should be more limited. Only for kicks that go over the dead ball line or touch in goal and are kicked from outside the 20. That way attacking kicks are not penalized.

I understand why they brought it in, but I swear that was only going to happen for kicks outside the 20m.

Suddenly teams are being punished for almost scoring, putting a kick dead 5m from the opponents goal line and missing a close field goal.

How can the opposition get an extra tackle after the other team almost scored, only to lose the ball over the tryline ?? Hows that fair??

And I agree on golden point, get rid of it. Nothing wrong with a draw. Unless they decide to give teams a point each then play for the extra point in GP.

 

[betcats]

As much as I miss the old days of someone shaking it off and getting back out there, I haven't complained about concussion rules (....much).

The bans on shoulder charges and fighting are 100% about soccer mums though.

Fair enough. My biggest problem with the shoulder charge ban was purely the way it came about. Massive over reaction from the NRL.

They are pretty loose with what they call a shoulder charge, u can still get away with using a lot of shoulder and not much arm but I see your point, fans love a big shoulder charge.

 

[MarkC]

And I agree on golden point, get rid of it. Nothing wrong with a draw. Unless they decide to give teams a point each then play for the extra point in GP.

That is essentially my idea.

GP is just additional entertainment, so it can be kept as long as it is fair.

If a team beaten by a field goal in extra time, that team still deserves a point.

 

[Danish]

My 2c on improving the video referee.

Have the on field ref simply make a call, and then have the video ref review ALL tries.... but without any stoppage to the game. Have a mandatory break between when a try is awarded and when kick off can occur of 60 seconds. There would be few times where a kick off occurs in less time than that anyway given you need to have a shot at goal and the team walk back to halfway in the mean time. Hell the TV networks would love it as it would give a guaranteed time for a couple commercials.

If the video ref finds something wrong with the try in this 60 seconds, play is called back. If not, the game simply carries on as it normally would. There is no benefit of the doubt, the video ref just calls it as he sees it.

I suppose the issue would be how to handle incorrect NO TRY calls, but I suppose you could introduce a coach's challenge system for those times which would stop play while the decision is reviewed.

Video ref not to become involved at any other time of the game.

 

[MarkC]

Another consideration is the number of day games.

If you look at this year, you will see many of the more attractive games occurred during the day in dry conditions.

Today's players have the skill to use the ball, but can only do that when the conditions allow.

One easy way to have more day games is to expand the comp IMO eventually up to 22 teams. That is 3 extra games per week which should all be day games.

On other idea worth considering is cutting down to 1 Friday night game.

Channel 9 seems to have a requirement for the Broncos to play almost every Friday night, I think this is wrong. Fans that want to watch the footy on a Friday night will probably watch another team...

 

[MarkC]

My 2c on improving the video referee.

Have the on field ref simply make a call, and then have the video ref review ALL tries.... but without any stoppage to the game. Have a mandatory break between when a try is awarded and when kick off can occur of 60 seconds. There would be few times where a kick off occurs in less time than that anyway given you need to have a shot at goal and the team walk back to halfway in the mean time. Hell the TV networks would love it as it would give a guaranteed time for a couple commercials.

If the video ref finds something wrong with the try in this 60 seconds, play is called back. If not, the game simply carries on as it normally would. There is no benefit of the doubt, the video ref just calls it as he sees it.

I suppose the issue would be how to handle incorrect NO TRY calls, but I suppose you could introduce a coach's challenge system for those times which would stop play while the decision is reviewed.

Video ref not to become involved at any other time of the game.

This is a good suggestion.

 

[kbw]

a good original post.
I think the sin bin should be used for foul play.

But overall it is nothing without consistency and that is something that is lacking in bucket loads.

 

[BulldogsBulldogsYepYepYep]

I don't mind them going up to the video ref during play, as long as it's consistent. I hate watching one game where they'll go to the video ref to determine a high tackle for example, and then change a refs decision. But then i'll be watching the next night and you see the same thing - but the decision stands.

I always say I want to see golden point scrapped. But then it's always so exciting every time it happens. Heart braking sometimes. But exciting.

I do think they should lose golden point for finals matches and just have extra time. 15 minutes a half or something. I even felt bad for Manly seeing them lose last year in the finals due to golden point. It's not how a finals match should finish. 15 minutes a half - and then golden point if they still somehow end up in a draw.

We haven't seen a golden point grand final yet....and I really don't want to.

 

[PARRA_FAN]

The old extra time rules were 10 minutes each half, regardless if points were scored in that period, then if the scores are still tied, they play a mid week replay. Until that was changed in 1997 when the golden point rule came if the scores were tied after 100 minutes.

Then they brought in golden point for finals only in 2000, I recall a reserve grade semi final that went for 12 minutes until a try was scored.

I think we've only really had 3 finals matches in first grade, that have gone into golden point, one memorable one was the Tigers/Roosters one which went for over 90 minutes, but then we had the Broncos/Dragons one which was over in 2 minutes of GP.

I don't mind if they brought back the 10 minutes extra for finals.

 

[TheFrog]

And the working class are stupid., ergo, have no money. If they were smart, they wouldn't be working class.

That sounds like something straight from the mouth of Joe Hockey.

 

[BranVan3000]

100% agree with captains challenge. Puts the onus on the team to use it correctly. Wrong calls will be made by officials in every sport. But if the team can challenge a ruling then suddenly we are thinking more about players using their captains challenge smartly over refs needing to get every rule correct

NRL is the only sport I can think of where a video can be reviewed on almost any occasion

 

[Pete Cash]

I think more day games is a good idea. It encourages better football IMO
.

 

[Chook Norris]

My 2c on improving the video referee.

Have the on field ref simply make a call, and then have the video ref review ALL tries.... but without any stoppage to the game. Have a mandatory break between when a try is awarded and when kick off can occur of 60 seconds. There would be few times where a kick off occurs in less time than that anyway given you need to have a shot at goal and the team walk back to halfway in the mean time. Hell the TV networks would love it as it would give a guaranteed time for a couple commercials.

Sounds good in theory but is also contradictory? You say there would be no stoppage in play but there's a mandatory 60 second break after the try where everyone sort of waits around to see if the video referee has anything to say?

If the video ref finds something wrong with the try in this 60 seconds, play is called back. If not, the game simply carries on as it normally would. There is no benefit of the doubt, the video ref just calls it as he sees it.

I can see a fair bit of potential controversy though. If the video referee were to incorrectly intervene there would be a massive massive uproar

The way I see it, the captain's challenge is a good idea ie having referees immediately call trys and only going to the video referee it is requested by players in a challenge system. Putting the emphasis on the teams themselves to correctly utilise the technology and not placing emphasis on video referees to intervene makes more sense IMO. The latter causes a larger uproar if there's incorrect intervention whereas in the former situation, the risk is distributed more towards the teams themselves

Doing so limits the involvement of Video Referees and removes the attention from them. The way tennis has it currently is great. If tennis were to implement the RL's current system, they'd be basically going to the video umpire for every single decision

 

[mave]

Whatever these gimps at NRL HQ implement, just needs to be done with consistency as the main focus.

Most fans can cop any of these rules changes, interpretation changes, etc, as long as it's the same each week, for each team.

 

[carcharias]

Haven't read any of this.
So my take is
I am not a fan of the obstruction rule .
Blokes are purposely falling over when they are virtually no chance of stopping a try.
It's f**king bullshit mate.
f**kers milking stuff should be penalised .

My team do It too .
It's shithouse pommie soccer crap.

 

[umina panther]

The game has quite a few problems but players running NFL style blocks on bombs is the thing the bothers me most

 

[miguel de cervantes]

There are a few good suggestions in the OP.

Video ref - definitely needs changing, it is very frustrating when used for every try. It would be nice to get rid of it completely, league prospered pretty well without it for a long time, but I doubt fans have the maturity required to deal with occasional wrong decisions, especially because replays are now shown at the ground. If you want to get rid of the video ref, you would need to get rid of replays at the ground I reckon.

Captain's challenge...maybe. It sort of introduces a game within a game though.

All in all, people frustrated with NRL need to watch some ESL. Basically the same rules but much more pleasant to watch. It all comes from the spirit of the players and the spirit in which the game is played, which appears to be better in Europe than in Oz/NZ. Unfortunately this is near impossible to rectify.

 

[TheDalek079]

I'd like it if they made it mandatory to bounce the ball as you run....just like basketball. much more exciting