As Leeds Rhinos, Huddersfield Giants, Hull FC, Warrington Wolves, Hull KR and Salford Red Devils battle for the final play-off places, the last thing fans want to see is the final spots decided by officials and referees would agree on that as well.
But one rule constantly finds itself spoke about in the shape of the Six Again rule which was recently slammed by Ian Watson.
He questioned the way St Helens use it and called it “ridiculous.”
He said after the defeat to Saints: “We’ve sent a message and we’ve received an email back just talking about the incident and a few other things that went on in that game that we weren’t quite happy with, obviously I spoke out after the game about the six again rule on the first tackle, which I just think is a ridiculous rule.
“In the NRL, it’s a penalty, and there’s no deterrent in this competition for you to just pile four men in and lie on in that first tackle, but then you get a completely set defensive line so you can organise your defence and make sure you can read what they’re doing in attack. There’s no advantage, it slows the game down, it’s not what the six-again rule was made to do.
“Whereas in the NRL, you do that on the first tackle, you get a penalty against you, you’re now defending your goal line. There’s a deterrent in there in the NRL, whereas there’s not one in the Super League for that. It 100% needs looking at that rule for me.”
Former referee Ian Smith commented on the situation and explained that he foresees a possible change in how Super League and the RFL govern Six Agains, with Watson’s desired NRL approach potentially set to come in per Smith.
He tweeted his opinions.
The tweets read: “I’m pretty sure the laws committee will adopt the NRL version of 6 again for next season, its a no brainer imo, it makes the rule consistent in both comps, there’s is far better than ours regarding a big enough deterrent in your own 40 for holding down, offsides etc.”
Smith continued and elaborated when asked about the speed at which tacklers remove themselves from the ruck.
He is right though to a point. Six again on the first tackle is not enough of a deterrent to stop teams doing it when they want to get their own line set
— Ian Smith (@Iansmith2468) August 17, 2023
