Coaches are split on the proposal to bring the ‘six again’ rule to the Northern Hemisphere.
A meeting between coaches from all three competitions took place last week in which the ruling, introduced by the NRL, was considered.
The ruling split opinion among coaches, leaving a possible introduction of the rule unclear.
A laws committee meeting takes place on Thursday when the coaches’ thoughts will be put forward.
One matter coaches were almost unanimous on was the removal of golden point for the rest of the season. With several midweek games set to take place throughout the rest of the year, the demands of additional play make for further demands on players and it was agreed that continuing with it was a welfare issue.
Though the RFL board must ratify any rule changes, the call from coaches is likely to have an influence on their decision.
Also on the agenda were a number of other NRL rule changes implemented this year, such as 20-40 kicks and the captain’s challenge, although the latter is highly unlikely to be introduced, given that only a handful of games every week are shown on television.
Wednesday’s law committee meeting will see the changes considered and also whether any approved changes should be implemented when the sport returns in August, or from the start of next season.
Leeds Rhinos chief executive Gary Hetherington admits that he has been impressed by what he has seen in the NRL in the last two weeks and he would be prepared to consider introducing the ‘six again’ rule when the Super League season restarts.
“The new rule has clearly raised the entertainment value of the game,” said Hetherington.
“The good thing for us is that we have several weeks in which to consider it, to review how it works and to decide whether we would want to implement it over here.
“If we were going to do so we would need to know by July, when teams are expected to be back in training.
“And I’m sure the other thing that Sky would want to emulate is the crowd noise we have seen on Fox Sports. It will be interesting to see whether they do that with the Premier League when that resumes this month.
“The great thing, though, about the NRL is the number of people around the world who have been watching it. The raised profile will almost certainly pay dividends for the game as a whole.”
