The National Rugby League could be on the verge of an era of "survival of the fittest" with the Australian Rugby League Commission to receive a report on Wednesday on "reducing the number of interchanges from next season," according to Honeysett & McDonald of THE AUSTRALIAN. That is "the opinion of Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan." The changes, "if they go ahead, are considered to be the most significant since the game moved from a bench to an interchange system" in '91. The commission will receive a report from Kevin Norton, a professor from South Australia who has conducted "extensive research on injury development and fitness conditioning in other sports" including the Australian Football League. Flanagan: "It will probably put more pressure on the players that can't play big
minutes. They could be pushed out a touch or out of the game." The NRL has "already received extensive research that shows the game has become more defence-orientated with larger players dominating at the expense of smaller playmakers." It is believed that "reducing the number of interchanges will bring the little man back into the game." Flanagan added that "any reduction in interchanges could also change
the way clubs approached pre-season training and that it could affect
the make-up of the 25-man playing squad." He said, "It will change a little
bit whether clubs carry two hookers and all that sort of stuff in their
17. That could be interesting" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 7/22).
