Nicho Hynes and Cody Walker will join Latrell Mitchell and Josh Addo-Carr on the sidelines for this year’s Indigenous All Stars fixture, a move that will force officials to reopen talks about whether to shift the annual game against the Maori All Stars to the end of the year.
Hynes, Mitchell, Addo-Carr and Walker are the four biggest Indigenous stars in the game and their absence for different reasons is a huge blow for organisers, fans and broadcasters for the February 15 game at CommBank Stadium.
Hynes confirmed this week he would focus on the Sharks’ preparations ahead of their Las Vegas season opener, while Indigenous coach Ronnie Griffiths said Walker would also not feature in the annual clash.
Sharks players Braydon Trindall, who combined brilliantly with Hynes during last year’s Indigenous victory, Will Kennedy and Jesse Ramien will not play, nor will Newcastle duo Bradman Best and Adam Elliott.
Mitchell and Addo-Carr were never going to be available due to suspension, and on Wednesday were granted approval to include the All Stars game as part of their respective bans.
ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys said on Thursday there would be a discussion with all key stakeholders, including the Rugby League Players Association, to work out if there was a more suitable time on the calendar to play the Indigenous clash if some of the biggest names in the game were not available early in the year.
Excusing players from the four clubs involved in future Las Vegas double-headers was not an option, he said.
Indigenous stars Cody Walker, Nicho Hynes, Josh Addo-Carr and Latrell Mitchell will all miss the All Stars clash.Credit: Monique Westermann
“We always do post-mortems at the end of the year, and naturally this game will come up, especially if it will not be supported like it has been in the past,” V’landys said.
“We have to look at everything. Any good organisation reviews its business at the end of each year, and that will happen again this year.
“I understand the four clubs going to Vegas want their players to focus on [their season-opening games]. But this issue also came up last year. I said then how important the All Stars game is to us, and we certainly encourage all players to make themselves available. Nothing has changed there, but we’ll certainly review it.
“I’m surprised if any of the Indigenous players who are available pull out of this game because I have found them to be so passionate about the game.”
This masthead revealed before Christmas there had been discussions about moving the All Stars game to the week after the NRL grand final. There was talk of the winners of Queensland’s Murray Carnival and NSW’s Koori Knockout playing in a curtain raiser with the long-term view of fielding an Indigenous team in the Pacific Championships against second-tier nations such as the Cook Islands.
Nicho Hynes was excellent for the Indigenous side last yearCredit: Getty Images
But sources with knowledge of the situation, not authorised to speak publicly, confirmed there was a reluctance from senior players to move the game due to fears the cultural relevance of the occasion would be diminished.
Griffiths could see merit in playing the game in February or October, and conceded it may be time to “revamp the concept”.
An Indigenous man who now works with the New Zealand Warriors, which has given him a new appreciation of the Maori culture, Griffiths said: “To pay homage to this game, and to make sure fans get the best product, we need to look at the game, and that might mean a switch in the time of year we play.”
The NRL also emailed clubs during the past week to inform them that workloads and scheduling were some of the reasons the annual Indigenous players camp was cancelled for the first time this year.