Every rule change during the reign of the ARL Commission’s can-do chairman, Peter V’landys, has been made with the intention of making games both faster and closer, principally to attract fans and TV dollars.

Given V’landys’ “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” approach, it came as a surprise this week when the commission abandoned a proposed change to the kick-off rule amid opposition from clubs. The rule change would have curbed the momentum of the try-scoring team – and the potential for blowouts – by allowing the conceding team to receive the ball from the kick-off.

Instead, the rule change – allowing the non-scoring team the option to kick off or receive – will be trialled in games with no bearing on the 2026 finals. But the strategic V’landys may have already outflanked the clubs. How? Because one change the clubs did accept for 2026 could result in his preferred kick-off rule becoming essential.

“Six agains”, or set restarts as the NRL terms them, will now apply from the 20-metre line as opposed to the 40-metre line, for ruck breaches and infringing the defensive corridor. V’landys likes six agains as opposed to penalties because they don’t result in stoppages, increasing on-field action. In 2019, according to NRL data, ball-in-play time per game averaged 54.2 minutes. In 2020, when six agains were introduced, it jumped to 55.4 minutes, now stands at an all-time high of 56 minutes and is set to rise further in 2026.

When repeat sets were introduced, NRL clubs deliberately conceded breaches early in the tackle count simply to set their defensive lines, knowing the opposition could not kick for touch and territory. The Panthers choked the Rabbitohs with this tactic in the 2021 grand final. The NRL subsequently changed the rule to award penalties for........

© The Sydney Morning Herald