No more robots. No more wrestlemania. Six agains can bring back NRL glory days

March 19, 2026 — 2:00am

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With the NRL’s off-season rule changes, we’re all well aware that across the first two rounds of this season, set restarts have almost doubled from last year.

Have we got too many now? Yes, without a doubt.

But I’m still a big fan of the “six again” and how it is used – even with the expanded use for offsides and ruck infringements now, from the attacking team’s 20-metre line to the try line.

The game will sort itself out, and we’ll find the right balance with refereeing the ruck. I’m even a big fan of this crackdown – which has increased set restarts by 67 per cent on last year – because it has opened the game up, created a quicker contest, quicker play-the-balls and more room for creative players.

The flow-on effect later in the year will be more attractive footy. And even across the first two rounds, it’s nice to see strike players in the centres like Bradman Best and Latrell Mitchell getting early ball.

The open contest that these set restarts create is resulting in less structured play and less of the boring “block play for a block play” type of attacking sequence.

Now the halves have to play on the advantage line and add some variety. Forwards are offloading the ball and creating more ad-lib, fast footy.

If we keep playing this way, we’ll end up with no more robots in the halves. No more wrestlemania. Less of the “three dummy-half runs, one hit-up and a kick to the corner” snore fests.

Penrith and Melbourne certainly seem to be coping with the new interpretations anyway. The Panthers’ combined scoreline this year is 52-6, while the Storm have scored 98 points and conceded just 24.

Their spines seem to be enjoying the extra space, and as a game, we should be aiming to encourage our best players to do exactly that, find the extra space and create.

We’ve got more ball movement when teams are coming........

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