AS THE dust starts to settle on the Four Nations campaign, thoughts are already turning to next year – and they are not pretty.
Many Super League sides play their first pre-season game on Boxing Day this year. If England reach the World Cup Final, the final game will be on December 2, 2017.
Between all that, there are 30 club games in the Super League and Super8s/Qualifiers, the semi-finals, Grand Final, Challenge Cup games, the World Club Series, a test match between England and Samoa in Australia, three group games, quarter-finals and semi-finals.
Any player ‘lucky’ enough to feature in all of them faces up to 44 matches – excluding any pre-season clashes!
Then there is a pre-season training camp for England stars that coach Wayne Bennett demanded be put into a packed schedule.
Rugby Football League chiefs have already showed how difficult it is to squeeze everything in by introducing a second double header weekend, where teams will play league games on Friday and Monday.
Little wonder then that one senior star told SunSport that he ‘was not sure when Easter is any more’ because of the schedule.
But there is a solution, and only the clubs can make it happen.
Forget the semi-finals and Grand Final, even the Challenge Cup semis and final as those taking part will want their top stars in the sides.
However, in the Super League, Super 8s/Qualifiers and the Cup's last 16 and quarter finals, there are 32 games.
What about making an agreement, even an unwritten rule, that means players can only feature in a maximum of 23 of those?
Even writing about someone facing 44 games of rugby league is tiring, imagine having to put your body through them?
So maybe restricting the amount of games people can play in the earlier stages of the campaign is the way to go.
Player welfare is a big talking point at the moment and having seen stars struggling to walk after matches, only to do it again days later, you cannot help but wonder if there is too much of a good thing.
It may also have a spin-off effect in that clubs may have to grow their squads and use more of them over the course of a season, bringing up new talent.
Wigan had to dip very deeply into their talent pool for players because of injuries, and they did not do too badly, did they?
It may also mean clubs have to boost their stocks with a reserve grade side, like both Grand Finalists Wigan and Warrington have. The fact some Super League outfits do not operate a second string is another matter and one that is almost as infuriating as England's performances and results.
And if Wayne Bennett's men make the World Cup Final in Brisbane, then the agreement would have been worth it.
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