My Mate Ronnie wrote:
Good point regarding the play of the ball . I can’t recall the exact year but at the start of one season the RFL clamped down on the play on the ball , however it didn’t last long.
At the start of season 2018 the NRL announced a clampdown on 2 areas-- at the play the ball, play the ball with the foot( or at least make a genuine attempt to do so ) and the 10 metre/offside rule particularly when defending within the 20 metre zone(eg.one foot on the line across the whole defence line). The second was abandoned about a third of the way into the season when penalty counts blew out massively in some games and supporters,pundits, commentators and journalists said the game was being ruined as a spectacle by enforcing the rule.
The clampdown on playing the ball with the foot was a success and lasted the whole season-- stark difference between watching NRL and SL is in this rule with the ball hardly ever touching the foot in SL.
Finally to your earlier comment on 1 point each for a draw and another for the winner in a GP shootout. It was advanced by a few well respected pundits(including Peter Sterling). Didn't carry through,however, as people didn't take to the concept of 3 points for GP games and 2 for the vast majority of others.