Leeds Rhinos boss Richard Agar would happily see six again law scrapped

Originating in the southern hemisphere’s NRL, it became part of the European game when Betfred Super League returned from its coronavirus layoff two years ago.

But speaking before tonight’s game at Salford Red Devils, Agar stated: “I would have never brought it in in the first place.”

He said: “It is very subjective, I fail to see what it has brought to the game, apart from a load of groans, from the crowd generally.

“I think it has made it difficult for refs and sometimes it has an effect on the game, games can start to look the same a little bit.

“It is tough for middles that are doing a lot of tackling to get, particularly on the back of that, back behind the ball and play.”

Agar, who stressed he was giving his “my view and my view alone”, added: “I honestly don’t mind a penalty, I have never minded a scrum because I think it gives you different starts.

“The ball might be in play a bit less, but you might get a bit more energy back in the game where middles can get behind the ball and start to play a bit and we might start to see a bit more creativity and offload, rather than your back-five having to march you out of yardage all the time.”

Agar reckons the NRL has different issues to Super League.

“We changed the rule on the back of the NRL doing it,” he pointed out.

“It is subjective, but I would counter that our game aesthetically didn’t look like the NRL’s.

“I think it has been good in the NRL, but I don’t think it has had – or needed to have – the same impact in this country.

“I do agree a penalty in yardage sometimes is a very severe penalty for a very minor infringement.

“It is interesting the NRL have got rid of that and started giving penalties because people were blatantly using the rules to give an extra tackle away and really slow and control that first ruck, to a ridiculous extent.”

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