IN case you have missed it, a new rugby league law has been trialled at an academy level of rugby league.
The lowering of the tackle height to below the armpit set a few people on the warpath – particularly when the academy fixture between Bradford Bulls and Leeds Rhinos ended with almost 60 penalties being awarded.
However, the data proves that players’ behaviours have begun to change, with penalties for the initial contact to the head/neck dropping from 5 percent to 4 in round one of the trial and then to just 2 percent in round two.
Professor Ben Jones of Leeds Beckett University has led the pioneering rule change and he has emphasised how this is being trialled for the good of the future of the game.
“We have been clear this is a four-week trial, there has been suggestions of other things but we did our stakeholder consultation and decided that we would stick with this for four weeks,” Jones said.
“Everyone is now thinking differently about what they can do to make the game faster and reduce the penalties. Once we finish this trial and we look at the data, it’s not this trial that is the only thing that is considered, we need to go back into wider consultation.
“The backdrop and the risk to the sport is the insurance and that is serious. I don’t think fans understand the seriousness in terms of having a sport that can be insured and can continue.”
Jones also believes that the trial has been a revelation in terms of changing players’ behaviour.
“We have different objects that we will look at in Super League, spotting all the concussions etc not just at the tackle height. I think we needed to try and see what this would do before looking at other things.
“The trial has changed player behaviour, there is less contact to the head but there have been a high number of penalties – which we expected – in order to change player behaviour.”
