NRL Trials Captains Challenge

2nd September 2016

A “captain’s challenge” will be trialled in the NRL for the first time this weekend. The initiative will be used in Saturday’s match between St George Illawarra and Newcastle at Jubilee Oval as well as upcoming NYC finals. Under the trial rules, each captain will be allowed to challenge the referee’s decision in relation to tries only. The referee will be required to make a decision on the field and it will only be reviewed by the bunker if a challenge is made. In the Dragons v Knights trial, the bunker will continue to be used for 40/20 rulings, goal line drop outs and 20 metre restarts, reportable foul play, double knock-on rulings and to determine which team touched the ball last before going over the touchline. In the NYC Finals, the bunker will only be used to determine whether a challenge to a try scoring decision is valid. The trial of the Captain’s Challenge has been endorsed by the Competition Committee and the ARL Commission.

How the Captain’s Challenge will work:

  • Can only be used to challenge a try or no-try ruling
  • Captains will have 20 seconds following a try/no-try decision to challenge the decision.
  • No replays either at normal speed or in slow motion, will be shown on a big screen at the ground until the time allowed for requesting of a captain’s challenge has elapsed.
  • A captain may request a review of any try/point-scoring decision made by an on-field official in relation to: groundings, knock-ons, obstruction, double movement, offside, touchline /touch-in-goal/dead-in-goal, tackle in the air, steals involving two or more defenders, foul play, as well as goals and field goals.

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