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With so much talk and hype surrounding Origin 2, there has been little attention paid to the current round of NRL fixtures.
In the middle of a super competitive Origin series, and with millions of eyes on the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, Round 14 of the NRL became an afterthought.
On Monday night, an embarrassing crowd of 6,497 turned up to see a heavily depleted Titans outfit host an equally understrength Melbourne Storm.
For the record, the Storm ran out 24-20 winners, but you’d be forgiven for having to look up the score, as it is not a game that will go down in history, despite a brilliant try to Kevin Gordon in the dying minutes.
With only one Sunday afternoon game played this week, while Saturday afternoon was left to the Swans and the AFL, why was there was a fixture set for Monday night at all?
Monday night football has traditionally been a poorly supported time slot, with one NRL CEO referring to it as ‘death’, due to difficulties faced by fans attending games after work, and on a school night.
Add to that the fact that clubs insist on charging full price for what is a reserve grade fixture due to the lack of Origin stars, and you have a recipe for disaster.
I fully understand Fox Sports insisting on the high-rating timeslot, but surely the needs of fans have to be taken into consideration.
The 6,497 who turned up missed out on stars Billy Slater, Cameron Smith, Greg Bird, Nate Myles and David Taylor. Cooper Cronk, although injured, would have missed the game even if fit, due to Origin commitments.
The debate over the possible stand alone weekend for Origin will rage on for many years, however judging by the crowd and quality of football on show, there can be no argument to support a Monday night fixture during an Origin-depleted round.
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