WHEN a State of Origin match fails to thrill the diehard and blow-in fans alike, alarm bells should start ringing in the ears of rugby league's administrators.

While there may be disagreement about what what exactly is missing, few could argue with the assertion the game needs to encourage the passing movements and creative play that have disappeared over recent seasons.

Since its inception in 1895, rugby league has prided itself as being innovative; prepared to make the necessary changes to keep the code in the public favour. In reality, it had to: as a professional football code, gate takings (and now television money) are paramount to the code's long-term viability.

In the late 1950s, the game was beset with dummy-half running and a coaching mentality that decreed possession was king. Unlimited-tackle football encouraged players to avoid risks and wear down the opposition.

Supporters continued to attend matches in large numbers, but their frustration was evident. The NSWRL president, Bill Buckley, spoke out against the prevailing culture of negative play: "The craze for possession of the ball at all costs has resulted in vital laws of our game being ignored."

He implored coaches to open up the game, but they failed to respond to his pleas. So Buckley, in conjunction with like-minded officials in England, ignored them and launched a series of reforms to the playing laws, culminating in the introduction of the six-tackle rule in 1971. The rule changes were deliberately made to counteract the negative influence of the coaches and to ensure the opportunities for negative play were eradicated. (In 1967, the four-tackle rule and a five-metre defence line were introduced.)

The innovations of the 1960s occurred at a pivotal time for the game, coinciding with the first television broadcasts of premiership matches. The six-tackle rule had saved the code from bogging down in "bash-and-barge football" and gave it the springboard it needed to capture the television market through the 1970s, '80s, and, unfortunately, create the product that triggered the Super League war.

The willingness of the code's administrators to embrace change for the good of the game was applauded, with the Rugby League News insisting: "The league movement in Australia has a progressive outlook and will try anything suggested as a means of having the game played in the best possible way."

While the introduction of four-and then six-tackle football was a dramatic and far-reaching step, it was not as significant as the rule changes implemented in English rugby league in 1906.

Sweeping reforms cut teams to 13 a side and introduced in the play-the-ball in an effort to make the game more appealing to fans. Suddenly, there were greater gaps in defensive lines and the football could be seen for most of the time it was in play (instead of being lost from view of spectators while trapped in the middle of scrums and mauls).

When rugby league kicked off in Sydney in 1908, it was these two rules that gave the code a distinct advantage in public support over rugby union. Since its inception in 1874, the NSWRU had been intransigent to the demands of Sydneysiders to reform the laws of rugby union to make it more appealing to the public. The NSWRU steadfastly refused, and ultimately paid the penalty of losing its hold on the Sydney public. The Sydney Morning Herald observed that "the difference between the new rugby and the old rugby is as a motor car compared to the bullock wagon".

Twice before in the history of rugby league, the game's administrators have been confronted with a game in need of a major revitalisation in rules to spark the style of game that fans appreciate and deserve. The question today is whether rugby league as a spectacle is simply going through a lean period, or is it time for the game to look once more at making radical changes?

If it is time to revisit the rulebook, then it may also be time to seek wider input. During the past decade, reform in the playing laws and interpretations have been in the hands of the NRL coaches and a handful of officials. Probably, the coaches - with their employment hinging on success and failure - are the last group that should be given the primary voice in how the game is to be played.

Sean Fagan is a rugby league historian