Extend Origin to create NRL stand alone representative weekend

The rivalry that is origin will not die. The hatred New South Wales and Queensland share is at time relevant in every day life. Australians love their footy and most people see it as the ultimate way to gain bragging rights. The space between matches is designed to give teams a chance to turn around, and think about what they will change for the next game, designed for the ultimate preparation. Furthermore, if games were jammed together like you seem to desire, selectors and coaches would have no time to have a look at new players... Look at Nathan Merritt for example, if origin 3 was the weekend after 2, McManus wouldn't have had the game he did against the Titans and Merritt would have remained. I do believe origin should be played on a stand alone weekend, (aside from the NRL competition, that is)... But how about a Pacific Nations tournament to be played here in Australia along with it? NSW Cup teams vs Intrust Super Cup teams? There are teams and concepts already existing. The NRL along with former players have long discussed the fact there needs to be a change in the way the origin series is structured... But never do anything... I have always thought that players should have the choice to play for their club even after selection for origin, reason? Teams playing a side like Melbourne with Smith, Cronk, Slater and Hoffman have a distinct disadvantage to a team that doesn't, it's just unfair. My paragraph structure was terrible, but I feel my points are pretty strong.

Interesting concept. With your broadcasting idea, origin should be played on Saturday, if it was on a Sunday night, crowds would decrease due to people staying at home getting ready for the working week. Sunday night is not a great time for television companies.

honorary what?..sounds like a tag from apartheid south africa..I bet if it wasn't for the money and big stage game time none of those kiwis and pacific islanders would want to play for either qeensland or nsw..

FFS LEAVE ORIGN ALONE, every year another pinhead idea to try and fix something that isnt broke. Midweek works best every other way has been tried. Stand alone rep weekend for ANZAC test including a round of international test between others then another round after the season. Origin is its own beast. You *&^! with the bull then best expect the horns,

"Okay James, as cultural advisor for this new venture, one of your main functions is to go around all the south Auckland, or west Sydney, born Samoan boys, born to first language speaking Island-born Samoan parents, and who are playing NRL, QLD Cup or NSW Cup and tell them that they can’t play for their own people" Ra, from a personal point of view, I was born in Australia, my parents were born overseas. Ra, despite the fact that I have heritage from an overseas country, and I'm bloody proud of it, I am an Australian first and foremost. Ra, I hope it explains where I'm coming home with my previous post.

Won't happen, NRL and clubs don't care about anything outside Australia. Clubs won't release international players for fear of injury. That is why Souths and lesser extent Storm load their teams with Poms and Kiwis to lessen effect of SOO. NRL have SOO as a cash cow and will not risk diluting it in any way. A few years ago there was an NSW/Qland/NZ tournament. As soon as the result looked like NZ would be in the final the Aussie refs cheated the results. Same thing would happen.

Leave it as it is except move origin to Tuesday night. Attempt to schedule the teams with the most rep players playing on Sunday or Monday to give the origin player as much time as possible to recover form that weeks origin game . I don't even like the representative weekend with the Test between Aust and NZ and the city country game. The most games a team will be with out its players is 2 games. Think of it like this. The clubs with the most rep players are handicapped for a game or 2, but they still have the most rep players for the rest of the season.

SOO is for the genuine nasal-speakin' tru blu ocker & yobbo, and that is why guys from ACT can play and fullas from south Auckland and Levin shouldn't

Okay James, as cultural advisor for this new venture, one of your main functions is to go around all the south Auckland, or west Sydney, born Samoan boys, born to first language speaking Island-born Samoan parents, and who are playing NRL, QLD Cup or NSW Cup and tell them that they can't play for their own people. Then if you haven't gotten the bash good n proper at that stage, you go round up the Tongan community and share that same message with them. We have special relationships with our Pasifika neighbours that go beyond the football field. We can look at the fact that lots of our Kiwi reps over the years were born and grew up off shore, but they never forgot their roots and came home to play their international football thanks guys !! NZRU has got it pretty close to right now, so that should give you a bit of a lead in your new role lol.

Yes max, make it Country of Origin, but the Pacific Cup looks after that, sort of, doesn't it? SOO has already devalued itself in my eyes through its two states public wrangling and squabbling with the Kiwis and Pasifika over players when they've got more players in Koori & Murri competitions than we've got players in our local competitions, while the ARL meekly standing on the sideline. To me SOO is not just a rugby league match. Its born out of a traditional Big Brother little brother, colonial squabble between white (mostly Irish? lol) soon to be Australians that spawned a genuine hate for each other that lives on today in their descendants. Great stuff, great theatre, great history. Awesome traditional rivalry and long may it live on in their descendants. As I said before if they continue to look at our players in their sides SOO will in years to come look like a gladiatorial battle between Polynesians in Aussie colours. So lets work on keeping Polynesia Polynesian, and I include Aotearoa NZ in on that too. For us back home (NZ), who back in the day came from south of Bombay, Auckland was always our biggest stumbling block, or those one-eyed Cantabrians. No matter what code or sport it was, they usually had the wood on the rest of us - does that make for great theatre for us???

Maybe two Kiwi sides - call them JAFA's and South of Bombay Invitation. As far as us country bumpkins are concerned Auckland starts at the Bombay. A play on the old Auckland vs The Rest games. Did they play ant of those back in the day??? I've forgotten. Before my time lol.

Johnno, do you sleep ?????

And yet he is spot on most of the time, except when maroon mist clouds his vision

Hey Football illiterate, I thought that Samoa and Tonga game was great game filled with passion, however, the problem I have with both of those teams, is that majority of those players were born either in Australia or NZ. If we're going to have a legit game between Tonga and Samoa, we need more players that are born in those countries. Like I stated in my article, eligibility rules is something that needs to be tweaked with. Also with the idea of a 4 team tournament, it is there until the island nations become stronger, and stand on their own two feet. The structure of the tournament will change accordingly when that happens.

"Never in my post did i say Tonga would play NSW or Queensland." "The only time Tonga would ever play Queensland is in a dead rubber situation" Which one is it champ? Sorry mate, i love your passion for the game but this idea is absurd....it will do more harm to the game than good. It's a competition that you play out on Rugby League Live 2 on PS3 if you like but it won't get the green light for the real world.

Garbage, they have a audience for Tonga Samoa. They already have games played, without promotion,. Look, do i have to do everything, i am not getting paid, but do i have to promote, tell this code how to grow, the game, show them how to grow, when where and why. I am sick of this, if i run the code, i could double growth in 2 years, why am i banging my head against a brick wall every time i make comment. Look, give James Packer the game, give "Your fired, guy the game, give anyone with half a brain the game and it would flourish, not our muppets, no we dont want to grow, we want out head kicked in, that is more fun. hehe Send that around the officce, and while your sending it, get them to throw sand in your face and kick your head in while sending it, because that is how i feel on these blogs.

You should be running the board. This is exactly yhte mindset this code needs. I never said Tonga would be playing NSW or QLD, yet Renagade went off like a pricked baloon. Only if ever their was a dead rubber in NSW Queensland contest would we see any of those 4 teams play the winner of Origin, and is what i was trying to introduce, but hey, lets not introduce anything new, lets just stagnate like a giant slug, caught in quicksand. Now you know why i have given up.

The only time Tonga would ever play Queensland is in a dead rubber situation. So once in a blue moon, even then they would have beaten NZ and the Exiles to be in that position. Just goes to show how much you understand of what is being said. I have come up with a idea to grow the code, and again, it is being knocked down by people who dont know what is said, or by marketers that really dont know how to take and grow a game to their own market. Never in my post did i say Tonga would play NSW or Queensland. Fair dinkum, this is why people give up trying to help grow rugby league.

oikee, the fans will not attend these fringe ideas youre suggesting. Origin should allow for 2 Honorary Blues and 2 Honorary Maroons per team, they can be from England NZ or the ACT, PNG, u name it. Id say ACT players automatically qualify as normal Blues but there should be an ACT flag on the jersey instead of the NSW one.

Who said keeping it a sydney comp, I didn't say that. And I want national expansion. And who says 1 city teams in Sydney work. Have you checked how many fans the warpaths have in sydney. Basically zero, and awful crowds. They are too big for 1 city to identify with and represent. Sydney is a mix of cultures, and micro-cities, it rarely works 1 team coming together. Sydney FC, suffered the same problem. It tired to be all things to everybody, what did it get awful crowds. It re-changed it's marketing strategy, gave up representing all of sydney, and focused on the North shore, eastern suburbs, and cronulla shire for support. And gave west sydney to the wanderers to market. And even now whispers have come out about the wanderers, being basically the Parramaate wanderers, not identifying with all of west sydney. Once again broken down into, north-west,south west,penrith, central west,inner west etc. And with the economy and population growing it can sustain the teams. And the sydney swans basically are like sydney FC they gave up years ago on west sydney. And every nook and cranny can be and needs to be sustainable if it is financially viable, and growing long term. By getting rid of the North Sydney Bears, AFL has taken over sydney's north shore along with rugby, and soccer, rugby league is now behind there, and will be until they get abeam back there. Origin is a problem it's limited to just 2 states, and stuffs up the club season, just read Phil Gould's article in the SMH , and this is an ex NSW blues coach, and now general manager at Penrtih Panthers. He is annoyed about the current schedule, and annoyed by the burden origin is having on club football, stuffing it up for 9 weeks a year. Read the article and the video he did on the smh website about scheduling of state of origin.