Origin to move to Monday nights (maybe)

[Coxy]

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl ... 6066782819

THE NRL is on the verge of breaking the long-established midweek tradition of State of Origin football by switching to Monday nights to avoid player burnout.

The Courier-Mail can reveal NRL boss David Gallop will have talks with Channel 9 boss David Gyngell soon to discuss the impact on television ratings if the game night is changed.

"Requiring players to play a couple of days after Origin is a real problem," Gallop said.

"So we need to look at Monday nights or possibly Tuesdays."

Dr Ron Muratore, the NRL's chief medical officer, is a strong proponent of the change.

"Any decision on State of Origin scheduling should concern player welfare ahead of television ratings and filling stadiums," he said.

Dr Muratore, who has decades of experience in treating sporting injuries and managing professional recovery, said it was "about time" Origin fixtures were shifted.

"Preferably it would be a stand-alone fixture on weekends," he said. "I've seen research from Europe on the Champions League, which shows a higher number of injuries with short turnarounds.

"(NRL) players are getting bigger and stronger and the hits and collisions are much harder. It takes longer to recover and playing on Monday nights would make good sense.

"It's most definitely a big improvement on what we have at the moment."

Acting on serious concerns expressed in recent days by elite players, including Darren Lockyer, Cameron Smith, Mark Gasnier and Michael Ennis, Gallop last night revealed he would open discussions with Gyngell in the near future about the scheduling from next year onwards.

It will be an immediate issue to raise with the game's new independent commission when it finally gets up and running.

On the Gyngell talks, Gallop said: "We obviously want to understand the impact on ratings as we move towards a new broadcasting arrangement."

Gyngell declined to comment about moving the game from Wednesday nights.

I think it'd be a great move, personally.

 

[Nashy]

**** off Gallop you stupid ****.

Tell 9 we will have bye rounds, not move Origin.

 

[Coxy]

So 3 rounds with no games? vs moving Origin 2 days earlier in the week? Pffft.

Monday night is a great idea IMO.

 

[Nashy]

Player burnout though? They are still playing the same amount of games. Come end of season, those days mean nothing.

Give them the byes. We already have 2, what's an extra 1 going to hurt. Origin is Wednesday night, and that's how it should stay.

 

[dukey]

Just extend the Origin camp for a week after the game so players aren't available to back up. Gives the teams more time to train together, more time to promote the upcoming game in their state colours, and more time to recover. Meanwhile, club rounds continue on as usual with some of the stars missing.

 

[Coxy]

Player burnout though? They are still playing the same amount of games. Come end of season, those days mean nothing.

Give them the byes. We already have 2, what's an extra 1 going to hurt. Origin is Wednesday night, and that's how it should stay.

Did you read the article? There's growing research that playing games within 2-3 days of eachother heightens the risk of injury. When that time spreads out to 4 or 5 days the risk reduces significantly.

 

[Nashy]

Nope.

Origin is for Wednesdays. I don't care about anything else in the article.

 

[Fozz]

Origin for Sunday arvo.

**** yeah!

Play the usual games Friday and Saturday and have Origin by itself on Sunday.

 

[Nashy]

And turn it into just another weekend league game?

Just cancel it now.

 

[pennywisealfie]

Origin on a friday on a standalone weekend, brilliant idea Chris.

 

[Jeba]

I like the idea but I like mine better.

Gallop seems adament he will not have Origin as stand-alone on a Saturday night, as you then lose club football all together and also have to compete with AFL games in the Melbourne market which is not ideal if we want that audience. The players think the midweek game and the quick backup is too much in the days of limited interchanges and 2 referees making for a faster contest.

So here is my solution. Based on having 4 games on Origin weekends, and the likely scrapping of Monday night football.

1 Friday night club game
3 Saturday night club games
Origin on Sunday night

- Gives Origin players at least 4 days rest before playing another game
- Still gets club football on the weekend
- Ch9 still get their Sunday telecast game, and if they kick up a stink about only 1 Friday night game, Fox Sports should be right with 2 Saturday night games and giving 1 more to Ch9 on Friday night
- No competition with AFL on Sunday nights. They do have a 4pm bounce on a Sunday but well and truly finished by the time 8pm kickoff
- I don't have to take a day off work to keep the gate at the Caxton [icon_lol1.

The only downside I can see is that the Origin players could potentially miss 2 club games instead of 1, so that's where I would bring in split rounds of 4 games each. So the week before Origin you have 1 Friday night, 1 Saturday night and 2 Sunday games. The teams playing those games get the bye on the weekend of the Origin game.

That would keep everyone pretty happy I reckon. Have I missed anything that makes this the worst idea ever? [icon_lol1.

 

[OXY-351]

I hear the real reason they want to move it to Mondays is that's the hospitality industry's night off, so there will be less to do in Sydney than attending the game.

 

[Flutterby]

Nope.

Origin is for Wednesdays.

Oh spare me. Origin has not always been played on Wednesdays. In fact I think when it first started it was played on Mondays (I am sure someone else will be able to correct me on that if not). SOO has been played on a few different days of the week through it's history.

It's that kind of attitude in refusing to even consider a single change to any part of the game - even if said change might make it better - that holds the game back (and led to the Super League war).

 

[ningnangnong]

I can understand why they want to change it, and I guess it won't bother me too much if they do - but I like the whole Wednesday thing. It just seems to add to the build up and overall experience.

 

[Coxy]

As Gallop says, player welfare is more important than ratings, gate takings and what the fans prefer.

 

[Jeba]

Nope.

Origin is for Wednesdays.

Oh spare me. Origin has not always been played on Wednesdays. In fact I think when it first started it was played on Mondays (I am sure someone else will be able to correct me on that if not). SOO has been played on a few different days of the week through it's history.

It's that kind of attitude in refusing to even consider a single change to any part of the game - even if said change might make it better - that holds the game back (and led to the Super League war).

There's only 1 day of the week on which Origin has never been played. Have a guess which one...

 

[Coxy]

Nope.

Origin is for Wednesdays.

Oh spare me. Origin has not always been played on Wednesdays. In fact I think when it first started it was played on Mondays (I am sure someone else will be able to correct me on that if not). SOO has been played on a few different days of the week through it's history.

It's that kind of attitude in refusing to even consider a single change to any part of the game - even if said change might make it better - that holds the game back (and led to the Super League war).

There's only 1 day of the week on which Origin has never been played. Have a guess which one...

Saturday.

 

[Jeba]

Correct.