Cameron Smith Wants Shorter NRL Season And More International Games

After the Kangaroos second consecutive World Cup Final win, captain Cameron Smith wants to play more international rugby league. 

Smith told reporters, following Australia's -0 win over England, the one and only way to achieve this is to shorten the current NRL season. 

"For me, that’s the simplest way to do it. But at the moment, we’ve got commitments to broadcasters and that’s fair enough," Smith said.

"Does it mean that it may result in a fair bit of fatigue and burnout? Yeah it would because we play a lot of football games.

"At the moment the revenue that’s coming into our game is through a broadcast deal, which means we have to play a certain amount of games.

"And the players understand that, so we’re committed to fulfilling those commitments. But I agree, everyone needs to sit down and let’s be creative about our schedule.

"Let’s be smart about it so everyone benefits from our calendar."

Coach Mal Meninga agreed with his captain, suggesting the need to make international rugby league a priority after the success of the 2017 World Cup.  

"They’ve got to sit down, all the decision-makers, and look at a schedule not only for us and the tier-one, but also the tier-two nations,” Meninga said.

"Make it a priority, because it is a point of difference for rugby league, having an international program. I think we just need to play more games, more events."