Wayne Bennett misses the mark with NRL All Stars suggestion
Columnist By Luke Doherty, 2 Feb 2012 Luke Doherty is a Roar Expert
Wayne Bennett might be Tinkler's big name choice but he'll also be under plenty of pressure
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Just over a year ago, Tony Trim became the most high profile rugby league player in Australia, if only for a day.
Trim was the fruiterer who had paid big money to play for New South Wales in the legends of State of Origin match at Parramatta Stadium.
The clash was held to raise money for the victims of the Queensland floods and Trim not only took to the field, but scored off a Brad Fittler chip-kick.
The stadium erupted, Trim celebrated like he’d just scored the winner in the real origin series and newspapers and television shows ran the vision all day.
It was the perfect concept to combine oldies, fans and others in a loosely professional arena. Rugby League’s All Stars match is in a different boat.
Wayne Bennett has many opinions about rugby league and most of them, regardless of whether blue or maroon blood runs through your veins, hit the mark.
This week the master coach suggested opening the pre-season spectacle up to celebrities and players from other codes.
“The cornerstone of it is actually playing rugby league, so that has to remain,” Bennett said in yesterday’s Courier Mail newspaper.
“But I think we’ve got to find ways to be innovative.
“One thing I would like to see somewhere down the track is celebrity stars maybe being part of the teams.
“Maybe each team can have one or two, or maybe even a player from another code … It would capture the imagination and get everybody talking.
“The fans could vote on someone they’d like to see.”
It’s a strange suggestion at a time when the match is just starting to gain traction as a serious concept.
Add to it the chance of winning a trophy named in the honour of the late great Arthur Beetson and you’ve got a clash that wets the appetites of the league diehards crying out for the start of the season.
Can you picture Russell Crowe taking the first hit-up for the NRL All Stars? He’d definitely be fit enough as his followers on Twitter know. Take this gem posted on the 28th of January for example.
“Yesterday 1 hr walk. Today 38km bike ride, 45 mins weights.” The man is clearly a fitness machine, but the closest I want Maximus to the football field is the directors box.
Bennett says that would capture the imagination and get everyone talking, but it cheapens the concept beyond repair.
Cricket officials copped the hint fairly early when it came to Twenty20 matches, when New South Wales drafted in rugby league icon Andrew Johns to play for them.
It was, to put it politely, a disaster and was quickly abandoned. Why? Because it devalued the jersey, the match and what the marketing gurus were telling us we should like.
If officials don’t take a match seriously, and clearly the Blues were always going to be on the back foot with Johns in their line-up, then why will fans care?
The All Stars match can become an iconic part of the rugby league calendar. It needs time to be nursed through its embryonic stages, but the ingredients are right.
We have a boutique stadium and the best talent on show all intent on venting pre-season frustrations by belting someone on the other team. To bring in players from other codes and celebrities would do irreparable damage.
Rugby League has a long and illustrious history of shooting itself in the foot.
Lets hope that on this occasion those who’ve been charged with the welfare of the All Stars match politely ignore Bennett’s suggestion.
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You can follow Luke Doherty on Twitter @Luke_Doherty and on Sky News Australia.
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- NRL, NRL All Stars, NRL Indigenous All Stars, Rugby League, Wayne Bennett
February 2nd 2012 @ 6:58am
oikee said | February 2nd 2012 @ 6:58am | Report comment
Agree, and Benny normally gets these things right, but he is wrong with this idea.
I heard Thurston ask them to bring the game to Townsville, this idea i like.
February 2nd 2012 @ 9:42am
CrossIT said | February 2nd 2012 @ 9:42am | Report comment
Totally agree, move the game around. Don’t necessarily make it a regional contest, but the oppurtunity is there to really be a mobile showpiece. Places like Cairns, The Sunshine Coast, Townsville, Adelaide, Hobart all viable and all hungry.
Take it to Melbourne instead of Origin!!!!
February 2nd 2012 @ 1:42pm
Will Sinclair said | February 2nd 2012 @ 1:42pm | Report comment
Townsville is a great idea.
You could even take it out into country areas with bigger indiginous populations (Surfers Paradise isn’t exactly known for it’s huge Aboriginal community…).
(A cynic might suggest that keeping the game on the Gold Coast shows the NRL are more interested in filling their coffers than supporting indiginous rugby league…)
February 2nd 2012 @ 3:18pm
GC Tiger said | February 2nd 2012 @ 3:18pm | Report comment
Surfers paradise is not the Gold Coast. Just like Bondi isn’t Sydney. Northern NSW and South East Queensland do have a huge Aboriginal population. As for taking to a country Area, where is the accomodation and where is the staduim? 25000 people at the game and is a sell out. Move it too brisbane and would get 50,000, Move it to sydney and get 15,000. Townsville maybe 20,000 max. The game is for every one.
February 2nd 2012 @ 9:26am
turbodewd said | February 2nd 2012 @ 9:26am | Report comment
The only thing they should do with the All Stars game is take it to large rural centers like Townsville. They should even take it to Hobart or Adelaide.
They should use it to trial new rules too. I would love to see proper time mgmt in the NRL myself, it may be an 80min game on paper but they actually only play 55-57min due to time lost when the ball is dead or time lost after tries. Why not make it a 60min game and enforce time off. This would take pressure off the refs and the fans would never need to howl about time wasting at, say, drop goal restarts as the clock would only restart upon the actual dropout.
February 2nd 2012 @ 9:26am
pot stirer said | February 2nd 2012 @ 9:26am | Report comment
I think Benny is getting old and not the coach he was anymore, Hes been bitten by the media bug and likes the attention now.
February 2nd 2012 @ 10:04am
Manoa said | February 2nd 2012 @ 10:04am | Report comment
For years the world fought against the selection of sporting sides based on race. Now in a country such as Australia whereby I continually hear the word multicultural we feel the need to support and encourage a match in which one team is purely selected on a players race. Confusing to say the least. Maybe I might tell my kids the next day at school to suggest that the lunchtime soccer games be played out between teams made up of their islander brothers and sisters against the white Aussies.
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February 2nd 2012 @ 10:28am
pot stirer said | February 2nd 2012 @ 10:28am | Report comment
good point, but then there has always been a different set of rules for the minorities
February 2nd 2012 @ 11:03am
Rodney McDonell said | February 2nd 2012 @ 11:03am | Report comment
I dont think his idea is all that bad.
He has a point that it would certianly raise interest…. Especially if you could get an AFL player to play in a one off game. Not that i think it would happen – unless the player in question just retired! Perhaps another idea, in a few years to come, is to have a Legends All Stars match, as a curtain raiser or the Night before the Real All Stars match is played which would allow for this type of thing?
His ideas wern’t bad, but probably just need a better implementation.
February 2nd 2012 @ 11:23am
Jaceman said | February 2nd 2012 @ 11:23am | Report comment
Didnt Dipper play in the Wally lewis legends game?
They have been celebrities play first grade NRL before on an invite basis Darren Clark, NFL “star” Manfred Moore, Jeff Fenech (OK reserves) etc…
February 2nd 2012 @ 2:54pm
Chris Chard said | February 2nd 2012 @ 2:54pm | Report comment
Indeed he did, highlights here!
Personally I’d love to see some blokes from other sports have a crack, there is also recent precedent of this happening with English RL player Sam Tomkins playing for the Barbarians last year.
Another idea would be to get a player from the local comp where its being held (e.g. player of the year from the Gold Coast Rugby league) and sit him on the bench, the crowd would go beserk for the home town hero!
February 2nd 2012 @ 10:19pm
Glen said | February 2nd 2012 @ 10:19pm | Report comment
This is a good idea. I think it would be perfect for the City v Country. Imagine if a match was played in Orange, Albury, Port Macquarie etc with a local hero.
February 2nd 2012 @ 12:34pm
Will Sinclair said | February 2nd 2012 @ 12:34pm | Report comment
Could this “All Stars” game get any worse?
It’s a Mickey Mouse event anyway, they’re already stuffing around with the rules (it’ll 11 v 13 for a while on Saturday night? Really – that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard), and now they want to see some D-List celebrity packing down as well?
Honestly – the sooner they do away with this thing the better. It’s a hopeless joke, and the biggest names in the game are risking injury to take part.
February 2nd 2012 @ 12:41pm
oikee said | February 2nd 2012 @ 12:41pm | Report comment
This would be the same as saying Origin is a hopeless joke, why not get rid of that also, our biggest money spinner.
The Indigernous guys wanted this and come up with the idea. You tell ‘them’ it is a stupid idea.
February 2nd 2012 @ 1:08pm
Will Sinclair said | February 2nd 2012 @ 1:08pm | Report comment
Nothing against an Indiginous team mate.
On the contrary – why not take it seriously? Why not have them touring NZ and the UK, and playing proper matches against Test level teams?
That would be fantastic, and would be a real honour for the indiginous players selected.
This “All Stars” concept is just hopeless though. Especially with all the stuffing around with the rules.
February 3rd 2012 @ 3:06pm
soapit said | February 3rd 2012 @ 3:06pm | Report comment
long term i think the logical way is that indiginous vs pacific islander (nz doesnt count) event . that’d be some fireworks.
if we get a few years of the all stars easily beating the indigineous team i think they’ll start to have a look in that direction.
edit: oh man, straignt after clicking add comment i notice someone has written exactly the same thing on the next comment down. i’ll go with what league fan is saying.
February 2nd 2012 @ 1:00pm
League fan said | February 2nd 2012 @ 1:00pm | Report comment
Agree with you there oikee. It means a lot to the indigineous people. I believe instead of playing against an all stars team they should play a Pacific all stars team. This way the game would have a lot of meaning for both teams as they would both be representing their people.
February 2nd 2012 @ 1:20pm
The Grafter said | February 2nd 2012 @ 1:20pm | Report comment
Hasnt us ‘silent majority’ got ‘our people’ as well?
February 2nd 2012 @ 1:31pm
NickF said | February 2nd 2012 @ 1:31pm | Report comment
I think a lot of people here miss the point. It isn an indiginous team against the rest. It is a celebration of indiginous players and a chance to watch them play football. It is also a chance to see players like Benji Marshall playing with a Nathan Hindmarsh or Josh Dugan. It isn’t one team versus another, it is a spectacle of football.
Those of you who think it’s stupid, just don’t watch it. And Potstirrer, let’s not turn this into a redneck roundup.
Personally, I love to see Mark Weber (an ex ball boy at the Raiders), or Michael Clark have a run. And to see Russell Crowe get hammered by George Rose and Sam Thaiday, I’d pay to see that.
February 2nd 2012 @ 1:40pm
Will Sinclair said | February 2nd 2012 @ 1:40pm | Report comment
“Personally, I love to see Mark Weber (an ex ball boy at the Raiders), or Michael Clark have a run.”
It’s, literally, the stupidest idea in history.
Red Bull pay Mark Webber tens of millions of dollars to drive F1… there is no way on Earth they are going to let him play in a rugby league game.
And Cricket Australia are more likely to send the Aussie team out in hot pink than let the national captain risk injury in a joke game like this.
Seriously… are people really suggesting this stuff? The mind boggles.
February 2nd 2012 @ 3:41pm
Tommygun said | February 2nd 2012 @ 3:41pm | Report comment
Well, Mark Webber wasn’t the greatest suggestion but what about someone like Andrew Symonds who loves league and trained frequently with the Bronco’s?? Also, he is a mate of Wayne Bennett’s.
Personally i like the idea of Union maybe nominating five players, one from each team and the fans vote them into the all stars team. Obviously I wouldn’t expect someone like Quade to get nominated (I would be spewing if Benji played a Barbarian game), but maybe someone with a relatively high enough profile like Nathan Sharpe…
I guess what I am saying is, celebrity no, other code invitational yes.
February 2nd 2012 @ 4:33pm
The Grafter said | February 2nd 2012 @ 4:33pm | Report comment
Unfortunately lads, rugby is under way this weekend with trials.
First round is Feb 24, so I would hardly think they would risk their players for some league ‘nothing’ game.
Remember, the boot is now on the other foot. How many rugby boys are poached by league these days? A couple that come to mind, Auckland captain Mannering, Adam Blair, and Warea-Hargraves, but none of these to any great level from my knowledge.
The only established blokes going from rugby to league are former league players.