{"id":867217,"date":"2026-08-24T23:30:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T23:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/867217\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T23:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T23:30:12","slug":"nrl-news-2026-kick-off-rule-change-phil-gould-paul-gallen-and-james-tedesco-comments-100-footy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/867217\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026: Kick-off rule change; Phil Gould, Paul Gallen and James Tedesco comments; 100% Footy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Gallen<\/a> has labelled the NRL<\/a>\u2019s controversial kick-off rule change as \u201cridiculous\u201d as fans prepare to see the first trial of it this weekend.<\/p>\n

Thursday night\u2019s clash between Brisbane and Melbourne<\/a> will have the team that concedes a try given the option to restart by either kicking off or receiving the football. Rugby league rules currently have the team that concedes the try kicking the ball off, meaning the scoring team almost always gets the ball back.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Paul Gallen reacts to the rule change.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

The NRL wanted to introduce that rule at the start of this season<\/a>, but the backlash of clubs quashed the idea. <\/p>\n

Wayne Bennett was the biggest fan of the rule in pre-season as the NRL looked for ways to combat blowout scorelines. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you like the old rule, and you don\u2019t like the new rule, stick with the old rule \u2026 if you listen to some of these guys, we\u2019d still be playing with unlimited tackles, and players would still be wearing black boots with white laces,\u201d he previously told The Sydney Morning Herald. <\/p>\n

Now the rule has been implemented for the final two rounds in NRL and NRLW matches that have no finals implications. <\/p>\n

On Nine\u2019s 100% Footy, Gallen immediately shook his head when asked about the change. <\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, this is ridiculous. We don\u2019t need all these rule changes, the game\u2019s been so good for such a long time, I don\u2019t get this one,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Phil Gould<\/a> explained the rule isn\u2019t new, having been trialled during the Super League era when English clubs were being beaten comprehensively. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt made it worse, it absolutely made it worse,\u201d he said bluntly. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you win the toss in a big game, what\u2019s the first thing you say? We\u2019ll kick off. Why? Because it\u2019s easier to get down the other end. Now you\u2019re going to make it harder for the other team to get down the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roosters fullback James Tedesco<\/a> also sat on the panel and explained the rule was one that players didn\u2019t want to happen during pre-season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be interesting to see it in play and see how it turns out, I think I\u2019m with Gal, I\u2019m not a fan of it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Gallen has labelled the NRL\u2019s controversial kick-off rule change as \u201cridiculous\u201d as fans prepare to see the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":867218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-867217","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\/867217","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=867217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}