https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... x-28163480 These seem very significant to me - the game may look very different next year.

https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... x-28163480 These seem very significant to me - the game may look very different next year.

Never liked the size again rule so glad to see the back of it

Praise the Lord on that six again ruling. It’s been a farce for too long now.

Expect mayhem around the ruck for the first couple of weeks with 20+ penalties a game until it calms down and then looks pretty close to what it does now

This rule essentially fixes the 6 again rule the NRL have had it since before we even adopted the 6 agains, mind blowing it has took this long but glad it is finally here.

I like the ruck changes aswell, should speed the game up and stop all the messing about we saw last season (us being a big culprit at times if were honest). Not sure on the ruling that it is the defenders responsibility to ensure that the ball is not played on a body part of an opposing player, that feels very open to exploitation.

Was going to post the same thing

Hope the refs have some new whistles

Glad to see the six again rule improved. Not before time either.

The new ruck rules seem ok though making sense of them on the field might be another thing altogether.

Yay more changes and, most importantly/worrying, sees us moving away from the rules played by the main/strongest form of the game i.e the NRL.

The farce that is the RFL seem to be going big guns for the last few months of the year.

Hmm not sure on that one. The 6 again change brings up closer to the NRL, not further away. The ruck needs an overhaul over here so I'm cautiously in favour of those changes.

If anything the main downside IMO is that it will be a big adjustment for teams who are skilled at wrestling aka Wigan.

Wigans game plan of getting as many players to flop and lie on as possible is now out of the window. Well, if the pro Wigan refs actually enforce it

The one I find interesting is were it says that the defensive line can only move when the player touches the ball with his heel at the play the ball. Considering very few players touch the ball with their foot at the play the ball this leaves it open to interpretation from the ref, who we are supposed to be trying to help. I know that it says there will be a clampdown on incorrect play the balls with players being told that they must make a genuine attempt to touch the ball with their foot, but this has always been the rule anyway. I think the wording "genuine attempt" should be removed and that it should read " has to touch the ball " with their foot. Otherwise refs will be slated all season whenever the ball is rolled through the legs and a penalty isn't given and then a try is scored from the resulting play. Let's face it playing the ball with the foot was always a basic of the game and shouldn't be hard for any player. Unfortunately in our rush to embrace speeding up everything about the game we have let a basic skill fall to the wayside.

But they don't have play the balls in union, which is the sport you actually watch, so why does it even warrant you commenting? Oh that's right, I forgot... because you're a sad individual with too much time on their hands. As you were...

I was listening to an episode of a Phil Gould podcast, they were talking about some penalties for play the ball offences and Gould spoke about how teams were training to exploit defences by moving sideways at the PTB to give the impression that the defenders were not square and then there was a discussion around the teams training to exploit the rules.

Hearing rumours Matty Lees has retired

These rules will probably affect us more than any other team. I've not seen any stats but we must be the most penalised team at giving away six agains in the opposition 40m. We don't tighten up on that and we'll be constantly giving away terrority and marched downfield.

We also have Walmsley who doesn't play the ball properly most of the time so we could be pinged for that a lot initially too.

On the plus side if the speed of the ruck increases, Clark is as good a 9 as any with a running threat. For all Roby was unbelievable, his running game was practically non-existent these past few years. Having a mobile pack with the likes of Lees, Delaney, Batchelor and Matautia should also suit the new rules so its not all doom and gloom.