Wigan Warriors star Harry Smith airs first impressions of new ruck interpretations - 'More entertaining'
Harry Smith has given his first impressions on Super League’s new ruck interpretations – and the Wigan Warriors star is firmly in favour of the changes.
Ruck interpretations have been tweaked heading into the 2026 campaign, with match officials placing a quicker enforcement around cleaner play-the-balls and quicker ruck speed.
"I really enjoyed it,” Smith told Wigan Today when asked for his opinion on the new ruck rules after their opening round victory over Castleford Tigers.
"It puts the big fellas under pressure, and it puts everyone under pressure to defend better, to be better with their skill and to be better thinking-wise when under pressure, so I’m really excited about it.
"It’s hopefully going to help us as well with our speed, but all teams will be thinking the same, so I think it’s going to be a great challenge for everyone, and I think it’s going to be more entertaining for fans to watch as well.
"That’s what we want, I’ve always said that, stuff can be stop-start and it can allow the lesser teams a rest and to get a bit of composure and get set, whereas you can’t do that as much now and it just makes you be better at rugby basically, and challenges you to be better, so I’m excited about it and hopefully the fans are excited too.”
Smith recently made his return from a spell on the sidelines, having undergone wrist surgery in the off-season.
"You can’t underestimate the quality of his last plays,” Warriors coach Matt Peet said of Smith. “The way he manages the game and the way he turns the ball over is so important.
"There are plenty of other facets to his game, though. He is our chief organiser, he gets the ball where it needs to be, and he defends tough as well.
"I thought for not that much work this pre-season, I thought it was a good and tough performance from Harry, and you’d expect him to build on that now.
"He has been a mainstay of the team for a while now, so it’s probably not done him too much harm to miss some of pre-season in terms of the teamwork, and it has allowed us to get some reps into Jack (Farrimond).”