MONEY TALKS: Despite the protestations of Wayne Bennett, NRL CEO Andrew Abdo has confirmed the death of mid-season internationals so that some players are not forced to choose between their heritage or their State of Origin. As Bennett says this is only a handful of players.
The real reason the NRL has confirmed the death of mid-season internationals, is so that the NRL can fulfill the wishes of their TV bosses and not lose some State of Origin stars to their national teams for Rep Round.
But as Wayne Bennett says, so another 120 players not involved in ORIGIN from New Zealand, Samoa, the Cook Islands, Tonga, Papua New Guinea and Fiji along with their hundreds of thousands of fans must sit around and what – play marbles?
https://www.nrl.com/watch/news/match-highlights-samoa-v-cook-islands-1379498/
