The NRL pre-season might be underway, but the NRL have already announced new measures in an attempt to speed the game up even more in 2018.
The 2017 season saw the introduction of a shot clock for scrums and dropouts, forcing players to keep the game moving. While the shot clock barely ever went off, a penalty was blown for the opposition team if either team failed to meet the time.
Those measures will remain exactly the same for the 2018 season, but in addition, the NRL have announced time will be blown off for a period of 30 seconds following all conversion attempts.
Before 2018, conversion attempts have followed wasted time, except for the final five minutes of a game when the clock would be stopped to prevent teams from running time down if they were in front.
Former Manly Sea Eagles forward and NRL general manager of elite competitions Jason King said the new measures would add time back on to games played throughout the season.
“At the moment, the time taken for players to return to the halfway line to restart play is wasted time as far as the fans are concerned,” King said.
“The clock continues to run down (except in the last five minutes of play) but the fans see no football.
“We have decided to extend the shot clock concept to take time off for a set period of 30 seconds after each conversion attempt.
“That will add an average of more than three minutes of game time (where the ball is in play) to each premiership match in 2018.
“An extra three minutes of actual play can have a big bearing on the outcome of a game.
“Over the course of the season, this move will give fans the equivalent of more than 720 minutes – or seven more games – of rugby league.”
It’s important to note there have been no changes made to the time between tries being scored and conversions actually being taken. This can be a gripe for fans at the pointy end of a game, but referees will still be allowed to call time off once 60 seconds have elapsed.
The attempt to speed the game up follow those already in force throughout the pre-season, which has included many more penalties being blown for poor play the balls.
The NRL season gets underway on Thursday, March 8 when the St George Illawarra Dragons host the Brisbane Broncos at Kogarah.
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