Country coach Craig Fitzgibbon believes better scheduling might have prevented the imminent demise of the annual clash against City.
Much of the lustre of the final year of the traditional fixture has been taken away by the volume of star players unavailable for selection.
Injuries, a handful of Tests over the weekend and the refusal of of some clubs to release players for the game have made significant inroads into the available talent pool.
Country named nine debutants while City's team selection was delayed on Monday due to the large amount of withdrawals.
Fitzgibbon expressed some sympathy for City counterpart Brad Fittler, saying it didn't help that for the second straight year an NRL game had been scheduled just four days after the representative fixture.
'It's disappointing, the scheduling," Fitzgibbon said.
"It puts a strain on clubs, it puts a strain on the concept and that's possibly why it's the last season.
"'If it was managed better, I'm sure it the concept would have survived a bit longer, it just wasn't put in the right spot on the calendar.
"I think the addition of the international games on the same weekend reduced the pool slightly, the player depth."
Asked the ideal time to schedule a City-Country game, Fitzgibbon said "it's not on a Sunday when your schedule a Thursday night game for four days after, the same happened last year."
While negativity has surrounded this year's game, Fitzgibbon stressed he remains positive.
"I talked to Freddy (Fittler) the other night about it, he's feeling the same way," he said.
"We love the week, we were fortunate enough to be involved as players and now as coaches."
Fitzgibbon said there was plenty of enthusiasm in the Country camp.
'We're not thinking anything other than getting through the week and honouring the last fixture," he said.
"The retro strip's back out which is great, the boys are all excited to put it on."
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