As much as we think rugby league is ever evolving or forcing itself to change, the reality is, for those that crave stability, the more things change, the more they are exactly the same as what has happened before.
We are about to (or already enjoying) the 131st year of rugby league on this planet and the 118th year of it in Australia.
And just like Abba said in their 1974 hit ‘Waterloo’…
“The history book on the shelf, is always repeating itself.”
In the first iteration of this blog, I am breaking the rules by referring to things that may have happened over the last few months, which include the off-season and the post international footy period on both sides of this rock we inhabit.
To kick-off or not to kick-off?
No, I am not considering starting a pub brawl, I am talking about the proposed rule changes in the NRL that would see the team that has conceded a try, getting a choice of kicking off at the restart (as they have done for the majority of the 118 years in Australia) or receiving a kick-off (as they did in the Super League era).
Basically, the NRL wants it, the NRL clubs as a whole, don’t seem to want it.
Personally, I see it as an attempt to ‘artificially’ influence the scoreboard, to prevent as many blowout scores, largely created by…oh wait…another rule designed to influence the fundamental patterns and tends in the game; the six-again rule.
Defending for more than six tackles regularly, is proving too tough for some teams in some games, and there has been an increase in blow out scores in the last few years.
That six-again rule has, however, helped the game to look better to younger audiences, who like to see tries and great play on short form content providers such as Tik-Tok. That in turn, has lifted the NRL to a great place, a better one that it has been in for a long time.
So, if we’ve got the six-again rule and it has brought benefits, then we need to consider something to help swing the game back towards the defender a bit more.
This could be a quick-fix. I am not sold either way.
Just like Abba said, the history books are repeating; we love tinkering with our rules, don’t we? Let’s look at some of the most significant.
Unlimited tackles became four tackles and then six tackles in the middle of the 20th century. Tries were worth three points then four in the 1980’s. Defences who were previously asked to retreat five metres or yards, were then asked to retreat ten metres in the early 1990’s. In the late 1990’s they threw unlimited interchange in, too.
In the 2000’s, we brought in two referees, then in the 2010’s and 2020’s, went back to one referee and brought in the six again rule.
This proposed ‘new’ kick off rule, is also a case of history repeating itself. It happened during the Super League season of 1997.
Titans and Tigers have off-seasons to remember (again)
For some reason I have been keeping a special eye out for Gold Coast Titans off-season messaging every summer, since they trumpeted the gym prowess of one of my former players about a decade ago.
The player, who will remain nameless, was, to put it politely, very relaxed when it came to gym work when I coached him previously in a full-time, elite environment.
Yet here were the Titans, a matter of a month or two later, saying he had broken records in their gym!
If he had broken records, I can only assume the others were lifting donuts on the end of pencils!
And, just like clockwork, the off-season messages have been about excellent training endeavour and a brand-new coach doing a cleanout.
I am not criticising them at all for that, but just worried that we have heard it all before. I hope for the long-suffering Titans fans, their off-season messaging stands up this year.
I don’t need to keep a special eye out for Wests Tigers summer messaging. It tends to hit me between the eyes, every year like clockwork.
The place that has leaked like a sieve since its formation has leaked significantly this summer. Indeed, their CEO Shane Richardson jumped ship and some board members had their usual spats, once again giving the impression that the whole place is ready to erupt at any time or indeed, has erupted.
And, with the off-field stability of a bridge made of cardboard, they decided to extend the contract of head coach Benji Marshall, right in the middle of the drama.
You couldn’t make it up. Will the Wests Tigers soon meet their ‘Waterloo’?
Super League becomes a little less super
If we think history repeats itself in Australian rugby league, in the Old Dart, it’s on repeat.
They have increased their competition from twelve to fourteen teams (again) they have promoted some teams into Super League based on criteria that includes mostly ‘off-field’ criteria (again) and they have tinkered with the rules around the number of overseas stars that each team is allowed to sign (again).
The upshot of this is that, fresh off the national team getting comprehensively beaten by an understrength Australia (again) because they don’t play regularly in a competition that is ultra-competitive week, week out, we will see a diluted talent pool and an increased number of Australian and other overseas players filling the fourteen teams’ jerseys when they kick-off the competition in February.
To give an idea as to how recruitment standards have fallen in England. Warrington Wolves, a club that has signed the likes of Alfie Langer, Andrew Gee, Joey Johns and Adrian Morley at various points in this first quarter of the century, a club that is often in the mix for the big trophies, recently trumpeted the signing of a Queensland Cup (aka reserve grade) player a few weeks ago.
With two extra teams added to the competition, the demand is very much at risk of outweighing the supply, particularly when you consider that the NRL is adding Perth and PNG to the mix in the years to come.
I might need to dust the boots off….
The re-birth of Salford (again)
The 131st season of our great game has already kicked-off in the professional world. Oldham travelled to Salford to win 44-0 in the opening match of the Championship season in the UK.
The system in the UK has reverted back to two divisions (again) so the third tier of the game was collapsed into the second tier (again), hence an outrageously early start to proceedings (again).
Salford didn’t come from the third tier, they dropped from the first tier, aka Super League (again), although for once, this wasn’t exclusively because of on-field results.
The club that for well over a century provided rugby related entertainment to the city of Salford was wound up at the end of 2025, thanks to a load of off-field reasons I will not go into here.
The club for most of their existence, was known as simply, Salford or Salford RLFC, changed their name to Salford Reds in the 1990’s, then Salford City Reds in 1999, and Salford Red Devils sometime later, before things went belly-up.
The new club under the new ownership, who, it has to be said, seem to be doing everything right and very well so far, have relaunched as Salford RLFC (again) and, quite frankly, that sounds good to me.
I am qualified to talk about this as Salford is the place of my birth and where I grew up.
Most Salford people don’t care about the glitz and glamour and, as if to prove that point; over 5,000 hardy souls braved the cold to welcome their local team back into the professional fold.
Despite the 44-0 defeat, it was a great moment for the game in the area and a feelgood story. Long live Salford RLFC.
Keep an eye on…
The concussion thing.
Eli Katoa’s horrible injury in the off-season has brought head knocks right back into the spotlight again and I guess, rightly so.
Conducting a coaching seminar at a Queensland club this last weekend, I heard the hierarchy of that organisation tell their coaches that the protocols are stepping up once again to safeguard all our players at every level of the game.
It’s an issue that isn’t going away and one that will influence so much on the field in 2026.
Lee Addison is a former coach at two NRL Clubs, three World Cups and Three Elite High Schools.
He is the founder of rugbyleaguecoach.com.au and mentor’s coaches and clubs all around the rugby league world.
He hosts the Rugby League Coach Podcast and the Super League 360 Podcast weekly. He also appears weekly on the Loose Carry Podcast by Zero Tackle.
His recently published book ‘Rugby League Coach‘ is available now on Amazon and rugbyleaguecoach.com.au
