National Rugby League CEO Dave Smith has "all but ruled out ever changing the State of Origin scheduling" after admitting that "you tinker with the jewel in your crown at your peril," according to Stuart Honeysett of THE AUSTRALIAN. Smith on Monday responded to criticism from Canterbury coach Des Hasler, "who argued on Sunday that the current format needed to be changed." Smith: "There's never a way to please everybody in the game of rugby league. The fact of the matter is there's been lots of people talking about the format of Origin for two decades and as the (Origin) coaches said on the stage there, there's no perfect solution." Smith, who has a banking background, is "reticent to change anything to do with the Origin series unless a better solution could be found." As it stands, the '14 series accounted for "three of the top five-rated programs all year." And Origin is worth about A$100M ($77.7M) a year to the game in the broadcast deal. The current A$1B ($780M)-plus, five-year deal does not expire until the end of '17 and "it is believed the NRL would be reluctant to take any gamble" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 6/16).
MORE FOR MELBOURNE?: In Melbourne, Michael Carayannis reported Smith has described Melbourne's sporting facilities as "superior to
Sydney's, with the NRL boss flagging the prospect of more marquee events
shifting to Victoria's capital." Smith's comments come as the NRL
"continues to work with the NSW government" around its A$600M ($466M) allocated to sport infrastructure. He said, "Melbourne is a great city for hosting big events. That's why we've brought the event here and why we would consider bringing other events here. ... Hopefully [the NSW government] will be brave about taking a long-term
view. We are working with the government to try and enhance the
experience in Sydney so we do have stadiums in the right place that are
easy to get to and when you get there, there's lots of precinct types of
things to do. My blueprint is a network of stadiums which are
the right size. They don't have to be big stadiums, our content is
different sized." The NRL will "take another Origin away from its Brisbane and Sydney
heartland" when Melbourne hosts one game in '18. Smith said the NRL will
"explore further opportunities for more games to be hosted in Melbourne" (THE AGE, 6/15).
