This Farah experiment needs to end. It is no coincidence that Australia lost all its momentum when he came on.

We’ve got to stop mucking around and play the game properly, which means not pandering to nsw affiliations and putting the best team on the park.

Well thank God himself that there is something to be taken from that dire match and from one of the worse seasons in living memory. A true champion received the recognition for being the outstanding player he is, as opposed to a channel 9 marketing tool.

Clearly, channel 9 and it’s cronies have no say who the Clive Churchill is awarded too.

Well the Channel 9 roosters have well and truly paid for the silverware. Thank you for making my beloved sport the commodity it has become.

And if they give IT to HIM, it will be the strawberry on top of the worse season ever.

(can’t use Cherry as that would be insulting an actual rugby LEAGUE PLAYER).

yep, it should be interesting, maybe even the high light to this dire affair, but the concept of the “rub of the green” has been pushed to the limits in this match… and I hate Manly!

hey, leave the sport alone… the NRL is the joke.

It’s not just you… this has been one of channel 9s ploys for a long time. It just adds it to the many elements that make their sport coverage one of the worst that sporting history has known.

One half down and the refs are doing their best to put the icing on the top of one of the worst rugby league seasons to date.

Yes, “retire” which will surely have nothing to do with ASADA…

We all knew this was going to happen, it was only the matter of when. Not going to the raiders, but walking away from Parramatta when it got too tough.

And what will happen next? We’ll see an article in one of Sydney’s rubbish rags how it is all the boards, the players, the fans, the NRL, the grounds keeper’s fault they lost 19 and forced him to leave. Everything other than taking any blame for himself.

The truth is Parramatta got exactly what they deserved for installing a failure. A fate that will now be repeated at the Raiders.

Are you talking about penrith, wests or parramatta… or all 3?

The hack (in every sense of the word) Dean Ritchie stated on The Game Plan last night, that Sandor Earl should “do the Australian thing” and keep his mouth shut.

I for one hope he spills the beans and outs all the drug cheats.

I fail to understand why simpletons like Richie or anyone else would want to protect the drug cheats in our sport. This is not a matter of dobbing in your mates, this is a matter of our sport’s integrity.

Why is there this constant theme of protectionism running through league? Why are teams like the Sharks being touted as courageous for not being honest?

The fact that teams like the Sharks are trying to conceal their involvement and hope a lack of evidence clears them, directly exposes their lack of commitment to the sport of rugby league and is just another example of Sydney rugby league thinking and behaving as if it is bigger that the sport.

If the sharks (and other teams) and their players all want to continue the lie and look after their own interests instead of the sport we love, I hope the most severest of penalties befall them.

An indoor stadium could be a real sporting game changing for the capital, however I really like environmental challenge of Canberra.

It adds real flavour to a home and away comp, and the fact that over a 100 games a year are played in Sydney, league really needs that varying climate change that truly makes a national competition, and a real sport.

We can’t afford to lose Canberra. Their crowds aren’t great atm, but the Raiders set us apart from the AFL and the A-League.

Rugby League has already lost too much to the Sydney glut, and if the tough choices were made in ’98, the question of Perth, Brisbane 2 (and Adelaide) wouldn’t be discussed now.

The Raider’s offer us value through their location alone. The Tigers, Sharks and the other dysfunctional Sydney teams offer us very little.

The methodology behind the creation of the NRL is one of saddest and most disappointing patches of rugby league history in Australia. This was the single greatest opportunity to move the sport of rugby league in the right direction as Australia’s national sport, however they decided to set our sport back, what is 16 years now.

Mergers aside the removal of Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane 2, Gold Coast and (to a lesser extent) Wollongong (Illawarra) was the greatest shame of the creation of NRL. In effort to cater for Sydney clubs the NRL removed 5 important teams/regions not from the NRL, but from the sport of rugby league.

What do we have now, 16 year later? The restatement of a Gold Coast team and a ridiculous uphill battle against Sydney to have the second Brisbane team and Perth returned to the comp and let’s be honest does anyone really see these teams making it before 2017? Of course they could be ready tomorrow, but no, we have to make sure the honorable teams like the Sharks are financially viable.

They do say 2017, but I’m not holding my breath, but by the smallest of chances league’s overlords channel 9 give the go ahead and we do get Brisbane 2 and Perth. That would mean a whole 20 years to not even be back to where we were. An absolute disgrace!

What’s happened in that time? Well Union has moved into WA, VIC and AFL has re-enforced NSW and QLD and the A-league has become a real player in the sporting landscape, representing 5 states of Australia. League on the other hand is motionless, unbelievably motionless, with no plan. A plan that should have been the first thing they created in the year of 1998, but we still have nothing.

If we had kept Perth and Adelaide, rugby league would now be representing 7 regions of Australia and NZ (and this is not including Townsville and Newcastle). Right now we would be discussing the addition of 2 new clubs. We could be talking about PNG, NT, NZ2, TAS, somewhere exciting to grow our sport and we would have pushed our sport to 9 regions. We could have been ruling the sporting landscape in Australia, but what we decided on the dysfunction of Sydney clubs, that add no value to our sport. What do sharks give to a national sport? What do 4 western Sydney teams offer to a national sport?

Although I am one who puts my faith in the logical argument that the massively over crowded landscape of Sydney is the single root cause of rugby league being stifled on a national and international level, I have no real passion for merged clubs.

I see no reason that Sydney cannot retain in vast rugby league history in a second tear competition, and have at most 4 teams representing the Sydney region in a national comp. This is the sacrifice Brisbane made for the growth of rugby league, and it’s time that Sydney follows suit.

The creation of the NRL was our darkest day as the powers did not have strength to do the right thing by the sport of rugby league and instead put the Sydney clubs above our great sport.

To shame.

Is Ricky Stuart being overlooked for buy of the season?

This really is the perfect opportunity for the NRL to act, and remove the Sharks from the competition. We all know that 9 Sydney teams is not a viable system, and in the future they will be reduced to a manageable level.

Ten, Twenty, Thirty years, it doesn’t matter, but if league survives (and with partners like channel 9, who knows?) – It won’t be a matter of if, but when. No matter how many fans protest and say they’ll never watch the sport again – the Sydney monopoly over rugby will eventually end.

The NRL should be all over these opportunities when they present themselves, especially when a club have made their own bed, basically meaning the NRL won’t be the bad guys.

I’m tired of the Sydney clubs thumbing their noses at rugby league. There needs to be consequences for their actions. The majority of the Sydney clubs offer no value to the competition, and therefore should be the ones providing the upmost respect the sport deserves. Instead they act like they own the sport… maybe they do?

Although I don’t always agree with Matty Johns, he did write a pretty good article about the salary cap today. It is a reality that the salary cap is reducing our comp to the lowest bottom denominator, not the “elite” comp it’s marketed as.

However, the problem is not origin. All origin has done is expose that weakness of our competition and primarily that the Sydney market is over saturated. With one location supporting 9 teams, with over 100 games played there a year, how can we expect to retain the fans interest? Especially Sydney fans where most will turn their backs on “their” failing team.

All these issues that league faces, all lead back to a single root cause – the Sydney glut. We will never be able to tackle any of these issues seriously until someone bites the bullets and removes 4 – 5 teams from Sydney. We have to go back and fix the foundation that was never established properly, instead of plugging holes with band aid fixes.

Origin isn’t about the best 34 players in the NRL. It’s about the best players from Queensland playing the best from New South Wales.

If it was the best 34 players in the NRL, Queensland would be playing Queensland A.

If you want to grow the international code, remove the Sydney glut and established a true national comp, after that we’ll be able to invest into international league. Starting in the pacific and working our way into Asia.

This can never be achieved when there are 9 Sydney teams fighting over the most fickle fans in Australia. These clubs are all about self interest and always put themselves a head of the sport, and with this being the attitude of the majority in the strongest league comp in the world, it means international is of the lowest of priorities.

This is unfortunate, but a reality.

Is it worth the risk picking Gallen with the chance (a strong one at that) that he was involved in the Sharks drug cheating scandal?

Is one player worth risking the integrity of the kangaroos, rugby league and Australian sport?

Why would we want to be known as the sport that accepts and makes excuses for drug cheats in Australia? And furthermore taint Australian sport internationally?

Hopefully the ASADA investigation is finished before the world cup and the question over Gallen won’t be an issue.

This happens every year around the origin period, but I think this year’s origin has just exposed how poor the NRL competition is this year, which has resulted in the more than the usual debate for changes to the system.

Really, the conversation is had every year, but there have been many additional factors going against the NRL this year and they are all playing their part in making the 2013 season lose all momentum, making it look really dull. When you just sit back and think, it starts to hit home just how many things are detracting from the game we love.

For me this year, it’s been firstly channel 9 – I’ve just had enough of their disgustingly bad coverage and attitude towards our game and it’s too the point where I just can’t put up with their rubbish any longer. I haven’t watched a Sunday game in years, and am finding it more and more difficult to turn on Friday. Next is the poor performing QLD teams, which I think would affect many Queenslanders that form the large part of the viewing audience. I can accept that QLD teams can’t perform every year, but it illustrates the need for more Queensland teams in this geographically unbalance competition. I just can’t be bothered watching Sydney 1-9 play Sydney 1-9 week in week out. Next is the refereeing, which has passed the point of crazy now and enough’s enough, just fix it.

However, Cam Smith’s point about the competition being too long it dead on. Every year the season just drags out till we get to the finals, where it becomes interesting again. You can talk about changing origin all day, but the 26 rounds is the root cause of this problem. I say play each other once, which is fair and fast – this would go a long way to improving the quality of the NRL, with or without origin.

The only issue we have to worry about for the Kangaroos World Cup campaign, revolves around the ASADA investigation and primarily the players who are under investigation that could possibly be selected for Australia.

The only player I am aware of is Gallen. It is crucial that the ASADA investigation and its outcomes must be completed before the world cup, with either Gallen being cleared or outed.

If this was to occur after a World Cup, and Gallen was found guilty. It would taint our sport and nation. It’s vital that the NRL drug cheat scandal does not, in any way, seep into the sport’s primary international event.

Hopefully ASADA are finished before this time, and have either cleared or charged the players.

If not, we’ll see if Australian Rugby League and the player involved put their selfish desires in front of the sport of Rugby League and our nation.

No surprises here…

What will Ricky’s excuse be for this one, rebuilding or refs?

You cannot call for the abolishment of SOO and in the same breath holler for a return to the old Sydney competition. It only confirms my original doubts when I originally clicked reply that it would indeed be a waste of my time.

Everyone knows that Sydney has the largest population, however this is no justification to have 50 percent of the teams in the current competition. A team to population ratio is not the formula used to implement these teams, the teams are there solely due to legacy.

If they created a new competition from scratch today, would they start with 9 teams in Sydney?

Every little nook in that city does not need to be represented. This is why union has 1 team in Sydney, afl has 2 teams in Sydney, big bash has 2 teams in Sydney, a-league has 2 teams in Sydney, nbl has 1 team in Sydney, abl (baseball) has 1 team in Sydney, netball has 1 team in Sydney.

If population was the key to national sport all of the above competitions are missing 7 or 8 Sydney teams each.

The Sydney glut is a constant leech to rugby league. Penrith got 6 thousand on the weekend, the Tigers got 5. How many did Origin get? To suggest each part of Sydney requires representation at the highest level, but not a state really illustrates the lunacy in your ideas.

Origin is not the problem, the legacy NSWRL competition is what holds our sport back.

Madness, why do we hear the same ideas every year?

I’m all for new paths for league, but to do away with Origin for the growth of international league is madness and really shows a level of naivety or just plain ignorance. SOO really has nothing to do with international growth. The fact that NSW/QLD has the strongest support for rugby league in the world (yes I know it’s PNG’s national game), results in this event being popular. Its absence wouldn’t affect players in England and New Zealand. Rugby League does not promote the SOO, the NRL do.

However, I am in the camp that NRL must shoulder the responsibility to grow the international game, however to destroy one of the best sporting events in Australia is not the answer, it’s just stupi d.

The thing is the NRL is not in the position to grow the international game, that’s because Australia doesn’t have a national competition. The answer is to cull the Sydney clubs and invest into having clubs represent the other capital cities of Australia. Once the NRL conquers Australia, the path for international is clear. The only problem is the greedy Sydney clubs control too much, and stifle the sport, as they put their club ahead of the sport.

Do not put the blame on origin for the lack of international league. Put it on the Sydney glut and its unsustainable nature.