It’s become clear that the NRL needs to radically reform the structure of the competition to maintain the integrity of the premiership competition while also ensuring club rugby league is on offer throughout every weekend of winter.
Matters of related to integrity and the ‘product offering’ should not be seen as competing interests when it comes to finding a solution for the premiership draw during the Origin period. There is an answers that provides both: a midseason knockout competition akin to the Challenge Cup in the UK.
For years fans, players, coaches, pundits, broadcasters, scribes and administrators have bemoaned the devastation wreaked by State Of Origin on the premiership proper. The absence of star players on Origin duty damages the integrity of the premiership, which in turn damages attendance and ratings and thus hurts the bottom line.
There is a legitimate sense of unfairness from all involved that some clubs are effectively gifted wins they probably would not have managed were it not for the vagaries of the fixture, while other clubs endure losses they should never have suffered.
The quality of the football itself also drops sharply as this mid-season malaise sets in. Origin is now an all-consuming beast, so club football is placed on the backburner – not helped by a long season that spreads from early March through early October. All concerns from most stakeholders in the game are valid.
At present, the quality and integrity of the premiership season is without question damaged. There is no better example than the Melbourne Storm, who have won 22% fewer games during the Origin period than either before or after. For a competition that rightly prides itself on parity, the seven weeks where Origin reigns supreme can have a significant impact on the final premiership standings.
Simple reform though isn’t enough. Something more than mere tinkering is required. Moving State Of Origin to standalone weekends has been tried before and it has failed. Fans don’t want Origin shifted from Wednesday night, just as they don’t want three weekends without club footy. Broadcasters could not echo those sentiments any louder. State Of Origin has become a financial fill-up for the game but week-in, week-out content is the bread and butter programming all broadcast partners require.
The likely scenario next year is a compromise with one standalone weekend and one Origin game shifted to a weekend. The supposed benefit of this is shortening the span of Origin, but two full rounds are still affected. The NRL should hardly be seeking to reduce the exposure State Of Origin gives the game nationally.
But in the bounds of the current structure, no serious change is possible. That is why it is time for Todd Greenberg and the brains trust at NRL HQ to think laterally and introduce a Challenge Cup style knockout competition to be played on weekends where State Of Origin players are not available.
The benefits are many. The integrity of the competition is protected. State Of Origin is not impacted. And the mid-season funk that sets in at this time of year is alleviated somewhat by the pursuit of silverware.
Some clubs – those who need the coin, those out of the premiership hunt and those with plenty of pride – would go hard at a competition backed by a suitable and enticing purse. Other clubs struggling with injuries or those with premiership dreams in their eyes could field weakened teams. Clubs would have options. But they’d also have meaningful matches at a time where those are currently few and far between. Most players would also get a longer rest. Broadcasters and fans? They get matches that actually matter and aren’t sullied by a current mood of unfairness.
The boon of final weekend should also be a major factor. The FA Cup is no longer the most important competition to English Premier League clubs but the final is the most important day on the calendar of English soccer. The same is true of the Challenge Cup, where fans across the UK converge on Wembley to celebrate Rugby League.
The NRL can no longer allow draw reform to be pushed under the rug. It needs to look for workable solutions. It needs to look at what is best for the game, both now and going forward. Introducing a knockout cup competition is what is best for the game.
