How every NRL team will be impacted by State of Origin

The impacts of the Origin window are larger than they have been for years.

EDITOR | May 22, 2023 - 11:30am

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With 17 teams, byes every week and a season where more games need to be played, the impacts of State of Origin will be as big as they have been in 2023 since prior to the Gold Coast Titans joining the competition.

In previous years, every team would play only one game prior to a State of Origin game and without stars.

That has gone out the back window in 2023 though, with no week off before Origin 2, and more than half of the competition playing prior to each Origin game.

The Origin period stretches from Round 13 to Round 20 as follows:

Round 13: Before Origin 1 - Origin players not allowed to play.
Round 14: After Origin 1 - Origin players backing up.
Round 15: Normal round.
Round 16: Before Origin 2 - Origin players not allowed to play.
Round 17: After Origin 2 - Origin players backing up.
Round 18: Normal round.
Round 19: Before Origin 3 - Origin players not allowed to play.
Round 20: After Origin 3 - Origin players backing up.

Following the announcement of both squads on Monday morning, here is how your team will be impacted by the State of Origin window.

NSW Blues Game 1 squad
QLD Maroons Game 1 squad

Note: This article assumes squads would remain the same across the Origin series.

Melbourne Storm

Current ladder position: 5th, 16 points, + 24
Players selected: Cameron Munster, Harry Grant, Christian Welch (19th man only)
Origin period fixtures: Round 13: vs Bye, Round 14: Cowboys (a) vs, Round 15: vs Sharks (h), Round 16: vs Tigers (a), Round 17: vs Sea Eagles (h), Round 18: vs Panthers (h), Round 19: vs Bye, Round 20: vs Roosters (a)

The Storm have the bye before Origin 1 and 3, meaning they will only need to hit the park once without Cameron Munster and Harry Grant - that comes in Round 16 against the Wests Tigers.

However, the club do face a tricky run of games with players backing up from Origin.

They play the Cowboys in Townsville on Sunday afternoon after Game 1, the Sea Eagles at home on Saturday after Game 2, and the Roosters away on Saturday after Game 3. There is no guarantee of Munster or Grant backing up for any of those games, particularly given Craig Bellamy's usual approach to resting players after the interstate battle.