“Ruining the spectacle”: Bennett calls for major sin bin change

Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett has found for all key stakeholders in the NRL to find a way to minimise the impacts of the sin bin.

There have already been 110 sin bins this year, and a fed-up Bennett has had enough, claiming that the idea of having 12 players on one team against 13 on the other for the ten-minute period is ruining the spectacle of rugby league.

Speaking to News Corp, Bennett said it was time to find a way forward from one team being constantly disadvantaged.

“What we should be trying to do is keep the game as even as we possibly can and that would be having 13 versus 13, not 12 versus 13," Bennett told the publication.

“Because by doing that you are not ruining the spectacle of the game and the distorted scoreboard that can happen in that period of time.

“The reason we have so many sin bins now is because the game is a lot tougher on any tackles to do with the head or the neck, and we don't want to change that.

“But we have to adjust our thinking to how we keep this game equal in terms of the contest.”

Bennett's idea to fix the sin bin would be to have a 15-minute period instead of 10, but the offending team could burn an interchange to bring a player off the bench and keep 13 players on the field.

Send-offs would still leave a team a man down, and the offending team still ultimately come out of it worse off with one less interchange in a game that is already fatigue-driven given how much it has sped up in recent years, and the fact teams are now down to a maximum of eight interchanges per contest.

Bennett said he wanted the game's stakeholders to have a discussion about the future of the sin bin, even if what he has suggested isn't the answer.

“I am not suggesting what I say is the answer," Bennett said.

“What I am saying is that it is a discussion point and hopefully a move in the right direction.

“We will find a way to keep 13 players on the field.”