Dial 'S' for Strike

The last couple of weeks have seen a sudden rise in the use of the ‘s word’ in Australian sport. No, Channel 9 microphones haven’t been invading Craig Bellamy’s coaching box, but rather there has been the veiled threat of strike action by professional football players in the near future.
While industrial action by both NRL and AFL players seems a bit of long shot, you only have to look to the US and the current NFL situation to understand how potentially devastating even the talk of such things can be.
Strike action by professional sportsmen generally goes down with the average Aussie punter about as well as a novelty ringtone during a minute’s silence.

Well there's always an exception

It’s a bit hard for Sally Sandwich-Maker and Larry Landscaper to swallow the fact that they can’t watch Friday night footy because blokes who kick balls for a living want to put ceramic brakes on their Range Rovers.
Strikes in Australia are the domain of moustached blokes in high-vis gear and frumpy school teachers shouting repetitive slogans, and should only be talked about at the local baseball diamond, not footy fields.
But football, as they tell us, is now a business, and with the new TV deals around the corner it’s going to be a big one.
Rugby league’s last strike of any significance came at the start of the fractured 1996 season, when Super League aligned clubs forfeited their first round fixtures.
The move was met with only a lukewarm response by the players themselves, many choosing to run around for the South Tweed Koalas rather than polish their Dally-Ms in their week off.

These were desperate times

It was interesting then to hear former Super League poster boy Ricky Stuart subliminally sowing the seeds for possible player revolt by suggesting his New South Wales players avoid burnout by standing down for two rounds pre-Origin.
Even more interesting was the fact that he was to some degree backed by Wayne Bennett, the coach who would be most affected by such a move, which is a little bit like Bruce Wayne giving the Joker a character reference for a speeding fine.

"No seriously, it's not his go"

Is Stuart serious in wanting the Olympic build-up for the interstate decider, or is the cheeky halfback in him throwing the media another dummy?
If nothing else he appears to have stirred something within the Blues players, and it is likely to have a flow-on to other NRL contracted players who are bound to raise the question come TV rights time, just like their AFL counterparts have done so in the last month, of ‘What about me?’
A nervous NRL has been quick to hose down any talk of an extended standing-down of players. It’s a lot easier to entice the punters with Magnums than Paddle Pops.
But Gallop and the IC will want to keep the players content come TV rights time… or the South Tweed Koalas are going to have one hell of a team in 2013.