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Opinion
Every year, the same debate rears its head in one form or another.
This year, Nathan Cleary’s injury has sparked the conversation, but it’s not a new phenomenon to have people trot out their State of Origin scheduling ideas around late May into early July, as we get deep into the throes of another saucy Origin spectacle.
The NRL has, in recent years, shown its willingness to experiment with the State of Origin scheduling, having tried Sunday night games to shorten the rep period and decrease the impact on clubs, citing player availability.
When they were forced into testing a new experiment during the pandemic, the NRL oversaw the dawn of post-season State of Origin.
Queenslands team of misfits, including an obscene 14 debutants across three games, shocked NSW with an unforgettable 2-1 series win.
While it wasn’t the ratings win Channel 9 had hoped for, it unlocked hope that the NRL can, in future, sort out three persistent issues that rugby league grapples with year after year.
That is Origin fixtures and how they fit into the NRL schedule, player eligibility for State and Country, and breathing life into an otherwise stagnant international arena.
The lines between state loyalty and acknowledging family heritage were certainly blurred just a year after that 2020 Origin series. At the 2021 World Cup, a swathe of players eligible for NSW, QLD and Australia chose instead to represent the heritage of their parents and grandparents, essentially drawing a line through their Origin eligibility, at least for the time being.
In the current climate of international rugby league, one could hardly begrudge players for taking on the rare opportunity to represent their family heritage, and in the process reignite the game at international level.
Nicho Hynes. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
So, with Origin proving not to be a silver screen hit in the post season, which is usually reserved for international games, there is a solution that might kill a few birds with one stone.
Firstly, let’s put the NRL season on hold, for three weeks. Now, hear me out, you’ll still have plenty of footy to watch. Make players declare their allegiance, either for state or country, because they’ll all have plenty to play for.
Internationally, have two pools of four teams each. Tiered, with a promotion and relegation format, to keep it interesting. In the top tier, have the four-highest ranked International sides other than Australia.
Currently, this entails New Zealand, England and Samoa and Tonga. In the second tier, the next four highest ranked teams, currently Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Lebanon and France.
Have each team play the other three in a round robin over the three weeks. At the end, the top finisher from Tier 2 is promoted to Tier 1, and the bottom team from Tier 1 goes down to Tier 2, where they will start next year.
From a viewing perspective, with two games in each tier, that’s four games per weekend to start. Then throw in State of Origin, and we’re up to five.
Curtain raise the Origin with the Women’s Origin and perhaps even an Under 19’s Origin, and we’re looking at six or seeven games per weekend of high quality, and most importantly, meaningful footy, almost as many as we have each weekend during the NRL season.
The top two teams from Tier 1 play Australia in an end of year Tri-Series. Yes, it is a bit Aussie-centric in the sense that Australia more or less gets a ‘free pass’ to the end of year tri-series, but we have to start somewhere with building the international game up.
This can be re-worked in time if required. Giving teams meaningful games with an achievable end goal is just a starting point.
(Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
Now I know some of you are jumping up and down, “We won’t get to see our club play for threee weeks!”, but during Origin time it feels a bit disjointed anyway, with decimated teams and inconsistent scheduling of games.
Many of your favourite players will be running around in their international colours, as a large portion of players will choose to honour their family bloodlines and play for the country of their ancestors.
Here is a draft schedule of the slate of games for a mid season rep weekend, so imagine three of these weekends back to back! When the Pacific Island teams have met in the past it has been nothing but a fantastic spectacle to watch, and with extra meaning and teams at full strength in each game I think it would just intensify the battles even more.
Friday 7.30pm: England v Tonga
Saturday 3pm: Papua New Guinea v France
Saturday 5.30pm: Fiji v Lebanon
Saturday 8pm: New Zealand v Samoa
Sunday 4pm: Women’s State of Origin
Sunday 7pm: Men’s State of Origin
Is it perfect? Probably not, but nothing is at the start. Will it help reignite the international game while still paying State of Origin it’s due as the showpiece mid season fixture of our game? I think so.
We need to start somewhere if we are going to let the game grow at the top level, and I think this is a big step forward in doing so. Some may think this is a knee jerk to the Nathan Cleary injury, but the NRL has toyed with the idea of standalone State of Origin fixtures for years, and Cleary’s injury is just another flashpoint in a drawn out process, trying to figure out the best way to balance player and club needs.
The fear has always been that an international break would suck momentum out of the NRL season, but the reality is that many of the best players would still be on the field every week, while those not playing have a chance to rest and reset heading in the final stretch of the season.
Make it happen!
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