The days of defenders “milking penalties” or being rewarded for poor defensive reads are over after the NRL tweaked the way the obstruction rule is interpreted for the new season.
NRL head of football Graham Annesley wrote to all the clubs on Tuesday alerting them to how key aspects of on-field play will be policed in 2025.
The obstruction call against Penrith that had coach Ivan Cleary up in arms.Credit: Nine
The main areas of focus will be better compliance regarding correct play-the-balls, ensuring defensive lines are back the requisite 10 metres and this masthead’s revelations about how head office will attempt to be more consistent when it comes to sin binnings for high tackles.
However, the biggest change to the way the game will be adjudicated applies to obstructions, with the NRL seeking “to achieve a better balance between rewarding the tactical use of lead-runners to deceive the defence, and ensuring defensive structures are afforded a fair opportunity to adjust, while also minimising the incentive for defenders to ‘game’ or ‘play for’ obstruction penalties”.
In the missive, obtained by this masthead, Annesley said the philosophy behind the interpretation change was to ensure:
- “Successful deception in an attacking play should be rewarded”; and
- “Poor defensive reads, or defenders attempting to ‘milk’ penalties, should not be rewarded.”
Further, the note states that: “A try will be awarded, if in the opinion of match officials, any contact between a lead runner and a defender would not have prevented the try from being scored.”
The NRL is changing its interpretation of obstructions in 2025.Credit: Getty Images
The key considerations listed for match officials included whether the defender was deceived by the block or lead runner, whether the contact was forceful or minor, who initiated the contact, and whether the defender played for a penalty rather than genuinely attempting to chase the ball.
A no-try decision against Penrith in last year’s preliminary final win against Cronulla angered Ivan Cleary, who claimed the decision was “terrible” and that officials had “no understanding” of what his team was trying to achieve. After the interpretation tweak, the same play would result in a try in 2025.
In relation to play-the-balls, the NRL is calling for the tackled player “to make a genuine attempt to play the ball with the foot while maintaining balance”.
“In 2025, if players do not meet the required standard, the referee will order a handover of possession as prescribed under the rules,” the memo states.
To ensure defenders are back a genuine 10 metres, they will be required to have both feet in line with, or behind where the referee rules the line. Players won’t be able to move forward until the whistleblower says “go”, rather than when the ball is placed on the ground or any other indicator.
The pre-season will also be a trial for the new sin-bin rules for high tackles, which are as follows:
- If a victim of a high tackle is removed for a category-one head-injury assessment, or fails a category-two and can’t return to the field, the player who commits the offence will be sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes.
- If the victim of the high tackle remains on the field or passes the category-two assessment and is eligible to continue the game – regardless of whether they come back on or not – the player who committed the offence will not go to the sin bin.
The referee will still have the discretion to send players from the field for the rest of the game in the case of serious offences. The trial will be monitored by the ARL Commission and may be repeated later in the season in games that have no bearing on the finals.
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