State of Origin 2017: Why the NRL must fix the cruelty of players backing up from Origin

NEXT season the amount of Origin impacted games will drop from 12 to eight. But, PAUL KENT asks, is that enough?

Will Chambers (centre) of the Maroons receive assistance from the field during State of Origin Game II between the NSW Blues and Queensland Maroons, at ANZ Stadium in Sydney on Wednesday, June 21, 2017. (AAP Image/Paul Miller) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

THE NRL appears headed towards another flashpoint after Laurie Daley’s comment on NRL360 Thursday.

“I think that’s cruel,” Daley said. “I don’t think we can do it anymore.”

Daley was talking about Origin players backing up for club football the weekend after playing Wednesday’s game.

The NRL takes control of the draw next season and the games affected by Origin will drop from 12, as it has been in recent years, to eight.

Origin will be played Wednesday, then Sunday, then Wednesday next season, eliminating four games from Origin damage, but is that acceptable?

Origin II was a brutal physical battle.

It is unfair to ask players to back up several days but it is also unfair for clubs to have to stand them down.

Melbourne is voluntarily resting Cameron Smith, Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk against the Sydney Roosters tonight, with Will Chambers also forced out through the concussion policy.

So far, two games into the three-game series, Smith and Cronk have missed four games through Origin.

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By the end of game three that might well be six. In a 24-game season that is a quarter of their season.

Yet the Storm is expected to play full freight on the contracts.

The game needs better planning for its schedule. Indeed, the whole game.

Tonight’s game is being played in Adelaide and the major thrust of their promotion was Melbourne’s champion Origin players coming to town.

Several players have already been ruled out for this weekend’s matches.

Adelaide has a much closer sporting friendship with Melbourne than Sydney, where they share AFL as the dominant code.

Why did the NRL schedule such a promotion in the middle of the origin period?

As for playing in Adelaide, what is the point of playing in South Australia while the NRL has no plans to expand the game there?

If Adelaide is not being schooled as the next expansion destination, what is the point?