NRL - where non-competitive low-interest 6 weeks of football happens

[The Who]

It won't feel like a proper season until we play at Brookie on a Sunday afternoon. That occurs in a couple of weeks, so we better make the most of it because it's the only one we get this year.
No wonder we are all feeling disenfranchised.

 

[Disco]

My thought has been that we should have a two weekend break in the NRL to accommodate SOO

Here is how it would work

Weekend 1 - 4 NRL games, 8 teams have the bye (SOO players out)

Wednesday - SOO

Weekend 2 - City V Country (keep fringe blues ready)
Samoa V Tonga
Ferns V Jillaroos

Wednesday - SOO

Weekend 3 - England V NZ
Fiji V PNG
Jnr Roos V Jnr Kiwis

Wednesday - SOO

Weekend 4 - 4 NRL Games, 8 teams have the bye (SOO players possibly backing up)

Now admittedly this means your team has a 3 week break but it ensures the rep season is in one tight package and it allows players to revover from mid season niggles

Minimal disruption to the NRL and Origin stays on the traditional Wednesday

 

[TagMonster]

My biggest issue with Origin mid season is that the Dragons got an "easy" two points last weekend against an understrength side. So did Canberra and Wests. Do you honestly thing that any of these teams would have won had their opposition been at full strength?

Manly had to play all those teams at full strength. We have lost each of those games. I'd suggest we would have won against a team missing 5-6 of its top players.

The unfair advantage is not towards the teams that lose players. Hell, they get to play week in week out with top players. The unfair advantage is to the teams that play these top squads when they are under strength and can snag 2 points that they would not normally have come by. That is the difference between making the finals and not.

Simple fix. Origin is standalone on consecutive Saturday nights starting two weeks after the GF. That way the TV broadcasters get their games consistently throughout the season and then can hype the SOO for extra. This would also allow us to get rid of the byes which I don't particularly like.