Do they have medicabs and defibrillators at all the grounds?
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Do they have medicabs and defibrillators at all the grounds?
Will the NRL trial new rules at the end of this season? These are the ones they should change
By Adrian Proszenko
August 23, 2025 — 4.30pm
Rugby league is in something of a golden era and there is no need to significantly overhaul the rules. But given it is a product that is all about entertainment, there’s always the opportunity to make the “Greatest Game of All” even greater.
Innovations such as the captain’s challenge, which have helped eliminate terrible decisions by officials, have been trialled in the final rounds of NRL seasons.
With a series of games in round 27 that have no impact on the finals, it is the perfect platform to road test some new rules.
Here are our 10 proposed rule tweaks, which would create added interest in games of little consequence with a view to potentially being introduced into the NRL competition.
1. Let teams take full advantage if the opposition drops the ball
If a no-ball is bowled in limited-overs cricket, the batsman gets a free hit the next ball. A similar rule should be applied to rugby league. When one team makes a mistake and the other team picks up the ball, the latter should have the entire tackle to take their advantage. That would encourage the team with the ball to throw it around, and perhaps even put in an attacking kick, knowing that if the enterprising play doesn’t come off, play will restart where the ball was originally dropped and they will have possession anyway. The “full advantage” rule would encourage more enterprising play when the game is in transition.
2. To stop diving, players who stay down for a penalty need to go off for a head-injury assessment
The milking of penalties for high tackles has become a blight on the game. How often do you see a player lie motionless on the turf after minimal contact, only to spring to their feet as soon as a penalty is awarded? This is a simple way to stop it: if you stay down, you need to come off for a head-injury assessment. Whether it’s a full 15-minute SCAT-6 assessment or one that’s conducted by a trainer for tow to three minutes, players would be less inclined to dive if they are required to come from the field.
3. Reduce the amount of time trainers are on the field
The fans pay their money to see the players, not the trainers. Currently, the blue-shirt trainer is allowed to run messages and water when their team has possession, until the fourth tackle, up to three times a half. Ridiculously complex. Unless the conditions are unseasonably hot – this is a winter sport – we propose that they must come off the field after the second tackle, and only twice a half can they go on. The orange trainer is allowed on the field to provide water when the side is in possession – but we propose this should only be permitted when they are in their own half. There are already enough provisions to provide water during stoppages.
4. Bring back the five-minute sin bin
Reducing a team to 12 men for 10 minutes, for anything but instances of deliberate foul play, is too harsh. It is almost impossible to repel a team while a man down – although the Storm managed it on Friday night, but that’s why they are the premiership favourites – and we’ve seen too many games decided when referees march players for contact that is often accidental.
5. A send-off shouldn’t ruin a game
If a player is sent off, he can take no further part in the game. But after 10 minutes, the player that has been sent off should be able to be replaced by another player. The offending team would need to use an interchange to make that happen, but the change would prevent games effectively being over as a contest due to one mistake by one player.
6. Time off in the final five minutes
This idea comes courtesy of former Wests Tigers winger and SEN personality Joel Caine. There’s nothing worse than seeing the clock tick down in a close game, when the team ahead on the scoreboard is using every trick in the book to waste time. Currently, the clock only stops after points are scored and scrums are packed, but this should also apply to balls kicked into touch and all other stoppages.
7. No field goals after the 75th minute
This innovation is another brainchild of Caine. Close games, whether they be in regulation or extra time, are often marred by a series of ugly field goal attempts. They are a nightmare to referee as defenders sprint off the line early, the kicking side uses blockers and the match unravels as a spectacle. Two-point field goals would still be permitted, however.
“If you did forensic science with five minutes to go or in golden point, every field goal is a mess, it makes it ugly,” Caine explained. “There will be a grand final won or lost on that.
“That means you don’t have to go into golden try. That solves that problem.”
8. In extra time, games aren’t decided until both teams have at least one possession
This ensures that neither team is disadvantaged by the restart and adds another layer of intrigue. There’s a similar rule in the NFL, where each team must have a chance to possess the ball. The issue would be if a team scored with the first possession in extra time. Would they then have to kick off? Since we’re in the mood to change things up, and in the great rugby league tradition, we’d introduce another new rule in this instance to make the team that scored kick off.
9. Start the second period of extra time where the ball was last played
This idea also comes from Caine. Overtime football is all about possession and field position, so there should be some reward if one team ends the first five-minute period with the better of those things.
“My solution is that the second half of golden point – when there is no field goal allowed – that instead of kicking off again and wasting three minutes for someone to get field position, you start the second half where play ended in the first half of golden point,” Caine said.
While the teams still swap ends to allow for wind and the condition of the field, if you finished the first period of extra time 20 metres out on the third tackle, that’s how play should restart in the second period.
10. Players can be tackled midair when contesting kicks
The way the game is currently trending – due to the dominance of outstanding leapers such as Xavier Coates, Daniel Tupou and Zac Lomax – future wingers will need to be two metres tall to get a start in the NRL. Not being able to tackle players in the air is weighted too much in favour of the big leapers. A compromise is to allow the player coming down with the ball to be tackled in the air, as long as they are brought down safely. Failure to do so would result in a penalty or potentially a penalty try.
I have suggested something similar before, but went a bit further and suggested that at the end of each half play would continue until there was a change in possession so the attacking team would get a full set of six and that would be extended if they got a penalty, received a 6 again or forced a goal line drop out. This would eliminate all the cynical plays and time wasting.
I get where you are coming from and it's frustrating when the good teams are happy to give re-starts away to set their defensive line but I can see refs blowing successive 6 agains for a good team to give them 12 tackles against some poor bludger of a team down the bottom of the table but not the other way around. 6 agains are already open to soo much interpretation for refs to manipulate the game, don't want them then giving teams 12 tackles.
If there are 3 repeat 6 agains then you apply the sin bin if it's the Tigers. For any other team, who knows.
Probably end up being closer to 22 for the good teams and 14 for the shit sides
Its taken 20k posts but this one is pretty good.
