NRL needs to hit back hard at AFL expansion

those "afl taking on the world stories" as you put them, tend to be about the advancement of the code, usually about a single player or team in a country not normally associated with Australian rules. I have yet to read one of these articles claim that Australian rules is dominant in any country outside of Australia. That is almost exclusively the province of people from other codes reading between the lines. I wrote several articles on the development of the game and its spread in America and Europe, without claiming it was dominant (although i mistakenly made this claim in an article that covered PNG), these were met with howls of derision by people who interpret them falsely as part of some idealistic sporting crusade. It seems that the notion that the sport is played by thousands outside Australia turns people into raving lunatics whose sole response generally consists of "world cup" or similar.

there are apparently exemptions that have been supplied to the AFL until round 13 or something, Im looking for the reference now

You tell him Crosscoder!

Rugby League Nut I agree with your post. I just got back from Perth where I had a fortnights holiday. I have been to WA many times before when I was in the military. I was aware that the demography of Perth was changing but by how much was my surpise. I stayed at my brothers place in Joondilup. So I was amazed at how man schools had RL/RU grounds. The local Rebel Sports Store had many football jerseys from many codes but the no 1 jumper was The Western Force, The no 1 code was Soccer with the big UK clubs. The NRL had a small amount but the AFL only came in second. This was a surpise. But the northern outer suburbs are predominaatley UK, KIWIS and Eastern States. I then spent a week at a resort in Mandurah. The pub next door The Silver Sands was a RL pub. I was amazed to walk in and see Friday night football on the main screen and AFL pushed to a small screen. I was wearing my Panthers Jersey and all of a sudden a call came over "hey Panther Boy". I felt I was back in my youth. Mandurah is 71 klms south of Perth but as I found out is full of Kiwis, Poms and Eatern staters as well. I again visited the local Rebel store and the same as before Western Force was the dominate team but there were a lot more NRL jumpers. The WCE were left behind. This was also repeated at tow mpore Rebal stores. Again I was surprised to see many (REAL) football grounds. It appears that despite AFL being the dominate code and spending millions tin an attempt to eradicate all other codes infact RL/RU are becoming more popular in the West. Perth is IMO the no 1 choice for the 17th franchise.

Please don't bring the Footy show in ,using it as a comparison as to so called professionalism,else one will throw up the unseemly efforts of a Sam Newman or the interviewing expertise of a B Fevola at the Brownlows or the tasteless joke about Megan Gale. The footy show is not an NRL production.Many rl supporters give it a wide berth. Expansion expertise !!! You mean the Brisbane Bears and the nice community minded Christopher Skase and the debacle at the GC.You mean the many years of up and downs and near financial collapse of the Swans,only saved in the end by willessee and co.Perhaps you wish to debate the impact of the Super League war on rl expansion teams. The arrogance that many talk and write about(AFL),is no better exemplified than the comments and recommendations in your posts. . Or do you mean the huge outlay of money (considered crazy by some people with a business nouse) on 2 NRL players,who have been playing like they were on another planet for their respective teams,as being professional.Short term PR for long term embarrassment ? As for the jerseys in comparison to the singlets.Well consider the fact merchandising for the NRL was in fact $15m more than the AFL in 2010,suggesting the game is doing something right. You obviously see few press conferences for NRL on Fox.games. Rules!!! Tweaking rules as compared with the constant tampering that goes on in the AFL. Regulations ,how about the brilliant 3 strikes policy,that will show em LOL. Reality check AF CC Represent.Memberships are up dramatically,research champ it helps. Televison ratings,please you are having a shot at rl Tv ratings.Ask Fox for starters who had record Tv ratngs for pay last week,and who had 4 out of the top 5 for pay last week,It sure as hell wasn't AFL. You are correct about crowds but they are hardly dropping to any extent.in fact last year they grew,whereas others dropped.Rugby league envies AFL crowds,but that is about it. The I.C will decide on expansion,not because AFL has millijons in the bank,or an AFLer from the CC with a blinkered view on the NRL says so,but because of what is in the best interests of the game.And if having a Perth side in the comp,that ensures extra TV revenue via slots,may in fact be well considered. I am sure a Bears team domiciled on the central Coast will send you heart palpitating. Meantime might I(arrogantly) suggest your code gets GC up to speed and make them more competitive,learn to spend the millions in the vault wisely(viz a viz GWS),endeavour to get the Swans to beat the iron Chef in the Tv ratings,begin to realise there are rumours of unrest already with Folau,understand we have read about the Jack boys and the Swans many times(it is now old hat) and just hope and pray that the NRL doesn't get a decent Tv deal ,as your worst nightmares may become a reality.Then might I humbly ,suggest an international contest by the Australian team,that doesn;t have to bastardise the rules to make it appear so.

the best option for your game is to get people to the games, get memberships up, get television ratings up, then expand.

lol, mate NRL should never have left NSW (well England, would have been better) but now that they have, its left the AFL to pounce in on there heartland. It's never going to be a sport played in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia. Northern Territory, is easily AFL, Darwin is the only part where they play NRL, the rest of the territory is AFL and Darwin, especially Tiwi Islands. The only hope left for NRL is to try and rebulid its culture and stay in NSW. Going outsidfe NSW, maybe Queensland will only result in lost money. 1 team returned a profit last year, 1 team and that was "the rabbits", without russell crowe, dont know if they would have and that means 15 teams didnt 9 in NSW. Ill were that the only place outside of NSW that might survive, will be Queensland, but anywhere else, not a chance. Perth has 4 senior teams playing, Adelaide would be less and Melbourne, the only reason why the Melbourne team is surviving is because Melbournians turn out to sport in huge numbers. Darwin team will absolutely fail, wouldnt even make it through first season. another New Zealand team, thats pushing it. Ill only wear that Central Coast and 2nd Brisbane team may work. i live on the central coast and if the bears dont win games, people wont turn out.

Why does it seem that the AFL is so much more professional compared to NRL or any other sport??? Go from expansion to the footy show and the NRL show, press conferences to competition or guernseys/Jerseys to rules and regulations.

Lets see a string of wins before the gloom. The Warriors have been pretty woeful.

The crowds wont make a different as the Phoenix also has numbers similar to the Warriors outside of Wellington. I'l be more worry about the drop in tv ratings because the participation numbers outside of Auckland is very small. I have never seen this sort of numbers for Warriors games before on Sky. 90,000 60, 170 83, 390

If the Warriors start playing the way they did against the sharks, start winning and big Manu back, then those ratings will rise. But I agree, in regard to league, Kiwis only like winners and a second team would be a gamble. But 8,000 in Greymouth, 15,000 in rural NZ, and 20,000 last year in driving rain in Christchurch suggests league had potential, and a wider following than the South Auckland jibes.

I dont think having a second NZ team is a good thing. Sky wont be happy with the massive drop in TV ratings for NRL and particular the Warriors games this year. This time last year the Warriors were getting over 180,000 watching on Sky. On sunday only 90,000 views tuned in for the Warriors and the Sharks game that was promoted throughout here in NZ.

I dont know Dave.....They managed to get 15k to the Sharks vs warriors game in Taupo on Sunday. I think NZ will be very accomodating to a 2nd team

so rugby and afl is boring because you said so? i can rest assure that my code is in healthy state if a rugby league thinks its boring. i guess the kiwis must think the same apply to rugby league in new zealand in regards to been boring to watch.

where is the local community for league in nz outside of auckland then? its bad enough the warriors were getting crowds of 11,000 when they had a bad start to the season. a second nrl team outside of the rugby league heartland of south auckland wont be so accomodated.

you forgot fiji, hawaii, tasmania, hong kong, durban, mongolia and easter island.

if you say so mate. goodluck driving around town and checking on those football jerseys. hope your not driving around with the kids while your busy checking what everyones wearing.

penrith juniors have approx 540 teams this year including 9 divisions of u 6 's totalling 65 teams a record for pjrl. rl in trouble i don't think so. gws has it's work cut out.

From the dbcde.gov.au website; The anti-siphoning scheme currently prohibits free-to-air broadcasters from premiering events on the anti-siphoning list on multi-channels unless the event has already been shown, or is simultaneously shown, on the broadcaster’s main channel. Also had a check on the latest revision of the Broadcasting Act 1992 which incorporates the restrictions on multi channeling. The act appears to make no distinction with respect to regional broadcasting, however is clear that for; The below clause is specific to SDTV on commerical television (there are another 14 clauses substantially the same relating to nation television or HDTV). Part 4A.....multi-channelled commercial television broadcasting service—restrictions on televising anti-siphoning events during the simulcast period if there is a primary service; the licensee must not televise on a SDTV multi-channelled commercial television broadcasting service in the licence area the whole of an anti-siphoning event unless: (a) the licensee has previously televised in the licence area the whole of the event on the core commercial television broadcasting service; or (b) the licensee will televise simultaneously in the licence area the whole of the event on both: (i) the core commercial television broadcasting service; and (ii) the SDTV multi-channelled commercial television broadcasting service.

Prime have announced that they will be showing Friday Night AFL at the same time as its shown in Victoria across regional NSW and QLD on 7mate (regional) As far as Im aware regional networks dont count when it comes to antisiphoning, and this is Primes regional network, which includes 7mate regional.