The on-field behaviour of NRL trainers delivered some of the more controversial moments during the 2025 season and, belatedly, it seems the NRL is about to act.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the NRL is preparing to ban ‘blue shirt’ trainers from entering the field during play in 2026.
NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo sent a proposal to club bosses this week, floating changes that would significantly limit the times when blue shirt trainers are allowed on the field.
Specifically, the changes would mean blue shirt trainers are only allowed to enter the field of play after tries have been scored, or during stoppages in play for a goal line drop out.
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“Blue trainers will no longer be permitted access for tactical messages during play,” Abdo wrote, explaining trainers will also not be allowed to loiter on the field at any time.
“Messages will only be permitted after a try has been scored.”
Abdo also explained that after a try has been scored, all trainers for the conceding team must remain with their players until after the conversion is attempted—a change clearly intended to prevent a repeat of last season’s Round 22 incident that saw Penrith trainer Corey Bocking run directly across the path of Gold Coast Titans goal kicker Jayden Campbell.
Each team’s medically qualified ‘orange shirt’ head trainer will still have unlimited access to the playing field, allowing them to attend to injured players.
However the NRL has also indicated that orange shirt trainers must not communicate with uninjured players when on the field—something that could prove almost impossible to realistically enforce.