How fast is too fast and how big of a scoreline is too big?
It's a question the NRL must ask themselves after two years of point-scoring records, blowouts and five months of club feedback.
Last year was a season of week-to-week highs or never-ending lows, depending which team you supported.
For a competition that always prides itself on any team being able to win on its day, it was not the case for 10 clubs.
Six points separated the breakaway top six teams on the ladder from everyone else, while it was 18 points from first to seventh.
Good games became great when the best teams met in the finals, but the average margin through the regular season ballooned to an 86-year high of 18.3 points per game.
On first look, only one change has been made to alter gameplay this year.
Penalties will now be given for offsides and ruck infringements when teams are coming out of their own end, stopping teams from risking breaching early in sets with minimal punishment.
"This one wasn't about trying to retard the speed of the game or address blowouts," NRL head of football Graham Annesley told AAP.
"It wasn't about trying to slow the speed of the game or address blowouts.
"The objective is still to make our game as exciting and open as possible so fans get entertainment."
As far as Annesley is concerned it's too early to judge if a by-product of this is a slower stop-start game, given the extra stoppages for penalties.
But he does hope for a closer year.
"It's never just down to one single factor," Annesley added.
"Perhaps teams didn't cope too well with the changes that were made last year and this year will be better for it.
"We might see a natural adjustment where the teams who didn't play as well last year catch up in some ways."
But some aren't convinced the changes will have minimal effect.
Manly and the brilliance of Tom Trbojevic will likely be the team most interested, given they are among the best exponents of quick play.
They built their game on targeting tired defenders, with Trbojevic's all-conquering 2021 evidence of that.
And while Annesley insists pre-season trials can't be used to judge how the game will look, Manly's last warm-up against Canberra had 20 penalties compared to the average of 8.6 blown last year.
"If that (trial) was anything to go by, we are just undoing the rule changes," incumbent Australia and Manly captain Daly Cherry-Evans quipped afterwards.
Other trials weren't as extreme while still up on last year's numbers.
Trbojevic himself though does expect the rule change means less attacking chances after one of the greatest seasons of all time.
His 28 tries and 31 assists in just 18 games provided the highlights reel of the 2021 season, with the Dally M Medallist winning virtually every individual accolade available to him.
"It will still be a quick game, but that may slow it down a bit," Trbojevic said.
"It might just be a little bit more of limited opportunities, so when you get something you've just got to take it."
Defending premiers Penrith are another club who have dominated with the faster game.
Since the NRL introduced the set-restart rule, the Panthers have won a minor premiership, one premiership and won 42 of 49 games.
Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai have become the pre-eminent halves combination in the league, at their best when playing on the front foot with the game at a high speed.
"I don't want it to change too much," Cleary, who will miss Thursday night's opener against Manly with his shoulder injury, said.
"The penalty is a massive change. You're defending a team in their own end and with a penalty they get a good-ball set."
Others though can see a far bigger upside to a slower game, with the hope it could also prompt less running out of dummy-half.
"I hope (the speed) has gone backwards a little bit, because we might get more football played," Canberra coach Ricky Stuart said.
"I would like to see less distraction in the ruck and more football played.
"While the referees are focusing on eliminating the second-efforts at the ruck, the ugly wrestle and deliberate hand-on-ball, we'll see more football played.
"We keep blaming the game and the referees too much. Coaches have got to look at coaches and players."
Still it will be the Panthers who enter this season among the favourites.
The Sydney Roosters shape as genuine contenders while Parramatta are seen as another club on the rise.
Manly again need that faster game while South Sydney will bank on a rookie half in Lachlan Ilias to help fill the Adam Reynolds void.
All the while Melbourne always remain a threat, no matter the roster or rule changes.
"It's impossible to call (who will win it)," NRL CEO Andrew Abdo told reporters at last week's season launch.
"Every season starts with every club genuinely having hope."
It remains to be seen if the NRL, the chasing pack of 10 teams and the rule changes can combine to bring back that genuine hope this year.
