Wayne Bennett says time-wasting incidents are ‘killing’ rugby league
THE NRL’s greatest coach Wayne Bennett has taken aim at a series of issues he believes is a blight on the NRL.
NRL
Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THE NRL’s greatest coach Wayne Bennett has slammed calls for the interchange to be reduced from eight to six, claiming a slew of time-wasting incidents is “killing” rugby league.
It is understood the NRL competition committee — which meets today — is pushing for a reduction in the interchange to help address a worrying spate of injuries buffeting the code this season.
But Bennett, a former long-serving member of the rules committee, is adamant the number of interchanges must remain at eight, instead taking aim at a series of issues he believes is a blight on the game.
“I’d rather see us tighten up in those areas and see where are at, rather than racing to six (interchanges),” Bennett said.
“We’ll find more time to waste if we go to six because teams will be under more pressure physically.
“I will tell you what we have to fix up in the short term — we have to fix up the amount of time being wasted in the game. If we fix that up we may not need to go to six.
“There is that much time being wasted it embarrasses me as a coach to see what’s going on out there.
“We need to address that.”
Asked which areas are annoying him, Bennett unloaded.
“Changeovers kill me,” he said.
“One of the things that makes great games of football is being able to adapt to the actual game and have a changeover of play quickly so you put the opposition under some pressure, like the 20-metre restarts.
“There’s a lot of stuff in the game where there is a ball on the ground, it’s turned over, we stop the game, everyone has to be back perfectly in the line. All it does is give people more time to get their breath back.
“You can address the amount of time captains spend talking to referees, you start with injuries that stop the game, you can cut down the scrum time, 30 seconds is too long, guys getting sin-binned and walking off the field.
“There’s a whole lot of stuff that has to be tidied up.
“Now we are talking about going to six (interchanges). If we don’t fix this stuff, they will find a way to extend the game out further, because teams are all looking for a break and they use it strategically to get an advantage.”
Bennett pointed to an exhaustive video-referee review during the Cowboys-Tigers clash on Thursday night as an example of unnecessary time wasting.
“I watched the video ref for a try the other night,” he said.
“We want to reduce the interchange and here we are looking at replay after replay and it went on and on ... it’s killing us, it’s giving everyone a chance to get their breath back.
“When I started in coaching, if you got an injury they treated you while the game continued. Now we stop the whole game.
“It happened the other night where the young Cowboys player (Shaun Fensom) dislocated his elbow. He was at the other end of the field and they stopped the game for him.
“I will take the concussion stuff but the rest of the other stuff ... there is too much time-wasting.
“Who misses out? The fans. No fan wants to sit there and watch nothing happening.
“We can manage it a lot better.”
Originally published as Wayne Bennett says time-wasting incidents are ‘killing’ rugby league