The NRL’s decision to allow teams to activate an 18th player will allow coaches to continue ‘rorting’ the system, according to ex-Cronulla captain Paul Gallen.
The ARL Commission on Tuesday approved the new rule to avoid a repeat of Saturday’s Round 3 clash between the Eels and Sharks.
Cronulla were left without a single player on their bench for the second half after three players were ruled out after failing their HIA’s, while Sione Katoa also suffered a knee injury.
Under the new rule which will commence in Round 5, coaches can activate an 18th man, who must be an emerging player, if three of their 17-man squad fail HIA tests.
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“I’m not overly a fan of it straight away,” Gallen told Wide World of Sports Radio.
“I’d have to see how it’s going to work but I just don’t see, what’s the point of bringing in someone who may never play first-grade unless three players get injured?
“I don’t like it at first thought, but then again we don’t want to see what happened on the weekend where the Sharks were down to 15 players after 20 minutes and 13 players after 40 minutes.”
The former NSW Blues skipper instead called for teams to be allowed a fifth bench player that he believes will eliminate gamesmanship from coaches and allow the NRL to continue its concussion crackdown.
“I’ve got another philosophy, and this is something I’ve come up with and there’s no chance of rorting it this way,” Gallen said.
“I think we stick with the eight interchanges and what I’d say is rather than having an 18th man or an 18th player, just have five players on your bench.
“But if you have an HIA, if you have an issue with an HIA, you’re done for the day.
“If they’re really that worried about concussions and head knocks, if you get an HIA injury your’e done for the day – you can’t pass a test, you can’t come back on the field.
“You can’t come back on the bench, that puts all the onus on and all the responsibility back onto the coach of the team.
“It doesn’t allow for rorting, so players can’t come on and off like they’re doing at the moment … and it puts the onus back on the coach around how they manage their roster and how they manage their interchanges.
“That’s something I’d like to see in the future, just a five-man bench but you still only get eight interchanges.”
