NRL<\/a> CEO Andrew Abdo is set to meet with clubs this week to gather further feedback on a suite of potential rule changes earmarked for the 2026 season, with V’landys stressing innovation is key to continued growth.<\/p>\n“What people have to understand is that we have to make the game exciting for the fans,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We had 137 million viewers in 2019.<\/p>\n
“Now we’ve got 224 million.”<\/p>\n
V’landys pointed to the success of recent changes, including six-again restarts and the two-point field goal, as proof that the NRL’s willingness to evolve has paid dividends, particularly as negotiations loom over a broadcast deal expected to exceed $5 billion.<\/p>\n
“Sometimes leadership means you’ve got to make tough decisions,” he said.<\/p>\n
“You listen to people, but at the end of the day, as custodians, you do what you believe is in the best interests of the game.”<\/p>\n
While conceding the kick-off shake-up remains under review, V’landys argued the added tactical element could help prevent games from becoming one-sided and keep fans engaged.<\/p>\n
“The fact you can choose to kick off or receive is tactical,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It brings unpredictability to the game.”<\/p>\n
Whether that argument sways clubs remains to be seen, but it is clear that the ARL Commission isn’t backing away from change anytime soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Peter V’landys has doubled down on the NRL’s proposed kick-off rule change, insisting the commission won’t shy away…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-420975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420975","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=420975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"NRL](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/089A5734_e-scaled.jpg.webp.webp\"\/)
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 23: Hugo Savala kicking a conversion in the NRL match between Penrith Panthers and Sydney Roosters at CommBank Stadium, on August 23, 2025, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Joshua Davis\/Zero Digital Sports)<\/p>\n