{"id":339417,"date":"2025-12-10T12:47:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T12:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/339417\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T12:47:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T12:47:13","slug":"nrl-2025-coaches-back-radical-rule-change-to-double-interchange-bench","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/339417\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2025: Coaches back radical rule change to double interchange bench"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leading NRL coaches have thrown their support behind a radical proposal to potentially double the interchange bench to eight players in a rule change that would shake up rugby league. <\/p>\n

Premiership winning coaches including Wayne Bennett, Ivan Cleary, Craig Bellamy, Ricky Stuart and Michael Maguire, as well as Cronulla\u2019s Craig Fitzgibbon, met earlier this month and found unified support in expanding the NRL game day squad to up to 21 players.<\/p>\n

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That would double the size of the interchange bench from four to eight players, but the current limit of eight interchanges per game would remain, and only four players from the eight could be called upon.<\/p>\n

At the moment, NRL teams are allowed to have an 18th man on the bench, but they are rarely used \u2014 only after two failed head injury assessments (HIAs).<\/p>\n

Extending the interchange bench would allow coaches to have a bigger pool of players to call on to replace a player in a specialised position.<\/p>\n

For instance, when Melbourne centre Jack Howarth suffered a game-ending groin injury early in this year\u2019s grand final, the Storm replaced him with utility Tyran Wishart, who had to play the game out of position.<\/p>\n

Raiders five-eighth Ethan Strange was ruled out of his side\u2019s semi-final loss to Cronulla on game day with illness, but Canberra couldn\u2019t replace him with a like-for-like playmaker such as Ethan Sanders because he wasn\u2019t in the team\u2019s 19-man squad. <\/p>\n

Most teams traditionally have three forwards and a back on their four-man bench, but an expanded interchange would give coaches more choice on who to inject into the game, perhaps bringing on an X-factor attacking player.<\/p>\n

Panthers coach Ivan Cleary said per the SMH<\/a>: \u201cI\u2019m keen on it, as I\u2019m old enough to have used the concept of four from six on the bench when I coached reserve grade in the early 2000s. <\/p>\n

\u201cI liked it then as it provides specialist cover for specialist injuries, while also allowing the tactical replacements pending game situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maguire said: \u201cA bench of six makes the game a better spectacle when fans can see the players in their positions at their best, plus it improves player welfare, particularly with growing concerns re head injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ezra<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a halfback goes down, we\u2019ve got a legitimate seven on the bench,\u201d Roosters premiership winner Bryan Fletcher said on SEN.<\/p>\n

The expanded interchange could potentially negate the role of the utility \u2014 the bench player wearing the No. 14 jersey who can fill a variety of positions, usually in the halves and hooker.<\/p>\n

NRL reporter Michael Carayannis said the potential rule change could change the attritional nature of rugby league contests. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t love it. I think there is an element in this game of natural attrition, which has been a hallmark of rugby league for so long,\u201d Carayannis said on SEN.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is not to put out battered guys or guys that have got those head knocks. Because we have safeguarded that now with the 18th man.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think because we have got that 18th man, I don\u2019t think we need this situation where we are going to carry six players on the bench.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have set up the game now where the utility is so vital. Having that player, that jack-of-all-trades, has become a key component of the side. You would lose that.\u201d<\/p>\n

SEN host Jimmy Smith said: \u201cIf this is introduced, the value of the utility goes through the floor. You do not need them anymore \u2026 I think it is a knee-jerk reaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ARL Commission is voting on the proposal on Wednesday, and a proposal for an eight-man interchange bench is expected to be rejected, but a game day squad of 19 or 20 players could get the green light.<\/p>\n

Originally published as NRL coaches back radical rule change to double interchange bench<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leading NRL coaches have thrown their support behind a radical proposal to potentially double the interchange bench to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[115333,64,63,91888,10122,8089,4738,188673,4516,188670,188671,20924,188672,188666,188675,188002,74192,188665,7289,5098,4569,188676,37970,6407,761,762,158,23861,123400,52764,188667,188674,188664,7291,159,38794,188669,85,188668,1651],"class_list":["post-339417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-arl-commission","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bench-player","tag-bryan-fletcher","tag-craig-bellamy","tag-craig-fitzgibbon","tag-eight-man-interchange-bench","tag-ethan-sanders","tag-expanded-interchange","tag-failed-head-injury","tag-game-day","tag-game-day-squad","tag-game-situations","tag-game-ending-groin-injury","tag-head-injuries","tag-head-injury-assessments","tag-host-jimmy-smith","tag-interchange-bench","tag-ivan-cleary","tag-jack-howarth","tag-knee-jerk-reaction","tag-matthew-sullivan","tag-michael-maguire","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-panthers-coach","tag-player-welfare","tag-premiership-winner","tag-radical-proposal","tag-radical-rule-change","tag-raiders-five-eighth","tag-ricky-stuart","tag-rugby-league","tag-rule-change","tag-specialised-position","tag-sports","tag-stars-ready","tag-wayne-bennett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}