{"id":369038,"date":"2024-02-19T19:13:18","date_gmt":"2024-02-19T20:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=369038"},"modified":"2024-02-19T21:02:48","modified_gmt":"2024-02-19T21:02:48","slug":"gallen-calls-for-major-nrl-change-after-horrible-trials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=369038","title":{"rendered":"Gallen calls for major NRL change after 'horrible' trials"},"content":{"rendered":"

P\ufeffaul Gallen<\/a> has questioned the necessity of NRL<\/a> trial games, calling for a major overhaul to the league's pre-season after a "terrible" weekend of footy.<\/p>\n

Sixteen of the 17 clubs competed in warm-up matches over the weekend, with the Panthers travelling overseas for the World Club Challenge against Wigan.<\/p>\n

Some clubs opted to send out their big guns for pre-season clashes, while others fielded half-strength or reserve grade line-ups for their respective fixtures.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>See who made 40-31 on the top-50 NRL players countdown\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Super race' tipped for tiny Aussie running meet<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Chappell fumes as key cricket format left behind<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

With plenty of errors creeping in and a lack of quality on the field, Gallen gave a damning assessment during an appearance on Wide World Of Sports radio<\/a> and believes the season proper can't come soon enough.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"No, it was horrible – another word for poo … it was terrible," he said.<\/p>\n

"Let's take out the Indigenous (All Stars) game – they are there for their culture and to promote rugby league, I understand that, they are thrown together for two training sessions.<\/p>\n

"But the rest of the games I thought were ordinary. They had a number of players that you don't know their names and that's the reason why the quality of the games was really ordinary and I can't wait for the big guns to come back.<\/p>\n

"I do question the depth of the competition and the gap between first grade and reserve grade. Quite frankly, none of those players on the weekend are up to it."<\/p>\n

The retired Sharks and Origin enforcer went one step further, urging the NRL to scrap the trials altogether.<\/p>\n

Gallen says the increased volume and intensity of training sessions, especially during pre-season, make trial games largely redundant.<\/p>\n

"I think the days of trial games are over," Gallen said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"NRL have tried to incentivise the clubs [with money] … but nobody likes them, coaches don't like them.<\/p>\n

"Players train hard enough these days and they do enough scrimmage sessions throughout the pre-season.<\/p>\n

"I don't see the point these days in risking players – no one wants to play them. I don't think it's a necessary evil anymore."<\/p>\n

Dom Young was a high-profile casualty of the first week of official NRL trials<\/a>, with the Roosters recruit suffering a neck injury against Manly, while Broncos young gun Brendan Piakura limped off with a knee injury.<\/p>\n

The crusher tackle on Young will also rule Manly forward Tof Sipley out of going to Las Vegas for round one.\ufeff<\/p>\n

The second week of NRL trials will begin on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

P\ufeffaul Gallen has questioned the necessity of NRL trial games, calling for a major overhaul to the league's pre-season after a "terrible" weekend of footy. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":369040,"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\/369038"}],"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=369038"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":369043,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369038\/revisions\/369043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/369040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=369038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=369038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=369038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}