The NRL's new rule changes have "made a mockery" of the first two rounds of the season and thrown the campaign into dissaray, according to NRL legend Ben Ikin.
On Wednesday evening, the ARL Commission voted in favour to a proposed change to the refereeing system from two on-field officials to one. It is the same system in place for all rugby league competitions around the world, expect for the NRL and State of Origin.
With that one official comes a rule change where the referee can rule six-again instead of stop the game for a penalty if there is a ruck infringement.
The changes have thrown the integrity of the competition into doubt and Ikin believes that no team should be able to hold up the Provan Summons trophy after the grand final.
"I have absolutely no idea what the game is going to look like under one referee and six-to-go instead of penalties at the ruck, and anyone who tells you they do is lying," Ikin told Fox League Live.
"That why this is such a big curveball, because we are two rounds in to a competition and we have decided that one of the major match officials is no longer, and we are going to completely change the context of the game by introducing a new rule.
"I can't get a sense of how teams will manage this, how they will handle it physically, what they will do to prepare in the space of two weeks.
"The unintended consequences that could arise from this rule introduction is going to be a mystery prize, it really is. It's a hand grenade.
"If this season wasn't weird enough already now we've got this to deal with."
The first two rounds of the 2020 NRL season are still valid and the points earned will remain, but will look completely different to the rest of the season when it goes ahead.
Ikin believes that makes the 2020 season not only weird by essentially void of integrity.
"It makes a mockery [of the first two rounds]," he said.
"The integrity of the competition was always going to be corrupted by some of the situation teams were going to find themselves in.
"At one point we were going to have Queensland teams all relocated, stuck in a hub away from families while Sydney teams stayed at home. There's a competition advantage.
"The world has changed, therefore the two rounds that were played at the start of the season were so different to the rounds that finished the season.
"Now we've introduced a new rule, we've taken away one match official, and we don't know what that's going to look like.
"We just have to put the 2020 season down as weird. I said from the start, I don't think we should be playing for the Provan Summons trophy."
