General Rule Changes 2021

[gREVUS]

Havent seen this anywhere else this year, so thought i would mention these "ahem" changes to the rules.

Some are pretty obvious, but the one i like is the one at the very end. The one about trainers.

Two points for field goals outside the 40-metre line​

To encourage more unstructured play and increase the chances of a result changing in the final moments of a game, a two-point field goal will be awarded for teams who kick a field goal from outside the 40-metre line. The new rule will provide an incentive to seek an additional point scoring opportunity at critical times of a match, particularly with limited time remaining on the clock in each half.

Six Again for 10-metre infringements​

To reduce stoppages in the game, 10 metre infringement penalties will be replaced with a "six-again" ruling. Referees maintain the ability to blow a penalty and sin bin a player if a side has made repeated 10m infringements or in the case of professional fouls.
The six-again rule provided a sufficient deterrent for teams who purposely sought a penalty to slow the game down during previous years. This rule was trialled in two games during round 20 of last season. This will result in a fast game, less stoppages and more free-flowing action for fans.

Scrums​

The ARL Commission determined scrums as part of the game’s DNA. To increase the integrity of scrums, the referee will call "break" when satisfied the ball is out of a scrum.

Players will not be permitted to break from a scrum until the referee makes the call. Where players break before the call of "BREAK", the referee will award a full penalty. The team receiving the penalty will also have the option of re-packing the scrum. If the scrum is re-packed and players again break early a further penalty will be awarded and one of the offending players will be sent to the sin bin.

Play-the-ball restart after ball or player finds touch​

When the ball is kicked or carried into touch play will resume with a play-the-ball rather than a scrum.

Handover for incorrect play-the-ball​

A handover will be ordered where players do not make a genuine attempt to play the ball with their foot. This will ensure greater compliance to the rule and integrity around the play the ball, without increasing penalty stoppages.

Captain’s challenge​

In cases where a captain’s challenge review is inconclusive, the on-field decision will stand but the team will retain their challenge. Fans have expressed frustration with teams losing a challenge where replays prove inconclusive, this will ensure a greater opportunity for teams to have challenges available later in matches.

Bunker Reviews​

Where the on-field referee believes a try is scored the referee will award a try and the bunker will review the decision in the background. A conversion attempt will not be permitted until the Bunker is satisfied a try has been scored. This will ensure even less stoppage time and ensure momentum in the game continues.

Trainers​

In 2021, where a trainer asks a match official to stop the game for an injury, the injured player must be either interchanged or taken off the field for a period of two minutes of elapsed game time before he is permitted to resume his place on the field.

This will reduce the number of stoppages for minor injuries.

New NRL rules explained: Scrums, field goals, six-agains, trainers

NRL head of football elite competitions Graham Annesley has outlined how new rules will make the Telstra Premiership faster, more free-flowing and unpredictable in 2021.

www.nrl.com

 

[gREVUS]

Like i said above, i love the bit about trainers with the magic water now being forced to take the player from the field for a period of 2 minutes before they are allowed to re-enter the game. That will make a massive difference to all the oh dear look at my poor injured player who needs exactly as much time as it takes to have the rest of the team stop breathing hard to recover, before i give him the magic water bottle and he miraculously springs to life again.

Also the auto bunker reviews should mean that the game moves faster with less time spent looking at replays.

Not sold on the 2 point field goal. I mean why not try to slot one at the end of every set of play when your not able to get to the oppositions goal line. Could go horribly wrong, but then again did we ever see a 20/40 last year? and is that rule still on the books? It does seem that the game is heading back towards kicking being way more important again.

Does anyone believe that the ref will award handovers for incorrect play of the ball after game 2 of the season? Is this just another one of those rules that sounds good but will encourage the opposition to mess with the player and the ref will just ignore it to speed up the game?

 

[PullinTeeth]

Love the "injured" player having to leave the field rule, but would like it to be extended to 5 minutes if there's no sub.

The new play the ball rule will be a disaster, in the Maori v Indeginous game Fafita played the ball facing the sideline and wasn't pulled up, two plays later Ferguson was made to hand the ball over for not touching the ball with his foot when he played it , even though you only need to make an attempt to play the ball which he did.

 

[Inruin]

Always a bit mixed when it comes to rule changes. How about they actually officiate the rules that are there first. I remember a few years back they did that and teams struggled to do line drop outs because they were do focused on doing it from behind the line.

Hate the field goal rule. Keep it to one. It's there to be a decider. Should not be the same value as a penalty or conversion.

Scrums call. As long as reffed the same way. Not sure that the sin bin is fair. Make a scrum penalty able to be a shot at goal.

Touch finders to stay as scrum restarts. In such a defensively structured game having the width of the field available with less players is exciting. Love seeing set piece plays. Tim Sheen's teams were very good at them

The rest seem fine. Common sense.


Either way I can see us getting stung at crucial times by dubious calls. For some reason I see Jazz being told to hand the ball over for not playing it with his foot.

 

[mrblonde]

The two point field goal is like a solution standing there at the dancehall with a rose in it's hand, desperately looking for a problem to give the rose to. On top of which, given the rarity of successful fieldgoals within 20m, I can't see any player being good enough to use the rule so it'll be a non-event.

I like the expansion of the six-again rule. Anything to bring more fatigue into the game, have fewer breaks in play, is fine by me.

I can see the penalty for not playing the ball properly annoying the bejesus out of the viewers and crowds and, as happened the last time the NRL said "We're going to get tough on the poor play-the-balls", and the time before that and the time....etc it'll be shelved by Round 3 or 4. A pity, because I do think most players actually don't make much of an effort to bring foot into contact with Steeden, but blowing a penalty for each infringement makes watching rugby league painful. And it's painful enough being a Warriors fan.

I like the trainers rule, but I'd extend the rules to trainers to say they are not allowed on field unless there's a genuine player injury/break in play for drinks because it's early season etc etc. It feels too often like the trainers are on the field behind the line of the attacking side and telling their team to get their shit together/how to do their job.

 

[Defence]

They all sound alright in isolation but we just seem to keep making a simple game more and more complicated.

 

[snake77]

It would be good if the amount of time the ball stays in play stays this high. The quote about the structures falling apart would be good to see later in games, that is what I used to like as a young fella where it would be tight early before teams score late or more breaks are made.

They do say they are still working on their fitness. So going into a trial with the ball in play longer than the previos year would of been tough going.

Gutherson covering 120 metres per minute over 20 minutes is a lot of work.

‘I couldn’t breathe’: New rules expose players to finals intensity in trials​

The NRL’s rule changes have had an immediate impact on the game with players in the Penrith-Parramatta trial exposed to “semi-final intensity”, prompting one to declare, “I couldn’t breathe”.

The Herald can reveal the ball was in play for more than 32 minutes in the opening half of Saturday night’s trial at Panthers Stadium, up almost five minutes from the average half of football during last year’s NRL season.

The NRL averaged 56 minutes and 16 seconds of game time in an 80-minute contest throughout last season. The alarming data out of the Panthers-Eels trial raises huge question marks over how the new rule changes are going to change the sport.

GPS tracking also clocked Parramatta fullback Clint Gutherson at 120 metres covered per minute over the opening 20 minutes of the game, well above the high-intensity training players are put through at training.

During high-intensity simulation sessions at training, clubs aim to get players covering 85-95 metres per minute.
“The speed of the first half, they reckoned it was around 95 metres per minute, which is pretty high,” Eels coach Brad Arthur said. “Gutho [Clint Gutherson] was 120 metres per minute in the first 20 minutes, so it was very fast.

Clint Gutherson was put to the test in Saturday’s trial match against Penrith.CREDIT:NRL PHOTOS
“I think both teams were real tired at stages and the quality of the shape was off at times, but I think that was because of the speed of the game. It’s just going to take a bit of getting used to. We had a plan to get the players off a lot earlier than we did but I thought they needed the match fitness.”
The NRL’s rule changes have focused on minimising stoppages, increasing the amount of time the ball is in play and, ultimately, raising the fatigue factor to ramp up the entertainment value of the sport.

It had the opposite impact on Saturday night, with the rule changes - coupled with a high completion rate - leaving players too tired to penetrate in attack. “F--- these new rules,” one Eels player told the Herald as he left the ground. “I couldn’t breathe.”
The most significant rule changes include adding inside-the-10 infringements to the six-again rule, as well as play-the-ball restarts for the ball or players going into touch.

Nathan Cleary in action against the Eels on Saturday night.CREDIT:NRL PHOTOS
Eels halfback Mitchell Moses even asked Panthers counterpart Nathan Cleary during the match if he was struggling to keep up with the pace, to which Cleary recognised the high speed of the game.
Parramatta players privately admitted the first half was tougher than any match they played last year, forcing them to place a greater emphasis on fitness heading into the opening round in 10 days’ time.

RELATED ARTICLE​

NRL 2021​

Eels extend faith in Mitchell Moses on eve of make-or-break season​

“The objective of the rules-changes is to reduce stoppages, increase the amount of time the ball is in play, and make the game as exciting as possible for fans,” NRL head of football Graham Annesley said.
“It’s always difficult to gauge the full impact of rule changes in trial matches, as it’s not until two points are on the line in the the opening rounds of the competition that the changes will be properly stress-tested.
“I’m not getting carried away at this early stage, but what I saw over the weekend was certainly encouraging.”

‘I couldn’t breathe’: New rules expose players to finals intensity in trials

The ball was in play for more than 32 minutes in the opening half of Saturday night’s trial at Panthers Stadium, smashing last year’s average.

www.smh.com.au

 

[Teeps4Shore]

I’ve been thinking about rules… and some tweaks they can make to the competition.

given we suffered badly last week given we had no one on the bench for 55 minutes. That really gives an advantage to the opposition. It happened to the raiders against us as well.

The interchange rule should be amended. whilst I agree that 8 interchanges per match is sufficient, I think the bench should be expanded from 4 players to 6 players.

in addition, if a player is replaced due to an HIA and is cleared to return, if that player was replaced whilst they were off the field, it should count as being an interchange.

this may stop some of the rorting of the HIA rule - we’ve seen this on a couple of occasions this year. It may mean some teams choose to play with 12 whilst a player is being assessed to take away the risk of losing a cheap interchange.

By having 6 on the bench, it also means no team should ever get to a situation where there is no one on the bench, and they can hold cover for backs and playmakers in addition to hookers and props/back rowers. It also means some of the interchange players may not even play during the game. It gives coaches strategic options to hook players who are playing crap as well. Means you can be strategic.

similarly, I don’t like the 2 point field goal. Should be scrapped. 1 point only plse.

I don’t like golden point - if a draw should occur at full time - the game should be extended by a 20 minute extra period of time. The game should extend for the full 20 minutes (two periods of 10 minute extra time halves), with no golden point. The game result will be whatever the score is at the end of 20 minutes. (1 extra interchange). We lost a couple of games this year in golden point - this change should stop field-goal-a-thon golden point games and encourage teams to play footy for the whole period of extra time. Two halves levels the playing field as wind or sun may hamper one side. It evens it up.

6 agains are being rorted. If the incident occurs inside the opposition 30 meter line, a penalty should be given. Repeat 6again infringement penalties in this part of the field (more than 3 in a half) should result in an automatic 10 minute sin bin.

If a cynical penalty infringement is given away if attacking team has broken the line and have the defending team on the ropes, it should be deemed a professional foul, a 5 minute sin bin should occur. (Yes 5 minute sin bins should be a thing)

given the crackdown on the head - we should have 5 minute sin bin for less serious incidents but that are deemed dangerous and 10 minute sin bins for the worst hits to the head (or send offs)

also if a team has more than 3 players sent to the bin, the 4th should be a send off….

Thoughts???
(This post is to stimulate debate - open to all ideas and thoughts…)

 

[The Falcon]

I’ve been thinking about rules… and some tweaks they can make to the competition.

given we suffered badly last week given we had no one on the bench for 55 minutes. That really gives an advantage to the opposition. It happened to the raiders against us as well.

The interchange rule should be amended. whilst I agree that 8 interchanges per match is sufficient, I think the bench should be expanded from 4 players to 6 players.

in addition, if a player is replaced due to an HIA and is cleared to return, if that player was replaced whilst they were off the field, it should count as being an interchange.

this may stop some of the rorting of the HIA rule - we’ve seen this on a couple of occasions this year. It may mean some teams choose to play with 12 whilst a player is being assessed to take away the risk of losing a cheap interchange.

By having 6 on the bench, it also means no team should ever get to a situation where there is no one on the bench, and they can hold cover for backs and playmakers in addition to hookers and props/back rowers. It also means some of the interchange players may not even play during the game. It gives coaches strategic options to hook players who are playing crap as well. Means you can be strategic.

similarly, I don’t like the 2 point field goal. Should be scrapped. 1 point only plse.

I don’t like golden point - if a draw should occur at full time - the game should be extended by a 20 minute extra period of time. The game should extend for the full 20 minutes (two periods of 10 minute extra time halves), with no golden point. The game result will be whatever the score is at the end of 20 minutes. (1 extra interchange). We lost a couple of games this year in golden point - this change should stop field-goal-a-thon golden point games and encourage teams to play footy for the whole period of extra time. Two halves levels the playing field as wind or sun may hamper one side. It evens it up.

6 agains are being rorted. If the incident occurs inside the opposition 30 meter line, a penalty should be given. Repeat 6again infringement penalties in this part of the field (more than 3 in a half) should result in an automatic 10 minute sin bin.

If a cynical penalty infringement is given away if attacking team has broken the line and have the defending team on the ropes, it should be deemed a professional foul, a 5 minute sin bin should occur. (Yes 5 minute sin bins should be a thing)

given the crackdown on the head - we should have 5 minute sin bin for less serious incidents but that are deemed dangerous and 10 minute sin bins for the worst hits to the head (or send offs)

also if a team has more than 3 players sent to the bin, the 4th should be a send off….

Thoughts???
(This post is to stimulate debate - open to all ideas and thoughts…)

Some great suggestions here and well thought through especially the interchange. I’m amazed at the amount of concussions and head knocks in the game today and how many benches have been rinsed due to injury.
Re extra time, I also agree with flagging golden point. I’ve always thought there was nothing wrong with a well fought draw and it also mixes up the points table making it a more compelling competition over the course of a season. Nice post.

 

[wizards rage]

I’ve been thinking about rules… and some tweaks they can make to the competition.

given we suffered badly last week given we had no one on the bench for 55 minutes. That really gives an advantage to the opposition. It happened to the raiders against us as well.

The interchange rule should be amended. whilst I agree that 8 interchanges per match is sufficient, I think the bench should be expanded from 4 players to 6 players.

in addition, if a player is replaced due to an HIA and is cleared to return, if that player was replaced whilst they were off the field, it should count as being an interchange.

this may stop some of the rorting of the HIA rule - we’ve seen this on a couple of occasions this year. It may mean some teams choose to play with 12 whilst a player is being assessed to take away the risk of losing a cheap interchange.

By having 6 on the bench, it also means no team should ever get to a situation where there is no one on the bench, and they can hold cover for backs and playmakers in addition to hookers and props/back rowers. It also means some of the interchange players may not even play during the game. It gives coaches strategic options to hook players who are playing crap as well. Means you can be strategic.

similarly, I don’t like the 2 point field goal. Should be scrapped. 1 point only plse.

I don’t like golden point - if a draw should occur at full time - the game should be extended by a 20 minute extra period of time. The game should extend for the full 20 minutes (two periods of 10 minute extra time halves), with no golden point. The game result will be whatever the score is at the end of 20 minutes. (1 extra interchange). We lost a couple of games this year in golden point - this change should stop field-goal-a-thon golden point games and encourage teams to play footy for the whole period of extra time. Two halves levels the playing field as wind or sun may hamper one side. It evens it up.

6 agains are being rorted. If the incident occurs inside the opposition 30 meter line, a penalty should be given. Repeat 6again infringement penalties in this part of the field (more than 3 in a half) should result in an automatic 10 minute sin bin.

If a cynical penalty infringement is given away if attacking team has broken the line and have the defending team on the ropes, it should be deemed a professional foul, a 5 minute sin bin should occur. (Yes 5 minute sin bins should be a thing)

given the crackdown on the head - we should have 5 minute sin bin for less serious incidents but that are deemed dangerous and 10 minute sin bins for the worst hits to the head (or send offs)

also if a team has more than 3 players sent to the bin, the 4th should be a send off….

Thoughts???
(This post is to stimulate debate - open to all ideas and thoughts…)

Great ideas, especially the 6 man bench. Brilliant solution and allows tactical use of players depending on situations.

Disagree on the Hia. Players don’t want to come off but have to. If you penalise teams for checking out potential head injuries players will refuse to go off or rush a test. While some teams use the situation to their advantage, I don’t think we should disincentive doing the test.

Has there been a 2 point field goal yet? Scrap it!

Used to love golden point but it’s just a free for all and if the refs refuse to penalise, it looses meaning as a league contest. To much blatant rule breaking. Take 2 players off and golden try?

6 agains - I like the concept, let the game flow but it’s exposing inconsistency in rulings. Unsure what to do with it as the smart teams manipulate it.

Sin bins - unless the offence is a professional foul (intended to advantage your team) I don’t believe in send offs at all. It’s professional sport. Let the teams decide the result not individual players. Accidental and technique issues shouldn’t be allowed to impact a game like a send off does. Match review should punish those either through fines, suspension or mandating specific technique coaching (eg Conrad Hurrell with his knee lift running technique)

 

[matiunz]

6 agains I agree should be a penalty up to a certain point in your half maybe as you say 30m.
If a 3rd 6 again happens in the same possession then 5 min bin.

Golden point I’d give both teams 1 point for the draw and whoever wins in overtime gets a second comp point, seems shit teams that draw and lose in overtime get the same as a team that’s flogged.

Bench increase sounds good, you could see in our game in the weekend a couple of players would have gone off injured if they could, maybe to activate the 5th bench player one of the subbed players (usually injured) can’t return to the field?

 

[Ref]

There are too many artificial or manufactured rules in the NRL.

My most hated is the seven tackle 20 metre restart and allowed to be taken quickly as well.
You know you put in an almost perfect grubber which just goes dead or a contestable bomb taken by the defending team and they get a way over the top reward and you get immediately seriously disadvantaged for almost scoring a try but coming up short. You are penalised for having a go.

The six again is just a mess.
Completely get rid of it.

Get rid of 40/20s and 20/40s.

Get rid of the 2 point drop goal.

Get rid of golden point. Its a complete farce.

Get rid of that stupid rule where from a kick off or line drop out the ball is considered to be over the sideline if the catcher has his foot on the line even though the ball could be a metre or so inside the field of play.
Get rid of the rule where you can do that on the dead ball line for that matter.

Consolidate and make a universal rule that the ball is not in touch or dead until it has either touched the ground or someone standing outside touches it thereby they make it dead.

Referees say way too much and should just control the tackle with the same two or three instructions that everybody understands and follows.
Surrender, Held and Move is all you need.
The ref shouldn't be coaching the players not to offend either.

Bring back scrums when there is an infringement.

We don't want to turn this game into touch and we don't want league to be exclusively for athletes with Aussie Rules bodies.
Better control of the ruck by referees will keep the game fast.

Maybe you can have six reserves but once you are off you don't come back.

 

[gpred]

The six again is just a mess.
Completely get rid of it.

Don't mind most of the rules you mention, purely because they are objective. You either violated the rules or you didn't. For example, kick the ball dead, you know it's a 7 tackle set, no grey area.

100% agree on the six again being a total mess.

The ruck has become a total farce. In 100+ years we have not got it right.

The worst thing for me is that I feel Rugby League was at least partly borne out of the complete and utter train wreck that was and still is Rugby Union rucks.

The sad thing, and this is really sad, is that although Rugby Union rucks are still a total mess, they make more sense to me than Rugby League rucks.

In Union I now think "that must be a penalty"............and most of the time it is.

In Rugby League I have no idea. Just seems like it is completely up to how the ref feels in that instant.

It used to be the other way around, in terms of Union vs League.

If we could reverse this, or even better, get to a place where Rugby League rucks are objective rather than subjective that would be IMO the biggest thing that has ever happened to the game.

Not sure how that looks, but we need to figure it out.

Downside for the NRL would be that if rucks are not longer subjective, the Warriors might actually win a premiership.

 

[matiunz]

2 of the most inconsistent are the 10m and tackle time, need to standardise it so it’s at least a level playing field.
We really need that NFL tech to keep 10
There needs to be a tackle timer sort of thing for whenever the ref calls ‘held’ there’s 3 seconds for the players to have to have their hands off the player something like a ‘held/tackle/release’ call

 

[wizards rage]

We don't want to turn this game into touch

I agree with most of your post, except this line, as thats the future.

For head injury reasons and for the younger shorter attention span generation the game will change.

Valandys know this but it’s all in how it’s done.

 

[defensivebomb]

Does anyone else think the fiddling with the rules, crackdowns etc this year have resulted in an inferior viewing product? I used to tune in to a few non-warriors games but aren't interested in watching blowouts or reffing misjustices, so this year I've turned off non-warriors games. I've enjoyed previous NRL years much more than this year, and the NRL is supposed to be improving the game.

I stumbled across the article below, which has some really interesting stats and insights:

The ridiculous outlier statistics from a very normal NRL 2021 season

The stats from 2021 are just ridiculous.

www.zerotackle.com

 

[Inruin]

Does anyone else think the fiddling with the rules, crackdowns etc this year have resulted in an inferior viewing product? I used to tune in to a few non-warriors games but aren't interested in watching blowouts or reffing misjustices, so this year I've turned off non-warriors games. I've enjoyed previous NRL years much more than this year, and the NRL is supposed to be improving the game.

I stumbled across the article below, which has some really interesting stats and insights:

The ridiculous outlier statistics from a very normal NRL 2021 season

The stats from 2021 are just ridiculous.

www.zerotackle.com

I think they try to tweak the rules just for the sake of it. A few years ago we had a really good product. Now, in the attempt to speed up an already fast game and increase try scoring moments to increase fan enjoyment they have created a game that actually turns the fans off. You still need a a game where its a tight contest. there are far too many major swings that last for too long for one side in the game now, which ends up with big blow outs, particularly against teams that aren't as strong.

 

[bruce]

I think they try to tweak the rules just for the sake of it. A few years ago we had a really good product. Now, in the attempt to speed up an already fast game and increase try scoring moments to increase fan enjoyment they have created a game that actually turns the fans off. You still need a a game where its a tight contest. there are far too many major swings that last for too long for one side in the game now, which ends up with big blow outs, particularly against teams that aren't as strong.

The marketing types are taking over the game. They need to exhume some northern coalminers IMO...Go on...laugh.

 

[snake77]

The game was looking a bit sterile the last 10 years or so with the wrestle, block plays and constant emphasis on completion rate percentages. Teams not taking any risks coming out of their own half.

So there needed to be some changes. I found the rules after last years restart refreshing. This year was a bit much. Might have been due to the blow outs or the standard of play. Now they are looking at more tinkering for next year.

They would be better with making some changes asses those for the season. If one or two don't work reverse them or tweak them. But try and limit the amount of changes or really weird idea how about try a season without any rule changes.

 

[Inruin]

The game was looking a bit sterile the last 10 years or so with the wrestle, block plays and constant emphasis on completion rate percentages. Teams not taking any risks coming out of their own half.

So there needed to be some changes. I found the rules after last years restart refreshing. This year was a bit much. Might have been due to the blow outs or the standard of play. Now they are looking at more tinkering for next year.

They would be better with making some changes asses those for the season. If one or two don't work reverse them or tweak them. But try and limit the amount of changes or really weird idea how about try a season without any rule changes.

My favourite year was when the refs actually enforced the rules. Line drop outs from behind the line all of a sudden caused players massive issues . Block plays were illegal. Then some coaches complained and the powers that be folded...