The Rugby Football League (RFL) board has approved a number of significant changes to the on-field sentencing guidelines, with amendments made to the disciplinary system.
The ‘Grade F’ charge has been re-introduced and will be applied to the more serious acts of misconduct.
A Grade E charge now consistutes 18 penalty points while any Grade F charge would see a player hit with 36 penalty points on their record.
Elsewhere, a player will no longer be instantly referred on to an Operational Rules Tribunal (ORT) for matters graded by the Match Review Panel (MRP).
However, if the MRP see fit, they can still refer a matter on to the ORT, so we will likely see a reduction in the number of tribunals but not a complete oblivion of them.
The big news from the amendments of the guidelines however comes in terms of the penalty points process, which has been revamped on the eve of the new Super League season.
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RFL confirm major disciplinary shake-up for 2026
Last year, when a player received three or more penalty points and served the resulting sanction, those penalty points were halved on the record (-50%).
Now, ALL penalty points will be subject to a 75% reduction once the sanction has been served, so only 25% of the points incurred by each offence will remain on record for the 12 months which follow.
As an example, a Grade A offence which results in one penalty point will now eventually only see 0.25 points left on the record.
This move has been made to try and reduce the impact players’ previous records have on them if any future offences are committed.
The RFL have produced this table as an example of how the new system will work…
Opening points
Grade
Offence points
Total Points
Sanction
Carry Forward Penalty Points (75% reduction)
0
A
1
1
No sanction
0.25
1
A
1
1.25
No sanction
0.25
2
A
1
1.5
No sanction
0.25
2.5
C
5
5.75
Fine
1.25
5
B
3
5
Fine
0.75
6.5
D
12
14.75
2 matches
3
12.5
A
1
6.75
1 match
0.25
HUGE play-off advantage revealed with new disciplinary system
The RFL also confirmed a major change in that come the play-offs at the end of the season, any previous points will be frozen and not considered.
Only penalty points accrued in the play-offs count towards any additional misconduct. Those penalty points add onto the players’ original tally once the play-offs come to an end.
As an example, a player could be serving a ban for the penalty points they accrued during the regular season, and miss their team’s Round 28 fixture.
But if his or her team made the play-offs, they’d become available again with a ‘play-off penalty points’ record of 0 to begin with.
That player could theoretically pick up a Grade A offence worth one penalty point during an eliminator tie and then do the same again in a semi-final. But their play-off penalty points record would still only sit at 2 in that scenario, and they would not be banned for the Grand Final.
However, those 2 penalty points – and any they accrued from the Grand Final itself – would then be added to their overall record ahead of the following season, so in theory, they could find themselves back suspended then.
Any penalty points which did not receive a 75% reduction in the 2025 season will be retrospectively reduced ahead of the 2026 season.