NRL announces schedule changes for 2008

The NRL has bowed to pressure over player burnout by tweaking the draw for the 2008 season.

The main change is the re-introduction of a second bye for all teams along with a small reduction of the Monday night schedule.

The changes to Monday night will see the City-Country match revert to Friday evening, with no Monday night games preceding either City-Country or the mid-season Test.

Club chief executives agreed that the extra byes should be scheduled after each game of the State Of Origin series to ensure that representative players are guaranteed a week's rest before the finals.

The three post-Origin byes will be scheduled to give maximum relief to those clubs who bear the greatest Origin load and could result in their stars playing one match - being an Origin game - in 24 days.