THE weekend saw the announcement of a few changes to the rules for the year ahead.

Although tinkering with rules tends to frustrate players and fans the game evolves and it is clear that some clarification and tweaking was needed, particularly with the farcical way that the obstruction rules had impacted.

I am pretty old-school and still reckon the rugby league game that had evolved circa 1984-88 had just about got the balance right and a lot of the changes that have taken place subsequently have altered the character of the game.

That said I am realistic enough to accept that the game is never going back to the five metre rule, contested scrums and striking for the ball at marker, although I am still optimistic that reducing the number of substitutions will one day be considered.

However, one rule which desperately needs changing is how play is restarted after the ball is kicked dead.

At the moment the game starts with a 20 metre tap by the defending side if the ball bounces before going over the dead ball line.

The way I see it is that is a rule which punishes good defence and rewards lazy, uninventive or weak attack.

Let’s compare two scenarios from a set of six starting from the same position deep in the attacking team’s own half.

In the first instance, the attacking team is able to carry the ball the full length of the field to within a metre of the try line and on the last tackle they put in a smart attacking kick which either bounces dead or is caught on the full behind the try line. So whether that previous set has been as a result of sloppy defence or good attack the net result is a 20 metre restart – and for that the defence are grateful.

In the second instance, the defence has got the bit between its teeth and the attack has not even made it up to half way in the first five tackles of the set, so on the last the ball is laid off to the kicker who punts it, Pat Richards style, straight down the middle of the field – bouncing once before hitting the advertising hoardings.

The result is a net yardage gain, with the opposition starting with a 20 metre tap and therefore being effectively punished for producing a good defensive set.

The situation is crying out for the rule to be changed to a handover or scrum from the spot where the ball is kicked.

As a rule it is easy to enforce – so much so I just cannot see why it persists.

Sadly, a rule like this will only get changed when one team really exploits it. Seem to recall that is how the drop goal ended up getting reduced from two points to one - courtesy of a certain AJM!