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Two big games and two big series, the State of Origin and Lions tour, have delivered the marketers dream, with both culminating in eagerly-anticipated deciders.
One next Saturday night, the other sometime in the distant future on July 17.
What?
That’s right, while lucky rugby union fans only have a measly seven sleeps between games, rugby league fans have to wait an eternity for their decider.
By the time the decider is being played you probably won’t remember what happened in Game 1 if you’ve packed into a scrum anytime in your life.
Between the squads first being named, and the final game being played, there’s nearly a two month period where Origin takes over from the NRL and tipping goes even further out the window.
Which raises the question, why the wait?
Why are Origin matches further apart than grand finals for the Rabbitohs? It doesn’t seem to make any sense.
Once upon a time there was a fortnight between the games, which was ok, but the three week gap between matches now just seems to drag on longer than one could Brett Hodgson, and as we all know only bad things come from this.
For starters there’s the very real chance that the two teams that finally contest the decider have changed significantly to the ones that contested the opening game some six weeks beforehand. If we look at the Origin period as the mini-season it has become, the longer it goes on the greater the chance of injury befalling key players.
If Queensland had to run out for the decider minus Thurston, Smith and Cronk to injuries sustained in NRL matches in between, besides Laurie Daley doing nude cartwheels across the Harbour Bridge, wouldn’t the fans feel a little bit ripped off?
Don’t get me wrong, injuries are a bit like Mike Whitney in that they can pop up anytime, anywhere. However by prolonging the series the powers that be are only increasing the chance of a key player missing the game’s showpiece.
The big breaks are also a real momentum killer. Look at NSW. By the time they got to Brisbane last week Game 1 may as well have been in 2005. Hell, the players may as well have been insulting fans pre-match on Myspace, it was that long ago.
The argument for the status quo would be that it allows rugby league to milk its big money-maker for a longer time, but even this is questionable. When Origin III finally rolls around it has been flooding the news since April, and some of the stories are, well, starting to get a little flabby. It’s even worse if the final match is a dead rubber.
Compare that to the cauliflowered-ear code: has the Lions series suffered at all for the relatively quick succession of matches? Don’t think so, as instead of peaks and troughs of interest there’s been a steady buzz to keep fans happy.
Even the football world cup only spans 32 days, cramming a glut of games into that time.
For Origin to think that it can sustain a continuous level of interest for over forty days, with only three matches played, is banking a lot on how much people want to see Paul Gallen punch someone.
The answer, of course, is the one everyone realises is probably the way to go but no administrators will touch, three straight weeks of Origin during a mid-season NRL hiatus.
Yeah, you could say what we’ve got at the moment is bringing the goods, but the State of Origin series is just that, a series. It’s not supposed to be a season.
The ARLC is killing the golden goose for mine. Let’s get Origin started then get it done! It’ll help us enjoy both it and the regular NRL season that little bit more.
And, most importantly, stop all this wretched waiting around for a result!
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