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All they are doing is considering what is already in place in the NRL. Hardly a ‘brainchild’.

The shot clock is a good thing imo, stops a lot of time wasting and speeds the game up increasing the chances of a better spectacle. The way they do it in the NRL it does require a big screen at every game.

I’m not a fan of golden point except for knockout games. Nowt wrong with a good old fashioned draw.

it seems a lot of Aussies don't like Golden POint and wish they had *proper* draws like we do. I agree. The shot clock is not a bad idea and works well there, though.

But if you want to attract a bigger audience, the main thing is clean up the ruck, in my view.

Totally agree re the " ruck" If you want to watch wrestling and mauling around on the floor etc then watch RU, the way the wrestle and slowing down of the play the ball has crept into the game in the last 10 years has greatly changed what we get as a spectacle. It needs sorting by officials and coaches or the speccies will continue to leave.

Agreed but the ridiculous obstruction rules need to be sorted out - but the biggest killer for me is the time taken by video ref decisions - so many replays of an incident takes forever and kills the momentum of the game- for any neutrals/casual watchers it must be really off putting. I would have a time/number of replays limit and then stick with the on-field decision (and have penalties if teams do not form scrums quicker - how long does it take to form up now?).

Hopefully we can agree to just give them rights to SL if that's the case. The Championship looks like an exciting competition next year even if it isn't glamorous. Maybe, for example, we can have a £35m SL deal with sky and a £5m Champ/League 1 deal with Premier/BT rather than a £40m deal for everything as it is currently. Then at least we have two broadcasters to compete with each other for the following contract, and Championship teams get an opportunity to market themselves. I can't see sky being that bothered as long as it doesn't clash, they would still be able to show the same games they would have anyway.

I can't believe people above think ruck speed and obstruction interpretations register as significant issues as we continue our gradual descent to eentually becoming a semi-pro sport, re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic!

I wonder what time it will be when a game finishes on a Thursday or Friday night if there's a draw after 80 minutes, should this come to pass? Sky's kick off times will have be brought forward again.

So dwindling tv audiences and attendances don't matter? If the game keeps dropping tv viewers from Sky then the next tv deal will be much worse than the current deal - it is all PART of making the sport attractive to not just hardcore fans like us but the wider viewing public , baffling rules and long drawn out interruptions will not help .Lets face it the Sky money is only keeping the game afloat - without it the game would be semi-pro at best. When the deal is renewed and it is , as is quite possible, on much reduced terms due to poorer viewing figures then the consequences could be dire. Cricket is going through a similar issue - the faster T20 is doing well but the 4 days game is dying on its feet.

I will freely admit there are many much bigger and more important issues but the issues I mentioned would be easily fixable and a quick win- the other issues, as we have seen with the internal squabbling over the changes to the format for next season are much harder to resolve. Sadly the game is struggling at the moment and some within the administration of the game seem to either want to bury their heads in the sand or just hope it all works out on its own. I fear for the future of the game which is a shame because it is the best sport to watch when it is played at it's best (such as the recent Saints v Wigan game) relying on just the loyal fan base is not enough to keep the game going.

I’ve always thought the next tv deal will make the current one seem like a huge payday for the sport,I think it’ll be well down on the current one and I’m not sure who’s going to pick the slack up?fantasy stuff like amazon and Netflix?not in my lifetime,Sky again depends if the Disney deal goes through I’d assume they only want rights for worldwide sport such as football,will they even be interested in a niche sport?

Very uncertain times for the sport

Yep. That’s why i said in brackets after it “copied from the NRL”

The thing that is just utterly baffling to me is that we’ve got the same game, played under different rules in the two leagues. Then you’ve got international rules, it’s just ridiculous. The RLIF need to grow a set and have both leagues playing under the same rules and the International game to boot.

The RFL bringing in Golden Point is utterly bizarre as draws generally are cracking games to watch. Bringing this in would do nothing for the dwindling crowds both on TV and the stadia.

IMHO Thursday night games is the largest contributory factor towards declining attendances. Games are played in almost-empty stadiums and the number of ST sales will have fallen simply because we have every chance of at least two of our home games being switched at short notice to a day we cant make.