Tries, not goals, are the answer to a more exciting NRL

We haven’t had the chance to see how the extra point for a long-range field goal will play out this year, but I’m happy to stick my neck on the line before the season gets into full swing.

I fail to see how the anticipation and excitement of waiting for a long-range field goal to be attempted will reach any great heights, and realistically I doubt it will be a regular occurrence during a game anyway.

Judging by some of the comments I have read earlier on the subject, I am not alone in my thinking.

I can appreciate and applaud what the NRL is attempting to do to try and stimulate the game and add some of the uncertainty and unpredictability we’re lacking at present.

But giving an extra point for a field goal from a certain point on the field is a very limited opportunity, and won’t cut it. It won’t give them the injection of excitement they are hoping for.

Cameron Smith (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

On the one hand the NRL appears to be trying to eliminate some of the time-wasting kicking in the game by introducing the six again rule instead of a penalty for infringements in the play the ball and inside the ten-metre rules. But on the other hand it is encouraging kicking back into the game by offering an extra point for a certain field goal.

I hope we are not going down the same road as rugby union, where the award for a penalty goal is three points.

There is nothing more frustrating and painful than watching a rugby union team playing for and winning matches on the back of three-point penalty kicks.

Rugby league is a team game that should be encouraged to involve as many players as possible in as many plays as possible to contribute to scoring points rather than pushing for more kicking and a reliance on certain individual players to kick them to victory.

There are only two options to inject extra points into the game: a kick or a try.

If extra points are going to be introduced to try to stimulate the game by trying to create uncertainty, anticipation and unpredictability throughout the whole of the match, these ‘extra’ points should be able to be earnt from any position on the field and at any time during the game.

The only way to gain the full value from these ‘extra’ points is by way of a try, not a kick. It should also encourage more teamwork and ball-in-hand movements, rewarding players for taking risks.

All this brings me to a suggestion I made in an article a couple of years ago about the introduction of a six-point ‘golden try’.

Now the NRL is in the mood for injecting extra points into the game, it might be a good time to have another throw at the stumps.

So for those of you who may have read it and forgotten about it and for those who may still be interested and would like to hear more, here’s the summary.

If a team decides to take a risk and run the ball on the fifth and last tackle and as a result a try is scored without a kick being involved, in that particular play that try should be deemed to be a ‘golden try’ and be worth six points.

Basically it encourages teams to risk running the ball from any position on the field on the fifth tackle rather than kicking it, and if a try results, they are awarded two extra points for taking the risk. It’s all about risk for reward.

Hopefully it would inject the anticipation, uncertainty and unpredictability the NRL is looking for, and as a ‘golden try’ could be scored at any time during the game and from any position on the field, it may result in more exciting long-range try attempts.

I would hope it would maintain the excitement and unpredictability in a game longer knowing that if a team is trailing by as much as 15 points, they still have a chance of winning the game in the last five or ten minutes if they can score two converted six-point golden tries.

The question is: what would you as a fan or supporter prefer:

1. waiting for a team to position itself 40 metres out so someone may have an attempt at a field goal to gain one extra point; or
2. watching a team trying to set itself up from any position on the field to try and score a six-point golden try by running the ball on the fifth and last tackle and gain two extra points?

What’s the answer?