'Ripped off': Fresh push for rule change after Reece Walsh and Jacob Kiraz farce
Walsh is in the squad in case of a backline injury. While Kiraz is on standby for NSW winger Brian To'o, who was bothered by a knee injury in Thursday night's win over Canterbury. Interestingly, the Broncos are playing the Bulldogs for the clash both players are set to miss with the game robbed of two of its biggest stars.
Despite a five day turnaround before the State of Origin decider on Wednesday, neither player will be available for their club. This is despite the 18th man rarely being called upon in Origin.
The Bulldogs have already been asked to provide the 18th man this series with Matt Burton missing his side's clash in round 15 due to being selected in the role ahead of Game 2. And there have been plenty of frustration around how the 18th man is used in Origin with the quality of NRL footy the weekend before taking a hit.
The Broncos visiting the Bulldogs would be a much bigger clash with both Walsh and Kiraz taking part. And speaking ahead of the State of Origin decider, Rothfield said he spoke to NRL boss Andrew Abdo and claimed he was willing to listen to clubs at the end of the year if they all wanted a rule change.
"I was down seeing Andrew Abdo on Friday at the NRL headquarters, I said, can you please introduce the rule that the 18th man to play for their club. He said, 'look if the clubs come to me about it, I will put it in the review at the end of the year,'" Rothfield said on Triple M's NRL Daily podcast.
"I hope the clubs do go to him because we are getting ripped off enough. This Canterbury, Brisbane game without the Origin players. I would love to see Kiraz up in Brisbane...that is criminal that Reece Walsh is not playing for the Broncos. It is deadset wrong."
The State of Origin period has always been a controversial part of the season with plenty of calls for the series to be a standalone competition. A number of teams are heavily impacted by the representative period and the bye schedule does not favour every team.
This week's Tuesday team lists represent a huge challenge for coaches with the likes of the Broncos and Bulldogs both missing four players each. The Melbourne Storm and Cowboys will play their clash on Saturday with four players missing from each team, while the Roosters are missing five rep players for the game against the Tigers.
To make matters worse, the Roosters have not been afforded a bye during the three major bye rounds having dealt with the lack of players on three separate occasions. The quality and depth of the NRL is often a talking point during the Origin period with injuries also mounting.
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Bulldogs fans were up-in-arms over the selection of Matt Burton for Game 2, which coincided the fifth time he had been 18th man and missed club footy throughout his career. But NSW coach Laurie Daley felt Kiraz needed to come into the squad for the Game 3 decider with To'o a real doubt.
'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 on Monday morning. '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.'
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