{"id":327441,"date":"2023-08-31T13:10:14","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T13:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=327441"},"modified":"2023-08-31T14:03:21","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T14:03:21","slug":"joeys-solution-to-avoid-farcical-season-ending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=327441","title":{"rendered":"Joey's solution to avoid farcical season ending"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns<\/a> believes it's finally time for the NRL<\/a> to introduce an AFL<\/a>-style bye round before the finals series begins.<\/p>\n

There have been calls for a week off before the finals to be introduced for several seasons, particularly given the increase in top clubs resting their front-line stars to field essentially a second string side in the final week of the competition.<\/p>\n

The fallout means final-round upsets could throw the battle for the lower end of the competition out of kilter.<\/p>\n

AS IT HAPPENED:<\/strong> NRL round 27 Brisbane Broncos v Melbourne Storm<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Storm star gives coach 'wonderful headache' in win<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> \ufeff'Absolute magician' wows legends with insane debut<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Both the Broncos<\/a> and Storm<\/a> named a second-string 17 for Thursday night's clash at Suncorp Stadium<\/a>, and the Knights have also rested several of their in-form stars for their clash against the Dragons.<\/p>\n

\"Nine<\/p>\n

The Panthers, meanwhile, who will play the Cowboys on Saturday afternoon have named more or less a full-strength side, having rested several players for their loss to the Eels last weekend.<\/p>\n

With the opportunity to clinch a minor premiership brought about after the Broncos were beaten by the Storm on Thursday night, it's now likely Penrith's stars will play.<\/p>\n

Stream the NRL premiership 2023 live and free on<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Johns said for this reason \u2013 and the potential for concussion protocols to rule players out for finals clashes \u2013 a bye round makes sense.<\/p>\n

The AFL introduced a bye round \u2013 which takes place this weekend \u2013 before their finals series for the 2016 season.<\/p>\n

\"NRL<\/p>\n

He said another incentive for sides to play full-strength squads in the final round of competition could be an increase in prize money for the minor premiership.<\/p>\n

The prize pool for the minor premiership was doubled to $200,000 for 2023, but Johns said it should be much higher than that, with a chunk to go straight to players.<\/p>\n

"I think if they bumped it up (to) $1 million for the club and $1 million for the players to split amongst themselves, the tight arses out there would go 'right, I'm gonna get fifty grand, I've got a corked thigh, I'm playing, I don't care'," he said on Wide World of Sports' Immortal Behaviour<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Johns said he could also get around the idea of a wildcard round to settle the bottom two spots in the top eight.<\/p>\n

It could see the top six sides given a rest, and the bottom seven eliminated, leaving seventh place to play tenth, and eighth to play ninth for the final two spots in the finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns believes it's finally time for the NRL to introduce an AFL-style bye round before the finals series begins. There have […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":327443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327441"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=327441"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":327446,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327441\/revisions\/327446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/327443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=327441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=327441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=327441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}