No fewer than 10 match officials will be trialled in Saturday night's Charity Shield match as NRL officials look to speed up the game this season by reducing the number of video referee referrals.
For the first time, two on-field referees will be assisted by four touch judges, two in-goal judges and the two video referees when St George Illawarra and South Sydney battle in the pre-season trial at ANZ Stadium.
It is hoped the two in-goal touch judges will assist with try-scoring decisions - including obstruction calls - and the extra two touch judges will help monitor the attacking team to pick up such things as forward passes.
The overall strategy is to reduce the number of calls sent to to the video refs, says NRL referees boss Tony Archer.
Video referrals have increased from just over 450 in 2011 to about 750 last year, causing more stops in play and some angst amongst fans.
"If it helps us make better decisions and more live decisions well I will certainly look at (introducing it for the NRL season)," said Archer.
"I'm not sure we will ever look at removing the video referee because as we all know they are a frame-by-frame assessment of tries.
"But we need to see if my referee can make a more informed and accurate live decision and we need to see if there is a potential to reduce the number of referrals."
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