Andy Last has called for the return of Yorkshire vs Lancashire.
Hull FC interim head coach Andy Last has called for the return of the traditional Yorkshire vs Lancashire series – and has stated there was some internal support for it in England’s recent camps.
The Origin series was last played in 2003, having been revived in 2001 for four games across three seasons. The games were a regular part of the rugby league calendar from the sport’s foundation in 1895 right up to 1983 and have been played sporadically since.
And Last believes they would offer a benefit to the England national side once again, as well as offer Super League clubs a break from the rigours of week-in, week-out competition action – something he believes would be welcome after several clubs have battled their way through hefty injury totals this year.
“I’d like an Origin series,” Last said. “I’d like to go back to Yorkshire vs Lancashire again. There was a lot of talk about it when I was in the England camp.
“Briersey (Lee Briers) was also an assistant coach. He said he would lead the Lancashire team and I’d lead the Yorkshire team. There was some healthy chat and banter. Michael McIlorum was around it with John Bateman and Alex Walmsley and they’d say, ‘We’d better these Lancashire boys,’ and then Matty Lees and Morgan Knowles and George Williams would say, ‘No, you won’t.’
“I was like, ‘Well, Morgan, you’re a Cumbrian; you can’t pick and choose. Then I’m trying to entice Mike McMeeken, you know, saying, ‘I know you’re a southerner and you’re from London, but you’ll play for Yorkshire, won’t you, as you’ve spent most of your time in Yorkshire.’
“There was a lot of healthy banter around that, but I think it’d be a great concept. If you’re going with 14 teams, if you play each other home and away, then you could have a three-game Origin series.
“You could even have a break in the season, so everybody else has a week’s break, and if you play them three times, then three weeks of breaks, and that might allow you to get your best players on the field a little bit more because they’re getting a week’s break rather than having to play week in, week out, week in, week out.
“If we got some top sponsorship and sold it out, and I’m sure if you put a Yorkshire vs Lancashire game here (at the MKM Stadium), you’d sell out, and then if you put one at a neutral venue, and then one, obviously, in Lancashire, I think it’d be a really, really good concept.
“And I think you’d get some real buy in, certainly from the players, but you’ve got to make it worth their while. You can’t ask them to play another game and then the appearance money is a packet of crisps and a can of coke. It needs to be worthwhile.”
Continuing his point, Last said: “I think there’s a concept there and I think it helps to reduce the load of the squads and it’d allow you to maybe have your best players on the field a little bit more.
“What we’re finding at the moment is the depth of many teams’ squads has been really, really tested, and with all due respect, supporters want to see the best players on the field rather than the low squad numbers, and that’s with all due respect to obviously those low squad numbers. I think a three-game Origin series is certainly something to look into and consider.”
Regardless of what rugby league does to aid the England side – whether that be Yorkshire vs Lancashire, the Exiles, the all-stars, a 14-team domestic competition, or whatever – Last just wants to see the powers that be stick to it.
“I think the product of rugby league is as good as any game there is,” Last said. “You bring somebody who’s not watched rugby league before and then you show them and they go, ‘Wow, that was sensational.’
“We have got a brilliant product. The problem that we’ve had is just how we manage it and govern it.
“We chop and change all the time. We’ve spoken about Origin. We give it a couple of years and then we throw that concept out the window. We’ve had the Exiles, a great concept, for a couple of years, and then that got thrown out the window. Then we go to All Stars to try and promote the England programme and we don’t stick with that – it gets thrown out the window.
“And then in the Super League, we’ve had top 8s and top 6s; we’ve had 14 teams and we’ve had 12 teams. What we need to do is just get some real strong leadership, come up with a real, real strong plan and stick to it and give it an opportunity to actually grow.”
