Just reading the new law changes and the drop outs, am I missing something but what advantage is there of a play the ball as opposed to a penalty kick on the 10m line, assuming it is not a kick at goal i.e. two point conversion.

I'm not a fan of captains challenge personally.

The change around offside players at the kick is a good one. I'd also like a rule whereby players in front of the kicker only need to be 10m away from where the ball bounces - after that play on.

Didn't we have captains challenge in the last World Cup? As a fan in the stadium, I didn't like it as I didn't know what was going on and it just delayed the game from that POV. I really hope they have some plans in place to let the fans in the stadiums know what is happening, rather than you just dealing with replays on a screen, with no context being given.

We should be making the rules simpler.

Why?

Because referees are unable to apply the one's we currently have in place.

So in that case Bevan French's try against Penrith would have stood. What if the ball doesn't bounce?

An Marshys in the GF

The Captain's Challenge will be interesting in one regard.

Shall we all place bets as to which ref, by mid-season, is leading the table as the one who's been most overruled?

and also which captain is the least successful with how it's used...

i really like it in the NRL, adds a bit more spice.

me too, the jeopardy of going for it early in the game on something that may not be cast iron......

Hope they get the VR on the ground PA like in the NRL too

My biggest problem with that set of rule changes, is one line in the "Contested Dropouts" ruleNOTE - kicks must be capable of being contested in the opinion of the referee'"

That's what I thought as well. Although some are more literal than other, probably half of referee decisions are down to their judgement of the laws.