“It’s frustrating given how late it is in the preseason. We have absolutely no problem with the program or the concept, it’s the unknown of how it is all going to work when we already have 60 teams who think they are playing tackle in round one.”

NSW is the final state to adopt the Rugby League Ready model, which was recommended in the player development framework drawn up by Ivan Cleary, Ben Ikin and others in consultation with the NRL.

The model was first introduced in south-east Queensland in 2019, with the region experiencing significant increases in numbers. It was then extended across all of Queensland.

The model allows children to learn correct tackle technique for the first half of the season before they implement it in matches from June 1.

“If you can do it safer, and if you can give them better coaching in a more appropriate environment so they stay in the game longer, then I don’t see the harm in that,” Ikin told the Herald following the success of the QRL changes.

“Every sport is so competitive and trying to win the battle for participants. Us being a brutal collision sport, if we can find ways to make it safer for our younger participants and educate them better, how do you not take up that option?”

NSWRL chief executive Dave Trodden said it was an easy decision to implement the program.

“Everybody is saying that it’s a fantastic initiative,” Trodden said. “There are some people who are saying we’d like a longer lead time to implement it. But the idea has been around for three years now.

“There’s been a lot of consultation around the implementation of it, and we’ve had COVID interruptions the last two seasons. Our view is certainly that if it’s as great a program as everyone says it is, we should be doing everything we can to implement it and not postpone it. There’s so many good things that will come from it.”