Roar Rookie
Joined August 2014
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On Saturday night the tournament very few people seem interested in, much less asked for, kicks off in Brisbane. In a double header, the…
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Right now, in this moment of time as I said in my article for most people it is football and racing.
What is covered in the media is a barometer of what the public are interested in, its in their interest to report on what people want to consume. Right now on Foxsports.com.au there are more than 50 news articles in their “Latest News” feed, one is about Four Nations. At the Sydney Morning Herald right now there is one Four Nations article, about the Samoan players night out. On both the rugby league headlines are dominated by team ownership and transfer rumours.
All week we have been able to read about the Wanderers, and there have been calls for a new stadium in Parramatta they are becoming so popular. The Wallabies have also dominated the headlines for all the wrong reasons, as has Jarryd Hayne.
The Roar is a microcosm of fans, if you honestly believe that the Four Nations is in the public mind you are kidding yourself.
As I’ve already stated, I have no objections to the Four Nations as a concept, just do it well. Give the players a break and reload for next year when we can genuinely have the best players on the park so that rugby league’s best product is on show.
Four Nations: The tournament where no one wins
My references to other codes was pointing out the reality of Australia’s sporting landscape post the grand final, not saying one sport is “better” than another. I personally watch loads of different sport, I’m not sure why people are only allowed to watch one?
But this happens each and every year, we go from the football codes to Bathurst, spring racing carnival, to cricket, and then start getting itchy for footy again in February.
What do you think will be the lead sport story come Sunday? How much press with next Sunday’s match get wedged between Derby Day and another small race on the Tuesday? This off-season we also have the Asian Cup and Cricket World Cup, if there was ever a year to sit back and let our players have a break it was 2014.
Four Nations: The tournament where no one wins
Oh course you can enjoy the rugby league, I will be joining you. But clearly we are hardcore league fans, the fact is that for the vast majority of people this tournament simply isn’t on their radar.
The Melbourne derby is expected to sell out and have 47,000 people, the biggest crowd of any code at docklands this year. Almost half a million people will attend Flemington over four days starting next Saturday.
This isn’t a rugby league vs other sports debate, its just reality. This time of year people are interested in other sports, and putting up a tournament of second string international teams isn’t doing anyone any favours.
Four Nations: The tournament where no one wins
It’s all part of the conspiracy
NRL fans dust of their tin foil caps as Roosters look to go back to back
Actually who was in the side in 2011 is entirely relevant and the whole point the the article. How many players from a club who appear on the Footy Show is irrelevant, and last time I checked not something that is counted towards the cap.
NRL fans dust of their tin foil caps as Roosters look to go back to back
Couldn’t agree more, although its certainly not a problem exclusive to the NRL. Big market glamour teams dominate most sports around the world.
The Raiders and Sharks are great examples, small markets, questionable back offices and little recent on field success.
Unfortunately though that’s just the reality of modern sport, unless the smaller clubs can do something revolutionary like an Oakland Athletic’s or stumble upon a great coach like a Trent Robinson its going to be tough to regularly compete with the big boys
NRL fans dust of their tin foil caps as Roosters look to go back to back
I actually like the concept of back ending, its quite similar to the luxury tax in the NBA where a team can push hard to win a premiership and pay for it later. I would rather a team I support win a title once a decade with some down years than forever be in and around the top 8 without any trophies.
While Manly are feeling the pinch now, they have had close to 10 years at the top and a couple of premierships. In a salary cap league they are due to have some down time, but its all cyclical and assuming they keep doing a good job they will be up again soon.
NRL fans dust of their tin foil caps as Roosters look to go back to back
Completely agree, although Nene Macdonald looks the goods to me so I’d rather never see Blake in the NRL ever again.
NRL fans dust of their tin foil caps as Roosters look to go back to back
Thanks for sharing Zee, all the best with your journey
Darius Boyd, rugby league and my battle with mental illness
You’re 100% right that at the time they could not have known.
To his credit Phil Rothfield is great to acknowledging when he gets something wrong, and I think there was a chance here to publicly apologise with the benefit of hindsight and highlight how difficult those times would have been for Darius.
But unfortunately it seemed more about whether Darius was moving to Brisbane and another dig at the NRL to me.
It's time for the media to help tackle depression
This exactly highlights what I think needed to be acknowledged by Riccio in his opinion piece.
It was not about manners, or Darius being ungrateful, as someone suffering depression those conversations would have been impossible for him. It’s difficult to understand if you haven’t been there yourself, but literally forming words can be difficult, let alone being unexpectedly bailed up in the street.
Beyond Blue has great resources if you would like to learn more about depression and some of the symptoms and difficulties for sufferers.
It's time for the media to help tackle depression
If we were talking about technical issues I agree with you, but player management is player management, coach knew his stuff.
For the good of their clubs, Farah and Campese must Toddle on
There’s no doubt Robbie is an extremely talented player, or that on the field he doesn’t give 110%. But unfortunately even a long serving and talented player can have a negative effect on a club. As the Captain of a young (and extremely talented) team, many of the young players would look up to Robbie, you only need to look at the Tedesco back flip as an example of his influence over the playing group. So if he publicly speaks against the club, I don’t think its unreasonable to think other players in the club would form similar attitudes, and I believe Saturday night was the result.
That was the reasoning behind my pointing Robbie out in particular. But that’s of course only my opinion and observation, as you say the issues may also run deeper.
For the good of their clubs, Farah and Campese must Toddle on
Fan engagement is a very complex beast that has many more parts than simply wearing a jersey on a given day. Just like how a range of corporates use the NRL as a vehicle to access and expand their customer base, this is an example of a select number of clubs using a strategic partnership to increase their fan engagement.
It is a valid question about the crowds, but you could also argue that the Raiders v Warriors would have drawn even less, and the Super Rugby Final may have impacted the Roosters v Dragons crowd. As Chop has said, there were massive amounts of jerseys sold even before the weekend kicked off, this is revenue for the clubs which alone makes it a success.
My point was about how many of those kids will now want to come back again after having a great day out. Engaging with the kids this way increases the chances of a family coming back to the footy, signing up as members, buying Foxtel, and even registering their kids as players when they get a bit older. They are now in the Rugby League “sales funnel”, and I applaud the clubs for thinking outside the box.
NRL's cross-promotion round was super
Except there is one very big difference, the AFL have an average crowd for 2014 of about 32,000 while the NRL is around the 16,000 mark.
Obviously what the clubs and NRL are doing now isn’t working, and fresh ideas are needed to get bums on seats. Without sponsorship, gate receipts, merchandise sales, Foxtel subscriptions and free to air ratings we don’t have the great product we currently enjoy each week with fully professional teams and some of the best athletes on the planet.
There is only one club in our competition that has played in every season since 1908, yet they don’t wear the same jersey they originally did, in fact they don’t even go by the same name. Tradition is one thing, but its 2014 and we need to move with the times or get left behind.
NRL's cross-promotion round was super
Thanks for all the comments guys, as Emice said the concept seems to have everyone split down the middle (but I’m glad everyone agrees about Ray being a disaster).
I should have made a note in my article that this wasn’t an NRL promotion, rather one for the ISC supported teams presumably organised by Marvel and ISC. This explains why not all teams participated and why it may have come across a bit half baked. The clubs also did a great job leading into the weekend with their communications with members so I find it hard to believe supporters at the ground didn’t know why Manly were in yellow.
To be honest I thought it was a terrible idea right up until I reached the Canberra Stadium car park, the kids loved it and had a great day out. Talk back and forums are always trying to find ways to bring families to the footy, and this was a great once a year solution. Even without buying a jersey all the kids received a mask, could get their photo taken with Hulk, got free movie tickets, and could go play the in the great kids zone the Raiders have at all matches. Oh and there was a footy game as well.
It was full marks from me, it would be interesting to hear from fans of the Cowboys, Manly and Roosters as to whether they did as good a job as the Raiders did at the ground.
NRL's cross-promotion round was super
Actually my argument is that for the majority of sporting fans in Australia their interest at this time of year is with other sports, especially given the weakened squads that will be participating.
You mean the agenda of getting as many eyeballs as possible so they can sell advertising? Its in the media’s interest to report on what people want to read/watch.
Four Nations: The tournament where no one wins