Rs code is itself more complicated, you already mention that. Also it requires some form of coordination. IIRC, (I never really learned the details of RS code)

Rs code is itself more complicated, you already mention that. Also it requires some form of coordination. IIRC, (I never really learned the details of RS code), RS code cannot be mixed, I.e. 2 encoders have to code the blocks with the same initialization parameters. On the contrary, Network Coder can just perform random linear combination, then they can quickly reach the sufficient blocks to be able to decide all blocks.