We’re not even one month into NRL season 2019 and already it’s almost impossible to watch or listen to a game without hearing about this year’s State of Origin series.
After just a fortnight, it looks like a year of promising young stars, popular teams dragging themselves back to relevance after long periods of mediocrity, and perhaps milder referee bashing than we’ve recently seen.
Yet rugby league’s biggest money spinner just keeps casting its shadow over the competition.
Kalyn Ponga’s switch to five-eighth from fullback for Newcastle is being assessed for whether it could work for Queensland, not how it helps the Knights.
Tevita Pangai Jr has been massive for Brisbane, but all the talk is about how he can play for New South Wales and also represent Tonga (that’s a whole other story).
Andrew Johns is sizing up anyone who does something moderately good on the field for a blue jersey.
Maroons assistant coach Justin Hodges and his former Broncos co-captain Corey Parker are discussing how the Queensland side should line up.
Is there too much focus on State of Origin? (AAP Image/Michael Chambers)
After two games.
The fans aren’t talking about Origin. We’re barely starting to pick our way through the regular stuff.
We want to see if Paul McGregor can pull his badly listing St George Illawarra Dragons back on track, if the Parramatta Eels are the genuine article, and how many ‘strategic’ penalties the Melbourne Storm can give away with impunity.
We want analysis and discussion of how our team is shaping up, not about one player’s chances of a representative selection.
I understand the iconic three-game series is the be-all-and-end-all for some out there (particularly television executives and newspaper editors), but it’s March. We’ve barely started.
Don’t take this the wrong way – I love Origin. I love watching it, I love talking about it and I love writing about it.
I don’t have a side, but I’ve loved watching it since the players were using the bumblebee-striped balls. It’s the envy of Australia’s sporting codes, putting the cream of ‘local’ talent on display during primetime in an intense, high-stakes environment that draws eyeballs from across the globe.
It’s a great part of the season and you’d better believe I’ll be working over The Roar’s editors with a stack of Origin content…
Just not yet.
This season has already thrown up issues worth discussing.
Games aren’t being played at the Sydney Football Stadium, which might lead to a dip in the overall average attendance and poorer quality play on the ordinary surfaces at the alternate venues.
The expansion versus relocation debate is gathering long-overdue momentum.
There’s finally been definitive action taken against players charged with serious offences and there’s a tiny, tiny inkling that maybe some progress could be made in examining the role of player agents in salary cap rorting.
And that’s just off the field. on-field, the game is getting better and better.
The competition struggles enough for relevance during the two months of Origin media saturation and it’s not a good thing to be getting pushed out of the spotlight earlier and earlier each year. There are plenty of big stories to follow right now and more will arise.
It doesn’t help that both NSW and Queensland coaches Brad Fittler and Kevin Walters are part of television match coverage, but I’m not calling for them to be gone. A man’s gotta earn a living.
Is there too much focus on State of Origin?
But surely their colleagues can think of more pressing questions about the game in front of them rather than what one try or missed tackle has done to a particular player’s State of Origin chances?
My forlorn hope is that the wider NRL media can hold off until squads are announced before they start rolling out their annual ‘Origin ticket sales/selections/referee selections/TV ratings in crisis’ pieces, updated for 2019.
State of Origin Game 1 is on Wednesday, June 5 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. June 5 is a long way away. Ten weeks, in fact. 70 days.
How about we give the NRL competition a bit of air to breathe before it yet again gets completely sidelined?
Long280
Roar Rookie
Or the Dragons win one...…..
Ad-O
Guest
You're probably right, but the reason everyone loves Origin so much is that its basically perfect. It's a high quality rivalry of unparalleled fierceness between traditional super powers, and it doesn't stick around too long to get boring. Compare this to the NRL, which has done its level best to sell its soul and alienate its fans for decades. The responsibility is not on media and fans to not talk about Origin. The responsibility is on the NRL to be more interesting.
Monday QB
Guest
Agree. It's probably not a popular view, but i feel like in many ways origin is becoming more of a distraction to the NRL regular season - too many bye rounds, too long between origin games (a marketing ploy to extend the 'origin period') and too much pre-origin chatter. I enjoy origin and think the QRL/NSWRL have done a great job making it the spectacle it is, but these days it feels like we're talking origin from February until (at least) the end of the last game in July. I'd be in favour of two week (three weekend) 'origin break' in the middle of the season. Play the games on consecutive weekends and let everyone else have a mid-season break or possibly play tests for NZ, Samoa, Tonga etc. But i doubt this will happen.
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
How about we stick with the same team that won the bloody thing? How about that? QLDers have been laughing at NSW for decades because we panic and switch players around for every game when all we have to do is follow the QLD model and stay faithful to the team that were good enough to win the series the previous year.
David Holden
Roar Guru
That's in Queensland?
Bruz
Roar Rookie
100% agree AJ, don’t know why people are getting so hyped over the thought of Pangai Jnr in a blues jumper, one good game against the cowboys and he is suddenly on the radar. NRL is a tough competition, players constantly get injured too. Origin talk should be saved until at least rounds 7-8
Adam
Roar Guru
But should it be the be all and end all of the competition? There's no point having jewels but no crown to put it in or a castle to store it in. Sure it makes everything look nice 3 times a year, but I think the AFL is comfortable with their weekly product and the revenue consistently high crowds and membership brings in.
Fraser
Roar Rookie
Absolutely. Just wait until Souths lose a game.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
We had plenty of close games in the second half of last season I'm sure but because the NRL stopped pretending there wasn't an issue with refereeing errors and calmly admitted that Ricky Stuart did have a point then something changed and the situation has been much better since. The coaches don't develop so much red hot anger if their valid complaints aren't brushed aside and ridiculed which is what was happening. None of the coaches were in denial that their teams were also making mistakes, they could deal with that at training but it seems they have more of a voice now as well as heads out of the sand from the authorities and things are working much better. Annesley didn't pretend he couldn't tell a forward pass was forward during the week and that sort of talk rightly takes the heat out of the situation.
AE47
Roar Rookie
Raiders v Sharks is a perfect example of refs costing a club dearly
The Barry
Roar Guru
We’ve had very few close games this year, there’s only been one game decided by less than six points. Wait until there’s a couple of close ones and the “refs fault, they cost us the game, we’re busting our backsides out there, there needs to be an investigation” will start. For me refs fault isn’t about not critiquing the refs performance. It’s doing it in the juvenile way of throwing everything at the refs feet.
Nat
Roar Guru
Is there any rugby league supporter who doesn't acknowledge the impact a ref has on a game? That's their job, to adjudicate over 400 instances per game. There is a significant difference to being a "critic of a critic" and being critical who over states the impact of a decision because it went against your team. You tend to be overly critical when it goes against Manly but rarely acknowledge when it goes to Manly. There is a significant difference between being a critic and a hypocrite.
Albo
Roar Rookie
But State of Origin is still the jewel in the crown of our great game. It generates the year's main revenues that support the NRL and the whole game ( via the TV contracts ) and the SOO provides the 3 highest rating sporting events each year on our TV. It provides massive crowd & viewer interest mid season. If you want new players & memberships to our game, there is no greater exhibition of our game than SOO. The AFL would love to have a similar high rating series outside of their GF day. So sure, it may be too early for the "experts" to start talking about it, but we must always acknowledge it is the major component of the success of our sport right now.
Ray Paks
Roar Rookie
naah, I actually like talking and reading about it way ahead of its time so keep em coming there are those that pass time watching NRL whilst waiting for SOO
Nat
Roar Guru
If it was up to Johns he would have 45 players in blues jumpers. Anyone makes a decent run and "he's a tearaway, where's he from?"
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
Good thing is that the NRL and Ref bosses have taken the mature and logical approach and acknowledged that ref mistakes can influence the result of games. That's when we had progress and improvement. No progress was likely with the angry head in the sand approach they adopted and as the saying goes , you can't fix a problem if you don't admit there is one. There probably will be times when refs mistakes do influence the result again but they seem very few and far between at the moment.
peeeko
Roar Guru
how many players has Mark Geyer called "a built for origin player" so far this year?
AJ Mithen
Expert
Refs fault is coming... Don't worry about that!
AJ Mithen
Expert
Busty I grew up in Canberra when both QLD and NSW had a fair split of Raiders players turning out. I’d probably say I lean towards Queensland cos I loved Sam Backo, Gary Belcher, Gene Miles and Wally. I do love the horribly biased commentary the Origin series gives us. If I had my way every team would be made to produce its own incredibly one-sided coverage.
AJ Mithen
Expert
Gotta be Moses/Wighton Baz. The only logical solution