Amidst the annual ‘silly season’, the debate once more ignites as to whether the NRL’s show piece event, State of Origin, deserves a stand alone weekend.
The three-part annual fixture boasts revenue figures in excess of $34M, however the absence of the top-flight players inevitably detracts from the quality of club matches.
In light of the forthcoming television rights deal, the NRL must be genuinely weighing up the pros and cons of the current fixture system. Friday night’s ‘should be blockbuster’ of Brisbane (3rd) versus Cronulla (4th) will be without nine representative players; including the likes of Thaiday, Parker, Carney and Gallen.
The Suncorp crowd may still exceed 30,000 parochial supporters, however with the inclusion of the aforementioned players, the game could potentially have been a 50,000+ supporter sell out.
Queensland Maroons’ halfback Johnathan Thurston told the Courier Mail “it would be great to have a stand alone origin … The toll that it takes on your body both physically and mentally and for players to back up two days later; where is the player welfare?”
Earlier in the season the NRL effectively managed the ANZAC Test and City versus Country fixtures, providing all 16 clubs with a week off to ensure player recovery.
The NRL could further adapt such methods and apply them to the six week Origin period, allowing all state players to play for their respective clubs. In turn, this would maintain the quality of club football as well as player fitness heading into the latter part of the 26 round season, ahead of finals fixtures.
It is clear that something must be done.
The game receives so much from the players who throw their bodies on the line in the high profile fixtures. These players deserve some consideration when it comes to match planning.
The player, as well as the clubs and fans, make the game what it is. They should be entitled to see the best players on the field in the season’s most compelling mid-season matches.
HYWEL
Guest
just have a 3 week break in both super league and nrl,3 weeks to play quality representitive footy State origin nz origin pacific cup samoa png tonga fiji, the diffrence here is that star players play in this comp with break in nrl and super league then the island players playing in these comps are free to play in pacific cup etc the remaining nrl players not playing in these games can play nsw cup get attendances up there for 3 weeks
Queensland's Game Is Rugby League
Guest
TV networks won't want Origin on Saturday nights because people go to parties and restaurants. It would be played on the Sunday. It would be good if a 3 match series between Queensland Residents and NSW Residents was played on the same weekend as origin. The game could be played on a Saturday night. I'd like to see a 3 match New Zealand vs England series played simultaneously to the Origin. A 3 match series could be played between Wales and France. Ireland could battle Scotland. PNG could play against Fiji. Tonga could play against Samoa. That's plenty of football for the stand-alone origin weekend.
Meesta Cool
Guest
Like this idea Turbo.. it will give non rep players that 'break' n mid season and help some 'niggle injuries to players. Another positive is, Rep players will not be asked to play 3 games in ten days. I also like the fact that the better teams in the comp do not lose valuable point to the lesser performing ones. -- SOO definitely affects the final standings on the ladder. sometimes to the detriment of a team that should have made the 'eight'.. Once again the Broncs have to pick themselves up again after losing a few games in this period. Some people will disagree with this, saying "It evens the comp p a bit", my thoughts are that it actually weakens the final top eight.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
The Sharks had their first friday night game last night,the very first since the invention of the wheel. Ageer with CQ having representative games mid season improves playing standards for those involved and for the up and comers who took their places .
Morotti
Roar Rookie
Everybody is worried about how much the ARLC are going to get. I am equally worried about how they choose to spend it. Clubs and players already have their hands out. I can't remember the exact statistics but doesn't RL return more to the players than any other code as a percentage of total revenue?
Morotti
Roar Rookie
Have you ever been to an Origin at ANZ? Because I have to get back to Cronulla afterwards and if I am there before midnight I am lucky. Once I waited an hour and moved less than 5 kilometres. That doesn't stop me from going but if I had children there is no way I would take them there.
Morotti
Roar Rookie
Love this idea. Not sure about a blackout three weeks of it but still love the idea of a representative weekend. Would only add trying to get some pacific island nations playing some games also.
Morotti
Roar Rookie
Don't forget that was the annual ANZAC day game. That regularly pulls 30k plus each year and has grown every year for the past few years. Hard core fans would obviously be dying for more but the casual fan might turn on another sport. And if they do that enough then they may stop watching RL altogether. I just like the idea of a representative weekend and having lots of different representative games. Play them all over Australia and get some decent crowds and exposure.
scott
Guest
hi,just whats going on with the footy these days,so sick of the same team getting every tv game on friday night,about 20 from 26 i think this year,and to top it off the rounds that they dont get the friday night game they seem to get the sunday tv game anyway...does channel 9 have shares in the broncos or do they just not see the other 15 teams?It seams that if your team is lucky enough to get a tv game on a friday night then its only on tv cause they are playing the broncos..I do understand that there is 3 qld teams in the copetition but how many times do you see the gold coast team on friday night footy,unless you are playing the broncos your not allowed on tv on friday..Some 1 please have a look at the draw cause this year is the same as last year and its got to benifit the team by having a 7 day turn around every week
Midfielder
Guest
Crosscoder Its only speculation but there is a degree of reasoning behind it I guess ... with Ch 9 owners having financial issues and Ch 10 owners not having them it sorta makes ch 10 a tad safer bet ... I accept the owners are not the business ... but Ch 10 has made a share issue as well for programming ... but it's still all speculation ..
Col Quinn
Guest
Sorry cant agree. Representative football, SOO and Test keeps improving the playing standard. Take that away and the NRL's palying standards will stagnate like the AFL's.
Moz
Guest
SOO game one weekend: Fri night - City v Country Sat night - Pacific Cup Group games (Fiji v Tonga, PNG v Samoa) Sunday 4pm - NSW U20's v NZ U20's Sunday 7pm - SOO 1 SOO game two weekend: Fri night - New Zealand v Australia 'A' Sat night - Pacific Cup Final & 3rd place play-off (bottom team drops out for following year eg Cook Islands come in etc) Sunday 4pm - QLD U20's v NZ U20's Sunday 7pm - SOO 2 SOO game three weekend: Fri night - Legends of Origin Charity Match (NSW v QLD) Sat night - New Zealand v Pacific Islanders/Polynesia Sunday 4pm - NSW U20's v QLD U20's Sunday 7pm - SOO 3 July Trans-Tasman test (two weeks after SOO3): Friday 5.30pm - U20's Origin Final Friday 8pm - Australia v New Zealand Normal NRL round resumes from Saturday
turbodewd
Guest
dogforlife, SOO on wednesday nights isnt family friendly and kills regular season NswRL game crowds. How on earth is someone meant to manage a family outing on a school night? Not easy! Stand alone weekends do work. After this year's ANZAC test a few days later the SFS was a full house for Easts v St.Geo. If you make the fans wait a few days theyre super hungry and fill the venue. SOO has enough gravity to pull people to saturday or friday night.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Gee appreciate that comment Midfielder,but surely when the ARLC were talking, the decision being unlikely till end August,this would appear to be rather premature. Alternatively ch10 must have come in with a $200m pa bid,and will onsell to Foxpsorts.throw in internet rights and Sky NZ,and that would make many a rl supporters'day.I will believe it when the signing on the dotted line take place. I knew 10 were desperate,had the cash backing of the two mentioned,and wanted to improve ratings and revenue.Securing rugby league would do that. channel 9 deserve a contractual rebuff,the way they took the code for granted for manyyears.They only in the last month have been showing these emotional tug at your heartstring ads"The home of rugby league" well, when its convenient should be added as a rider.
dogforlife
Guest
turbodewd, your crowds down south are shtt as you put it because south of the Tweed there are too many Sydney clubs in a small area.Spread the location of the teams more out of Sydney and your crowd numbers will rise Stand alone weekends DO NOT WORK. Friday and Saturday are the worst two nights to have them on due to the amount of people already out and about on those nights, traffic and transport are major issues, not to mention how after the game you are then contending with the drunk weekend warriors out and about also(very family friendly). I wish you would all stop trying to re invent the wheel as all this has been tried before and Wednesday night is the best for TV. I have no concern for the players saying "what about player welfare." They are paid well enough and have access to the best medical staff going around. There are plenty of other people who work in any number of industries under worse conditions(physical and mental) for far less pay and nothing is done about their welfare. No one is forcing the players to play, if they dont like it change jobs like anyone else has to, just stop crying poor me. Wednesday night is perfect for Origin, those who want it on a weekend for their own selfish reasons (like fitting in with their life) just don't have the passion for the game they think they do. I'll wager most are from N.S.W. as Queensland can sell out Wednesday nights any year whether we are winning or not.
JamesP
Guest
"I love Origin but hate what it does to our national competition" And that is one of the main reasons why AFL SoO eventually died its death. As the old saying goes, "you can't have your cake and it eat it too". I know, I know...what's the use of having cake if you cant eat it.....
Midfielder
Guest
Off topic but just sharing on a RL thread... From the MV football forum … SEN radio in Melbourne yesterday afternoon has industry speculation saying Ch 10 has won the rights to the NRL…. with backing apparently from rinehart and murdoch
Bring Back the Bears
Guest
I disagree, I like the idea of having a three week representative gap in the middle of the season and remove the bye rounds. That would also mean players aren't missing club games for origin, and clubs can't complain about scheduling, we could also bring in a NZ origin and also bring in the Pacific cup to play at the same time. This would definitely help prevent NZ and Pac islander players from playing origin and would strengthen the international game by giving other nations rep experience. My ideal season would run as follows: NRL - wk 1-5 Anzac Test and City Country - wk 6 NRL - wk 7 - 12 SOO, NZ, Pac Cup - wk 13-15 NRL - wk 16-21 All stars vs Indigenous all stars NRL - wk 21-26 Finals
turbodewd
Guest
dishes, well if they were complaining so much about one game taking up the whole weekend then why are crowds so shtt before and after Origin? Who cares if they complain, you watch as they pack out the stadium the following week coz they had to wait an extra week. We need to strive for quality - not quantity. Certainly the weather this time of year doesnt help. Which in itself is a reason to have less games in June/July.
dishes
Guest
Stand-alone weekends have been tried a few years ago it didn't work. Everyone keeps forgetting this. Everyone was complaining because having only one game all week was boring. I think the ARLC has made a good decision keep it mid-week for now, once there are more representative games established (for example NZ origin) then maybe stand-alone weekends could be tried again.