“It’s a false economy”: Rogers re-ignites calls for NRL to scrap points for byes

NRL great Mat Rogers has called on the NRL to scrap giving two points to sides who get the bye, claiming it messes with the perception of the ladder for large parts of the season.

As it currently stands, the majority of sides in the NRL have already had one bye but a handful of teams have either had two or none throughout the first 13 rounds of the season.

Consequently, the sides with two byes have collected four competition points whilst the two teams with no byes currently sit outside the top eight with no additional points gained as of yet.

Rogers argued that handing out two points for a bye makes the ladder lose some it’s meaning as the points are not evenly balanced out until the later stages of the season.

“It’s a false economy,” Rogers said on SEN 1170 Sportsday.

“Don’t give anyone the points for byes.

“The Storm are on the top (of the ladder), they’ve had two byes, they’re the only teams other than the 14th placed Titans, and the 16th and 17th place Tigers and Rabbitohs to have had two byes, whilst the Roosters have had no byes.

“It gives you a false sense, the Storm being on top with two byes, the Sharks are even with them on one bye.”

Out of the four sides to have had two byes already, three of them sit in the bottom four of the ladder whilst the Melbourne Storm sit in equal first-place after getting two rounds off.

When asked how he could change the system to a more beneficial one, Rogers suggested changing the standings from points to a percentage of wins saying: “Percentages would make sense.”