The current head of the RFL’s match officials, Phil Bentham, has revealed that the top flight could have two significant rule changes for the 2026 Super League season, in a bid further increase the speed of the game.
Referees are always subject to criticism from fans, with almost all supporters, from any sport, having a go at the official at some point in their life.
However, as the recent documentary ‘Beyond The Whistle’ released by the RFL last week has shown, the refs are human and there’s a lot more that goes into their performances other than just turning up on game day.
Speaking to the Super League Raw podcast, Bentham was invited to discuss the benefits of the documentary, and explained how people have come up to him and said their eyes were opened in regards to the job of a referee after watching it.
Bentham, who is a former referee himself, also revealed that a potential two new rule changes could come into operation as early as next year, with the game looking to become faster and more streamlined.
The first rule, which is adopted from the NRL, would see the video referee system changed. Currently, if an official is not sure on a try, they would make an on-field call and the video referee would have to find evidence to overturn the decision.
Currently in the NRL, if the referee thinks a try has been scored, he will award the try and the video ref will look at replays off screen to make sure the correct call has been made. Super League are looking to bring this rule in, with Bentham saying it would be a huge benefit.
“Every time we think, as an on-field official, that it’s a try, we will award the try and the video ref will check that off-air in the background.
“That will be 50% of calls next year. You won’t see that [referee signal of a try] next year. We will just award the try, and then it will just be checked in the background while they’re setting the conversion up.”
In line with this year’s rulings, he added: “I’ll probably just clarify that if the referee think’s it’s no try, that will go up and will be checked as we do now.
“There’s a large percentage of [the tries checked] that we think we can clear off whilst the guy’s setting the conversion up.”
Explaining why the rule will be brought in, he said: “We have this fine balance of checking things for too long and looking at too many replays of the same thing. When we come in and do our reviews, we have to hold our hands up when we do that.
“But, there’s the other side of it, where decisions require that level of diligence, because they are difficult. What we have to improve is we need to improve the balance that we have.
“The decisions we can make quickly and easily, we need to make them quickly and easily. People will put up with the longer ones then, because they’re not all taking too long.”
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Former Super League referee reveals second potential rule change
Another potential rule change is the addition of a shot clock for goal kickers. Currently, the conversion taker has 80 seconds to take the kick before the ref calls time off. Often teams will take the full time up before taking the kick, either to time waste or to give their side that extra breather.
Discussing the proposed rule, he said: “It’s not confirmed yet, but it’s well-progressed.
“We’re looking at a shot clock on goal kicks to try and get the goal kicks away a little bit quicker.
“The guys, they are waiting for their heart rates to drop, preparing themselves, probably talking to the trainer, drinking some water. Hopefully a combination of the two, with the live review and the shot clock will speed that process up and get us back to kick-off a little bit quicker.
“[Time] will still be called off if we go past the one minute 20 because of the video ref reviewing. If the try is awarded, then it’s very quickly confirmed by the video ref, they will then get a shot clock. At the moment the proposal is 60 seconds, but we need to look at whether that time is right.
“We don’t want to reduce the skill level of the goal kicks, but we just need to make it a little bit quicker because we’re getting some at the moment that are over two minutes.”
To listen to the full podcast, you can visit the Super League Raw YouTube channel or by clicking here.
