{"id":386608,"date":"2026-01-23T19:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T19:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/386608\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T19:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T19:18:08","slug":"hull-fc-coach-responds-to-key-rule-change-and-explains-impact-on-his-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/386608\/","title":{"rendered":"Hull FC coach responds to key rule change and explains impact on his side"},"content":{"rendered":"

A quicker game is expected in 2026.<\/p>\n

13:17, 23 Jan 2026Updated 13:20, 23 Jan 2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Hull FC celebrate a Lewis Martin try.(Image: )<\/p>\n

Hull FC face their first game under rugby league\u2019s new play-the-ball rules against Huddersfield Giants this Sunday afternoon, with a quicker and cleaner ruck expected this year.<\/p>\n

In an effort to speed up the Super League competition and align it to Australia\u2019s NRL, players will be penalised more harshly for play-the-ball infringements this season, namely for laying on in the ruck, with coaches across Super League already reporting an increase in the speed of the game in the friendly matches played so far.<\/p>\n

That has led to more space for attacking players and more attacking opportunities to the general game, something which, in Hull assistant coach Simon Grix\u2019s eyes, is only going to benefit Super League in the long run.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeeding the game up has made the NRL very entertaining,\u201d Grix told Hull Live. \u201cI think the benefits are going to be across the board.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt won’t just be the spine players, if you like, who will benefit; our back rowers and our middles who are in the thick of it, they will all be learning and getting used to seeing the ruck speed up a bit, listening to the referees cues, and taking advantage of it all when a quick ruck does happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s offensively, but with the other side of the ball, we’ve got to get to grips with it defensively, and how that goes. There’s lots to learn and lots to get at over the next couple of weeks, but I think it’ll be pretty good for our game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will speed things up and create more space for everyone. I’m excited to add it to what is already a great game.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Grix, there\u2019s also an acceptance that some inconsistencies will occur at the start of the season as referees, as well as players, get to grips with the new speeds.<\/p>\n

Outlining the need for some patience, the coach continued: \u201cThere are a few things in there that will take some time. The lads are used to doing things a certain way, so it will take them some time, and that goes hand in hand with the referees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’ve refereed the game a certain way for a chunk of time now, and they’re going to have to get to grips with the little modifications that they’re making.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure it won’t be perfectly consistent for the opening few weeks, certainly the friendlies, but we’ll all get to grips with it eventually. Again, it\u2019s only going to add to our game and make it more exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A quicker game is expected in 2026. 13:17, 23 Jan 2026Updated 13:20, 23 Jan 2026 Hull FC celebrate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[20805,5903,20370,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-386608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-hull-fc","tag-rugby","tag-rugby-league","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}