Issues In The Game.

Another week and there seems to be more and more controversies creeping into the great game of Rugby League.

The question on everyone's lips is whether or not representative players should stand down for 2 club games instead of one to better prepare for the decider in State Of Origin?.

In a perfect world the answer is yes. But is club success more important that NSW winning a State Of Origin Series?. Ricky Stuart would say yes. This was highlighted when he asked the St George-Illawarra and Manly players to consider standing down from the round 16 Monday night game which will see at least half his team in action and risking injury.

Had the Sharks lost today, Paul Gallen said he would have given a lot of thought to standing down from his club duties with Cronulla.

With half the NSW team expected to play on a Monday night 9 days before the game with the other half of the team already in camp. This will mean that Ricky Stuart wont have half his team to train until the Thursday or Friday before the game. If game two of the series was the most important game in a couple of seasons, then the decider could arguably the biggest clash in the history of Origin such is the importance of the game.

Its very easy to see where Ricky Stuart is coming from but its almost certain the clubs will not let their rep players stand down. The NRL clubs are responsible for paying the players bills and making them the players that they are today. Not to mention their team mates who rep players owe a lot of their personal success to.

A solution possibly, could this be the way of the future?

Like Cricket, the NRL could adopt a top 25 or 30 player central contract system that is linked with their club and respective state. With the Independant Commission set to come into action within the next year, I think this is an idea that could be looked at for the future.

Stand alone State Of Origin was trialled in 2001 on a Sunday night and it was quickly axed due to ratings and other circumstances. Wednesday night Origin works and I dont think that the fans should be robbed of a whole weekend of club football.

People will argue that the quality of Rugby League suffers when rep stars are missing. This might be true but it gives clubs a chance to blood young players and give them some experience which can only be a benefit in the long run. Had the Dragons had all their rep stars available, would Alex Mckinnon have had a chance to score a double on debut.

There is many ways of looking at this issue and I'm sure that changes will be made in the coming years to the representative schedule.