State of Origin schedule farce must come to an end

Roar Rookie

1st June, 2016

1032 Reads

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Cooper Cronk's injury could have ended badly for the club that pays him - Melbourne Storm. (AAP Image/Dan Peled)

Josh

Roar Rookie

1st June, 2016

1032 Reads

As New South Wales and Queensland went toe to toe last night, I sat in mild disbelief with my family as Game 1 was immaculately hyped up, only to be one of the sorriest games of rugby league I have ever seen.

No excitement, no drama, no fights, just a bunch of players running around without a care for the club that pays them big money. All for ‘state pride’.

Cooper Cronk injured his ankle leading into the game (apparently, he looked fine to me, but let’s just assume this true). The Melbourne Storm pay big coin to have him fit and firing on all cylinders week to week, and yet he runs out onto ANZ stadium with the risk of further damaging his ankle.

No care for Melbourne, who pay him $850,000 a year to play for them, not for Queensland.

A good example is Scott Prince. In 2008, the Gold Coast Titans were travelling well in the top eight. State of Origin Game 3 came around and Prince ran out at halfback for the Maroons. About 20 minutes in, he broke his arm and missed the next six games for the Titans.

The Titans were decimated every match as they coped without one of their highest paid players. They crashed out of a finals berth and finished 13th, just four points shy of the eight.

Wayne Bennett came out earlier this week against Origin, and Ricky Stuart fired back about squad depth. But no depth can replace a quality player. No depth can replace a Prince, or a Johnathan Thurston or even a Cronk. These players are essential to their teams, and Origin threatens to tear these teams apart.

It bears the same image as the Anzac Test. The middle of the season is the wrong time to hold these events.

I don’t think there is anyone in the world who can convince me that State of Origin Game 1 was a success. At least be thankful both the sides didn’t utilise actual quality players. You’d rather see Darius Boyd or Robbi Farah seriously injure themselves than Nathan Peats or Anthony Milford.

I love my rugby league, but Origin has turned into an absolute mutiny of the game.

If they want to hold it at the end of the season, that’s fine. But so long as these players are getting paid and played by their clubs, there should be no rep call-ups for them. Not in the same code where we have seen players whinging that they are playing too much and not getting enough rest.

I can’t wait for Game 3 to come and this whole charade to end, and we can get back into real rugby league.

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