Last week I was out Bush! This city boy ventured deep into Country New South Wales, avoiding kangaroos, cows, horses and other animals to do a bit of coach mentoring.
I live in Brisbane (very much a city) and took the flight to Canberra (another city) before driving four hours West to Narrandera (country) where I held a coach's night, attended by several local coaches from the host and neighbouring clubs.
The President of Narrandera Lizards, nicknamed Bundy for reasons unbeknownst to many, couldn't get me to the local pub fast enough at the conclusion of my seminar.
Of course, I fought against this awful suggestion with every fibre of my being, but lost. And, met by another coach I mentor, Kye, who'd travelled a fair way to catch up, I felt obliged to sink a few schooners with them (under duress of course).
It was here, benefiting from the liberation that intoxicating liquor often provides, I opened up about the recollections of my drive to what I knew would be a sympathetic audience. Chiefly, the fact that between Junee (the hometown of Kangaroo legend and current NSW coach Laurie Daley) and Narrandera, all I had seen were AFL posts in schools and in parks (as well as a few animals).
What also made us all sit up and take notice, was the Thursday night footy that was unfolding on the screen above us.
As we walked in the hostelry, Brisbane Broncos were well ahead against Parramatta Eels. 20-0 from memory.
By the time it came to my round, it was 22-20 to Parramatta. And, not because I am a tight arse who wouldn't shout if a shark bit me, it was only half-time!
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I had my back to the screen due to the nature of the table we were gathered round and, throughout the second half of the match, it seemed every time I turned round a try had been scored.
After seeing AFL posts everywhere and such a game, would you forgive me for thinking that the world was changing?
The prevalence of AFL posts and initiatives in what we know as staunch NRL loving areas is a discussion for another day.
But what I would like to consider here is how players and coaches can adapt to the rugby league that is, obviously, changing rapidly right in front of our eyes.
As Zero Tackle editor Scott Pryde outlined in his excellent analysis on Monday, the first 16 games of 2026 have seen 242 extra points scored across them, compared with the first two rounds of 2020, when the six again rule wasn't in place.
So not hard to see where the culprit is for the near 15 extra points a game.
When pressured by confused fans and media, NRL boss Peter V'Landy's has told the clubs to behave themselves and therefore six-again penalties won't be given as much.
In other words, back to you, coaches and players.
Coaches and players who, for well over two decades, have spent more time trying to slow the ruck down than almost anything else. The first part of such a goal, being to stop the attacker getting to the ground to play the ball quickly.
Terms such as ‘Dance' and ‘Catch', instead of referencing descriptions of goings on in 1980's disco and cavorting nights, are used as ‘pre-attacker brought to the ground' tackling vernacular. The slower that journey is, the better.
In other words, don't let the attacker get down quickly, because then you're on borrowed time from the referee.
This was really easy to do for defences pre-2020, when there was more chance that you'd only be doing six -tackles in defence, and that if a penalty was blown against you, there'd be a chance to re-organise your defence and steady it for the next lot of six tackles, or less.
Now, that infringement could lead to a ‘six-again' call from the referee and no time to recalibrate in defence.
Throw in two or three of these calls from the merry whistle blower and you could find yourself blowing something yourself: a gasket in defence! Leaving gaps and holes in your defensive line for the great attacking talent in our game to shine as you're too busy trying to find some oxygen.
It's taken a while, but most clubs have now started knocking the kilos off their players during the pre-season. So many of the bulking props look so much leaner than they did. But the clubs have been slow to this on the whole.
The sight of Payne Haas sliding through a hole to score, from a ball provided by Patty Carrigan and the attacking shape employed to the Broncos right during the contest with the Eels last week, would have made many a back-rower proud, not least because Haas is starting to look physically just like one!
But a change the clubs are even more slow at adopting is the way their players are tackling. They're still focused too much on what goes on after the tackle.
I predict that will be one of the big changes coming into the game as the year unfolds. Or, due to the slowness of some coaches to react, maybe a year or two away.
As defences are operating at faster paces dictated by the referee and their policing of the play-the-ball, defences spend more time on the back-foot rather than the front-foot.
Attempts at catching or dancing without a solid defensive hit will simply allow the attacker to brush them away or, at the very least, knock the defender backwards, with more regularity.
I can see players struggling with this concept now. Brought up on a ‘catch' style of collision (imagine a very forceful hug) it's getting harder and harder for them to control the momentum of the game.
And that's a big reason why scorelines are getting bigger.
Peter V'Landy's is actually right. The clubs have to adapt.
And for a game that prides itself on innovative thought, they've been so slow on the whole with this.
We are belatedly coming into an era of tackling, where solid shoulder contact to stop the momentum of the attacker, is more important than trying to simply control the momentum.
It's pretty obvious to me. It's a lot easier to control an attacker when you've knocked seven bells of the brown stuff out of them with a solid shoulder tackle, than if you try and catch them on the way down. Why can't they see it?
So, coaches in the NRL, time to focus more on the tackle. The hit itself.
While you are doing that, I am going to keep focusing on what I can about all those AFL posts popping up on what is traditionally our patch.
Lee Addison is a former club coach at Sea Eagles and Panthers and the founder of rugbyleaguecoach.com.au. He is a Coach Mentor and his programmes for coaches and clubs can be found HERE.
