NRL CEO Andrew Abdo has all but confirmed the game will not move to include forward pass technology in the near future.
The NRL had at one point trialed technology in match balls that would allow forward passes to be picked up on a much more consistent basis than what they currently are.
It's a major bug bear of fans that the inconsistency often sees passes that look forward left alone, and at times, flat or passes that appear as if they have gone backwards called forward.
Yet Abdo told News Corp that the game wouldn't look to go down that path because it could interrupt the continuity of the game.
"This has been debated forever. It's about the balance. We have to get the decisions right but equally the flow of the game," Abdo told the publication recently.
"I don't see that changing any time soon in terms of the current set up. We don't want to tweak the rules too much. We need to respect there is a flow in the game.
"I don't think we are going to be introducing anything soon until the point where we are not trading off the continuity of the game."
The NRL have made major moves to speed the game up in recent times, dating back to the first major interruption through the coronavirus when the set restart was brought into the game to replace a number of penalties.
Those efforts have continued since to mixed results, although the feeling is that the NRL have achieved a better balance over their rules in recent times, creating what was an excellent 2023 season that finished with a grand final that will go down as one of the best of all-time between the Penrith Panthers and Brisbane Broncos.
The competition's referees continue to remain under the microscope though, and it was a running trend throughout the 2023 campaign that head of football Graham Annesley's weekly briefings turned into something of a running list of refereeing problems.
As it stands, forward passes are not allowed to be ruled on by the bunker, and are one of the only off limits calls when it comes to either tries or captains challenges.
At one point last year, there was an admission that 2024 may bring with it the ability for the bunker to rule on forward passes if they were obvious, although no update has been provided on that or any other rule changes at this stage as teams prepare for a return to pre-season training ahead of the pre-season challenge in mid February and start of the season in early March.
