NRL considering golden point revamp and ‘five-minute sin-bin’

Issues such as a revamped golden point and a potential five-minute sin-bin are among the topics to be discussed at the NRL’s Competition Committee meeting.

NRL CEO Todd Greenberg, Australia Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga and club head coaches Ivan Cleary and Paul Green are among those on the 12-man committee that will come together next Thursday to present ideas on how to improve the game.

At the top of the list is the golden point system, for which those on the panel have several different adaptations to discuss.

An NFL-style ‘right of reply’, where, if a team scores first with a drop-goal, the opposition has a set of six to answer, is among the notions.

Other options surrounding the golden point rule are to replace it with a 10-minute extra time or introducing a golden try.

Replacing the 10-minute sin-bin with a five-minute version is another hot topic, as is the proposed on-field ‘captain’s challenge’, which is a similar system to what is used in cricket.

There had been suggestions that the introduction of Hawkeye technology and simulated offside lines to rule on tries from kicks would be discussed, however they are understood to have been put on the backburner.