Ricky Stuart has had a productive week: resurrecting NSW’s Origin hopes, introducing a new way to play the game at representative level and now driving a stake through rugby league by pleading with his squad to miss their club games before the interstate decider.
Stuart made the impassioned – and controversial - plea in the minutes after NSW breathed life back to the State of Origin series thanks to an 18-8 victory at ANZ Stadium last night.
The reason: because St George Illawarra play Manly on Monday week, more than a day after Stuart will name his team for the Suncorp Stadium showdown.
“It is unfair for us in Game III,” Stuart said.
“I've got about eight players involved in that game so therefore I am missing two to three sessions out of my preparation leading into the most important game of the season, so I have asked everyone of them in there to consider standing down from the next game.”
Stuart’s unprecedented plea comes as the furore over the scheduling of State of Origin continues to rage, with many pundits calling for stand-alone fixtures. This blog has its own idea, which can be found HERE.
“They want to win Game III,” Stuart said.
“It is a real issue for the game itself. We have got to work this scheduling and the programming a lot better because it is unfair going into Game III when I am going to have two or three sessions less. If this was a dead rubber it is not an issue.
“It is probably not realistic but I have got a Monday game with seven or eight players from tonight's game involved in that game and we are going to miss two or three training sessions.
“We won't be able to train until probably Thursday whereas we have been having our first training session Tuesday.
“I'm not trying to be a nark. I am not trying to do the wrong thing by any individual or person who is involved. All I am thinking about is my players as I do every time I coach a footy team … all I think about is the best possible scenario for my players and the individual but I am forced to say that.”
Unfortunately for Stuart and the Blues, NRL supremo David Gallop has already declared that players must play for their clubs two weekends before Origin.
''No, it's not possible. One of the reasons that Origin is so successful is because we play it on a Wednesday night, which gives potentially a 10- to 12-day build-up,'' Gallop said.
''Even with that Monday game, there will still be a nine-day preparation, it's the way the system works.''
Surely Stuart’s plea will be another reason to get some common sense back into the scheduling of representative games for next year and beyond.
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