The NRL is set to introduce concussion substitutes but the league’s fear of gamesmanship and its refusal to trust coaches will ensure the rule is only enacted in “the most dire of circumstances”.
Round five has been earmarked as the first week where teams can name an ‘emerging player’ as an 18th man.
But teams will only be allowed to call on the player once they have three players ruled out with concussion.
While round three was marred by nearly two dozen injuries, just one team this year – Cronulla last weekend – would have had access to the concussion substitute.
The commission will discuss the rule with clubs, coaches and the Rugby League Players’ Association (RLPA) before ratifying the conditions for its use.
The ARL Commission has yet to define who will be eligible under the ‘emerging’ criteria but chairman Peter V’landys said clubs must not recycle the same player each week.
“We see this as an opportunity to give an emerging player a taste of first-grade rugby league in their team’s time of need,” V’landys said.
“The 18th player will also have to be rotated weekly so you don’t have a young player missing out on playing lower grades every week.
“All fans agree we don’t want to see a situation where a club is left with one player on the bench and this rule change will provide insurance for all clubs.
“It will also only be activated in the most dire of circumstances for a club, so we don’t see it having a material impact on games every week.”
The RLPA called for the substitute rule after more than 20 players were injured last weekend but NRL stars themselves remained split on the issue.
There are concerns that a more open rule – as seen in the AFL this year with its hastily introduced ‘medical substitute’ – would be exploited by coaches.
The condition that teams must have lost three players to concussion before activating the replacement player at least goes part way to allaying those gamesmanship fears.
“With the speed of the game there are going to be unfortunate injuries in the game,” Parramatta prop Junior Paulo said.
“I can see ways around it and ways teams will exploit it. My opinion is it’s unfortunate there are injuries in our game but we play a tough sport so there are always going to be injuries.”
Melbourne prop Christian Welch backed the introduction of an extra player for concussion but had hoped teams could utilise a substitute after “one or two” players went down.
“If you open it up to just injuries in general as the AFL has done, it could be abused,” Welch said on Tuesday morning.
“It’s such a fatiguing game these days with the new rules that if you are down to one or two on the bench through a concussion, where you’re looking after the long-term health of the player I don’t think you should be penalised for that.”
While the AFL has this season also introduced a mandatory 12-day stand-down policy for players who have suffered concussion, NRL players can still play the following match if they are cleared by an independent doctor.
– with AAP