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Would you like to see Sonny Bill Williams play against NSW? Or how about Sam Burgess pitting his toughness against Queensland? Well here is an idea of mine on how that could come to fruition.
The last few years, many NRL fans have been crying out for stand alone representative weekends to be held in the same timeframe as State of Origin, rather then having the current situation where players are stood down from their NRL clubs, and having NRL matches been played without them.
The problem is, what possible representative matches could be played to fill the void of a weekend without NRL matches?
There has been talk of a possible New Zealand origin series, or a Pacific Islands All stars v New Zealand series.
Over in England in the last couple of years, they’ve had the England v Exiles match. The Exiles team consists of Australian and New Zealand players who are plying their trade in the English Super League.
So with all that in mind, I came up with an idea.
Why don’t we have a four team tournament called the Provincial Origin Championship played on the same weekend with State of Origin?
The four teams will consist of: two teams from New Zealand, Auckland and Counties (players outside of Auckland). The third team will be the NRL’s version of the Exiles, players that come from the ESL. The fourth team will be the Papua New Guinea-Pacific Islands, players that are either born or have a heritage from the Pacific Islands or Papua New Guinea.
The tournament will be played over three weekends, where each team plays each other once. The winner of the tournament (which will include bonus points, e.g. scoring four tries) will play the winner of NSW or Queensland a week or two after the NRL grand final, in a super bowl type scenario.
The final could be played at either Australia, New Zealand or England depending on the teams.
All of the revenue generated from the tournament will go two ways. Firstly, they’ll go towards remunerating the players, and secondly, towards grassroots football in the Pacific Islands, Papua New Guinea, and England (I should not forget France).
Bear in mind, New Zealand should already be taken care of, due to the fact they have a team in the NRL.
So a typical representative weekend would look something like this:
Friday night:
Provincial Origin Championship: Papua New Guinea-Pacific Islands v Counties
Saturday night
Provincial Origin Championship: Auckland v ESL Exiles
Sunday night
State of Origin: NSW v Queensland
With the NRL schedule, a few tweaks. For starters, get rid of the City/Country game and the ANZAC Test. Test football should be held at the end of the year.
I would have 23 rounds of NRL played over 24 weeks, with each team having one bye. In those 23 rounds, 22 of those will be home and away, which means each team has 11 home games, like it was 15-20 years ago.
The 23rd round will be the ‘Country Round’, a round where all NRL matches are played in bush. The NRL should get a sponsor or sponsors, not only for the Country Round, but for bush footy in general on a much larger scale.
The revenue from the sponsor/sponsors will go towards the 16 NRL clubs (compensated for the loss of home game) and bush footy.
So there you have it. A four team tournament to be played alongside Origin, which would make it a truly representative weekend, and also the NRL comp would be safe from been compromised.
My only worries with this idea are the eligibility rules, particularly around Papua New Guinea and Pacific Island players and if there are massive injuries among the playing squads, especially the two Kiwi sides. But as time goes by, and with a possible introduction of a second NRL team in New Zealand, player depth from New Zealand will only increase.
Unfortunately, with the new tv deal just commencing this year, and expiring at the end of 2017, are there any chances of trying something different like a Provincial Origin Championship? We just have to wait and see.
The important thing out of this idea, is to give international rugby league a presence. If the Island nations become stronger individually in the future, then the tournament structure should change accordingly.
So then, does this idea of having a four team tournament at the same time as Origin have any legs? I’ll be interested in your feedback Roarers.
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