The annual curtain-raiser to the NRL season, the All Stars match, is no sure thing to happen in 2022.
While the NRL have scheduled the match as competitive rugby league's return to Sydney following the relocation of the competition to south east Queensland at the back end of 2021 to complete the season amid a COVID wave in New South Wales and Victoria, seeing Sydney-based football fans not seeing any action for the final months of the season.
However, it's understood COVID is a big part of the reason NRL bosses are concerned about sending their players into the All Stars camp.
Most teams have already lost a chunk of their pre-season thanks to COVID, with players forced into isolation for a week at a time after contracting the virus.
The Newcastle Knights and Canberra Raiders were forced to shut down their football operations a week early ahead of Christmas, while the Canterbury Bulldogs also reshuffled training sessions and lost a chunk of time.
It's understood every club in the competition had their return to training date impacted for at least some players, with some clubs first week's back barely having half of their respective squads available to train.
COVID management is likely to play a big part in the 2022 season, and so it is little surprise clubs are concerned about the All Stars camp.
The Sydney Morning Herald are reporting clubs will make those concerns clear to the NRL when all 16 clubs had a phone hook up with the Australian Rugby League Commission on Friday this week.
Club officials have reportedly told the publication players are already behind on their preparations and fitness thanks to the disruptions, and there are concerns another week away from camp at crunch time in the pre-season will only make things tougher, not to mention the risk of catching COVID.
“We appreciate the game and what it represents, but it’s not ideal under the circumstances because of everything that is going on everywhere,” one club boss reportedly told the publication.
“There has been so much disruption already, and I’m talking about every club, not just ours.
“You have to wonder if the players will have had enough training under the belt because of all the disruptions. Nine times out of 10 you’d say they haven’t. Then you have to put up with having them away from your footy club another week.”
It's understood the NRL want to push ahead with the game, which is a key part of the pre-season.
While the Indigenous All Stars have always been part of the concept, they formerly played against either an NRL or World All Stars team, before the Maori All Stars team were introduced to the concept for the 2019 concept, with crowds since being 18,802, 23,599 and 20,206 at AAMI Park in Melbourne, CBus Super Stadium on the Gold Coast and Queensland Country Bank Stadium in Townsville since.
A women's All Stars match is also played on the same day.
This year's match is scheduled to be played at CommBank Stadium in Parramatta on Saturday, February 12, before all 16 clubs play two trials each over the following fortnight, with a week off then scheduled in between the end of trials and the opening match of the season, which will see the Brisbane Broncos play the South Sydney Rabbitohs on Thursday, March 10.
Serious question. Am I the only one who thinks Blacks v Whites, Aborigines v Europeans, Aborigines v Maoris etc is a really bad look? (Can you imagine a Cricket match or an American Football or Basketball match, with players selected on the basis of race? Me neither.)
Are we all Australians or aren’t we? I think emphasizing genetic / cultural background is appalling. Is it down to the NRL bosses being woke, or down to the broadcasters just wanting yet another match to rake in the adverts ?
If the All Stars game were never to be played again, I – for one – would not miss it.
No, disagree Cynic. The NRL has a lot more comfortable relationship with our indigenous players than most other codes. It’s got nothing to do with woke either, this match has been around long before that was a term became popular. Besides, it was organised by Preston Campbell not the NRL. State of Origin is about 2 states exclusively, do you support that?
We are all Australians but we are also a very diverse country. This game is about celebrating that diversity. I’m white and I’ve been to a few games and the game, the skill level and the crowds were awesome.
The fact it makes you uncomfortable says more about you than any division you believe it creates. If you don’t want to watch, go for it. There will be a over 300k others who will.
We will agree to differ.
As an aside, one thing I appreciate about this site is that commenters can disagree without getting irate and personal. Thank you.