Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson has hit out at the NRL over their management of this year's draw, accusing them of letting down their rivalry with South Sydney.
The Roosters face traditional rivals the Rabbitohs on Friday night, without State of Origin stars Boyd Cordner, Mitchell Pearce, Dylan Napa and Blake Ferguson.
South Sydney would have lost Greg Inglis to Queensland had it not been for his season-ending knee injury.
The lead up to the match has also been dwarfed by Origin build up, with much of the focus this week centred around the Blues and Maroons' camps.
It's the second time the scheduling of the Roosters-Rabbitohs rivalry has been questioned, after their first meeting was moved from its season-opening position to round four earlier this year.
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"I think you've got to remember that you can't forget about rivalries in our sport," Robinson said.
"The scheduling this year of our rounds haven't brought on that clash, haven't built up that rivalry like it should externally which brings crowds, which brings money into our game.
"The scheduling of it is disappointing this year, our two Souths games."
Clashes with Souths are traditionally the biggest crowd pullers of the Roosters' season, with an average of just under 30,000 fans piling through the gates over the past four years.
In comparison, the Roosters' average home crowd attendances for regular season matches over the same period between 2013-2016 has been 14,841.
It is also one of just two matches the Rabbitohs play at their previous home of Allianz Stadium.
"There's a lot of talk at the moment about the finances in our game and things for the clubs are gate revenue and that's enhanced by our Souths games, the scheduling of those games have been really important in the past," Robinson said.
It's one of a number of strange scheduling decisions by the NRL during this year's Origin period.
Melbourne and North Queensland clashed without their Origin stars, while the Storm headed to Adelaide just three days after Game II without their Maroons contingent.
"You'll often have families, one will be a Rooster and one will be a Rabbit, and they bring out good rivalries and they bring out a good contest in our area," Robinson said.
"We haven't had bad scheduling this year but our Souths games, they're not optimising that rivalry."
STATS THAT MATTER:
* The Roosters have won three of the past four against the Rabbitohs.
* The Roosters' 1019 running metres last week was their lowest in a match since 2014.
* Since round 13 the Rabbitohs average the least missed tackles in the competition, and second least metres.
