The NRL is constantly updating the rules to weed out irrelevant ones, although there are cases of the abnormal laying dormant in the laws.
An irrelevant rule reared its ugly head in last year’s grand final and in the strange year of 2020 the NRL is prepared for anything – even a burst football.
The laws of rugby league were written in 1908 and while most of them have been updated, there are still surprises lying dormant in the pages.
“There was until not that long ago a rule that specifically covered the ball being kicked and deflating in mid air and landing on the crossbar,” said NRL’s head of football Graham Annesley on Tuesday.
Unlikely as it would seem in the modern day game, these scenarios were once important considerations.
The NRL, intent on keeping the game’s rules as relevant as possible, are regularly updating the laws to avoid another head-scratcher on grand final day.
Last season the ancient mutual infringement rule cost Canberra a set of six in the decider when a ball hit a Sydney Roosters trainer.
And as a result, that law was fixed in the off-season to allow the team to replay the play the ball instead of turning it over to the team with territorial advantage.
One of the most unusual ones in the rule book is what should happen if the ball bursts while a player is taking a place kick at goal.
For reference, they should be awarded another kick.
If the player grounds the ball for a try and it’s noticed the ball has burst, the try should be awarded, but in the normal field of play a scrum is formed.
The team in possession when the ball bursts gets the loose head and feed.
“Considering that the rules have been in place largely since 1908, they have been regularly updated, but that one last year … it was clear that it needed to be changed,” Annesley said.
“I can’t think of a lot of others.
“One of the rules that’s in the rule book that people aren’t commonly aware of, is if the ball deflates during the game and how play is restarted after a ball deflating during the game.
“But hopefully we won’t be seeing that in the grand final.”
Eelsalmighty
Roar Rookie
But Cam was planning on kicking a field goal in the finals seconds, having the ball deflate in mid air, land on the crossbar (for several seconds), and drop over the try line to win the premiership before announcing he's going around again next year because there's still so much he hasn't accomplished. I can't wait to see his reaction when he's told that rule has been dropped and the Storm will get a scrum feed instead.
Walter Black
Guest
Don't worry about it Brendon, The best way to answer these mindless and lob sided critics is by winning the Premiership on Sunday. Go Storm!
Brendon
Roar Rookie
Ah here we go, we Storm were looking for our next tactic to get the big advantage over the other clubs! Deflate the ball on 4th tackle, get a repeat set off a scrum! Unlimited tackles right there!
Steve
Guest
I juat wish they would enforce the rules they already have....especially the new ones. All year we've had set restarts for slow play the balls yet we get to the finals and they seem to all but forget about it. The Panthers V Bunnies game was a good example......it was quite noticeable to me that there was heaps more lee way given in that game. The rucks were a whole order of magnitude slower than what we saw in the previous 20 rounds which suited the Pennies as it in effect nullified Cook. It will be the same in the GF as well. Not sure what the point is in having these new rules if we are just going to forget about them at the pointy end of the season.