Time to give extra-time the boot

RUGBY league should adopt a tennis tie-break scoring system to solve the dilemma of golden point extra-time bore-fests.

adam

RUGBY league should adopt a tennis tie-break scoring system to solve the dilemma of golden point extra-time bore-fests.

It is fair to say the shine has been taken off the golden point system in recent months, with Monday night's Sharks-Roosters draw featuring seven failed field goal attempts.

The problem is that the supposed simplicity of a field goal is enough to win a game immediately, prompting teams to play only for field position to set up for the drop kick.

It is boring, predictable football that fans are growing tired of watching.

Either the NRL needs to commit to a full 10-minute extra-time period or, better yet, look at how tennis decides the winner in a tie-break situation, which can only be closed out if a player is ahead by two points.

If such a theory was applied to extra time, it would take two field goals to end a game.

Even if someone nailed a field goal in the opening minute, the opposition would still have a chance to snatch victory and could even end the game with a try.

Another key argument against sudden-death extra-time is the referees' fear of blowing a penalty. If they remove the option to take a shot at goal from penalties, and use the sin bin for teams who commit repeated fouls in extra time, attacking football would be promoted as teams searched to win with a try rather than repeated field goal attempts.

The other issue that must be addressed is the value of competition points and whether they are fairly distributed in extra-time games. An extra-time win should not be worth the same as a win in 80 minutes. Nor should an extra-time loss be worth no competition points if the team was good enough to be level at full time. The NRL points structure should change to reward an outright win with four competition points, an extra-time win with three points, an extra-time draw with two points and an extra-time loss with one point.

If such a rule had been applied in the NRL last year, North Queensland would have finished above the Warriors on the NRL table, which would have significantly changed the finals series.