Roosters coach Trent Robinson has cautioned against an NFL-style kick-off change in the NRL, saying the game should be open to adapting for player safety as long as the changes don’t make the game “unrecognisable”.
The NFL’s rule change will have players from the kicking team lining up at the opponent’s 4src-yard line, to prevent high-impact collisions caused by the running starts of opposing players.
What that kind of change could look like for the NRL is up for debate, but it’s topical enough that even Robinson said he and veteran forward Jared Waerea-Hargreaves had spoken about it this week.
“I feel like there are certain points in a game that set the tone for how a game is going to be played, not many one-off plays can do that, and kick-offs have in our past,” Robinson said.
“So, I’m reluctant to lose the brutality that can go off a kick-off and the statement that can be made. And then, because of the brutality is why we’re discussing it as well. There are injuries that do come out of that, that’s why the NFL changed it. I’m a bit on the fence still on what we should do there, and how we do not injure guys, but we don’t want to take out of our games the statement plays as well.”
The NF
…. to be continued
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