Major law change that would change Rugby League debated by NRL

Overnight, reports from down under have revealed the potential major rugby league law change that would massively alter the sport.

With high tackles, concussions and player safety among the hottest topics in the sport of rugby league, it was first reported by Wide World of Sports that a major change to the laws around kick-offs had been ‘considered’.

That report suggested that a ‘rule tweak being discussed’ would see seven-tackle sets awarded if a team received the ball on the full within their own 20 metres from a kick-off in the NRL.

The logic behind that was to encourage the kicking team not to kick deep so as to try and prevent or at least limit the high-speed and high-impact collisions that are seen when players run the ball out from deep.

That change would have likely forced teams to kick short or kick on the bounce instead, all with the intention of limiting concussions from kick-offs.

Does Rugby League need to change kick-offs?

Those who enjoy the big bust-ups from kick-offs will be pleased to hear that per AAP News, the NRL has ‘all but ruled out any significant changes to kick-offs for 2025’.

Whilst it is not certain that the law won’t change in the way it was initially reported by WWOS, it’s a firm indicator that it’s likely to be pushed back until at least 2026 before being debated again.

Player safety is something that is so paramount to the sport in its current guise that kick-off changes may well happen and should they happen in the NRL, then there would be a strong possibility that Super League may follow suit.

In recent years, the NRL has taken ideas from Super League such as the six-again rule, however, other rules implemented in the NRL have not always been adopted by Super League, such as the two-point drop goal from beyond 40 yards.

Leading commentator Greg Alexander spoke on SEN radio about the proposed kick-off law change as he noted the number of players lost to concussion from kick-offs in 2024.

He explained: “There is no doubt that the kick-off is a problem. Collisions from a kick-off is a problem for the game because there were a spate of them very early on.

“We had four or five players knocked out early in the season. The NRL needed to introduce something to encourage the teams to kick short.

“It would be interesting to see whether an extra tackle will be enough of a deterrent for teams to kick long.”

For now, it looks like the law change will not happen but it’s not an issue that will just disappear from the rugby league radar and could once again be up for discussion this time next year.