State of Origin Period

From the Courier-Mail Website 5/11/2013

THE ARL Commission is set to condense the State of Origin period into a shorter, more intense format in 2014 amid concerns from NRL clubs the lengthy nature of this year's series created too great a flat spot for teams and fans.

The quality of football and interest in the NRL flagged considerably this year during another epic Origin series, with Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy amongst those leading calls for the scheduling of the three-match contest to be reconsidered.

The NRL draw for 2014 is expected to be released at the end of the month - four weeks after the AFL announced theirs - and the State of Origin schedule is understood to be one of the biggest talking points between the game's major shareholders including all 16 clubs, TV broadcaster the Nine Network and the game's governing body.

With the spotlight on Origin, the NRL competition takes a backseat during the interstate series and at no time was that more evident than during this year's seven-week stretch, which impacted upon eight rounds - almost a third of the season's 26 rounds.

NRL boss David Smith flagged major changes to the scheduling of the Origin series in a Twitter exchange on Monday.

Hosting questions under the hashtag @AskDaveNRL, Smith fielded a number of queries from fans including one keen to point out the '8 week deadspot' in the NRL competition when State of Origin is played.

To which Smith replied: ``appreciate your views, an area we are concerned about too. We are looking closely at this for 2014."

origin
Queensland celebrate their eighth State of Origin series win in a row.
In a 40-minute Q&A, Smith also moved to distance the NRL from controversial comments from Newcastle lower-grader Ryan Stig opposing gay marriage.

"Discriminatory comments are not welcome in the NRL," Smith tweeted.

The NRL chief executive was also keen to assure fans he was doing everything to improve the standard of refereeing after another season of highly controversial calls, especially in the finals series.

"People are always going to talk about refs. Make no mistake, we're investing in high performance. They are crucial to our game," he wrote.

Make no mistake State of Origin is the current pinnacle of the game and has been for a very long time...but it has had incredible impacts on NRL clubs either through loss of players or poor scheduling. It is a ratings bonanza and makes bucket loads of money for the game for many others.
I believe there is some merit to having different types of football compliment the State of Origin during this period. There could be a polynesian festival of football particuarly considering the sheer number of players that the NRL is dominated with, the Koori and Murri Cups could be played during these times...having indigenous players at peak fitness competing in those tournaments would be brilliant. Having some players head back to feeder clubs would be great for the local competitions too!
It would be nice not to lose players during this period due to the Origins...and to think there are clubs that affected far worse than ours.

It needs a standalone week for each game.
Make a spectacle of it, have the junior origins on before it.
It's also an opportunity to have some of the minnow nations play, or your Indigenous/Maori sides.


The fact that the Test & CvC gets it's own week when barely anyone even cares about them, but then not giving one to origin is beyond stupid.

This problem has been around for years and had drastic effects on the NRL competition, it definitely needs to change.

Ideally we need stand alone games but there isn't enough time in the year. Something needs to happen because this has been hurting the NRL and lumps unfair disadvangates on teams with high representation.

Just want to say that I love Wed night Origin. Mid week is perfect.

If we took the number of rounds down to 17-20 we'd have enough time for standalone Origin/rep weekends but I'm sure much smarter people at the NRL are weighing up the pros and cons of both.