Meninga's perfect NRL blueprint amid Origin 18th man saga

The NRL will be ideally set up once there are 20 teams, according to Mal Meninga, who has outlined his blueprint for the ideal season schedule.

Amid ongoing criticism regarding the mid-season scheduling of State of Origin and how significantly it impacts teams vying for a finals berth, Meninga believes the future will be a season with a dedicated window for the series.

It would present no disadvantage to any team – that is unless injury was sustained within any of the three matches.

“I think the game is doing a great job in extending the competition,” the Perth Bears coach told SENQ Breakfast.

“We go to 18 teams in 2027 and 19 with the PNG team. I think having 20 is the ideal situation. You play each other once – that’s 19 games.

“The competition currently goes for 27 weeks with three byes. So you take it down to 19 weeks and then there is two more months of new content if you want to.

“You can have Origin in blocks through it all and have other comps involved so clubs aren’t at a disadvantage.

“You could play internationals if you wanted to.

“I would suggest (rep footy) middle of the year so you are going to finish up at the same time and the players get a better rest in the off season and come back ready to go.”

Meninga’s suggestions come as the Bulldogs and the Broncos came off as the biggest losers ahead of Origin III next Wednesday with Canterbury losing Matt Burton for Game II and now Jacob Kiraz for the decider.

It’s a similar story for Brisbane who have lost Reece Walsh as the Maroons’ 18th man.

“It’s interesting the 18th man rule, I don’t think anyone agrees with the way it is,” Daley said on the Sky Sports radio earlier this week.

“Matt (Burton) I think has been selected as 18th man five times, missed club games and hasn’t played a part in the Origin games themselves.

“The reason why I picked Jacob, we’ve got one bloke who is in a bit of doubt and that’s Brian To’o. We want to give him every chance to play and because the Bulldogs are playing on the Friday night we want to make sure if Brian is ruled out than Jacob has had a full 11 days preparation with us.

“So we aren’t plucking him out of the game on Friday night, he only has one training session with us and then he has to play an Origin game. We don’t think that’s right for him. But if he gets himself in the right fashion thinking he’s going to play, then Brian plays he is still 18th man and he’s still a chance.”