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Tigers owe it all to Origin snub Phil Rothfield From: The Daily Telegraph June 22, 2010 12:00AM
"INSTEAD of complaining about NSW selectors snubbing his Tigers players in State of Origin football this year, Australia's Test coach Tim Sheens should be thanking them.
Thanking them for allowing his team to claw its way back into finals contention while others have been decimated by State of Origin commitments.
The Tigers are running third on the competition table because they've been at full strength with fresh players for the last month of the competition while other clubs like the Dragons (7), Storm (5), and Cowboys (4) have been gutted with so many senior players on Origin duty in Brisbane last week.
Sheens should also remember the NSW team was picked on May 17 - just 24 hours after the Tigers were slaughtered 50-10 by the Rabbitohs at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Fringe players like Robbie Farah, Chris Heighington, Keith Galloway, Chris Lawrence and possibly Lote Tuqiri were never going to be chosen after that shocker of a performance.
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Since then, the Tigers have had a soft draw and played themselves back into form and finals contention with games against the Knights, Warriors, Bulldogs and Raiders - clubs all well below them on the table.
The next month will provide the real test of their premiership aspirations with matches against the Dragons (away) on Friday night, followed up by the Broncos (away), Titans (home) and Manly (away).
They've also got the Storm, Panthers and Rabbitohs in the last five rounds before the semis.
The Tigers' golden run over the last month with all senior players on deck again raises questions about the fairness and evenness of the NRL competition.
Even strugglers Canberra (3) and the Sharks (2) have had to play without their big guns or have them back up after Origin games while the Tigers, running third, have trained together every week, enjoyed a bye, stayed fresh and won four on the trot.
The NRL is always carrying on about its stringent salary cap rules that keep the premiership on a level playing field.
Then the very same organisation allows some clubs like the Tigers a soft six-week period in the middle of the competition while others are getting hammered and losing millions of dollars of their salary cap talent to NSW and Queensland.
Surely the game has become professional enough in 2010 to realise Origin has become a big enough event to stand alone on three weekends.
To hell with complaints from the television networks about losing the programming for three weeks because they'll still get as many games to telecast over the full season.
Having Origin played over six weeks also takes too much away from the premiership, which basically becomes the second-tier competition while all the focus and media attention is on interstate rivalries.
Teams like the Tigers shouldn't be getting a rails run while the Raiders could miss the finals by one win or the Dragons miss the minor premiership by one win because of all their State of Origin duties.
It's simply not fair.
"INSTEAD of complaining about NSW selectors snubbing his Tigers players in State of Origin football this year, Australia's Test coach Tim Sheens should be thanking them.
Thanking them for allowing his team to claw its way back into finals contention while others have been decimated by State of Origin commitments.
The Tigers are running third on the competition table because they've been at full strength with fresh players for the last month of the competition while other clubs like the Dragons (7), Storm (5), and Cowboys (4) have been gutted with so many senior players on Origin duty in Brisbane last week.
Sheens should also remember the NSW team was picked on May 17 - just 24 hours after the Tigers were slaughtered 50-10 by the Rabbitohs at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Fringe players like Robbie Farah, Chris Heighington, Keith Galloway, Chris Lawrence and possibly Lote Tuqiri were never going to be chosen after that shocker of a performance.
\
\
Since then, the Tigers have had a soft draw and played themselves back into form and finals contention with games against the Knights, Warriors, Bulldogs and Raiders - clubs all well below them on the table.
The next month will provide the real test of their premiership aspirations with matches against the Dragons (away) on Friday night, followed up by the Broncos (away), Titans (home) and Manly (away).
They've also got the Storm, Panthers and Rabbitohs in the last five rounds before the semis.
The Tigers' golden run over the last month with all senior players on deck again raises questions about the fairness and evenness of the NRL competition.
Even strugglers Canberra (3) and the Sharks (2) have had to play without their big guns or have them back up after Origin games while the Tigers, running third, have trained together every week, enjoyed a bye, stayed fresh and won four on the trot.
The NRL is always carrying on about its stringent salary cap rules that keep the premiership on a level playing field.
Then the very same organisation allows some clubs like the Tigers a soft six-week period in the middle of the competition while others are getting hammered and losing millions of dollars of their salary cap talent to NSW and Queensland.
Surely the game has become professional enough in 2010 to realise Origin has become a big enough event to stand alone on three weekends.
To hell with complaints from the television networks about losing the programming for three weeks because they'll still get as many games to telecast over the full season.
Having Origin played over six weeks also takes too much away from the premiership, which basically becomes the second-tier competition while all the focus and media attention is on interstate rivalries.
Teams like the Tigers shouldn't be getting a rails run while the Raiders could miss the finals by one win or the Dragons miss the minor premiership by one win because of all their State of Origin duties.
It's simply not fair.
