Changing the rules in the NRL

Last Saturday I found myself sitting on a couch, enjoying a longneck of Superdry, while watching the Manly Sea Eagles take on the Gold Coast Titans. In a strange moment, I saw some Titans player strip the ball from his opponent thinking he was the only one making the tackle, saw that another player had assisted in the tackle, placed the ball back into the hands of the tackled player, before standing up and assuming the marker position. The Manly player got up to play the ball, before the ref realised what had happened and blew a penalty for Manly. I instinctively blurted out "That shouldn't be a penalty, should be play on".

Clearly, according to the rules of Rugby League, Manly deserved a penalty. But in reality the Titan had only stripped it because he didn't see his team mate, had resolved the situation and the game hadn't been slowed down as a result. It was the equivalent of knocking over a strangers drink in the pub and buying him a new one. No one was worse off. In truth the rule shouldn't change to allow people to try rectifying the situation, as it would be too hard to judge whether someone had done it deliberately in the first place.

The NRL should take some inspiration from this and introduce a rule that could make Rugby League globally popular. It works off the idea of "rectifying the situation", but would only be applied in instances of foul play. if a player did a high/late/spear tackle on an opposition player, the victim of the illegal tackle would be given an option. They could choose to "rectify the situation" in two ways. They could either accept the penalty, gaining extra territory/potential points/reset tackle count to make up for the offence, or they could choose to expose the guilty player to the same risk of injury that the victim faced when the illegal tackle was made.

Here's how it would work in game. Manly are playing Melbourne and Anthony Watmough finds himself flying through a gap with only Billy Slater left to stop him from scoring. Slater, incapable of performing a normal tackle, flys up around Watmough's neck coat-hangering him and bringing him to the ground. Sean Hampstead blows the penalty and runs over to Watmough. Hampstead says: "Punch or Penalty". Watmough elects the "punch" option. Slater stands up, Watmough looks Slater in the eye before sending a solid right hook into Slaters cheek. The situation was rectified. Slater's tackle put Watmough at the risk of concussion, broken bones, vertebrae damage etc. etc. Watmough getting to punch Slater put Slater at a similar risk of injury. Situation rectified.

Punch or Penalty. NRL Commission should embrace it. After all, who wouldn't want to see Billy Slater, Sonny Bill Williams or Jamie Soward smashed in the face?