I'm looking forward to the NRL Nines with great anticipation. A lot was made recently of the fact that the buy in from the 'star players' might not be there, which could put a few people off. But what is important to note is that while there may not be all the super stars of the NRL, there will be plenty of players from the 25 man squads at each NRL club. This means that a lot of the players that you will see running around Eden Park will be blokes who you will easily recognise if you watch the NRL most weeks. If you support a specific NRL team and pour vast amounts of your time in to researching the players from that club, you will definitely know the guys wearing your treasured team's jersey.

With the amount of cash offered as the winners prize, clubs will want to send pretty good teams. This means that teams will consist of established NRL players who may borderline as 'star players' who will play the most minutes and lead their team. Teams will also have those in their squads who are best suited towards the style of footy that will be played. Obviously speedy wingers and those who can play plenty of tiresome minutes will get the nod. Then there will be young, exciting talent who coaches will want to give some game time to. Given that it will be pretty hot and that they'll do a heap of running, this will be a good test to see what the emerging players are made of. This could possibly be the most exciting bit, unearthing young talent. Think of the guys who have given their careers a shot in the arm thanks to their performances in rugby's various Sevens tournaments ... Jonah, Vito, Halai, etc, etc. Well multiply that by the fact that there will be at least one from each team and given the recruitment strategies of NRL clubs, a lot of these guys could be Kiwis playing in front of their family and friends for the first time.

Everything I've heard from Dean Lonergan has sounded pretty good. Questions along the lines of whether the Nines will be a party like the Wellington Sevens were answered with a pretty sensible approach. Lots of cheap water, cheap food and the normal alcohol restrictions. Well if there's cheap food and cheap water, I'm pretty sure you'll get an extra 10,000 people through the gates on that fact alone. Whether or not this happens will be interesting. We all know that sporting venues love to drive the prices of rather shitty food up through the roof, so the possibility of getting a nice greasy lunch for a reasonable price will be awesome.

The All Stars appeared to be the victim of the introduction of the Nine-a-side competition. For me, the All Stars concept is fantastic and The Niche Cache fully endorses the celebration of Indigenous Rugby League whether it be in Australia or New Zealand as both the Aboriginal and Maori cultures are hugely responsible for the the success of of rugby league in this part of the world. Unfortunately, this year is World Cup year and when you check out the possible schedule, some players would get home from a World Cup, play a All Stars match a month or two later and then possibly have to play in the Nines. This would be rather difficult even for elite athletes and given that they guys who would play across all three fixtures are the creme de la creme and are constantly giving back to the game, they deserve a break.

This is why the All Star game had to be cancelled next year. From what I understand, it will only be cancelled in circumstances like a World Cup year. What is replacing the specific All Star game is also pretty interesting and kinda cool for league tragics like myself. There will be a week long festival that will culminate in a trial game between the Newcastle Knights and an Indigenous team consisting of players from the Koori and Murri rugby league tournaments in NSW and Queensland respectively.

While this might not get the publicity that an All Star game might get, it is still a celebration of the Indigenous people nonetheless, which is what it's all about isn't it? I'm pretty sure that if the Nines wasn't to go ahead next year, the All Star game would still get the flick. This is because the World Cup and the All Star game would be the priority for the game's superstars and they would pull out of the Nines before they even thought of pulling out of the World Cup or All Star game.

Overall, relax. Enjoy the show and the high quality footy that will be played over summer!