By Tallon Smith

So we’re here again. Deja vu.

12 months on since I wrote about the same thing, the NRL has decided again for 2024 that playing trial games in the country isn’t a priority for the code.

Just eight of the sixteen NRL Pre-Season Challenge matches will be played in regional centres, and only two will be played in areas over two hours’ drive from an NRL team.

This comes as country rugby league continues to struggle due to a variety of issues, and after many regional clubs and leagues continue to try and lure games out to some of the most isolated cities and towns in the state who don’t have regular access to top flight rugby league.

The schedule, much like last year, contains some absolute dud fixtures in Sydney that would be appreciated greatly in the bush.

Parramatta will face Canberra at Kogarah and Souths will take on the Roosters at Shark Park as part of double headers, while the Sea Eagles will face Brisbane at Brookvale.

The Sharks round out the Cronulla double header against the Bulldogs, whilst the Dogs will play the Storm at Belmore the week prior.

All these games will be lucky to draw more than 2,000 people given that Sydneysiders have access to more than 80 games of premium rugby league each season, more than the residents of any other city in the world.

In the bush however, they would be a massive coup for struggling clubs and draw closer to double what they would in Sydney.

The Charity Shield has also been moved back to Sydney for 2024, but the Dragons will continue their relationship with Mudgee, playing a huge rivalry game against the Tigers at the home of the Group 10 premiers.

The Central Coast will also host a game between Souths and Manly in Week 1, followed by a double-header in week 2.

The only other game in Regional NSW is in Queanbeyan, where the Raiders will tackle the Cowboys, however, given that Seiffert Oval and Central Coast Stadium are less than an hour from NRL teams, these are regional games only by definition.

Three regional games have been scheduled in Queensland, with Mackay getting the big annual  Cowboys v Broncos showdown, which should draw around 10,000 spectators to BB Print Stadium.

Ipswich and the Sunshine Coast are the other venues which have been selected to host a match, however, given their proximity to the NRL teams in the south east of the state, perhaps a location further up the coast such as Rockhampton or Gladstone would have been better, along with an inland centre such as Kingaroy or Roma.

Meanwhile, in NSW, major regional centres such as Albury, Orange, Port Macquarie, Griffith, Armidale and Batemans Bay continue to miss out on hosting premier level rugby league, even as the game continues to battle massive adversity in the bush.

The announcement of actual premiership games to be played in the regions has softened the blow, but all in all just five regional cities in Bathurst, Bundaberg, Cairns, the Central Coast, Coffs Harbour and Tamworth will host NRL games in 2024, whilst towns which have previously hosted matches such as Wagga Wagga, Cairns and Dubbo miss out.

This takes the total number of regional games across the pre-season and premiership to 14 out of a possible 229, or just 6% of all fixtures. That number drops to 7 when removing the games in close proximity to NRL teams on the Central Coast, Ipswich and Queanbeyan, or roughly 3%.

Even Geelong and Ballarat, which have hosted Storm trial matches in recent years, have lost their potential match to Fiji.

While as a rugby league internationalist, I wholeheartedly support the growth of the game overseas through taking games overseas, I believe it shouldn’t come at the expense of the country.

It seems with this Las Vegas venture, and the continued neglect of country football, the NRL is more worried about acquiring an investment property than watering its own back lawn.

Griffith Waratahs President Robert Nascimben, who attempted to bring a trial match to his hometown to celebrate the return of the Waratahs club from recess, said that the response was disheartening.

“It’s obvious, they’re not concerned about the country,” he said.

“I tried numerous times to contact an NRL club, New South Wales Rugby League, to see if I could reach out and [they could] come out to the country, come out to Griffith.

“We have one of the best facilities in regional NSW with the Exies Oval, to see if we could arrange a trial game between, as an example, [against the best of] Group 20 and the Proten Cup in Men’s and Women’s [matches].”

Nascimben said that the game would have provided a major kickstart for the game in the area, which has battled through some adversity in recent years, and appears to be looking a little stronger heading into 2024.

“As I mentioned to them, rugby league has died here in the last few years, and this would really give us a kick to get going in 2024,” he said.

“The Waratahs went into recess this year, because we had a lack of numbers of players in all five grades.

“So it’s disappointing that they’ve made that decision on where that trial game is going, but unfortunately I don’t think they really care.”

The Pre-Season Challenge kicks off on Thursday February 15 next year, with the Bulldogs v Storm game at Belmore, followed by the $200 million ‘Round Zero’ concept in the United States.

In the meantime, we continue to yearn for the days of the Tooheys Challenge Cup, when the pre-season belonged to the bush.