THERE has been talk in the media recently about player burn-out affecting the top players in rugby union.

This follows on from similar discussions about this in rugby league, especially at Super League level, and I'd agree it is a possible issue.

Personally I think the Super League season as it stands is a bit too long. They've got 28 regular season rounds plus the Challenge Cup games plus the play-offs, and at the end of all that, the top players have the international games following the domestic season.

This particularly affects the teams who do well in the Cup and face a tough play-off schedule, and it can be especially hard on the players at clubs without great strength in depth.

Wigan, for example, are struggling at the moment with long-term injuries. They've had to put a number of young players in and, although it's great for those youngsters to get such experience, it can be a bit too much for them over the long haul, as we perhaps saw with their defeat at Huddersfield this week.

If you've got a big, healthy squad it helps a lot -- and this is linked to what we've said before about the benefit sometimes of rotating players. Leeds, for example, adopted it quite well last season on their way to the title. I think they fielded the same team on the bounce only once.

There is a big strain on players not only physically but also mentally. Aside from the obvious physical effort and collision, the mental side of things can catch up with you just as much.

If you do well in the Cup, get a tough run in the play-offs and then have to back all that up with performances in the Tri-Nations, you do take a lot of physical and mental punishment.

If you include the trial games as well then the season is very long and the international players especially don't get much of a break before pre-season training kicks in the following year.

I believe, therefore, that it would be better if the Super League regular season was cut to, say, 22 or 24 games from the current 28.

It might be fewer games for the fans but it helps the players perform better and keeps them healthier, and it also means we could do away with the fixture system they have in Super League, which as it stands is a bit unfair.

That system sees clubs play each other home and away and face six more games against the previous season's top six sides or bottom six sides, depending on where you finished that year.

It's unfair if your extra six games are against the likes of Leeds and St Helens while your rivals face teams like Widnes or Leigh, assuming there isn't going to be an unbelievable turnaround in form from one season to the next.

A simple straight home and away fixture list would mean there's no argument and would help prevent burnout.

REGARDING the Knights, I was delighted with the way we came back to win against Keighley on Sunday - but we're not going to get away with that kind of comeback every week.

We gifted them a few easy points with our mistakes and we need to learn from that. We ended up chasing the game throughout, but we did score some quality tries at the back end once we opened up and went forward with each other.

Adam Sullivan was a deserved man of the match. He was strong, got on the end of some passes, gave some quality ball and made loads of line breaks. He reckons he's now up for some extra sprint training so he can finish those opportunities next time.

Updated: 11:05 Wednesday, April 13, 2005