National Rugby League player Johnathon Thurston has issued the NRL with an ultimatum: start taking player welfare seriously or "the stars of the game will take action," according to Paul Crawley of the Sydney DAILY TELEGRAPH. That "could mean boycotting matches at the start of next season" after Thurston on Monday accused the league's governing body of disrespecting the players and "walking over" the Rugby League Players Association. Thurston returned for his first day of preseason training as "frustration grew among the game's senior players" over the '16 season draw and the NRL's "failure to reduce the number of five-day turnarounds." Thurston said that "industrial action remained a very real consideration." Thurston said, "It has to be. It has just got to a point now where the playing group has had enough. I am very disappointed and also angry." Asked if the NRL's failure to reduce the number of five-day turnarounds was "another kick in the guts for players," Thurston replied, "That is how a lot of players are feeling. It is like we are not getting the respect of the NRL" (DAILY TELEGRAPH, 11/30).
POSSIBLE NEW RULES: In Sydney, Brad Walter reported a try "may be needed to decide finals matches in extra time if the NRL adopts an NFL rule in which the game continues for another set after a field goal to give the other team a chance to win or level the scores." The NFL's overtime policy is "one of a number of alternatives to golden point that were considered by the NRL competition committee." The "issue of how to decide a drawn match was discussed by the competition committee after criticism from Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett and others" that this year's grand final "should not have been decided by a field goal in extra time, but it was agreed that golden point should remain in place for regular season games." The competition committee "also discussed the National Hockey League model, in which the number of players on the ice is reduced from five per team to three per team during extra time" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 11/29). In a separate piece, Walter reported NRL teams who fail to take a goal-line drop-out within 30 seconds "will risk conceding a certain two points, while their opponents will also have the chance to kick a penalty goal if they take longer than 35 seconds to pack into a scrum." The changes were "endorsed at a meeting of NRL head coaches." The coaches also backed "a review of golden point in the finals that could result in the adoption of the NFL's policy requiring a touchdown to end the match immediately" (SMH, 11/30).
