Connor Watson believes the utility role in the NRL could be a dying breed

There's a particular kind of rugby league player who can do everything, and that, Connor Watson fears, might be exactly the problem.

The Sydney Roosters veteran watches the NRL's new six-man interchange bench take shape and sees something vanishing from the game: the utility. 

Round one was the experiment's debut. 

Coaches can now name six players on the bench but activate only four - two extra bodies, two extra options, all the strategic promise that implies.

The theory is sound: more coverage, fewer crises when injuries strike mid-game.

Under the old four-man setup, an outside back going down could cripple a side with nobody to fill the void.

That problem, at least, shrinks.

Solutions can have a habit of creating new problems.

When teams carry a specialist for every crisis scenario, why carry someone whose value lies in covering all of them?

"You're not going to have guys that can play every position, really," Watson told the Australian Associated Press in an interview.

"That's sort of going to be ruled out of the game, unfortunately, because that's something that I've prided myself on throughout my career.

"You've just got to adapt and go with it."

With the Roosters naming Cody Ramsey, an outside back, and Toby Rodwell, a back-up half, Watson knows where this leaves him.

The dummy-half position, potentially a middle forward.

Trent Robinson will likely deploy him accordingly, though Watson wants his coach to remember the old tricks still exist.

"I haven't (told him) - but he knows he can."

The game changes. The utility player changes with it, or fades out entirely.

Watson, for now, is betting on the former.