Queensland Rugby League boss Ben Ikin says negotiations to increase the contract of Maroons coach Billy Slater are on the “pointy finish” as he urged the NRL to not change the format of State of Origin.
Slater and Maroons girls’s coach Tahnee Norris are each off-contract and Ikin mentioned the QRL’s objective stays to re-sign each.
Slater has guided the Maroons to consecutive Origin successes, whereas Norris was victorious this season after a drawn sequence the Queenslanders gained on for and in opposition to.
“I’m extra assured than I’m not,” Ikin mentioned when requested about conserving Slater on board.
“There are a complete lot of transferring elements in the meanwhile round each groups and each sequence.
“We’re nonetheless making an attempt to grasp what the sequence schedule will seem like subsequent yr and the way lengthy the camps will likely be. We’re working by way of budgets.
“The pleasing factor for us is that Tahnee and Billy have been actually affected person. Now we have been in fixed communication with them.”
There’s a need from NRL golf equipment to cut back the Origin sequence from its present six-week format to minimize the influence on the season.
Golf equipment additionally need 10-day Origin camps decreased to week-long get-togethers.
Ikin, who mentioned the QRL was in fixed dialogue with golf equipment about their considerations, warned in opposition to such a transfer.
“We want the Origin schedule to stay the way in which it’s,” he mentioned.
“Throughout the historical past of Origin they’ve tried to pores and skin this factor, pull it aside and put it again collectively one million other ways.
“That is the mannequin that simply appears to land properly for everyone. The broadcasters must conform to how it’ll be performed and the way in which it’s drawn out now permits a complete lot of storytelling between video games.
“Should you compress up over three weeks … it’s right here and it’s gone.”
Reuben Cotter is tackled by Stephen Crichton. (Photograph by Mark Kolbe/Getty Pictures)
Ikin mentioned the attract of the sport’s showpiece could possibly be diminished by a compressed sequence.
“That is the hardest collision sport you’ll be able to play on the planet,” he mentioned.
“To jam three video games back-to-back-to-back you run the danger of diminishing the standard of the product.”
Ikin mentioned the QRL would help the ladies’s Origin sequence transferring from two video games to 3.
The QRL on Tuesday introduced a brand new three-year partnership with Westpac.
From 2024, the financial institution will develop into the entrance of jersey sponsor for the Maroons’ males’s group and shoulder sponsor for Queensland’s girls.
© AAP
