When can a trial be considered a success even if the thing being trialled is never used? On Saturday at Kogarah Oval, that's when. The aim of the captain's challenge isn't to get better decision making, it's to get fewer external interruptions to a rugby league match. Since the bunker was not used on Saturday, as neither captain challenged any decision, the trial was a success. Obviously, the game can't introduce a system without it having been used once in a trial, so a further test will be necessary during the 2017 pre-season. But if we are considering a system that will render the bunker almost redundant, is it a tacit admission that the introduction of the bunker was a misstep?

Here come the nudes

Two of the abiding rites of rugby league-dom are to be played out today – Mad Monday for teams not involved in the finals, and the "nudie run" for players from those teams who did not score a try. But those indulging in the latter had better take heed of the experience of Josh Perry, a former Australia prop and current NSWRL employee. He was arrested in 2012 during just such a streak. There is an impressive array of candidates for 2016: Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Tom and George Burgess, Jeremy Smith, Ben Creagh and Tim Mannah. When Perry embarked on his nudie run in St Helens, he chose the precise time a police patrol was passing by. "In the old days, you'd do it at the footy ground and no one was around," he explained. "But these days they don't let you into the ground so you have to do it at the pub or somewhere. I'd advise the guys to be aware of their surroundings." After explaining the ritual, he escaped charge.