No plans for golden-point overhaul: NRL

The NRL says it has no plans to review golden point at the end of the season despite calls from coaches to ban the extra-time period.

Canterbury coach Des Hasler and Manly counterpart Trent Barrett were united in their criticism of golden point following the Bulldogs’ last-gasp win over the Sea Eagles on Thursday night.

And the pair were joined Friday by Wests Tigers mentor Jason Taylor and Cronulla’s Shane Flanagan, who re-ignited the campaign for golden try.

“As a coaching group we decided that if you want to take a field goal in golden point, you can take a field goal,” Flanagan said.

“But the game continues to roll for that 10-minute period and if you score a try, you win. If you want to kick a field goal in the first minute of golden point, good luck to you.

“But the game continues to roll on for that 10 minutes. I think that’s a better model for us.”

It is understood the NRL is unlikely to make any changes to the golden-point period, however it is open to a re-think post-season if there is enough groundswell of support for an overhaul.

Taylor, whose side has lost all three extra-time games under his watch, called for an end to the “whinging” about a facet of the game that was popular with one of the game’s key stakeholders.

“Fans like golden point,” Taylor said.

“We have really good games of footy that are played and everybody’s enthralled by the spectacle, and then all we get is people coming out and whinging about it.

“We need to get over the whinging and get on with it. It is what it is, everybody enjoys it and as a spectator watching those games and not really being concerned about who wins, it’s enjoyable.”

He did admit that extra-time is being officiated differently to the first 80 minutes of the match and that most teams were being coached accordingly.

“If there are no rules, they are the rules. I’ve got no problem with it, we know how it’s going to work, and it’s a frantic ten minutes of footy that gets everybody excited,” he said.

Both Hasler and Barrett admitted their teams were offside throughout the extra-time period.

“There have been a lot of comments about golden point lately, and that wasn’t going to be won on a field goal. They could have blown a penalty at any time,” Hasler said.

“I think it (golden point) will be reviewed during the off-season.”

The NRL have already moved to replace golden point with 10 minutes of extra time during this season’s finals series.

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