Veteran rugby league pundit Phil Rothfield has floated a competition points overhaul that would reward teams who lose in golden point — but the rest of the NRL 360 panel wasn’t having it in a heated debate on Monday night.
Penrith’s nail-biting extra-time victory over Newcastle on Saturday night has reignited discussion about golden point, with Rothfield believing it’s unfair the Knights come away empty-handed despite matching the reigning premiers in regulation time.
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He put forward a solution; adopting a similar competition points system to the AFL where a regular season win would be worth four points, two more than under the current system.
Golden point wins would then be worth three points, with a side that loses after extra-time collecting one point. A drawn match after extra-time would mean teams take two points each.
“You blokes can knock it all you want. I am backing myself because it’s a sensible idea. We need to copy the AFL and every win should be worth four competition points,” Rothfield said.
“I felt so sorry for Newcastle walking away with nothing the other day.
“If you go to four competition points, and if it’s golden point the winner gets three the loser gets one. And if it’s a draw you get two each. What difference is it going to make to the competition table by having four points for wins?
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“… The only difference it makes is when a side like Newcastle plays so brave, so strong, so willing against Penrith they’re entitled to get a point.”
Rothfield, however, found little support from NRL co-hosts Paul Kent and Braith Anasta, or fellow panellist Brent Read.
“That’s the beauty of sport. You lose the game you walk away with nothing,” Kent said.
“… it’s like every kid gets a ribbon?”
Anasta agreed tough losses such as the one the Knights suffered were “part of sport” while Read added: “Over the course of the season Buzz, it will even out. If they (Newcastle) keep putting in that sort of effort they’ll get the rewards over the course of the season but you can’t give a team a point for losing.”
Kent said the Knights “blew it” in the closing stages of the match as Penrith marched downfield in the first set of extra-time, allowing Nathan Cleary to hit the winning field goal from just inside the 40m mark.
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There has been widespread debate about the current rules since the match but Kent, in his Daily Telegraph column on the issue, took aim at “professors taking out their pencils” and wanting to “reinvent the game.”
“For every winner there has to be a loser,” Kent wrote.
“Attempts to somehow find a way to reward Newcastle challenges what most find captivating about elite sport. It takes us back to the schoolyard mentality where every kid gets a ribbon nowadays.
“It is a weakness in society.
“… they (Newcastle) had a chance to defend their way to a win and fell short. And sometimes that is what sport is about.”
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