The NRL has confirmed a tweak to the six again rule for the 2022 season, with penalties returning to aid teams trying to work the ball out of their own end.
A ruck infringement or 10 metre violation will be met with a penalty rather than a set restart, should the incident occur inside the team with the ball’s own 40m line.
Teams frequently abused the set restart rule change by holding down kick returners, and being blatantly offside early in tackle counts – with the overwhelming majority of ‘six agains’ beng handed out on zero, first, or second tackle.
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“Penalties will be awarded instead of set restarts for ruck or 10m infringements inside the 40m zone of the team in possession,” a statement from the NRL said.
“This will provide an additional deterrence to defending teams who are willing to concede set restarts to gain a tactical advantage.
“It will also provide more opportunities for teams receiving the penalty to attack from a better field position.”
The NRL also announced three other changes – Tuesday teamlists will now be 22 players, not 21, and a free interchange will only be given to a team if they are the victim of foul play that results in a sin bin or a send-off, rather than also if an offender is put on report.
The other rule change says that unless a player suffers a head injury, a trainer is no longer permitted to stop the game – this rule came to the fore in last year’s finals series when Penrith’s trainer controversially stopped the game in the dying minutes with Parramatta on the attack.
The season begins on March 10 with the defending premiers Penrith playing Manly.
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