Referees will have their own wrestling coach this season to help them identify new techniques developed by clubs to combat the NRL's directive for faster play the balls.
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With all tacklers now having to release the ball carrier as soon as the referee calls held, officials have already noticed defenders using tactics such as hands on the ball, crowding in on the play the ball and flopping in tackles, and anticipate clubs becoming more sophisticated in their methods to control the speed of the ruck.
In a bid to keep up with the wrestling trends, the NRL has employed Milton Dymock - the brother of Canterbury assistant coach Jim Dymock and a pioneer of wrestling in the game, who has worked with Cronulla, Wests Tigers, Sydney Roosters, Bulldogs, Parramatta, Super League premiers St Helens and most recently Samoa in last year's Four Nations - to advise referees and members of the match review committee.
"We are on the front foot here, we are getting better prepared and better educated for what is going to come at us," NRL head of football Todd Greenberg said.
"Clearly there are very sophisticated operations inside clubs and they are all looking for a competitive advantage. One of the key things for us is to make sure we understand trends before they are set upon us. For a long time those trends have been set upon the game by the coaches, and NRL football needs leadership to take the game forward. We need to get in front of the curve.
"We have been talking about making sure we give Tony Archer and his referees opportunities to learn and develop, and equally for the match review panel, so it made perfect sense to engage someone with great experience in wrestling both here and in the UK."
Archer, the NRL referees boss, said it would be easier for referees to spot an illegal wrestling manoeuvre if they had been told what to look for.
"I came through the era where the game started to develop wrestling as a single referee," he said. "Putting the two referees in eliminated things that we started with, which was the grapple, and our identification on field last year of the crusher was really good.
"But we understand that the clubs will go to another level to slow the play the ball up again so we need to be ahead of the pack again. That is part of the reason we engaged [Dymock]. We bought the wrestling coach on to educate the referees. This allows them to see clearer because they see what [the players] are doing."
Archer said he and the referees had made 70 visits to clubs during the off-season to explain to ensure coaches and players understand the change to the interpretation of the play the ball rule.
He said the reaction had been mixed but warned there would be no backing down and predicted high penalty counts in the opening rounds of the premiership.
"Once the tackle is complete, if the referee instructs the ruck to move or the players to get off, the defenders are required to release that player," he said. "They cannot go off one at a time. If they take him to ground and they are locked in either side of him and we say for them to release, they both release him.
"What that allows [the ball carrier] to do is have freedom to play the ball so he is now loose as a ball carrier, he can roll over and he can start the play the ball process. We have noticed in the trials that there has been an increase in things like hands on the ball, they crowd in to the play the ball and they have spun to the front.
"We haven't seen that for a long time. Previously they didn't do that because they controlled him on the ground. I am fully aware they will get better at that but if they are as they have been in the trials there will be a number of penalties because they are slowing up the play the ball. It will tidy the ruck up and there will be less three-man tackles."
