'I’m a fan of reducing the NRL season so if that includes stand-alone Origin, that’s fine.'
The desire of most NRL players to stop the Telstra Premiership for a mid-season stand-alone State of Origin series will be discussed during a phone hook-up between International Rugby League deputy chair Troy Grant and club CEOs on Tuesday.
Penrith coach Ivan Cleary favours a shortened NRL season and said a stand-alone Origin series could fit into that, while Canberra CEO Don Furner and Cronulla CEO Dino Mezzatesta agreed a stand-alone Origin period would be “ideal”. Growing the international game is an obvious solution and the IRL, ARLC and Britain’s Rugby Football League have formed a tri-party committee to consider how the two professional leagues can help achieve that in a post-COVID environment.
However, representative football has been of growing importance to players since the 2017 World Cup and Grant said the release of the 2020 NRL player poll was timely. The concept was scheduled to continue this season but the New Zealand-Tonga and Samoa-Cook Islands Oceania Cup double-header on June 20 was cancelled, while the men’s and women’s Origin fixtures have been moved to the end of the season.
“If it works well it leads into any Aussie games that may happen after that so there are definitely some big positives behind that but it would be a big challenge to take Origin away from the middle of the year where it has been for so long.”
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