Tis is how we balance the WCC, NRL, C V C, SOO & Int Foo

[Lantana]

We see arguments on this website everyday with complaints about how either the City Country game is a joke or how the Anzac test should be scrapped well here is a solution. Killing two birds with one stone I believe the following also provides a turnkey stepping stone solution to rep honours.
I want to see RL have purpose, climax and reasons for acheiving certain levels of representation.
If the new franchise is accepted an Rugby League becomes a 16 team comp over 22 weeks I would like to see the following:

Jan - World 7's
Feb - World Club Challenge - 4 team tournament (Penrith/Roosters/Bradfors/St Helens) Round robin format 1 NRL V 2 ESL & 1 ESL V 2 NRL winnerss to final.
March 5/7 NRL Season Kicks off
Apr 3/5 Grand Final Replay
Apr 23/25 Anzac Day - Dragons V Roosters
May 14/16 Mothers Day weekend - Promotion
May 21/23 Half way Hiatus - All teams have weekend off except Melbourne (with all other clubs conducting coaching clinics in Victoria) (Sunday afternoon) + Friday night match Aboriginal Dream Team V Dally Messenger Select (Best players in respective positions as per Dally M points table Round 11)
June 26 - Round 17 NRL - Heritage Day - play Pioneer games betwwen clubs where possible in original strips (Penrith V St George illawarra etc)
Aug 13/15 - Round 22 NRL
Aug 20/22 - NRL Final Series top 8 (National development clinics for bottom 8 teams)
Aug 27/29 - NRL Final Series Week 2 (NDC for bottom 8 + 2 finalsists out)
Sept 3/5 - NRL Finals Series Week 3 (NDC for bottom 8 + 4 finalists out)
Sept 12 - NRL Grand Final
Sept 13 - Top 40 NSW & QLD Players selected for representative season. Large contingent of players sent to the Pacific Islands for clinics and fundraising.
Sept 18 - NSW - City V Country + QLD City V Country
Sept 20 - State of Origin teams announced - O/S Players return to resume Development Clinics in Victoria
September - 25 - State of Origin I - Telstradome, Melbourne
Development Clincs in South Australia
October 2 - State of Origin II - Telstra Stadium, Sydney
Development Clinics - Western Australia
October 9 - State of Origin III - Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
October 11 - Holidays for all non-rep players
October 16 - International Calender begins for rep players (Tri Nations, Paciifc Cup)
November 8 - Pre season for non-rep players
Nov 29 - Representative season ends
Nov - 30 - Holidays for representative players
Dec 22 - Pre season for non-rep players ends for Xmas break.
Jan 2 - All players reconvene for 2005 pre-season training

The point to being made here is we shouldn't dilute or prop our domestic season with rep footy. They should be percieved to be strong enough to command there own market.
The AFL do not have any sort of Rep calender and have forgone reintroducing their State of Origin as it will either be deemed a joke or will detract from their showpeice..the race for the premiership flag.
RL should do the same, put the premiership on a pedestal, then City V Country in both states, the State of Origin, then International footy.
The continuity adds credibility to everything because you are playing games for a reason, there is a result to be acheived.
Play well at the start of the year and you will be selected in the Dally M team (half way) play well all year and you will be in the finals with a great chance of appearing in the rep teams as you are playing at the right end of the season.
Your top line players are playing 31 games + test matches at the moment. In this model they will be playing 28 + test matches, with a break.
I am not saying this must happen but the sooner something like this eventuates the better.
TV Ratings I hear you say?
With the above model the broadcasting channel will have the highest quality RL on their channel from Week 1 of the Finals - August 22 through to State of Origin III - October 9 that is 10 weeks of premium RL prior the international calender. It also places State of Origin right in the face of the AFL Final Series.
Comments?

 

[Big Bunny]

That's a pretty good effort Lantana. A lot of the ideas I do agree with and I especialy love the idea of an Aboriginal v Messenger match. Origin matches after 22 rounds is the only thing I'm not really too sure about. The idea about having clinics everywhere sounds good too, but it does sound incredibly expensive to do it on such a large scale. Anyway, I'm inspired mate. I'll take a crack at listing how I'd like to see things pan out.

 

[griff]

I agree with some of the stuff there, especially taking an Origin match to Telstra Dome, the 'theme' rounds and the importance of development clinics.

However I disagree strongly with the separation of rep and club football and moving Origin. It is an incredibly successful event and there is no need to move it, especially when that may well damage the importance of it. It would certainly command less attention if it was going head to head with the AFL finals series. I also disagree with the expansion of the world club challenge and the meaningless 'Dally M' match.

The other thing is that there is no way the TV people will go for reducing the NRL season in length to 22 weeks (and thus only 44 NRL TV matches compared to the 52 currently).

A better way to go would be to have a 22 round NRL season, but staged over 26 weeks with split rounds for an Anzac Test and 3 Origins. This would give you more TV games and give the lesser teams more of a chance to get on FTA TV during the split rounds. I don't believe they 'dilute' the season at all, in fact the opposite, club and rep football re-inforce each other and the cross-promotion makes both stronger than they would be if separate.

Also you haven't really mentioned anything about Pre-Season matches. They need to be staged to allow the teams to be performing at a high standard for the NRL season. Rather than meaningless pre-season trials as they are now, they should be replaced with a 4 week Pre-Season Cup tournament. These matches should be held in regional NSW and Qld, in emerging states, and possibly one match overseas every year. This should take place in a way that maximises exposure and as you point out, should go hand in hand with development programs.So each year the Pre-season cup should be used in conjunction with development in an emerging state. One year Tasmania might get a few matches and a one-off boost in development funding and clinics for that year, the next year the focus would be on SA, WA, or NT etc.

The Warriors should play all their pre-season matches in NZ, in places like Hamilton, Rotorua, Christchurch, Dunedin, Invercargill, Greymouth etc to give them a look at top class Rugby league. They should also play a game in Samoa or the Cook Islands every couple of years.

Of course at the end of the NRL season there should be the International window when NRL and SL are both over. This should consist of a 4 year international cycle - Lions Tour, Kiwi Tour, Kangaroo Tour, World Cup and second tier events like the Pacific Cup, European Cup, Med Cup etc.