No SOO for 2012

http://stevemascord.com/2011/06/06/rfl-stages-international-federation-walk-out/

Are you referring to the 'we wanted 2012 to be relatively free of representative commitments for the senior players...' comment, George Hotel 1895?

Surely that doesn't mean there'll be no SSO in 2012. That would cause an uproar!

Apart from that comment, the only thing I've heard is one or two NRL coaches suggesting that only one SOO match would be a better thing for their clubs - who have several state reps and therefore have 10 or so weeks disruption during Origin time - but I don't think that would go down with the public too well either.

This sort of discussion has surfaced in recent years only. For the first 3 SOOs it was one game per year, then the public/ARL/NRL wanted more.

Personally, I 'm all for the current 3 series format - maybe reduce the break between games down from 3 weeks to 2 and get it out of the way a bit sooner.

The problem Australian Rugby League has is that a lot of people who run the game there are very insular. For them the NRL is the be all and end all of the game. Can you imagine Soccer or union saying they won't have an esablished international competion, which the tri/4 nations is at the end of the season, as all their top players want a rest.

I agree with you on one aspect - DG needs to have a wider view but then again he is from NZ. I wouldn't say there are a lot of people who run the game here in Australia who are insular though.

Leadership needs to change here and DG replaced with someone who has more global vision. Who that is - is the burning question though.

Origin's going nowhere, it's a massive audience puller and attracts huge sponsership $.

There's no 4Nations next year as the Aussies want a rest after the 2012 season to make sure they're at their peak for 2013 WC which they are absolutely detirmened to win.

So there'll be almost a three year gap in 4N (late 2011-late 2014?) if there is no tounament in 2012 and 2013 - assuming they won't have 4N around the same time as 2013 WC?

Is that correct? So it's only the annual Aus-NZ Test in April each year?

Looking forward to see Wales play this year. I don't know much about them but I'm sure they'll play like fire and put on a good show...

Yes that's right, obviously no 4N in WC year.

Personally due to Englands utter crapness and lack of competitiveness in recent times I think unless we make the final this year and the WC final the 4Nations will probably go to every 2 yrs or disappear entirely.

I would think a 3 test series between Oz and NZ at the end of every season would be much more popular down under, and more profitable too.