The dust has settled from the release of the NRL draw, and while fairness is never possible, the Origin period is always a bug bear of fans.
Zero Tackle have analysed the strength of every team's schedule during the Origin period to determine just how bad your team has it.
For the purposes of this, we are stating that the Origin period starts in Round 13 (the round leading into Game 1 of the series when players will sit out and teams have byes) and concludes with Round 20 (the round after Game 3).
In that period, the rounds are as follows.
Round 13: Before Origin 1, five games, seven byes.
Round 14: After Origin 1, seven games, three byes.
Round 15: Full round between Origin 1 and 2.
Round 16: Before Origin 2, five games, seven byes.
Round 17: After Origin 2, seven games, three byes.
Round 18: Full round between Origin 2 and 3
Round 19: Before Origin 3, five games, seven byes.
Round 20: After Origin 3, seven games, three byes.
Use the drop down menu below to navigate between each club.
South Sydney Rabbitohs
Fixtures: Bye, Titans (away), Broncos (home), Sea Eagles (home), Bye, Eels (away), Dolphins (away), Tigers (home)
Number of byes: 2
The Rabbitohs kick off the Origin period with a bye, and have their other one after Game 2 of the series, meaning they will be forced to play prior to Game 2 and 3 without any Origin selected players.
And there could be a few - one would imagine all of Latrell Mitchell, Campbell Graham, Cody Walker, Damien Cook, Cameron Murray and Jai Arrow at least could be in the mix. Don't be surprised if Tevita Tatola is in the discussion as well.
That means they will be criminally understrength to take on the Sea Eagles and Dolphins. The Dolphins will likely also be understrength, while Manly could be missing Tom Trbojevic and Daly Cherry-Evans, but as one of the most heavily impacted sides, playing two games prior to Origins will be viewed dimly by Souths.
They play the Titans and Tigers in the games after Origin, which could be argued isn't straightforward either given both of those sides will be (mostly) unimpacted.
Difficulty: 7/10
I think if I were Wayne, I would concede that the chances of winning the three pre-Origin games is zero. Having done that, I would give most of my non-Origin players some Rest & Recovery time and field a Queensland Cup side.
That will make no difference to the outcome of each match, but will leave the squad a whole lot less battered for the run in from the end of the Origin to the end of the season.