The NRL is never going to be a completely level playing field, and anyone who thinks it should be perhaps needs to find a new sport to follow.
Given that there are an uneven number of teams (17) in the NRL competition, and that sides do not play each opponent on a home-and-away basis, most will inevitably be given a raw deal at some point in proceedings.
Once they have analysed their fixture list and started working through the logistics, almost every club will find some cause for complaint.
Canberra, for instance, were furious about a 48,000-kilometre magical mystery tour that took them to Las Vegas, Sydney, Townsville, Darwin and Brisbane in the first nine rounds. Ricky Stuart labelled it “the most imbalanced draw” he had encountered in a 26-year coaching career.
Likewise, Cronulla opened the season in Sin City before heading to Townsville in round two, and then Canberra and Perth in rounds five and six.
Meanwhile, the Brisbane Broncos played six of seven games at Suncorp Stadium between rounds four and 10, including four in a row.
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary.Credit: Kate Geraghty
A host of teams had been allocated two byes before Canberra received their first. Sydney Roosters weren’t happy about copping three byes between rounds 10 and 17.
And good luck trying to count how many sides had played each other twice within the first six rounds.
As well as the travel, there are also the short turnarounds to factor in. As Knights coach Adam O’Brien said after his team’s recent loss to St George Illawarra, when he begrudgingly rested Kalyn Ponga so that the Queensland Origin star wasn’t playing three games in eight days: “In this battle, we lost to the scheduling and the draw. Whoever does the draws either hasn’t lived it or doesn’t care, so I don’t know which one it is.”
Some may have felt O’Brien’s comments were a bit rich, given that a week earlier, the Knights had enjoyed the rub of the green, beating a Penrith side minus their five-man Origin contingent.
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary copped that loss on the chin and was disappointed that his depleted team had been unable to give a better account of themselves.
It’s not in Cleary’s unflappable nature to complain publicly or to create controversy but, after Penrith’s 18-14 win against Wests Tigers two weeks ago, he made an exception.
Cleary’s concern was not the game the Panthers had just played, but the double whammy looming on the horizon, after his team’s round 15 bye.
First Penrith face the Warriors in Auckland on Saturday, barely 72 hours after their Origin stars – Nathan Cleary, Isaah Yeo, Brian To’o, Dylan Edwards and Liam Martin – were on duty with NSW in Perth.
It’s basically a day in transit from Western Australia to New Zealand, once time zones, connecting flights and layovers at airports are factored in. Not long enough, the coach said, to risk taking his NSW reps across the ditch.
Penrith are fighting to stay in the race for the finals.Credit: Getty Images
“The Origin players won’t be playing, because they can’t,” he said. “That’s another story. I don’t think it’s fair. We should be able to make that decision. And just through flights, we can’t get them there.”
Front-rower Lindsay Smith, who was a stand-by player for NSW in Perth, is nonetheless expected to rack up some frequent flyer points and suit up for the Panthers on Saturday.
Cleary found an unexpected ally in Phil Gould, formerly his mentor at Penrith before a well-documented falling-out.
“What about the ridiculous scheduling for the poor old Panthers this week?” Gould said on his Six Tackles With Gus podcast.
“They are playing on Wednesday night in Perth, all these Origin players … how would they expect those players to back up? It’s terrible. If I was the Panthers club, I would be blowing up deluxe.”
Gould may have been thinking two moves ahead, given the Panthers’ next assignment after Auckland is the Canterbury club he oversees, on Thursday next week.
Penrith’s Origin quintet should be nicely freshened up for their clash with the table-topping Bulldogs, although Cleary was again disappointed with the scheduling, saying the rest of his players faced a five-day turnaround, which included the trip home from New Zealand.
In recent seasons, Cleary has happily rested his Origin players during this phase of the season.
In 2022, he gave seven state representatives the weekend off and their back-ups were too good for cellar-dwellers the Wests Tigers. A year later, Penrith beat the Knights with their five NSW players watching from the stand.
This season, he doesn’t have the same luxury as the reigning four-time champions face a dogfight to make the finals.
And perhaps that is the crux of the issue.
We all realise the draw has flaws in it. NRL officials understand that, even though they are loath to publicly admit it. Instead, they try their best to juggle myriad complex issues and requests while keeping any inequities to a minimum.
Impartial observers might form the view that it’s all swings and roundabouts and that it usually evens itself out in the long run.
That’s all well and good until you’re in Cleary’s shoes, preparing for two tough games, five days apart in different countries, with your whole season potentially hanging on the outcome.
Dynasties don’t last forever. In Penrith’s case, they can only hope the next two games don’t prove to be the draw that broke the camel’s back.
