18th man in the NRL?🤕

[Mighty_Tiger]

I don't see coaches taking advantage of an 18th man.... in reality that player is no better than anyone in the 17, if your guy fails a HIA then he misses the rest of the game and possibly your next game. Not worth it at all, plus aren't the tests done by independent doctors?

If they want to keep speeding up the game they should expect more injuries and concussions. Fatigued players make silly mistakes which leads to leaving a lazy arm out or putting their head in the wrong spot

This whole fatigue = entertainment idea is dumb anyway. The little man has always been the focus of footy even without these new rules and this year it's lead to some absolutely stinkers of games with two teams exhausted playing crap or one team flogging another team.

PVL has pushed these new rules without really thinking about it and the stats don't do him any favours. Points per game are the same, the ball is in play for the same amount of time but there's way more errors and injuries compared to last year - is that really better quality footy?

Of course coaches will.
Think the only way to avoid that would be to have a time duration rule. So if a player is ruled out before halftime 18th man is in play. If it happens 2nd half bad luck.

 

[Geo]

Yes hold back an elite player as 18th man..then unleash him when the time is right..great plan..

 

[Rugba]

I think they would just unleash an extra forward, and clubs with more depth will benefit
We have coaches use every single rule to their benefit and they try to cheat every rule because they know there is only so much a ref and game will go after them . Just a few and not limited to
- blood bin exploited
- hia exploited big time at beginning with the magical 20 min mark head bin replacements
- even 6 again , with deliberate slowing down on 1st tackle
-unlimited interchange

The coaches etc fooled the game into changing rule from just 4 replacements to unlimited to 12 to the then now in the name of player safety , but was just a scam to have fresher players on and that is why there is more injuries , also as cooper Cronk said last night , don’t go half cocked on one round of injuries look over the duration of a many rounds -early rounds always more injuries as players not conditioned yet

 

[JC99]

I don't see coaches taking advantage of an 18th man.... in reality that player is no better than anyone in the 17, if your guy fails a HIA then he misses the rest of the game and possibly your next game. Not worth it at all, plus aren't the tests done by independent doctors?

If they want to keep speeding up the game they should expect more injuries and concussions. Fatigued players make silly mistakes which leads to leaving a lazy arm out or putting their head in the wrong spot

This whole fatigue = entertainment idea is dumb anyway. The little man has always been the focus of footy even without these new rules and this year it's lead to some absolutely stinkers of games with two teams exhausted playing crap or one team flogging another team.

PVL has pushed these new rules without really thinking about it and the stats don't do him any favours. Points per game are the same, the ball is in play for the same amount of time but there's way more errors and injuries compared to last year - is that really better quality footy?

Of course coaches will.
Think the only way to avoid that would be to have a time duration rule. So if a player is ruled out before halftime 18th man is in play. If it happens 2nd half bad luck.

I'm almost certain it's independent doctors who decide on the HIA rulings... if an 18th man was that good he would be in the 17. Even if it's not Independent doctors the tests are always done a certain way, you can't just pretend someone failed it.

 

[rihannafan1]

No. Just stop changing the rules. If you introduce the interchange rule I bet it will lead to more changes. All because NRL want to make the game insanely fast. Revert back to the way they were last year and any new rules can be introduced on a year's notice. Stop screwing teams over who plan for the rules of the game to be a certain way and stop changing rules left, right and centre.

We don't need an 18th or 19th man and haven't done forever.

 

[Red88_Tiger]

Why don’t they just player match. When player fails hia the at fault player from foul play only must be subbed from the field at the next stoppage of play after hia failed

 

[jirskyr]

Why can't you make the 18th man only applicable if the bench is reduced to a certain size, or at a certain timepoint, due to HIAs?

I'm all for letting it occur at any time due to foul play (on report) and theoretically that should cover many situations.

However a new issue with the bench has emerged because HIAs so easily rule out footballers who are otherwise well enough to keep playing. You saw with Raiders, a case of friendly-fire took out 50% of their reserves in one incident.

The 4-man bench was not designed for a scenario where one or two head clashes can decimate a bench. The players forced to play on without substitution then have even greater risk of fatigue-related injury, particularly concussions. Many concussions come from poor technique or timing, which is heavily influenced by fatigue. It's very likely that the NRL have a duty of care to not only bench concussed players, but to reduce the risk of further concussions for the tired players still on-field.

I am guessing it's inevitable, so you need stipulations to rule out most avenues of abuse:

(1) free use of 18th man for incidents placed on report - doesn't matter if this one is abused by coaches, you should have all options available to you if an opponent illegally takes your player out

(2) 18th man can only be used when bench is reduced to 1 or 2 available reserves, which is a situation a coach can probably not artificially create.

(3) 18th man cannot be used in the last 10 or 15 minutes for any reason, so a coach can't just bring on a freshie when he's spent his bench. It needs to be at a timepoint where the coach would not otherwise voluntarily empty the bench to get a fresh player on.

(4) Independent NRL doctor at ground has to verify all usages of the 18th man against confirmed HIA failures.

As Geo noted, there's no way in hell a coach keeps an elite game-changing player as 18th man. It will almost certainly always be a forward, so you are then talking a fringe first grader. For all the talk of "teams being stacked", for sides like Roosters, you are actually talking about inexperienced forwards like Fletcher Baker.

 

[Tiger_Fanatic3]

I agree. I hope all these rule changes which are for entertainment purposes are worth it because this is carnage and it’s round 3 🤔 #player-welfare

 

[hobbo1]

I agree. I hope all these rule changes which are for entertainment purposes are worth it because this is carnage and it’s round 3 🤔 #player-welfare

We’ve seemed to have fared well ..
Touch wood 🪵

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

18th man should only be used if it's a result of foul play.

 

[diedpretty]

I am in favour of 18/19 man for genuine injuries but we all know that some coaches will abuse it the first chance they get.Example player X is having a shocker and a message goes to the trainer to get him off the field "injured" and unable to return,player 18 takes his place.Its a great idea but will be abused

If it came in i would imagine they could only be used where a team has lost a player due to failing HIA - if no players fail HIA then 18th and 19th man take no part in the game.

 

[Telltails]

Not going to be getting much footy if your the eighteenth man.

 

[voice_of_reason]

Not going to be getting much footy if your the eighteenth man.

It should be old school, they grab one of the Reggies players whose already played a full game.

 

[WT2K]

Rothfield saying 18th man will be Signed off tomorrow at commission meeting

 

[JC99]

Rothfield saying 18th man will be Signed off tomorrow at commission meeting

Apparently 18th man can only be used if you have 3 players ruled out for concussion.

 

[Tigerlily]

Rothfield saying 18th man will be Signed off tomorrow at commission meeting

Apparently 18th man can only be used if you have 3 players ruled out for concussion.

I guess it’s a way to stop the rule being exploited if it’s implemented.

 

[cochise]

Rothfield saying 18th man will be Signed off tomorrow at commission meeting

Apparently 18th man can only be used if you have 3 players ruled out for concussion.

I think that is actually not a bad way of doing it, apparently they are also looking at having the 18th man be a development player.

 

[Swordy]

I'm totally against 18th man. You have 4 reserves, use them wisely. This will just be another change that is rorted by the coaches, as it was in week 1 of the AFL where EVERY TEAM tjT round used it.

How about if you are replaced HIA and you use the 18th man, you are automatically ruled out of any selections the next week? That will ensure your health and stop the rorting.

But just to add an 18th or 19th man, this will just turn into NFL with separate attack and defense teams. So much for a game built on attrition.

 

[Geo]

We have the perfect guys

18 Moses Mbye..covers Head injury in the backs
19 Russell Packer ..covers Head injury in the forwards

 

[Telltails]

18th man - perfect postion for the player who just wants to get to his paychecque without having to contribute too much. Unless there are two Hia's he doesn't play.