So I see it as two separate discussions.
There's the general state of the competition and then there's the divide.
The new rules are designed to bring fatigue back into the game by minimising stoppages and dead time. This was seen as a way to 'improve' the game and clean it up but I don't think it's had that effect. If anything it's encouraged teams to break the rules more readily, especially on off-sides, where teams are shooting up out of the line well before the ball has cleared the ruck. We're seeing a lot of cynical football as a result with the game encouraging spoiling tactics.
What we're also seeing is how the rules have affected momentum. There's no real ebb and flow to the game anymore, generally either one team dominates or it's a tale of two halves where one team starts well only to have a barrage of tries put on them.
It's not really engaging football, especially when teams put their foot off the accelerator well before full-time and still win easily. Fatigue actually has a negative effect because the dominant team can't be bothered playing the full 80 knowing they have the game wrapped up with 30 to go. However the bottom teams are so mentally shot by that point they can't mount a fight-back.
That was largely the case last season and it's carried on through to here. I think last season was an anamoly with how restrictive Covid was and it really threw up some crazy results. If you were on top than you were virtually unstoppable because there was hardly anything to break up your momentum and conversley if you were struggling things would get ugly.
I think that will begin to ease as the competition goes on and we start to see teams get a better feel for the meta of the game. I think right now we're still seeing a lot of experimentation with different moulds of players and teams will continue to copy from the top teams.
With the divide I think it's largely due to the hangover of Covid. There's always going to be struggling teams, but typically you see a lot more movement in the player market and there's usually a dozen blue chip prospects clubs call in that give them that edge they need. With no reserve grade, the struggling teams are finding it a lot more difficult to bounce back which is really unfair on a lot of the new coaches.
I'm not sure what the record is, but the introduction of five new coaches has to be a record. They're trying to implement changes with players that don't fit their system and they don't have the breathing room they'd like to effect those changes. I do think in some cases they'll get better as the season goes on but it's a much bigger ask than in years previous.
I don't necessarily think it's the rules themselves, just the way that they were brought in that has seen the game suffer.
