How many players are gonna say "nah, im from Canberra. Dont pick me for origin."???
None, and I never suggested that they would. To them it'd simply be throwing away a large paycheck and the opportunity to progress their careers.
That's why people like myself have been hoping that Queensland or the ARL do something about it because they're the only ones that are in a position to do anything about it.
If you want to make the point of NOT being part of NSW, then ACT people should be eligible for QLD. But thats literally the only alternative....
That's a false dichotomy, and I know that you are smart enough to know that.
There're many other alternatives, players from the ACT could simply just not be eligible for SOO like everybody else outside of QLD and NSW, or you could change the name of the NSW Blues to the NSW/ACT Blues (I personally would hate that to happen, but it is a solution none the less), or you could start an ACT origin team, etc, etc.
And, GD, youll have to explain why the distinction between NSW and ACT is important or even relevent in this context.
Because considering us part of NSW gives the CRL/NSWRL the power to make decisions for and about the ACT and that is a problem because we are not part of NSW and the situation in the ACT is different to the situation in NSW, and fixing the problems in the ACT takes people with an understanding of those differences that rich blokes from Sydney simply don't have (just like rich blokes from Canberra would struggle to fix the problems in Sydney being that they don't understand the issues facing RL in Sydney intimately).
Can you imagine the problems that would be faced if there was no QRL and the NSWRL was trying to run RL in QLD from Sydney, imagine the problems that would cause and the mistakes that would be made because of that situation, well that is basically what is happening in Canberra at the moment but on a smaller scale.
Functionally it is NSW; this is like arguing whether the Titans are actually a NSW club because they are so close to the border. What is the point of this distinction??
No it's not, it's like arguing whether Belgium should be part of France, Germany, or the Netherlands instead of just accepting the fact that despite it being smaller, Belgium is a sovereign nation and should never be part of any of the afore mentioned nations unless Belgium chooses to join one of them themselves
Interested to know by what measure you think the nrl ignore canberra?
Oh all sorts reasons.
They ignore any and all pleas for help from the Raiders to help engage with the ACT government, which gives the ARU, AFL and to a lesser extent FFA a much easier time getting government support while we have to hold our own with much less.
They allow structural disadvantages in the NRL competition that disproportionately effect the Raiders (and a couple of other clubs like the Knights and Titans) to continue instead of introducing simple things like a Juniors cap allowance (among other things) which would get rid of these disadvantages.
They do nothing about the fact the Raiders are the least promoted or publicised club in the media.
Etc, etc, need I go on.
Sure they get relatively few games on FTA but when you consider the main opposition the brumbies get none then its not such a bad deal. What other reasons?
But that's just it, the Brumbies aren't the Raiders main competition!
The Raiders main competition for corporates, sponsors and fans are the Dragons, Bulldogs, Tigers, Rabbiohs, Roosters, etc,etc.
