It's time for the NRL and rugby league's other governing bodies to sit down at the round table and discuss the issue of player burnout.

It's a problem that isn't going to get fixed by ignoring it.

Whenever a big-name player fails to get up for a game for no other reason than he feels "tired" or "sore", the burnout whispers will spread like wildfire.

The modern-day rugby league season, at least in Australia, is almost 12 months long.

A 26-round regular season, finals, end-of-year international tournaments, Auckland Nines, World Club Series, plus trials basically mean there's football played every month of the year.

Not to mention mid-season representative Tests and State of Origin.

A lot of fans would say "so what's the problem?".

This isn't just the grumblings of a lazy sports journalist who wants four months of holidays every year, but the grumblings of a rugby league fanatic.

When the problem is so great that we can't watch our best players represent their country in a Four Nations tournament two months after the season ends, that's when it hits home for us lowly ticket holders.

Australia's selection issues were well documented in the lead-up to the inter-nation series in November.

As many as 21 players made themselves unavailable for selection in Australia's squad, and 12 from the 2013 World Cup campaign were nowhere to be seen.

When you take the likes of Billy Slater, Johnathan Thurston and Paul Gallen out of the Kangaroos line-up, it just doesn't look right.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed watching the young brigade of Sione Mata'utia, Ben Hunt, Dylan Walker and others debut for their country.

But the fact we failed to win the tournament can be put squarely down to the players who weren't on the field.

What's more concerning is the fact rugby league bosses didn't seem to care too much about the absence of some of the game's biggest names.

This is despite all of them citing injury or "tiredness" as the reason for their unavailability.

When our best players would rather take an extended holiday than line up for their country, there has to be something wrong.

ARL Commission chairman John Grant was happy to hose down the fire ahead of the Four Nations.

"I think what's happened is there is 21 players who for various reasons were unavailable to be selected and those decisions have been made by them, by their clubs, by their doctors, by the people who advise them, and you'd have to say they're good decisions," Grant was quoted as saying.

"I think the system is working really well. I reject entirely we're not concerned about player welfare. We absolutely are and you're seeing the system work."

In the past fortnight alone Gareth Widdop and Cooper Cronk - two of the game's best halves - have admitted to feeling the strain of a jam-packed schedule.

Greg Inglis played 32 games of rugby league in the 2014 calendar year.

He was allowed an extended holiday after winning the grand final, which is great for the player, but it meant rugby league fans were not able to see one of the world's best in action at the Four Nations.

Take a look at the players not lining up in Auckland this weekend for the Nines.

With a $2.4 million carrot and strict regulations enforced by the NRL, it's hard for clubs to ignore the pre-season trip across the Tasman.

The NRL wants all clubs to supply at least one from their top-five paid players for the Nines, and 12 from their top 25.

Clubs are a little hamstrung on the option of sending weaker or inexperienced squads.

Sport is a big-money business and the more sport there is the more profit organisations like the ARL and NRL will make.

That's the only explanation I can see for having a 26-round regular season.

The issue of player burnout would go away if the NRL reduced its draw to 20 or less games per club per season.

Then even the grand finalists would only play a maximum of 24 games, plus allowing for State of Origin, Tests and other competitions.

The only way to make the NRL draw completely "fair" would be to make every club play each other once or twice - either a 15-round or a 30-round season.

Under the current system there will always be clubs who cop a bad draw and others who are gifted a favourable one.

Representative football, club trials and pre-season competitions like the Auckland Nines are all great concepts but it merely increases the workload on players.

Clubs and doctors do a great job ensuring the health and safety of the athletes, but maybe the governing bodies need to start looking at these issues more seriously.

Us fans are happy to sit down and watch rugby league every week of the year, but we want the best players fit and healthy for the biggest games.