If you believe England’s cricketers, Bazball has revolutionised their sport within the space of a year.
Rugby league is an evolutionary game which has rarely changed in a sudden way over the decades.
One change which took aeons to take hold but seems to be par for the course is the short kick-off, whether from halfway or a line drop-out.
The Walker brothers, Shane and Ben, made it fashionable at Queensland Cup level a few years ago before it became widespread in the NRL in recent seasons.
NRL coaches had previously thought it was too much of a gamble because the risk of giving up field position outweighed the chance of regaining possession.
Thankfully, the perceived wisdom has changed and the proliferation of short restarts has added an extra layer of unpredictability to NRL contests, like scrums used to do if you ask anyone over 70 who remembers when they were not a fait accompli.
With the threat of potential class action from players towards the NRL over concussion in the future, it wouldn’t surprise if at some stage in the not too distant future the sport’s rulemakers followed the NFL’s path by removing the incentive for long kick-offs.
In 2019 the NFL changed its kickoff rules to discourage teams from booting kick-offs deep because the further the ball went, the greater the impact in the tackles, and likelihood of concussion, when the receiver hurtled back into the oncoming defence.
If they had seen the Mark Carroll on Paul Harragon kick-off incident from 1995 in Newcastle, they might have made the move sooner.
The NFL has tightened its regulations even further for next season so that if a player catches a kick-off behind their 25-yard line, their team can spot the ball.
A rugby league equivalent would be to reward any kick-off catch behind the 20-metre line to result in a restart – that would remove the motivation for teams to kick long and encourage a high looping short drop to create an aerial contest for possession.
It’s still mystifying that many traditionalists kick up a stink about rugby league, or any contact sport for that matter, making changes to the rules to minimise the possibility of head injuries.
Putting aside the myriad legal issues, administrators should already have an intrinsic duty of care to protect the players first and the game’s traditions second.
Old players – both professional and amateur – offer a wry smile when they mention they’ve got a dodgy shoulder, wonky hamstring or dicky knee from their sporting careers.
There’s never any argument that those body parts are not what they once were due to wear and tear from playing sport but when the topic of head injuries in later life is raised, you have to be a brain surgeon to convince some people of the link between repeated concussions and neurological problems.
Kalyn Ponga kicks off for the Newcastle Knights. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
And even then that is not enough of a qualification.
Granted, people who have never played contact sport suffer from all sorts of neurological conditions in later life.
And the recent publicity surrounding old footballers suffering a higher rate of these problems is not necessarily new, it’s just now that medical science and awareness of the causal link is so much higher, so it would be extremely ignorant to apply old-school standards when modern knowledge is so much more advanced.
The NRL, while emphasising it is not going to have a crackdown per se on any given round, is continuing to punish contact with the head, both careless and reckless, with sin bins, send-offs, fines and suspensions.
It is clear from the attitude of players that the vast majority are on board with both the sanctions for high contact, aside from a few complaints here and there, mainly from the usual suspects who sail close to the wind/head with their tackling techniques.
And players also now seem to accept the stricter measures for checking on potential concussions from the independent doctor in the bunker.
When the assessment process was changed to a remote model at the start of last year there was an outcry from players as they were marched off against their will as well as from coaches, commentators and fans about the NRL being too cautious.
(Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
There should be no such thing as being too cautious when it comes to the possibility of anyone having a brain injury that goes unchecked.
Now it’s a way of life in the NRL and with stories such as Immortal five-eighth Wally Lewis’ diagnosis of CTE increasingly ringing alarm bells in players past and present, there will be and should be much less opposition to any new measures that are brought in to reduce the risk of head injuries in players from the top level to the junior ranks.
Unfortunately there is still opposition to the push to reduce tackling at the youngest age-groups with the Sydney Morning Herald recently revealing that there has been significant pushback to NRL/NSWRL recommendations for players not to be able to play under tackle rules until midway through their under-7 season.
It’s got to the point where a rebel junior league body is growing rapidly due to parents being unhappy with the tackling rules and the plan to phase out competitive matches for under 13s and younger by 2027.
Wally Lewis (Photo by Tony Feder/Getty Images)
Some people will cling onto the past no matter what, claiming that because they played under tackle rules when they were a kid that it should always be the way.
The junior reforms have already been delayed a year in Sydney’s many associations because of clubs arcing up about them.
Administrators need to stick to their guns to make the right choice rather than one that will appease traditionalists.
The more contact sports move with the times with proactive rule changes in the age of concussion awareness, the greater chance they’ll have to survive.
Maxtruck
Roar Rookie
Can not agree, article seems to presume the long kick off will be returned by a one out hit up. There is nothing better than seeing Ponga, Walsh or Paps carve em up from the back on a kick return, The old Broncos early shift to the Pearl produced some of the games best ever tries, same with Billy Slater's highlights reel. Defenders need to stop hitting high regardless of the distance run by the attacker. Easy fix to reduce the collision is to go back to the 5m rule and encourage more ball movement.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Administrators absolutely have a right to try to reduce the risk of injuries.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Having an actual competition for kick offs is a bad thing?
mushi
Roar Guru
Quite a few do, well atleast whiplash style. How many of the first tackle run backs are concussive? The real way the NFL changed it was the majority kicks going dead for a touch back.
Adam
Roar Guru
Even if they don't retain it often the pressure applied is surely worth it. But it's the same with the returning team, barely anyone ever tries much of anything
Rellum
Roar Guru
Imagine what Burton or Cleary could do with a bomb kick off
Rellum
Roar Guru
League coaches and players are extremely reluctant to do things out of the box
matth
Roar Guru
I also live the very rare case of the short straight grubber from the kicker to catch the receivers napping
Dionysus
Roar Rookie
I think there are far bigger concussion risks than the kick off. If we think a change here will make the game better than fine but lets not use "concussion risks" to justify everything.
Andrew01
Roar Rookie
Short line drop outs was an innovation by coaches. As we know, changes by officials - rule changes - are invariably circumvented by much smarter coaches. I could be all for a similar rule around kick offs to the NFL though not sure how that would look. I think we see quite a few tries from kick off sets and i suspect the momentum is in large part gained form the kick off team having to run 40m down field as a unit, and all push back onside of the next tackle - unlike a general play kick where the whole line doesn't necessarily chase the kick the whole way. As for tackling. I know the author isn't necessarily suggesting following the way of American football (where essentially there is no tackling until high school), but i would be wary of any similar models. Anyone who watches the NFL knows that some of the tackling techniques on display - from guys who have one job - to defend - are woeful and dangerous to themselves. A player can literally have been practicing tackling for about 5 or 6 years and then find themselves doing it professionally. Not good.
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
The players have the right to choose to play a collision sport and all the risks that go with it. No one has the right to take the choice away from them.
Adam
Roar Guru
Which seems crazy...
Rellum
Roar Guru
Feldt used to kick it high, but they never contested the kicks
Bernie
Roar Rookie
good points Rellum. in fact, the kicking skills of the average NRL halves has improved so much in last 15 years, it's mystifying why more variation isn't put into drop-outs & kick-offs. i personally like the sneaky short stab kick that just goes 10m so i can dive on it. or the off-drop-out, were the kicker suddenly changes their stance and kicks the other way. ex-Doggie Brett "Shifty" Sherwin was a great early exponent of the tricky drop-out.
Busty McCracken
Roar Rookie
I fail to see how playing for a winner and loser increases the chances of concussion in junior ranks?? Does the author and powers that be not realise that regardless of what rule they introduce, competitive people whether it be parents or participants will remain competitive.. if being competitive is the yardstick for head highs and concussions then we may as well cancel the game altogether.
Adam
Roar Guru
Is it Nth Queensland that used to have the high bomb off kick off? If they can get the height they can have the chasers arriving at the catcher as they take it
Cugel
Roar Rookie
Unless it's the bonce, that's fine.
Pedro
Roar Rookie
Several issues here. Firstly there may be a slight increase risk of high impact injuries on the returns from long kick offs. Whether this is much different to the far greater number of normal collisions we see in the run of play with the 10 metre rule is hard to say. I agree with the comment above that short high kick offs create a different sort of contest and perhaps the increased risk of a different type of injury. Finally league has an innate conservatism and most coaches seem unwilling to try different things unless they see it working elsewhere first. You could see this with the crawl towards short line drop outs over the past decade. It is often as easy for good teams to defend on your try line as it is 20-30 metres out and you have the benefit of contesting the line drop out which gets you the ball back about 30% of the time.
Gary Russell-Sharam
Roar Rookie
The only reason for the long kick off is that the team kicking off can gain distance. Then they may be able to keep the opposition in their half after 6 tackles. But in modern times coaches use very different methods as in DCE and his use of the ball. I still do not agree with no tackle rule for young kids, they rarely if ever tackle too hard as they don't have the strength. The only thing that happens in youngsters is the head hitting the ground due to the fact that the neck muscles are not developed enough to support the head. In this case it is far better to use head gear for youngsters, it does give some protection. I've not seen many if hardly any head high tackles in youngsters of the 7 to 10 years. Maybe when they get to teenage era that may be a factor and then it can be policed. And phasing out competitive matches for teenagers is so inane, its like in competition every child gets a prize. What does this teach kids that even if you loose there is no problem or win there is no reward. When do they learn that there is a consequence for your actions. This is the basis for life in general that modern children do not learn. No responsibility for their actions
Rellum
Roar Guru
You already have at minimum 4 kick off options now, and the lack variations people try is embarrassing to me. At minimum you have the old school stock standard long kick off. Then you have the standard short kick off/dropout which goes about 10 metres. Then we have two that I think we should see a lot more of. The attempt to find touch and a high bomb landing on about the 25 metre line. DCE is the only one I have seen try finding touch regularly. There are so many advantages to this kick off. Even if you don't find touch if you can land it just short of the player catching the ball you will get a lot of errors or favorable bounces The bomb kick off is what I think should be the stock standard one. Just work out how far you can kick the ball and still have your chases contest the kick. I would think most teams could manage landing it on the 25m line. This gives you the best of both worlds, a chance to contest the catch and have better field position if you don't get the ball back There is no need for rule changes