Flashscore understands that NRL HQ will on Tuesday tick off the Thursday night match between Canterbury Bulldogs and Brisbane Broncos and Sunday afternoon game involving St George Illawarra Dragons and Parramatta Eels as two more opportunities to trial an alteration to the existing kick-off rule.
Neither match will shape the top-eight, with all four teams eliminated from the finals race.
The league had made their intentions clear earlier this year to use 'dead rubber' late-season matches as an opportunity to afford the trial rule a real-world application test, which gives any team that concedes points the option of whether to kick-off or elect to receive at the restart.
The rule had been proposed for the 2026 season back in February but was unanimously rejected by all 17 NRL clubs, who felt it was a confusing and unnecessary change.
The only active head coach who has since spoken in favour of the trial is Souths legend Wayne Bennett, who said this week the rule change has "a lot of benefits" and those clubs who don't wish to use the option to receive instead of kick can simply choose not to.
"If you don’t want to use the benefits, well just do what you always did, because you’ve got a choice," Bennett said.
The existing rule forces the team that conceded to kick-off and has been attributed by some at league HQ to the kind of ugly blowouts and one-sided scores that league bosses want to minimise as much as possible.
It was first tried out during Melbourne Storm's Round 26 46-20 win over Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium where, despite 12 tries being scored throughout the game, the option to receive was taken up only three times - all in the second half.
On two of the three occasions, the Storm extended their lead despite having to kick off at the restart.
Storm captain Harry Grant, vice-captain Cameron Munster and Broncos veteran Ben Hunt all spoke out against the rule change after the match, with Grant describing it as "a rule to counteract the rules we’ve brought in" and calling for the commission to instead look into how they can reach their desired outcome by simplifying instead of complicating the rules.
Hunt said there was "no need to tinker" with what he believed is a sport and a league in excellent shape.
Meanwhile, Grant took particular umbrage at being forced to nominate whether his team wanted to kick or receive prior to a try conversion kick being taken.
“If it’s a draw and a team choose to kick-off or receive and then they go and kick the two points, your decision might be void," he said.
“There’s no real reward for it and I’m pretty strong on that."
His comments were backed up by stand-in Broncos skipper Carrigan, who said it "would be common sense" to allow on-field captains to make their decision after a conversion.
Munster suggested after the match that the NRL was not consulting with the players on such impactful rule changes.
"Sometimes you need to talk to the players as well - we’re not robots," Munster added.
"We’re all about growing the game and developing it, but it would be nice if we sometimes talk to the players’ association.
“Maybe in trials next year you could experiment with it. It hurts and it stings a little bit because we’re not playing finals, so we're pretty much guinea pigs tonight."
Aaron Murphy has been with Flashscore since 2018 and, as the founding editor of the Australian newsdesk, has reported on-site at several major events in Melbourne including the Australian Open, State of Origin, A-League, NBL and international cricket. You can read his pieces here and contact him on X or LinkedIn.
