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Phil Gould says the NRL must consider delaying and shortening the 2021 season
By George Vlotis
3 hours ago
Rugby league guru Phil Gould has floated the idea of delaying the 2021 competition by a month to accommodate this year's late finish.
This year's NRL calendar has been thrown into chaos by the global pandemic, with a delayed finals series and State of Origin pushing the finishing date into late November.
For players involved in State of Origin III, the NRL's collective bargaining agreement would likely prevent them from returning to pre-season for 2021 until late January at the earliest, giving them just over a month to prepare for the season, should it kick off in early to mid-March as it usually does.
It's a scenario that could create a perfect storm for a mountain of injuries next season, according to Gould, who is calling on the NRL to consider delaying, and even shortening, the 2021 season.
"When do we start next year's competition? Because this competition is going to end much later," Gould said on Wide World of Sports' Six Tackles with Gus Podcast.
"Players have got to have a break before starting pre-season training. They've got to have a reasonable time for pre-season training before they go into competition next year, otherwise we risk further injury.
"This season doesn't end until the end of October, our rep players will play until the end of November. You're probably going to need between eight to 12 weeks to prepare a team properly for a competition next year. Which means, do we start a month later and shorten the season or go a month longer the following year?
"But once you keep doing that it just keeps impacting the next year and the next year. How do you get it back into the normal time frame where we go from March to September and play a bit of rep football? I've long thought that 24 games in the home and away season was too long. Probably a month or six weeks too long. We don't need it."
With a whole crop of young talent sidelined for 12 months, Gould stressed the league would need time to introduce the under-prepared cohort into the league's stocks.
"We've had no second-tier football, no development football, through junior rep football and under 20s this year, preparing players for next year," he said.
"By March next year, if that's our kick-off time, we'll have a lot of players that haven't played rugby league in 18 months. Our development processes have been put into chaos. There are players that have missed 12 months of development in those that are hoping to be NRL players.
Peter V'landys has been at the helm of the NRL's impressive year amid the pandemic. (Dominic Lorrimer)
"Do we just go next year with the same 30-players that the 16 clubs have this year just to get the product on TV? Which would be the worst case scenario."
Regardless of how well the NRL has handled itself this year, Gould stressed that the league was ultimately at the mercy of the virus which would continue to change the game's administration practices through the off-season and into next year.
"How long do we keep players in a bubble at the end of the season? Can they go home and enjoy Christmas with their families?" Gould asked.
"In preparation for next year do we increase the size of the bubble? Do we include a second-tier competition or an under 20's competition to keep replenishing our game into the future.
"We've seen how quickly this has flared up in Melbourne and it's something that I'm sure our game is considering the whole time. But for us to think, just because we like crowds at the grand final, the virus is going to have a holiday, it's not going to happen …This virus has no rules."
Phil Gould says the NRL must consider delaying and shortening the 2021 season
3 hours ago
Rugby league guru Phil Gould has floated the idea of delaying the 2021 competition by a month to accommodate this year's late finish.
This year's NRL calendar has been thrown into chaos by the global pandemic, with a delayed finals series and State of Origin pushing the finishing date into late November.
For players involved in State of Origin III, the NRL's collective bargaining agreement would likely prevent them from returning to pre-season for 2021 until late January at the earliest, giving them just over a month to prepare for the season, should it kick off in early to mid-March as it usually does.
It's a scenario that could create a perfect storm for a mountain of injuries next season, according to Gould, who is calling on the NRL to consider delaying, and even shortening, the 2021 season.
"When do we start next year's competition? Because this competition is going to end much later," Gould said on Wide World of Sports' Six Tackles with Gus Podcast.
"Players have got to have a break before starting pre-season training. They've got to have a reasonable time for pre-season training before they go into competition next year, otherwise we risk further injury.
"This season doesn't end until the end of October, our rep players will play until the end of November. You're probably going to need between eight to 12 weeks to prepare a team properly for a competition next year. Which means, do we start a month later and shorten the season or go a month longer the following year?
"But once you keep doing that it just keeps impacting the next year and the next year. How do you get it back into the normal time frame where we go from March to September and play a bit of rep football? I've long thought that 24 games in the home and away season was too long. Probably a month or six weeks too long. We don't need it."
With a whole crop of young talent sidelined for 12 months, Gould stressed the league would need time to introduce the under-prepared cohort into the league's stocks.
"We've had no second-tier football, no development football, through junior rep football and under 20s this year, preparing players for next year," he said.
"By March next year, if that's our kick-off time, we'll have a lot of players that haven't played rugby league in 18 months. Our development processes have been put into chaos. There are players that have missed 12 months of development in those that are hoping to be NRL players.
Peter V'landys has been at the helm of the NRL's impressive year amid the pandemic. (Dominic Lorrimer)
"Do we just go next year with the same 30-players that the 16 clubs have this year just to get the product on TV? Which would be the worst case scenario."
Regardless of how well the NRL has handled itself this year, Gould stressed that the league was ultimately at the mercy of the virus which would continue to change the game's administration practices through the off-season and into next year.
"How long do we keep players in a bubble at the end of the season? Can they go home and enjoy Christmas with their families?" Gould asked.
"In preparation for next year do we increase the size of the bubble? Do we include a second-tier competition or an under 20's competition to keep replenishing our game into the future.
"We've seen how quickly this has flared up in Melbourne and it's something that I'm sure our game is considering the whole time. But for us to think, just because we like crowds at the grand final, the virus is going to have a holiday, it's not going to happen …This virus has no rules."
