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The NRL season ought to be limited to each team playing all others once.
With expansion, you would have up 20 rounds (with the current 16 teams, that would be 15 NRL rounds) and then you could set the representative fixtures around that.
For sure there is an element of endurance in a rugby league season and some may consider such a season too short. After all, its length is often what separates the wheat from the chaff – to be consistent over 26 rounds is a greater effort than over 15.
However, professional sport is a form of entertainment. A shorter season is likely to contribute to a greater playing intensity and spectacle. It is the quality that counts, not the quantity, and so with a shorter season every match will count.
Concerns over reduced funding may very well be overstated. The NRL currently receive $200 million per year from Channel Nine. Per televised week, including Origin and finals, that works out to be an average of about $5.8 million. Origin and finals games are the big earners for the NRL.
This highlights the potentially greater commercial benefits for short, sharp and meaningful matches and series.
With a reduced season, the NRL would either get similar amounts per round as the current deal but less overall, or they would get a similar overall total from fewer rounds due to the increase in quality.
With a vibrant and meaningful domestic season supporting, supplemented by a vibrant and meaningful representative schedule, it is hard to imagine that the NRL could lose out in a reorganised season.
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