But Origin’s return to three Wednesday night matches from next year means the representative round will be scrapped and NRL games will be played every weekend.
The Rugby League Players Association is already lobbying for NSW and Queensland players to be automatically stood down from club duties after Origin matches following one of the fastest – and most brutal – Origin matches ever played in the recent series decider.
The Panthers remained all seven of their Origin contingent the following weekend, but other stars such as James Tedesco and Daniel Tupou opted to back up less than 72 hours later with their team scrapping for a finals spot.
The NRL’s plan for three byes per team is designed to ease the workload on players, in particular Origin stars, but will have the regular season nudging closer to the hottest part of the year. The NRL will schedule a greater concentration of byes around the Origin period to alleviate the toll on clubs.
The proposal has been discussed about by several clubs, which are already contending with a crowded pre-season and the late return of players from the World Cup.
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The annual All-Stars fixture is usually played in the second week of February, and the NRL has considered shifting that a week earlier too. But the idea is expected to be met with resistance given the shortened summer training bloc for clubs to have all players available.
The World Cup final will be played in the United Kingdom on November 19 meaning players from both teams will not return to their clubs for pre-season training until mid to late January.
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