If State of Origin is the great absorber of the National Rugby League season’s excitement and focus this time each year, then the power of the annual “mate against mate” confrontation will surely present itself in the form of poor television ratings and ticket sales for round 13 of the NRL.

Wednesday night’s Origin series opener peaked at a tick over four million viewers, with an average of 3.5 million watching what turned out to be one of the highest-quality Origin matches witnessed in recent times.

It will be interesting then, to see if we’ve had enough footy by the time this weekend’s matches roll around. There are some pretty juicy match-ups on offer, too across Sydney. Conditions across the metropolitan area will be brisk, but when aren’t they in the middle months of the footy season?

The Eels will host the Warriors at Homebush in the second Friday night game, and the Olympic Stadium will again be in full swing the next day when the two joint-venture clubs do battle there at 3pm. On Sunday, it will be the Bulldogs’ turn on the ANZ Stadium stage when they host the improving Penrith Panthers at 4pm.

Is Origin too big for the NRL's boots? (Photo by Getty Images)

In Sydney’s other two games across Round 14, the Sydney Roosters will host the Origin-battered Broncos at Moore Park at 5.30pm on Saturday, while the Manly Sea Eagles take on the Canberra Raiders at Brookvale at 2pm on Sunday.

It is a pity Wednesday night’s Origin blockbuster will be followed up by a weekend of the regular-season stuff featuring three games at the 80,000-seat ANZ Stadium. The naysayers will certainly have their ammo ready about 70K empty seats looking awesome of television: and it appears they’ll have three bites at that old mocker of a line over the weekend.

What would have gone down a treat following an Origin like that is a Cows-Broncos full house or a well-attended Storm-Broncos game – both of which would have drawn big audiences both at the ground and on television.

Or is it the NRL regular season’s job to stay out of the way during the interstate stuff? In that case, why play NRL during Origin at all?