Like clockwork, every year we come to this time of the year and ask the same question: should the NRL pause the competition for State of Origin?

There are compelling arguments on both sides. Some people relish the chance to see younger players get the opportunity to step up. But my view is, particularly now with the bye in place and some teams getting a week off and others not, that the cracks are becoming harder to ignore.

Until we get every team playing each other once and a pause at the same point for each team, the draw will always be unfair.

The competition loses momentum during this period. We go into the Origin-impacted rounds expecting a couple of bludger games. Often we are surprised by the quality of a fixture, but the fact that we even have this mentality leading into these weeks suggests sluggishness around the competition and a desire to almost ‘just get through’ the next few weeks.

So can we please pause the NRL season during Origin. Let it breathe. Let Origin take centre stage as it so rightly does, without dragging the domestic competition through a fractured month of disruption.

But rather than seeing the pause as a problem, can we look at it as an opportunity instead?

In both the men’s and women’s competitions, the next five years is going to see growth.

We already have two expansion teams announced in the men’s competition and I have no doubt with the NRL’s ambition for each club to have a men’s and women’s team, that we will see the NRLW expand too. My hope is that the NRL is thinking about how to optimise the schedule in an expanded footy universe.

The below is based on my understanding that the NRL likes having both the men’s and women’s grand final on the same day. If that’s the case and we aren’t looking to play the NRLW at a different time of the year (more on that later), is there a way to use a pause in the season to the game’s advantage.

Instead of scrambling for programming to fill broadcast slots on Channel 9 and Fox League, the NRL could do something bold like starting the NRLW season during the State of Origin window.

That would mean, in the middle of the season as State of Origin dominates headlines, fans could be reintroduced to the best female players in the game in prime time without any competition. For this period, we could watch the NRLW be front and centre, elevated and given the oxygen and momentum it deserves to start the season.

Keeley Davis celebrates after scoring in Newcastle. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

The NRLW has expanded again this year with the Canterbury Bulldogs joining and the New Zealand Warriors rejoining the competition. When the NRLW starts on 3 July, for the duration of the competition, we will often be asking fans to choose between watching men’s and women’s rugby league, often in the same timeslot or with overlapping fixtures. We are cannibalising our own audience.

If my idea has any legs at all, let’s take it further. The NRLW may not have enough teams yet to start at this time of the season, but do it anyway and then pause the women’s season for the Women’s State of Origin to take place.

We know where the NRL says it wants to go, toward a future where every club has a men’s and women’s team. That’s fantastic and I look forward to that vision being realised. But is anyone thinking about what that vision looks like in practice? Are we aiming for a summer women’s season? A parallel competition? Or are we just crossing our fingers and hoping it all works out?

Because at the moment, there are too many challenges with the women’s schedule for this paragraph.

Fans shouldn’t be forced to choose between their men’s team and their women’s team. There has to be room for both and a plan about what the perfect schedule looks like five years from now.

We’re not short on good players or stories or coaches or talent. What we’re short on is this clear plan.

This clear plan needs infrastructure, resourcing, clear communication and smart scheduling.

The NRL has taken some excellent steps in recent years, particularly with investment in pathways, expansion of teams, and the marquee State of Origin series. But we’re still stuck in a holding pattern when it comes to scheduling and the longer we stay there, the more opportunities we let slip through our fingers.

If we paused the NRL season during Origin, we wouldn’t just be solving one problem. We’d be solving two. We could give the men’s players a chance to rest and also make the draw fairer. We’d be giving Origin the undivided attention it commands. And we’d be giving NRLW the kind of clear runway that it has long deserved.

Tino Fa’asuamaleaui charges forward. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Instead of squeezing women’s games in between men’s fixtures or playing them in empty stadiums at awkward hours, we could put them on centre stage. Let fans fall in love with the players, teams and rivalries without distraction; just like I have.

It’s a win for the broadcasters too. You don’t have to scramble to find filler content during the Origin break. You’ve got a ready-made product.

The next step for the NRLW is not just about expansion, it’s about integration. But integration doesn’t have to mean overlap. It can mean finally making good on the promise that rugby league is a game for everyone, at every level, in every jersey, at every time of the year.

It just takes a little bit of planning.

Let’s start with the schedule.