Carting it up with Stevo

At the height of the euphoria surrounding a State of Origin victory, I can see why NRL players see Origin selection as the highest accolade their sport could provide them. This experience alone could be reason enough for players to choose to stay in the NRL and not take the money on offer in the AFL, ESL or various Rugby competitions.

With the concern surrounding the restrictive salary cap in mind, players have come up with the idea of increasing player payments for representative fixtures by double or even triple what they are now. At around $12,000 game, current payments are reasonably generous (especially if a Four Nations tournament is scheduled) and increasing rep payments does target the most likely defectors.

So the idea does have merit