Was thinking about the lull that the NRL season seems to drop into around Origin and how it could be lessened while keeping Origin strong.
I've never understood why Origin wasn't played on a weekend, 3 weeks straight. I understand the NRL doesn't want standalone Origin weekends, but why does the comp have to be stopped for an Origin weekend. At the moment each team is without their players for 2 weeks, with 3 more weeks affected by players backing up. The whole process drags on for months as well, which doesn't increase the excitement of Origin, but does space out the drag on the domestic comp.
I propose something like this.
Round 14
Friday
Roosters vs Brisbane
Souths vs Manly
Saturday
Origin 1 (Brisbane)
Sunday
Penrith vs Knights
Warriors vs Melbourne
Monday
Parra vs Cowboys
Bye
Raiders, Tigers, Titans, Dogs, Dragons, Sharks
Round 15
Friday
Cowboys vs Warriors
Tigers vs Knights
Saturday
Raiders vs Penrith
Dragons vs Melbourne
Titans vs Roosters
Sunday
Origin 2 (Sydney)
Monday
Sharks vs Dogs
Bye
Manly, Souths, Brisbane, Parra
Round 16
Friday
Titans vs Melbourne
Tigers vs Brisbane
Saturday
Origin 3 (Brisbane)
Sunday
Dragons vs Parra
Dogs vs Souths
Monday
Manly vs Sharks
Bye
Penrith, Cowboys, Knights, Warriors, Melbourne, Roosters
You get Origin on a weekend, teams only three weekends are affected by a lack of star power, with teams only having to manage for 2 games without their stars. No player has to back up for a second game within days of Origin. With one less bye for each team there is essentially an extra round of games for being put on for no extra player burnout. You get three straight weeks of Origin excitement, and the damage to the domestic comp isn't stretched out over a period of two months.
Only downside I can think of is that some games on the weekend will be affected due to Origin. For example the Titans/Melbourne game in round 15 and the Dragons/Melbourne game in round 14 of my example would get poorer than normal crowds you would think. Other thing is that Origin TV ratings might be smaller on a weekend(?) The NRL would need to have some measure of control over scheduling on those weekends too, but that could be built into the contract with the networks without too much trouble.