KEY POINTS:
While rugby flounces about trying new rules that have clearly opened the game up but apparently will not be brought into widespread use, league has made one simple adjustment to achieve the same thing without rewriting the rule book.
The reduction from a 12 to a 10-man interchange will change some games, for sure, especially those where key players are injured and the bench is shortened to three. It means that in most games all the forwards will play more minutes.
Eighty-minute players will become more valuable; huge, hulking props and secondrowers who require breathers less so. It will open holes for the smaller scooters at the back end of each half as the big men tire of the collision work. And it will mean a change in approach for the coaches, who will have more video time as they analyse each other's adjustments.
It's doubtful that anyone will abandon the two-hooker approach. But the four-forward bench may be a thing of the past.
The game will get faster as a result of other changes to the interpretation of rules. Before bringing in the changes, the NRL took advice from former coaches including Warren Ryan, former players including Laurie Daley and Matt Rodwell (who is manager of the Players Association), its referees' boss Robert Finch and the Kangaroos and Bulldogs doctor Hugh Hazard.
The grapple tackle and the "crusher" where the head, neck or upper body of a tackled player is pushed into and held to the ground is outlawed, with officials told to use the red card and everyone warned that the judiciary will not treat such cases lightly.
This may affect the plans of Melbourne who were experts at grappling. It will mean players having to clear the tackle area more quickly, and defenders having to retreat the 10 metres quicker. It offers the attacking side the chance of a ragged line, with holes opening. It increases the stamina demand and the likelihood of fatigue.
Referees can now allow a quick 20 metre tap restart from a dead ball without waiting for the other team to take up defensive positions. They will also order quick goalline restarts, and penalise defenders for unreasonable delay. At the scrum, props on the feed side are now required to have their outside foot forward, so as to create a proper tunnel for the ball. Referees have been told to watch that players bind properly, the intention of both interpretive changes being to hold forwards in the scrum just that bit longer to allow the ball to clear to the backs.
Other than the interchange adjustment, the only other rule change is to allow a player to strip the ball from another who is in the act of scoring a try. But referees will this season be able to call on video refs for guidance in cases where there is doubt over whether a ball in play has been stripped or dropped.
The 2008 NRL appears to throw up some obvious candidates for the top end of the ladder and some who seem sure to inhabit the bottom rungs, with the majority of teams - on paper - looking like mid-tablers. The Storm stand out as title favourites, by some margin. They have the complete package and last year they let in just 277 points. Manly were the next-best defensive outfit, 100 points behind. Of the rest, only the Warriors on 434 were not more than 20 behind.
The Eels and Manly look likely to contest second and third, with the Warriors and Cowboys perhaps next strongest. It's hard to see any of the rest making Grand Final day. But hey, no one saw Wests Tigers coming in 2005.
The Bulldogs may be the big losers in 2008, dropping significant forward firepower in Willie Mason and Mark O'Meley. They also lack an established halves combination. Hooker Corey Hughes is no gamebreaker. Most of all, the club management is in disarray and has been for some time. Bitterness and infighting do not provide the platform for success. Rumours abound that coach Steve Folkes is on the outer.
While the Dogs have lost big-pay players they couldn't keep under the salary cap, other clubs are still suffering after making coaching changes and thus missing the player market for a season.
Canberra, the Sharks and the Panthers notably missed out.
The Dogs and Sharks bought no one of note during the off-season, the Raiders bought just centre Joel Monaghan, the Panthers spent up large to get prop Petero Civoniceva. And the Roosters, who have invested heavily in big men Mark O'Meley and Willie Mason at a time when big men may become an endangered species, do not have a decent hooker to set their ball rolling.
The chances of several teams seem reliant upon the fortunes of one or two star players. The Cowboys must make do without Johnathan Thurston because he is not expected back until round five after shoulder reconstruction surgery. Benji Marshall at the Tigers, Scott Prince at the Titans, Darren Lockyer at Brisbane, Brett Kimmorley at the Sharks, Todd Carney at Canberra - all carry huge expectation.
Souths should be tough this season, not least because of the return of Kiwi David Kidwell who was absent for most of 2007 with a knee injury. Prodigal son Craig Wing should inject more attacking invention from halfback.
There is already one coaching movement guaranteed by the end of this season: Wayne Bennett's departure from the Broncos after 20 years in charge. Others flagged by the rumour mill: Nathan Brown at St George (as usual), Steve Folkes at the Bulldogs, Graham Murray at the Cowboys. The rest appear safe, regardless.
