The NRL competition committee met this week to be given an update on the impact of changes to the 2016 competition, including the addition of the NRL Bunker, ahead of the finals series.
The group was shown data that showed more than ten hours of play will be saved as a result of the scrum clock and drop-out clock in 2016.
An analysis of the first 25 rounds has also shown that 41% of try attempts have been referred to the review officials, compared to 44% in 2015.
That equates to 29 fewer video referrals in 2016 compared to this time last year.
Video referral decision times are also down an average of 12 seconds compared to 2015 (an average of 65 seconds in 2016, compared to 77 seconds in 2015).
A total of 18% of live decisions have also been overturned by the review officials in 2016, compared to 13% in 2015.
“This is an incredibly important group and today’s meeting was a great opportunity to put some early results from some of the major changes in the game to them,” NRL Head of Football Brian Canavan said on Tuesday.
“The group will now go back and digest a lot of the information so they can look at the way some of those key changes are shaping the game.”
The competition committee meeting also included South Sydney coach Michael Maguire, Roosters coach Trent Robinson, RLPA representative Clint Newton, NRL CEO Todd Greenberg, ARLC Chairman John Grant and fellow commissioner Wayne Pearce.
The 'state of the game' update from the first 24 rounds showed:
- 34% of games so far this year have resulted in a margin of between zero and six points, while the average game margin in 2016 is 13.9 points.
- 15 matches this season have resulted in golden point, while 40% of those matches have been decided by a try.
- There have been 1,256 tries scored so far in 2015 (21 more than the same time in 2015, and an average of 7.1 tries per game).
- Television audiences are up 16% compared to 2015 (84.5 million compared to 72.7 million), while average attendances are up 1%.
