A rugby league trailblazer explains the rule the NRL forgot

Nobody was expecting it. Not the opposing winger. Not the touch judge.

But the Broncos' Anthony Milford — back in round five, on the third tackle, 10 metres out from his line — had an idea.

In the off-season the NRL had announced a set of rule changes.

Alongside the captain's challenge and choice of scrum location, the "twenty forty" (also known as the 20/40) was to be introduced in 2020.

Similar to the "forty twenty" (40/20) established in 1997, the 20/40 gives the ball back to a team that finds touch inside their opponent's 40 metre line from a kick within their own 20 metre line.

A new carrot dangled in front of the game's best kickers, it promised to upturn a side's momentum and expose wingers asleep to the danger.

Milford's misery

On that wet Gosford night in June, Milford was hungry for NRL history: the first ever 20/40.

His kick was perfect, finding space in behind Manly winger Tevita Funa and grazing the touchline just inside the 40.

Sadly, the touch judge missed it, and "play-on" was called.

At that point the Broncos were sitting mid-table, and leading Manly 18-10 in the second half. Things haven't gone well since.

And NRL fans are still waiting for a 20/40.

Few and far between

In rugby league, kicking the ball from inside your 20 metre line is rare.

Fewer than 30 such kicks have been taken so far this season.

While none have so far succeeded, some NRL players, like Milford, have chased 20/40 glory.

The trailblazer

Milford may not have kicked one, but somebody has.

Before the NRL took up the rule it was trialled in the Queensland Cup, the senior state competition, last season.

Just one 20/40 was kicked, by Jordan Biondi-Odo of Northern Pride, now with Cairns Brothers.

"We had a couple of decent runs, and then they drove us back like 15 or 20 metres," he recalls of the sequence.

"The winger was up so I just went for it and got a good bounce."

Biondi-Odo's hopes of another 20/40 this season have been dashed by the cancellation of the Queensland Cup due to the virus.

And his year took another turn on the weekend when he fractured his arm during the Lightning Challenge exhibition.

But the 26-year-old, who estimates he can kick a 20/40 in training seven out of 10 attempts, recalls last season's success fondly.

"As I kicked it, I was calling out to the ref, just to make sure he knew.

"I was running past him shouting, '20/40!', '20/40!'"

Explained absence

Nobody has kicked more 40/20s in the NRL in the past decade than Manly's Daly Cherry-Evans.

He told AAP at the start of the season his team had discussed the use of its younger sibling, the 20/40.

"The biggest dictator for me will be how my forwards are going. I'm not going to throw them under the bus if they are exhausted.

"Who takes advantage of it the most I'm not sure. I'm going to back our big boys to get us out of trouble rather than me kicking it."

The convention of relying on the forwards to get a team out of their end may have been made more attractive by the new set-restart rule introduced in round three, according to Biondi-Odo.

"It's not used as much as we'd like to see just because there are so many more restarts," he says.

"Teams are mostly giving away that restart if they don't win the ruck to get their defensive line set."

But it's clear the opportunity is there.

This series of photographs from the first half of the recent Raiders versus Broncos match shows Brisbane seemingly happy to risk conceding a 20/40.

Their wingers keep their defensive line compact and intact for the duration of the set, only retreating on the last.

Even fullback Darius Boyd waited until the third tackle before dropping back.

Beyond 20/40

The lack of 20/40 success will leave NRL rule-makers with a quandary at the end of season.

Does the rule need tweaking? Why open up an opportunity teams are reluctant to use?

Biondi-Odo wants it retained and, even if its application will always be narrow, he suspects the perfect scenario will come around in the NRL soon.

"If there's only 40 seconds left, inside the 20 and down by four," he predicts.

He is, after all, the expert.