Northland have once again got the short end of the stick, Northland rugby coach Bryce Woodward believes, after the draw for the 2009 Air New Zealand Cup season was announced this week. "The higher profile teams who are regarded as drawcards, in terms of Sky TV, get the better end ofthe draw, so all the lesser teams get the rough end of the draw," he said. But Woodward is philosophical about the draw, saying Counties, Tasman, Northland and Manawatu will have more short turnarounds after their matches than the bigger unions. "Obviously the more rest you can get, the better it is. But it's nothing new. You just have to live with it and get on with it," he said. The pleasing aspect of this year's programme for Woodward is playing every team in the competition - with the round-robin series now 13 games in duration - but the flipside is the scrapping of quarterfinals. "It will be harder to get into the playoffs now ... but the motivation to do well is still there, regardless of if you are in semifinal contention or not."
