Bye round for all? Or stand-alone Origin round?

The greatest spectacle in the NRL season is the State of Origin. Some believe that the sport has even become, and revolves heavily around, the state-vs-state, competition. It’s become the highest honour for players to represent the state they pledged their allegiance to and, once you cross that white chalk, you’re mates no more.

The comp takes an extremely heavy toll on each player who has been meticulously chosen to represent their state, not only physically, but mentally too. The spectacle shortly follows a bye round and played a few days before the next, but my question and plea is, why don’t all teams get the bye?

Three rounds of Origin played within nine weeks and a three-week buffer in between each game. The rep round shortly follows a bye round where a few teams get the chance to regather and take stock, while the rest, whether or not they’ve been ravaged by rep selections, are forced to play and fight for the 2 premiership points.

I see this as unfair, and the main reason why the sport heavily revolves around the State of Origin. It’s been so poorly slapped into the NRL schedule and the people in charge refuse to address the issue. Yes, it does give the out-of-form teams the chance to, hopefully, close the gap between themselves and the league leaders which makes for an interesting couple of months but, why should they be gifted this opportunity on a platinum platter?

Some might say, "it’s only 2 points", but, this could be the difference between making the top eight, four or two. Or the opposite. Not forgetting the for and against some teams can tally up during this week against a depleted squad which, especially in recent years, seems to be playing the key role in deciding poll positions.

The in-form teams and league leaders are constantly depleted during these rounds and I don’t find it fair that they should be punished, in a sense, for working harder and playing better. Their clubs and teammates are forced to reshuffle and, more than likely, play a squad with a full roster. This disadvantage is not only killing the Premiership, but it’s also killing numbers.

The rounds following the State of Origin are usually dull and lacklustre. Seats are empty and players not given an earned break are usually dead in the first twenty minutes. It simply makes for a boring round of footy. I’d like to think we all want the same thing here… a rep round break.

Here are three ways I think it could be fixed:

1. The State of Origin is no doubt the main spectacle of the NRL, overshadowing the NRL Grand Final. So, now that we’ve established that, the powers that be need to start treating it that way. The rep round NEEDS to be a rep ROUND.
   No club games should be played during this week which, in turn, would eliminate the need for a bye round and would allow for the game to play during the weekend. The NRL schedule, should they choose to stick to a 26 round season, would then need to expand and work with these spectacular weeks, adding on an extra 3 weeks to the annual schedule.

OR

2. They can reduce the number of rounds played in the year, from 26 to 23, replacing the bye rounds with these stand-alone rep rounds. It’s only three rounds less per season and four less free bye round points per squad (2 fewer games played).

OR

3. Every team should enjoy a bye round during the week before the State of Origin. Each team gets gifted 2 premiership points and everyone’s happy. Although the games following the Origin match would still be, somewhat, impacted as the games would still be played a few days following game night. The teams who were ravaged would still feel the effects as their star players would still be recovering and recuperating.Although it’s kind of counter progressive to what I’m proposing and wanting, this would still give struggling squads the opportunity to close the gap between themselves and the top eight.

The UEFA Champions League final, who I'm sure is watched by many, is given its own week after all club season matches are over in every league. This allows for all players to be fresh and ready to play at their very best which makes it equal and fair. This also allows for the highest quality of matches and for the best entertainment during the match everyone wants to see.

I think that the NRL should be taking notes from other codes and the bigger world sports. They treat their centrepiece matches as they should be.