England forward James Graham weighed in on the golden point debate, as he feels it will benefit players but stressed the fatigue it can have on players.
Graham has first hand experience of the rule, having played for Canterbury Bulldogs and St George Illawarra in NRL. The Australian competition brought in the golden point rule in 2003, with Super League announcing it will follow suit ahead of the 2019 season.
And the 33-year-old admitted that it will aid the competition to the viewing public, but can have a detrimental effect on players with extended minutes.
“It’s definitely more exciting for a fan or anyone who’s tuning in and watching the game,” he said. “I know myself if I do watch a game in Australia I always think it would nice for a certain team to score just so it goes into extra time. It makes for great viewing.
“As a fan in any sport, it makes for great viewing to see it go down to the wire like that. When you’re actually playing in it, you’ve just got to get on with it. Obviously, with the fatigue, you train and you plan for the game to last 80 minutes and you’ve got to find something from somewhere to turn up on plays and go that extra yard.
“In the middle role, they’re probably looking at you to pressure the guy taking the drop goal so there’s a big responsibility and that takes a pretty big effort. But if you do win it’s probably more a sigh of relief than anything.”
