I speak of Fairfax colleague and new author Steve Mascord. If you haven’t already purchased his debut tome Touchstones than we strongly suggest you make it your next purchase.

His musings on all things rugby league are deeply philosophical in a game that avoids, and actively discourages, deep thought like the plague. 

One of his more interesting takes is on State of Origin – the jewel in the rugby league crown right? Until recently I thought as much.

However, Mascord makes a compelling case on the “Leviathan” that swallows up the game for three months every year. Well-made, it’s a hard position to argue against.

Like most rusted-on’s, I love Origin and remain wary of any efforts to tamper with it, but there’s no doubt it’s become all-consuming.

The NRL has no interest in checking the behemoth’s advance, it’s their biggest cash cow and a TV ratings bonanza. Fair enough.

But the fact is, the game is becoming so Sydney-centric and self-interested, the NRL is being lapped when it comes to truly grow the game.

In February next year, Wigan and Hull FC will play a historic first-ever in-season Super League game in Wollongong.

It’s been brought about by the two clubs and the efforts of Destination Wollongong who both appear to have loftier ambitions for the game than the NRL.

It comes amid the success of the Toronto Wolfpack, the game’s first Trans-Atlantic team that’s hurtling towards Super League inclusion within two years. 

There’s also a World Cup at the end of this year.

The prevailing wisdom in the Southern Hemisphere has long been that the game is dying in the UK, crushed by rugby union and football both of which boast the world’s premier leagues in their respective sports.

It’s true that interest in the UK is largely restricted to a small pocket of working class cities in the north of England. It’s also true that the NRL is a far superior league when it comes to playing standard.

But what does it say about the governance of the game in this country, that smaller clubs in smaller cities with an inferior product have have a grander vision for the game? We can’t even get a team in Perth. 

The fact Wigan and the NSW government have gone around the NRL to pull it off shows how much the governing body has dropped the ball. 

It shouldn’t come as a surprise. Not too long ago there was a plan to redevelop both ANZ and Allianz Stadium into new world class venues. Self-interested clubs scuppered that idea.

The clubs and the NRL have spent most of this season squabbling over a salary cap for next season that we still don’t have.

Wayne Bennett has spent most of his time as England coach trying to parachute non-English players into his side and – in what little media he does in the UK – grumbling about how inferior his players are to those in the NRL.

Coaches have ensured City-Country has gone by the wayside.

If only the NRL and it’s clubs were half as ambitious as Destination Wollongong.