The easy solution to counter NRL’s need for speed |
The easy solution to counter NRL’s need for speed
March 21, 2026 — 10:30am
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Memo Rugby League Central: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Last year’s NRL finals series was widely acknowledged as one of the best. The game was in great shape. But on the eve of this season, the NRL blew it up.
It announced an expansion of the territory in which repeat sets, or “six agains” as they are commonly called, are awarded. It has significantly tilted the balance of the game further towards attack, taking it closer to touch football. The defence, unable to backpedal the required 10 metres, concedes another six again and the momentum builds until a try is scored.
Sure, it keeps the tries coming and therefore commercial breaks on TV – which bid up the value of broadcasting rights in a year when negotiations have begun – but in speeding up the game and increasing ball-in-play time, the irony is we risk seeing less footy played, with more one-out runs up the middle against tired defenders.
There has been almost a doubling of six agains in the first two rounds this year (9.8 a game compared with 5.5 in 2025). A ruck infringement tally of say four to six, together with a 10-metre defence breach count of one or two, might suggest that a total repeat set differential of five to eight is not too one-sided. But if six agains are awarded to one team on early tackles and the other team on tackles late in the count, it can be a significant difference in possession.
While........