Super League star proposes controversial rule change

Wigan Warriors’ star full-back Jai Field has proposed a somewhat controversial rule change for Super League.

Currently, Super League sides are able to make eight interchanges with teams carrying four on the bench plus an 18th man that is available should three or more players fail Head Injury Assessments.

As the sport has developed, the number of interchanges available has increased with the sport initially not having any available at all but as it has grown and player safety has become more of a focus, interchange slots have also risen.

Field explained that he’d like to see a reduction from eight to ensure more tired legs were on the field to help create a more open and potentially exciting game, however, pundit Jon Wilkin joked that Field’s true reasons were so that he could simply capitalise on more tired forwards.

Appearing on The Bench with Jenna and Jon, Field explained: “It’s not just for me but I feel like it brings more of a spectacle to the game. The more fatigue that is in the game, the more you’re going to see it open up and you’re going to see more tries.”

The Australian recently returned to action after rupturing his hamstring in the Challenge Cup Final.

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Should Super League reduce the number of interchanges?

He had introduced the idea when asked about one thing he would change about rugby league, noting: “I  want to see less interchanges. Well, I’d like to see them go down to six I reckon.”

Continuing his explanation, Field said: “Some of the best tries you ever see at games from the 80s and 90s where people are out there for 80 minutes with no interchange and the ball can be through 15 sets of hands and they score in the corner like that. It’s exciting to me.”

Field is one of the most electric players in Super League with his partnership with Bevan French for Wigan Warriors being among the most lethal spine combinations in the competition.

There’s no doubt that a reduction to six interchanges would help him score and create more brilliant tries, however, he had also noted another change which is one that plenty of fans would support.

“I want less stoppages in the game,” the 26-year-old explained.

“It’s not just the video ref but the cards as well. The cards are a big thing obviously protecting the head, I get all that sort of stuff, but it’s more how much is slows the game down.

“It takes probably 30 seconds to a minute for them to check if it’s going to be a sin bin and it just takes all the fatigue out of the game and everybody’s fresh.”

Fans constantly bemoan the lengthy video referee process and the number of stoppages in the game, something that the ‘Six Again’ rule had been introduced to try and stop.

However, for Field, it’s another rule change that would benefit him and plenty of other speedsters to give players less recovery time and allow the explosive stars of Super League to run riot.