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If players are exhausted let's postpone Origin, not internationals

Mal Meninga will cast a careful eye on the Junior Kangaroos vs Junior Kiwis match. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Roar Guru
29th October, 2014
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The other day Ray Warren and Mal Meninga questioned the decision to hold a Four a Nations tournament this year and suggested maybe it ought to have been cancelled.

While it has no doubt been a busy year-and-a-half for Australia’s representative players, the idea that an international tournament be cancelled or postponed smacks of shortsightedness.

Warren and Meninga are concerned about player welfare, but it is hard not to feel that they are more interested in protecting State of Origin than in the future of the sport.

After all, why didn’t they suggest cancelling Origin so that the players could play international football instead?

Players are under a heavy physical burden but the solution is not to stop playing international rugby league. The very thought of the idea demeans Test football.

If a player is unable to play then it is the job of the selectors to choose a capable replacement. Allow the player his rest and give someone else the chance to impress their credentials in the Test arena. There is no shame in being injured and unable to play for your country.

Consider the English, who have had to literally travel across the world to get here and compete. Like the Australians, they too have their own professional competition that includes a Challenge Cup, an extra competition adding more games to their domestic season. Yet, along with the New Zealanders and the Samoans, we have yet to hear a word of complaint about ‘having’ to compete in this year’s tournament.

Alas, what these two men have unwittingly done through their comments is reinforce the notion that Test football is somehow of less intrinsic worth than Origin football.

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If this is what you believe, then you are failing to recognise the international potential. Remember, with minimal promotion, over 47,000 turned up to watch Saturday’s games and over 800,000 tuned in to watch it on the television.

The focus should always be on the greater picture. Yes, it’s a shame that many players happen to be out of action, but that’s life.

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