A lot has been written in recent weeks about the need to improve the second tier competition within NSW (NSW Cup). This argument has been brought to a head by an over reliance on under 20’s competition players when injuries occur.
In my opinion this has detracted from the quality of the NRL this season and something urgently needs to be done to address this before it undermines the credibility of our great product – the NRL.
The problem with addressing this issue is how do we improve the quality of the NSW Cup without crippling the finances of our existing NRL clubs. The one thing that is certain is that we cannot go back to playing this second tier competition as a lead-up game to the NRL.
Why is this you may ask?
The answer is that the revenue associated with playing this competition as a lead-up to an NRL game does not justify the cost involved.
In fact I would argue that this would have a negligible effect on crowd numbers and reduce overall margins to the NRL as a result. That is why this competition has disappeared from our current match-day experience.
So how do we improve the NSW Cup?
The only way this can be achieved is to market it as a stand-alone competition with its own revenue streams and identity. I look north to our neighbours in Queensland with envy. They have been able to build and maintain a high standard second division competition without cannibalising the NRL’s market.
The success has been in their ability to connect with grassroots. This is something that is sadly lacking in NSW.
I grew-up playing rugby league in the Riverina and feel saddened by the lack of purpose set by the NRL and ARL with regard to grassroots development. I think there is no clear strategy for developing markets in regional NSW.
At best the current strategy is haphazard. Money is directed at different projects without any real understanding of the expected returns to be gained from these investments. What then happens is that funds are not available to support real projects with real potential.
I hope the Independent Commission addresses this issue and we have a clear business plan for rugby league which connects all the dots and realigns spending towards clear objectives.
My proposal for the NSW Cup is to revamp this competition along regional lines. The competition would have teams representing the following areas:
– North Sydney
– South Sydney
– Newtown
– Western Suburbs
– Central Coast
– Newcastle
– Far North Coast
– Illawarra
– Riverina
– Central West
– ACT
– Melbourne
These clubs would operate as stand-alone teams. They would be responsible for managing their own finances with the key objective being to provide a development pathway to the NRL.
All games should be played on a Saturday at 3pm. This timeslot is critical because country rugby league is predominantly played on Sunday’s, ensuring that this competition exists to improve the level of rugby league exposure without being detrimental to local leagues. Also there is no direct competition with the NRL.
The 3pm timeslot also offers the NRL the opportunity to sell the rights to this competition to TV networks. An annual revenue stream of around $2-3m would help offset some of the costs involved with administering this competition.
I think it also offers a lot of potential, especially to regional free to air networks that want local products that align with their local viewers interests.
Structurally the competition would have a salary cap of $250K per club to develop a base team (funded from the competitions TV rights revenue). NRL clubs would loan players outside of their top 17 each week to these clubs for match fitness or development.
The wages would be paid by the NRL clubs for those players, however all other costs would be managed by the NSW Cup teams. This would allow NRL clubs to build larger squads without having to pay all of the additional costs which go with this.
The benefit of this to the NSW Cup is that they would be able to capitalise of the profile of any NRL players dropping back into this competition from a marketing perspective.
The NRL would also provide an additional $250k annual grant to each club to pay for development officers and local promotions in their regions.
This should be funded from the Independent Commission and is critical to ensuring that the profile of this competition and rugby league in general remains strong in regional NSW.
Without getting caught up in the detail, the clear strategic benefit of this proposal is that there are now clear pathways from grassroots to the NRL, there is a re-connection with our regional rugby league competitions and most importantly, a viable competition which can support the NRL and ensure that our product – the NRL – remains the best it can be.
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