The 2021 NRL season is beyond saving and fans know it

Fans are revolting against the NRL and two tweets show exactly why the game needs to hit the panic button, blow it up and start again.

NRL 2021 RD15 Melbourne Storm v Wests Tigers - Tigers Dejection. Picture: NRL Photos

A perfect storm of blunders has turned rugby league into an unwatchable game right now.

In the blink of an eye, Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys has gone from the saviour of the NRL to the man who has pushed it into a position where it is beyond saving this season.

As shown by rugby league guru Phil Gould over the weekend, fans are revolting. Much worse, anger has turned to an apathetic disillusionment and televisions being turned off.

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The NRL’s instant crackdown has caused outrage across the game with many contests being decided by the amount of sin-binned players.

The sin-bin coinciding with the set re-start rules introduced last year to speed up the game means it only takes a spark of momentum for teams to pile on points in the space of a few minutes.

This weekend alone, the Rabbitohs beat the Broncos 46-0, the Panthers beat the Roosters 38-12, the Storm beat the Tigers 66-16 and the Eels beat the Bulldogs 36-10.

Luke Thompson of the Bulldogs is sent to the sin bin during round 15.

Last weekend Manly beat the Tigers 50-18. The Storm beat the Warriors 42-16 and the Eels beat the Tigers 40-12.

The volatile rule changes has have coincided by some clubs being completely unsuited to the increased speed of the game, while other clubs have simply bottled their recruitment and salary cap punishment. The Bulldogs are 2-12 for the season, the Broncos are 3-12. The Tigers and Titans have also been basket-cases at 5-10.

Among the outrage this weekend, comments from rugby league reporters Steve Zemek and Phil Lutton best sum-up the broken trust between fans and the game.

Zemek posted on Twitter: “I’ve never been so disengaged with the NRL. There are only two teams that can win the comp.

“The haves are so far in front of the have-nots it’s become hopelessly boring. 95% of games are irrelevant. NRL needs an urgent investigation.”

Lutton responded: “This is correct. Quite simply the rule changes have made it unwatchable. What point is fast football without even the hint of a contest?”

The rot started as early as Round 1.

Last year the NRL unveiled a suite of rule changes introduced with a view towards “less stoppages, more unpredictability and increased excitement for our fans”.

Last season’s “six-again” rule for ruck infringements sped the game up considerably and rugby league bosses have gone even further this year. Being offside within 10m now results in six more tackles, rather than a full-blown penalty, while scrums have been ditched in favour of play-the-balls when the ball or a player goes over the sideline.

The Storm enjoyed the rule changes against the Tigers this weekend.

NRL great Brett Finch earlier this year also went nuclear on the NRL’s rule changes, exposing the ridiculous mistake the game made when introducing the foul play crack down.

Three send-offs, 14 sin bins and 13 weeks worth of suspensions was the result in the first weekend of matches in May.

Finch revealed the ripple effect of crackdown and how it has completely cancelled out the exact thing the new enforcement of the rules was designed to do.

“By speeding the game up there’s going to be more fatigue,” Finch said on former NRL player Denan Kemp’s Bloke In A Bar podcast.

“With more fatigue comes errors. That’s in terms of with the ball, that’s in terms of missed tackles, that’s in terms of tackles that can go wrong or poor technique that can create high tackles. Now the crazy thing about this is, he (V’landys) wants to nullify it, so he’s going to sin bin people and send people off. Guess what that’s going to create? More fatigue. There’s going to be less people on the field. They’re going to have to work harder. More fatigue. Bigger score blow outs. It’s ridiculous. He doesn’t know what he’s doing.”