I’m glad there’s no NRL end of season trade period

I don't think there are many fans out there who can say that the NRL's recruitment system is perfect.

It doesn't matter who you support, it's pretty ridiculous to see a player you've bought a membership and merchandise to support, play sometimes a full season knowing full well he'll be moving on in 12 months time.

Angus Crichton signed for bitter rivals the Roosters before a ball was even kicked in 2018.

So Souths fans sat in the stands and watched one of their best young forwards develop into an Origin second rower, all the while knowing it would be their most despised team's fans who ultimately benefit most.

That's pretty crazy to say the least.

The Bulldogs spent the better part of a million dollars on Aaron Woods only to see him finish the season playing finals footy for the Sharks.

Again, crazy.

BUT ... as bad the current system may be, there isn't a singe day that goes by I don't count my blessings that we aren't subjected to an AFL style trade week.

I don't like to spend too much time on that other code due to the fact that, well it's a pretty ridiculous game to be perfectly honest, but at least it's not rugby union I guess.

That said, the AFL does some things extremely well. Their Anzac Day game is massive and I can't remember ever missing a fixture. Their Grand Finals are huge events regardless of who is playing. Their Grand Final week celebrations put the NRL's efforts to shame.

One aspect in which they certainly lose out on though is the downright ridiculousness of trade week.

For those who haven't been watching on to the shenanigans, we have premiership winning players still unsure of their futures. We have other players nominating for clubs and refusing to accept offers from other clubs who have offered more.

We have ridiculous, over complicated draft trades. The Swans swapped a player to Geelong for a 60-something draft pick that was sent to one of the Melbourne sides in response to a player being sent to Sydney ... or something.

Just trying to get my head about the craziness that is that single trade makes knowing my son will be wearing a Valentine Holmes jersey next season knowing he'll be a Cowboy for the rest of his career, not so intolerable.

Of course the presence of the draft, combined with my lack of interest in researching the process, weighs in, but even still, I'm not a fan of the trade week.

The salary cap is difficult enough to understand as it is, let alone waiting until the end of each season to see where players will be suiting up in the next pre-season.

I'd be much happier with a transfer window of sorts, but even that seems too difficult.

Despite being able to sign players 12 months in advance, we still have players like John Sutton, Corey Oates and Jarryd Hayne off contract.

Although all three are likely to re-sign with their current clubs, it's still tough for coaches to plan, or membership sides to advertise.

Imagine having to re-work your entire plan following a week where literally anything can happen!?

This all comes just two weeks after Grand Final weekend too. Most NRL sides have had their Mad Mondays, have their 2019 squads largely finished and are on holidays with a huge pre-season to soon kick off.

AFL list managers are scrambling all week to secure trades and draft picks so they can start planning for the rookie draft and the secondary draft.

It's October. It's post season.

We should be looking forward to international fixtures and a plethora of stories about how player X has trained the house down while player Y has packed on Z amount of muscle.

It's time to start planning ahead to the Big Bash and planning social media posts about how much we all miss the greatest game of all.

Trade Week may be fun to poke fun at but reading today's run down to comment on this turned my hair grey.

Imagine having to plan all season for this every year?

I'll take the flawed system we currently, begrudgingly 'enjoy'.