Speed kills: How the six again rule tilted the balance of power in the NRL

April 15, 2026 — 11:45am

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The NRL club bosses who voted unanimously to reject Australian Rugby League Commission chief Peter V’Landys’ change to the kick-off rule would have had second thoughts after Penrith became the first team in premiership history to win a season’s opening five games by 20 points plus. Some of the tries the Panthers and other teams have scored were consecutive, without the opposition touching the ball, whereas the V’landys rule would have allowed the non-scoring team the option of receiving from the kick-off.

Now, however, after Penrith were humiliated 32-16 by the Bulldogs who scored the opening three tries, maybe the Panthers would like the mercy rule as well. With a Panther sinbinned and Canterbury capitalising on three repeat sets to Penrith’s one, scoring their second try off one, coach Ivan Cleary would have welcomed the opportunity to receive the ball from the kick-off. Five minutes after the Panthers drew level, Bulldogs forward Jacob Preston scored following successive six agains and Penrith did not score again.

There is a clear link between repeat sets and the need for an optional kick-off rule but remarkably, when the NRL summoned their most experienced and successful coaches, including Souths’ Wayne Bennett, Penrith’s Ivan Cleary, Melbourne’s Craig Bellamy, Brisbane’s Michael Maguire and Canberra’s Ricky Stuart to a December meeting to discuss the proposed rule changes, no-one voiced any concern that the expanded remit of the six again rule from the 20-metre line would render a change to the kick-off rule inevitable.

Perhaps Bennett – a........

© Brisbane Times