A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY
RUGBY league is in a sweet spot. Each weekend the standard seems to get better and better.
Last week’s RoostersStorm match was an epic.
It was the biggest test of the rule adjustments, two of the most disciplined defensive teams that control play-theball speed better than any others. If there was a game which was going to return to a grinding centrefield struggle, it was that one.
It was anything but. It was fast, free-flowing and didn’t lose any of the physicality this contest always serves up.
The reward for the rapidfire tempo was the most eventful final 10 minutes I’ve witnessed, both sides fatigued and left vulnerable to whoever held possession.
Accentuating how well our competition is travelling is the fact that the AFL is suffering a serious downturn in quality as far as spectator entertainment is concerned and Australian rugby union is picking up the pieces of a horror few years.
I declare my bias but I believe we are heading into a golden period. The question is, what do we do with it?
I know I bang on about this repeatedly, but are we really doing enough to increase our presence in the Pacific? I fear we’ve grown complacent.
Pacific nations are potentially the game’s greatest talent pool, if they aren’t already.
The rise and rise of Tonga has been a gift to the game, but we have to look to build on it even further. Tonga deserves more than just the odd match. Likewise, Fiji, Samoa and the only place where
rugby league is the national sport, Papua New Guinea. Maika Sivo, Suliasi Vunivalu and Viliame Kikau’s images should be everywhere across Fiji, promoting them and in turn the game.
Every time I watch the Fiji Test team play, it improves.
Our goal should be to have Fiji challenging the Kangaroos in the same vein as Tonga regularly does.
At first I was excited by the concept of the All BlacksKangaroos hybrid game. The Kangaroos have been a victim of their own dominance.
Taking on the All Blacks could give us the respect we deserve as a sporting entity. But do we really need it?
Particularly at this time, while our game is flying and the All Blacks are a world brand, I think there are better ways to put our sport on the world stage.
The Rugby League World Cup is in England at the end of next season and there’s an opportunity to do something big.
The pause in the competition during the crisis was used as an opportunity to experiment, change a few things and see what happened.
It’s been a revelation, and at last we have an administrator who is willing to take risks.
So what can we do with the game’s greatest asset, State of Origin, to build it further and possibly make it bigger?
The week before next year’s World Cup kicks off, let’s play an additional Origin match in England.
Keep the three-game series in the middle of the year but have a stand-alone match before the World Cup.
What’s at stake for the players? How about $70,000 per player for the winning team and nothing for the losers. State of Origin — winner takes all. Kangaroos coach Mal
Meninga would then pick his Australian World Cup team.
Those not selected could possibly play a Great Britain side consisting of players who were not picked in the British World Cup teams.
You would take the game to Manchester’s Old Trafford — in England’s North, rugby league heartland.
Speaking to rugby league people over there, including Warrington owner and leading music promoter Simon
Moran, they have no doubt it would sell out quickly.
But it’s not just about us. English rugby league fans are some of the most loyal supporters you will find in sport.
The game needs a boost there and it would certainly do that.