Referees will be instructed to waive complaining captains away after awarding a penalty as coaches admit some players will take time to adjust to the rule changes introduced in the NRL this season.
NRL coaches were advised at a meeting on Wednesday of the new restrictions on when their skippers could talk to referees, which will no longer occur after a penalty or while a scrum is being formed.
Gold Coast coach John Cartwright admitted it would be difficult for captains who instinctively approach referees after a penalty is awarded to immediately change their ways.
But NRL football operations general manager Nathan McGuirk said there would be no phasing-in period and referees were expected to implement the new procedures in trials before the start of the season proper on March 6.
''That will be occurring,'' McGuirk said. ''We have given the clubs and the captains and the coaches some parameters around when they can and can't do it. Previously you [the captain] could question decisions at penalties and at scrums and they were delaying those stoppages extensively.
''It definitely needs a sense of balance, I don't think we have gone completely in terms of blanking the communication now, but what we are saying is that it has to be at certain times of the match which don't effect the flow of the game.''
The only stoppages when captains can now approach a referee is after a try has been scored, during an injury break or when the referee is issuing a caution. Captains will also be given an opportunity to speak to the referees as players leave the field for half-time.
''As long as they know the times they can talk to the referees,'' Cartwright said. ''They are not being ignored if it is not within the rules.
''It is something that has been in the game for a long, long time so it is going to take a while to get used to but that is where the referees have got to be consistent.''
Cartwright said players would also take time to adapt to the crackdown on cannonball tackles, with referees to call held early when a player is held up in a tackle to prevent a third player coming in low. Tackles performed in those circumstances below the knee are now outlawed.
''Even soft contact below the knee if there is three in a tackle will be penalised so we are going to have to train our sides up a bit,'' Cartwright said. ''That is the one we are going to have to train out of players I suppose.''
Dragons coach Steve Price said the changes, which include a zero tackle from the 20-metre tap after a kick goes dead, tap restarts from a 40-20 kick and stopping the clock in the last five minutes between a goal kick and restart, were ''positive'' for the game.
''It might take out certain stoppages and there are going to be aspects of the game which are going to be quicker,'' Price said.
Coaches expressed their concerns about being only told of the rule changes less than six weeks before the season start, but Cartwright and Price said all clubs were in the same boat.
McGuirk said the NRL had been working on the rule changes since the end of last season and had polled 11,000 fans, while all 16 clubs were consulted.
''This has been the longest process of consultation that we have ever gone through and for the first time ever it has involved the fans too,'' McGuirk said.
Meanwhile, Brisbane playmaker Ben Hunt is determined to kick-start his stalled career this season and help reinvigorate the Broncos as a premiership force.
Hunt shapes as a key figure in the Broncos' efforts to rebound from their worst season.
Given their dearth of playmakers, Hunt is set to be called on by coach Anthony Griffin to spark the Broncos' attack.
''Hook [Griffin] has been really into me at training, he has got me working really hard,'' Hunt said.
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