Phil Gould has slammed the NRL's bye points system, calling it outdated and misleading for fans trying to understand the true ladder standings.
Speaking on a recent episode of Six Tackles with Gus, the rugby league supremo urged the league to stop awarding two points to teams during their bye rounds.
"Get rid of the byes," said Gould.
"We don’t need points for the byes."
MORE: Why do NRL teams get two points for a bye?
He argued that competition points should only come from games actually played and won, not from sitting out the round.
"All you do is look at the number of games they’ve won," he said.
Gould pointed out the inconsistencies between the official ladder and where teams actually sit based on wins alone.
"They’ve got Sharks listed as tenth here, well they’re not tenth… They're seventh," he said.
"Where they’ve got Panthers listed as seventh, well Panthers are outside the eight on wins."
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It's a frustration that many pundits share - the ladder can look out of sync until every team has had the same number of byes.
With the Perth Bears entering the competition in 2027, this will eliminate the need for weekly byes and may prompt the NRL to scrap the points system entirely.