Thease are the conversations that need to be taking place. But will the game even think about them? We need a very strong leader with a clear defined agenda that everyone owners, fans, players & TV buy into. My personal view is we should stop being obsessed with speeding up the game & reward skill & fitness (the product of attention to training) A good long look at the rules with a view to their relevance in the full time game may a start. As a product of the game in the 60’s I feel the game then opened up when defences (not as slick as today) tired. Maybe reduce interchanges or go back to the principle if you were replaced your day was over? I won’t hold my breath while we get everyone to start acting as one for the good of the game.

Before any tinkering, the game needs to take a long, hard look at itself; introducing rules specifically to deal with 'fannying about' ignores the perfectly serviceable rules that already exist to deal with it - so before I did anything new, I'd announce the 2019 season as the end of cheating, slowing down the game, gang tackles, interfering at the ptb and feigning injury to milk a penalty. Send a strong directive to all clubs, coaches and players, then penalise the shiz out of anyone who offends - until they learn not to.

After one season of that, look again to see what problems persist - *then* deal with them by way of new or amended rules, if necessary.

Off the field - I like the idea of franchises and feeder clubs, and a ringfenced group of junior clubs; that would, by its nature, force SL clubs to invest time and effort into supporting community clubs and establish a clearer pathway into pro training - which can only be a good thing.

Fully agree with the 1 st part , warn the coaches,clubs and players the laws will be applied , then apply them

Scoring team should restart the game , lessening the chances of quick repeat try's by unevenly matches teams , plus reduces the gain of taking the 2 to a degree

I played amateur with a an ex schoolmate who played pro as well. Part of his usual pre-game ritual was throwing up the effects of suggestions 10 & 11.

I DJ at Yorkshire Carnegie and a few seasons ago, one scrum attempt took 7 minutes!!

Proper gang tackles can stay for me - who doesn't like to see their team batter opponents struggling to make it out of their own 20? (though as a Leeds fan I have to admit it's been a while...). But by all means reduce the number of tacklers permitted to lie upon a grounded player to two anywhere between the respective 20m lines.

Scrap the vid ref.

Does stopping the game for head injuries really achieve anything in terms of player welfare? It certainly creates scope for faking players to give their team a rest and pays lip service to (real) concerns over concussions but I'm less sure of other purported benefits.

The business of defenders lifting a runner's leg to get the ref to call held, only then to topple the player after the call (and often lie on) needs sorting. The laws are clear, why not apply them?

Too many good moves are ruined by tenuous obstruction calls which, it has to be said, are most prevalent in the televised games (wonder why, see suggestion #2 for poss solution).

I saw Crooks being fed black coffee and puking up regularly due to the aforementioned diet!

Tweaks to improve the game...

Harsher consequences for ref's making bad calls... i.e. the Mason Caton Brown try given last year that had a major impact on the game.

after warrington had 3 people sinbinned in the cup against bradford in 2003 for it, the first season it was introduced. no one else EVER had anyone sinbinned.

Can you tell that scarred me?

So given we are struggling to attract fans,players ,investment,sponsors and administrators to the sport , you want to get rid of the officials as well ?

Have you ever ' reffed ' a team sport ?

The game has turned into a five drives bash up,wrestling then laying on in the tackle, and play acting & arguing with the officials. No wonder crowds are dropping.

For a start I would turn the Magic Weekend into a 9's event, which would encourage open attacking play and less bodies on the pitch...less wrestling hopefully. Award a trophy and medals to the finals, throw in some prize money and the clubs might take it serious!

Would they ?

Or would they send the kids and fringe players as you see in Union ?

I might be part of a large minority but in real time I thought he grounded that for a try, so if I was the ref I'd also have given it. Probably a few trys given every week across all the untelivised games which with the benefit of a slow no zoomed in replay shouldn't have been given.

Here`s a compromise around the video ref debacle.
Why not give each captain 1 or possibly 2 reviews per game similar to test match cricket?
If they think the try should be disallowed they ask for a review by the VR.
If successful they retain the review if unsuccessful they lose their chance to review it again and the onfield decision is final.
Also agree whoever forms the scrum stays in there and there`s a time limit for drop goals.
Only stop the game for a head injury so that`s Catalan stuffed!

Main problem with the review idea is that the large screen would need to remain in situ and would show numerous replays as the sky team mull over every decision and errors made by the on field ref would be repeated ad nausea once the appeals were out of the way. Inevitably people would start demanding reviews of all decisions once more. So has to be all or nothing - preferably the latter - IMO.