The NRL is considering introducing a new pre-season competition, that would also involve Super League champions St Helens, for points and prizemoney.
The initiative is a chance of being introduced as soon as next year and would provide an unexpected first opportunity for the game’s newest franchise, the Dolphins, to compete for cash and silverware. The venture is also an opportunity to commercialise the trial period, ramp up broadcaster interest and rival the AFL’s NAB Cup as a legitimate pre-season tournament.
There are a multitude of factors the NRL is considering before deciding whether the event officially goes ahead, including whether a planned competition game in the United States will kick off the season proper. However, there is a strong desire for a structured and meaningful build-up to an NRL season for the first time since the Craven Mild Cup, the pre-season tournament that ran from 1962-1981.
League powerbrokers are convinced there would be strong fan interest in the tournament, particularly given the strong audience numbers generated when all the 2022 trials were broadcast on streaming or pay-per-view platforms.
English champions St Helens would be invited to compete, meaning there would be 18 participants once the Dolphins are factored in. It would allow the Super League champions to test themselves in a meaningful way outside the traditional World Club Challenge, while providing a first opportunity for Wayne Bennett’s team to build a fan following and work on player combinations in a competitive setting.
In the past, the formation of the trial schedule has been left largely to the clubs, who arrange opponents and venues between themselves based on their own requirements. Under the proposal, head office would take over the task and offer incentives for the clubs to field competitive outfits.
Newtown halfback Barry Wood on the attack against St George during a Craven Mild Cup match in 1979.Credit:Fairfax Media
The bold venture will be another logistical challenge for the NRL in what is already shaping as the most complex draw in its history due to a multitude of factors. The World Cup, a potential US game, the All Stars fixture and the unavailability of several venues for a long period due to the FIFA Women’s World Cup are all complicating factors. Then there’s the potential of the season being extended to 27 rounds, requiring each team to have three bye rounds.
The Rugby League Players’ Association will be keen to ensure players still receive adequate annual leave and that five-day turnarounds are kept to a minimum.
The NRL has previously been able to squeeze in a handful of Nines tournaments into the pre-season schedule, with the shortened version of the game being played between 2014 and 2017 and again in 2020 before COVID-19 put the concept back on ice.
However, the new summer plans would make 2023 the most stacked and meaningful trial period in the game’s history.
A final decision on whether the US game goes ahead next year, or is postponed until 2024, is imminent. South Sydney opted not to participate in 2023, citing a lack of planning time, but Manly remain keen. Several clubs, including the Roosters and Storm, are keen to be their opponents for what would be the first time that competition points are contested outside of Australia and New Zealand.
“Growth in the game in America is real for us, we believe rugby league is the best professional sport on the planet and an opportunity to take that to a market like America is enticing for us,” NRL CEO Andrew Abdo told the Herald last week.
“We will be looking at that and working hard on making that happen over a long term. It’s certainly a consideration for the draw for next year.”
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