It’s become the normal matchday routine in 2020 but Queensland coach Wayne Bennett isn’t sure flying in and out of a city on gameday is the best scenario for State of Origin.
During the COVID-19 affected NRL campaign, clubs often flew interstate on the day of matches before flying home the same day.
The Maroons will follow a similar pattern for Wednesday’s Origin opener in Adelaide.
The team will fly to South Australia from their Gold Coast base on Wednesday morning, spend the day in a hotel before then heading to the venue ahead of the 8.10pm AEDT kickoff.
Another chartered flight will then take the Maroons back to Queensland in the hours following the match.
“You’d prefer not to do that, particularly for an Origin game,” Bennett said.
“I mean, these games are so big and you just want everything right but New South Wales have to do it as well. It’s just not a case of us having to go, which would be a little bit different to what it was in the playoffs.
“We’re all on the plane, we’ve all got to travel tomorrow, so it kind of equalises out but I just think the games are, as I said, such quality and you want them to be at their best.
“You need to do everything in their preparation as best you possibly can. Flying on the day is not the ideal preparation.”
While most NRL teams got used to the fly-in, fly-out demands during the regular season, Melbourne did arrive in Sydney on the eve of this year’s grand final rather than the day of the game from their Sunshine Coast hub.
Bennett said for big occasions such as Origin, the same-day plan is probably not the way to go.
“I don’t see a problem with with the club games,” the veteran coach said.
“But I do see a major issue once you get above club games because of the closeness of the teams and what’s at stake.”