NSW and Australian winger Brett Morris has proposed a radical solution if the NRL competition was suspended when Origin matches were played. ''If they went to stand-alone weekends, the other guys could probably do like an All Stars weekend with things like the strongest man and the fastest man. Fans would still get to see something without games being played.'' Morris said the present scheduling penalised players and fans because the representative stars either had to back up for their clubs just days after playing for NSW and Queensland or sit out matches in the lead-up to Origin. ''As a player it does take its toll on you, playing Origin and then backing up and obviously you are probably not at your best when you are backing up,'' the Dragons star said. ''Josh Dugan has been so good for us of late and you can see what sort of impact it has to lose him for a game. It's something they have got to look at and I am sure it will get addressed.''

Warriors pair 'wind-up'

Warriors players Sam Lousi and Charlie Gubb sparked a media frenzy when they tweeted that the signing of England superstar Sam Tomkins had been announced at a testimonial lunch for Manu Vatuvei and Jerome Ropati on Thursday, but the club's chief executive Wayne Scurrah said the pair had been joking. Lousi tweeted: ''Welcome @samtomkins1 to the @NZWarriors just announced at this lunch.'' Gubb also tweeted: ''Welcome @samtomkins1 to the Warriors''. Triple M and Fox Sports reported the players' comments as confirmation the Warriors had signed Tomkins but Scurrah said their tweets were ''just a wind-up''. Lousi and Gubb later deleted the tweets from their accounts.

No.7 woes hurt Benji

Benji Marshall's first rugby league coach, Greg Lenton, believes the Kiwi superstar is paying the price for Wests Tigers' inability to find a quality halfback to replace Robert Lui. Lenton, who recruited Marshall to Keebra Park High on a scholarship 12 years ago, said he was suffering from having to fill the halfback and five-eighth roles for the Tigers since Lui's departure at the end of the 2011 season. ''He was never a seven, he was never going to be a seven and he suffered as a result of a few of the things that happened there, particularly when the club lost Rob Lui,'' Lenton said. ''Benji was a natural six or second receiver, he was never ever a first receiver and he knew that. But of course when they lost Robbie, they haven't had anyone to replace him in that period of time and he has been playing that complete role - trying to guide the football team around the paddock, take all the responsibility. Why wouldn't the flair and flash go from his game when he is trying to do that, so it has been very difficult for him.'' Lenton, who is still the head coach at Keebra Park, said Marshall had been heavily criticised for his playing style at schoolboy level. ''No one knows better than me the criticism he has copped because people used to say back then that's not how you play the game, what is all that rubbish, but rugby union is going to do extremely well out of this,'' he said.

Robbie chose right sport

Wests Tigers captain Robbie Farah is a renowned Liverpool tragic but the 28-year-old NSW hooker admits he would never have made it in the Premier League. Farah, who was part of the crowd of 95,000 at the MCG on Wednesday night for Liverpool's match against Melbourne Victory, met superstars Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez before the match. He was also interviewed by the Liverpool Echo and asked in a video posted on the newspaper's website whether he had any football aspirations growing up.

Twitter: @BradWalterSMH