As we come to the end of the torturous yet anticipation-inducing ordeal that is the NRL pre-season, there have been many discussions about what needs to stay and what needs to go.
Ivan Cleary recently stated that the workload expected from players before the NRL has even started is too much. Unfortunately, he’s probably right.
We can’t expect players to play the NRL Nines, the All-Stars Match and an extended World Club Challenge – not to mention a Test series a few weeks after the grand final – all before a ball has even been kicked for a competition which some will argue is the only thing that truly matters.
Because of this, we need to decide what stays, what goes and what is rescheduled.
Firstly, the NRL Nines, which for me has got to stay. It was brilliant this year and will continue to be a huge hit and much-anticipated event for the NRL public as they impatiently wait for the season to start.
Although the number of major injuries that occurred at this year’s pre-season spectacle was regrettably high, the concept of the NRL Nines is enjoyable, fun and extremely worthwhile, especially with the prospect of Super League teams joining as well.
Next up, the All Stars Match.
Although I am not of indigenous descent, I still believe this is a great concept that was started only recently.
The problem is that star players were reluctant in playing if they were carrying a slight niggle, especially from the NRL All-Stars camp because the passion isn’t there for them.
If the NRL wants to keep the All-Stars idea it needs to abandon the split between Indigenous and non-Indigenous and just have the public vote on two lots of teams.
This means the public would vote for the best two fullbacks, four wingers, four centres and so on. Coaches of both teams would then pick their sides from the pool of players. This is just a mere suggestion by the way.
Although the passion is completely taken away, this just makes for a fun game to watch. You could even mic up players and such if you wanted to go all out.
But for the Indigenous All Stars, have them play against a Pacific Islands All Stars team. This creates passion from both sides of the field.
It would also bring the publicity that the All Stars game now brings with it but for both sides, therefore doubling its impact.
Obviously these two games would have to be on at different times to allow Indigenous and Pacific Islands stars to play in both matches.
If the NRL adopted this approach, the All Stars match would be worth keeping.
Another topic that has arisen lately, is an extended World Club Challenge.
Being one of the 31,000 plus fans in the crowd at the most recent World Club Challenge, it was an awesome moment to watch our captain Anthony Minichiello hold up the trophy to signify the Roosters as World Club Champions.
But for every other team in the world it isn’t too important, and this needs to change.
Super League teams are attempting to join the Nines which is a great idea, but we shouldn’t stop there.
The NRL should continue to build on this relationship between the two leagues to make a firm competition/series in which the best teams from both competitions square off.
It would probably be best to feature this spectacle at the end of the season. Currently the season finishes in the first week of October, so there are a few weeks where we can play this.
My proposal is for this spectacle to feature every year, with the host country to alternate.
Take the major and minor premiers from both, as well as the Challenge Cup winner and the NRL Nines, as well as the Premiers from the previous season. This would create a eight-team comp split into two groups.
Over the course of two-three weeks, have each team play the other teams in their group once, with the top two progressing to the semis.
That would mean a maximum of five games for two of the teams over the course of 14-21 days.
This sort of competition would really test to see who the best in the world really is, and it would all be over quickly so international football can still fit in.
If this was organised and accepted by teams and players and alike, I think the World Club Challenge (or Championship) would be much more important and mean a lot more to the game of rugby league.
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