After many impassioned debates on The Roar over the last year I have taken the bait and put together my five-point plan for moving the NRL forward.
These are five ideas that myself and some friends have been kicking around for a while now. Most of them have probably been mentioned before, but I haven’t seen them brought together in this manner.
1) Relocation
This is a no-brainer. There are too many teams in Sydney. For rugby league to become a dominant code it needs to extend its reach nationally. Perth, Darwin, Adelaide and even Cairns could support teams, and SE Queensland could easily support another team, particularly if it was based in the west.
The Sharks and the Tigers immediately spring to mind, but I also think a more difficult decision to move the Rabbitohs would pay dividends as well. Sydney just can’t support that many teams.
I would move the Bunnies to Perth, the Sharks to Cairns, the Tigers to Adelaide and look at expanding new teams to Darwin and Toowoomba/Ipswich.
2) Relegation
The Queensland and NSW cups are strong competitions. Strong enough that with planning and foresight, I believe the NRL could adopt a relegation system over time. This is not an overnight idea, but it is something that could be done.
The lower grades could play in a conference, the winner of which plays off against the bottom of the NRL. It would bring much needed excitement to the back end of the season, with the prospect of a team losing its place in the NRL, and a new one taking its place.
Realistically it would take a pretty special Cup team to beat even an ordinary NRL team, so it’s not like it would happen regularly. But it would keep players and coaches in the race for the wooden spoon on their toes and be a huge incentive to teams playing in the second tier.
3) Reduction
The time it takes to complete a tackle is ridiculous. No one wants to see it. Speed it up. Reduce the amount of time players are allowed to lay on top of a tackled opponent. If there are three men in a tackle, make them get up in one second, two in a tackle they get two and one tackler means it is an automatic dominant tackle.
Reduce the interchange to six. Six is plenty. I haven’t seen an exhausted player in 15 years.
The tackle count should be reduced to five. I, and everyone I know are not interested in watching 80 minutes of one out passes to forwards who take a hit up, play the ball and repeat.
By taking away a hit up you essentially deprive a team of 10 metres which would hopefully lead to more scheming in the middle. By combining these three things I believe it would open up the game to the kind of enterprising play that made rugby league the greatest game on the planet.
4) Renegotiation
The current deal with Channel 9 and Fox is not good for the game. In my opinion they would have been better off taking half the money and dictating terms to the broadcaster. There needs to be at least three live free-to-air games per week.
As a minimum. Foxtel is a rip off and it will die once fast internet is widely available.
The NRL should set the schedule, not the broadcaster. Commentating is hard I guess because Andy Raymond and Warren Smith are about the only ones worth listening to.
Ben Ikin is also good, but more for his sharp mind and interesting insights. If the NRL had accepted less money, but negotiated more control, they could have greatly increased fans/viewers which means you would have a much more valuable product over the medium term. It won’t happen until 2017, but hopefully it will happen.
5) Revolution
The final and most exciting part of the series, revolution! NRL needs a revolution and it should come from the top down. Dave Smith is alright, but have you ever seen him excited about anything? Shouldn’t he be?
Shouldn’t a fan of the game be running the game? If you run sport like you run a bank you will end up with a bank. How attached are you to your current bank?
Rugby league is tribal, it’s passionate, it’s parochial, it’s about a siege mentality, us versus them, it’s a throwback to the colosseum and while I’m sure Mr. Smith has made the game more profitable it has come at the expense of the most important asset, the fan.
So I think it is up to every single fan to get up, take back their sport and make it the best in the world again.
Oh, and bring back the shoulder charge. There have been more injuries this year than I have ever seen.
Pravin
Guest
The main rule change I want to see is penalty goals = 3 points. It adds a factor to the game when its getting close. It will never happen but I would love to see this. Other changes: -The ball has to bounce outside the touchlines + player contact with the ball and the ground at the same time for it to be called out. NOT STUPID PASS THE DEFENSIVE LINE PLANE that ripped the Roosters off. What if they touch it over the line then an attacker comes and pats it back - faulty. -Shoulder Charge ?? - All contested scrums back including 40/20 -50/Goal Concept where a player kicks it behind halfway between the uprights which earns them a line-dropout and another set -Make the 7 tackle set only when the ball is kicked behind the 20 into the touch and goal lines - not anywhere on the field Channel Scheduling MUST BE IMPROVED!
Sambo
Guest
Nah, Matthew is spot on – a lotta stupid. Relegation won’t work. Darwin ain’t anywhere near ready, not even for Qld Cup. Relocating Souths?? To Perth?? That’ll do me. Ridiculous article.
Jay C
Roar Guru
Not quite every ounce of Stupid Matthew, but you know. Some I spose.
Jay C
Roar Guru
Yeah I know. Souths. But who then? I did toss up the Dogs when writing the story but they are not the most popular. You certainly couldn't move em to the Central Coast anyway.... And Manly, their fans won't even cross a bridge. Parramatta I thought is a rapidly growing area. Tigers have to go. Sharks have to go. Penrith is too important + they are out in the middle of nowhere anyway. Saints are far enough away. 68-6 is more than player roster problems. There is obviously an issue behind the scenes as well. I like the Tigers. I think they were the last exciting team to win a premiership. That 05 side was the end of good attacking football IMO. In 2006 Bennet showed you could beat anyone with a solid defence and now that is what the best teams do.
Matthew Buxton
Roar Pro
Look i totally understand your point and where you're coming from - I just disagree with it haha. Moving a foundation club is almost blasphemy. A club with so much tradition and pride in Sydney, it just wouldn't make sense. If Souths moved from Sydney, it would only go backwards. They had the highest home and away attendance of any club last year, whilst also being the 2nd most viewed free to air club (behind Hawthorn). Obviously no one wants there team to move, but moving Souths or the Roosters is ludacrious, it would kill that great rivalry. Swans relocated years ago, imagine the uproar if Collingwood or the like were forced to move now. And go easy on the tigers, they only have 17 fit players at the moment. Injuries are killing them. They need some sort of salary cap exemption or something....but thats another subject.
Jay C
Roar Guru
Souths lose out geographically. And because they are so well supported. Their supporters would follow them to the moon if that's where they went. All of the arguments about not being able to move teams is bogus. The Swans moved and they are the most supported team of any code in Sydney. After a while no one cares where they came from. There are too many teams in Sydney. No one wants their team moved. I understand that, but at the end of the day something has to give. I don't mind Dougs solution though. The point of relegation is to keep teams on their toes. And to stop the rot that we are seeing at the moment. Having the Tigers play like they played yesterday is an embarrassment to the game. They are clearly on a mission to get rid of Potter, and whether it is coming from one or all of the players it should not be acceptable. Supporters should have a right to expect that their team is going to show up every week. It also skews the competition, with the Cowboys now realistically having no idea how good they are going.
Jay C
Roar Guru
Nearby Cairns? Are you for Real? Is that like how Newcastle benefits from being Nearby Sydney? And Canberra benefits from being near Melbourne? Put it away
Matthew Buxton
Roar Pro
Wow. Relocate Souths? Are you mad? It must've taken every ounce of stupid to think of that one. Take away the only team with 30,000 members and a foundation club. That is ridicolous. You'd also be taking away the biggest club rilvary in the NRL, Souths and the Roosters. Cronulla is the only club I would think could re-locate cause of there financial situation among other factors. As far as relegation, what's the point of that? The NRL teams would destory the NSW/QLD cup sides, there isn't enough depth to do that. The NRL having a salary cap means we don't need a relegation system, because the NRL is so even across the board, teams could get the wooden spoon one year and be Grand Finallists the next (Roosters 09/10). The broadcast fiasco however is spot on. Delayed games will be the death of every NRL fan, its 2014, why do we still have 2 delayed games per week. Stupid.
Tobias Zulaikha
Roar Rookie
Nonsense? Okay, so why not look to Alice Springs, Broome perhaps? Explain why Hobart hasn't got a team in the AFL? JC, it is hardly nonsense my friend, it is business sense. Granted, Townsville's population is still small but it is larger than Darwin and the region's populace is doubled when you take nearby Cairns into account. They get great crowds because the entire region is rugby league mad - Darwin is not and is far more isolated if you wish to draw comparisons. Yes, Darwin does service gas and mining but that only adds to the transient nature of the town - they are not long term residents if your ideas are long term. "Perth, Darwin, Adelaide and even Cairns could support teams" - your article suggested Darwin was ready for an NRL presence which it is clearly not. I'm all for growing the game but you need to be realistic.
Jay C
Roar Guru
Theres only 230 in Townsville and they are around second in average attendances, so the argument that you need big populations to support big teams is nonsense. Darwin also services a lot of mining town. My ideas were long term, not next week. To grow the game.
Tobias Zulaikha
Roar Rookie
Agreed duecer. The vacant rugby league hole in Sydney's north left by the absence of the Bears has cost the NRL many supporters to other codes. I'm not entirely convinced that it is completely necessary to cull, merge or relocate more Sydney clubs. The AFL seem to be going alright with 10 Victorian teams. That is, I'm not hearing constant crisis talks of the overcrowded AFL Melbourne market like I hear re: NRL clubs in Sydney. JC, not sure how you propose to have an NRL team based in Darwin? You do realise that Darwin's population is only 130,000 - and that's including the greater Palmerston area. As much as I'd love to see an NRL presence in the Top End, I can't see Darwin ticking too many boxes that meet NRL criteria for a few more decades at least. Crowds and corporate sponsorship are just not there at the moment, but keeping up a strong presence now is important for the future. Darwin folk love their sport and there are a lot of Queenslanders living in the NT who love their league. Having the Eels agreeing to play one match a season for the next 4 years is a start, but as for Darwin having their own team, it's a long long way off.
Matt
Guest
Thank you. And I can see a lot of these changes hurting the game rather than helping it
Doug Graves
Guest
1) Relocation: Yes. I'd move Sharks to Adelaide, Tigers to Perth and merge Wests with Bulldogs. 2) Relegation: No no no no no! 3) Reduction: Not a bad idea, worth exploring. 4) Renegotiation: Should happen but won't. We'll just have to sit it out till the contract expires and get a better one then. 5) Revolution: Not going to come from the top down. Those at the top are sitting pretty and are the ones responsible for this mess. Has to start with the fans.
Mantis
Roar Guru
Some good points, others not so good. Agree 100% re the broadcast deal. It is a joke. No way would AFL fans cop having delayed games. NRL needs to dictate terms to Nine and Fox, not the other way round. I like the idea of cutting the interchange too, but Id go one step further and goto a substitution system. Once you go off the field you cant come back on. It would mean more tired players on the field, which would result in the little speedy men finding more gaps, and generally make play more exciting. As far as moving clubs goes, Cronulla is the only club at the moment I could see relocating, and even then I still doubt it will happen.
Jay C
Roar Guru
You might be right, and it would be devastating to see my Broncos team relegated. Realistically the top second tier 'Soccer' teams are pretty well set up to enter the big leagues in England. I think the main difference being that those second tier teams are already professional organisations etc. I just get upset at this time of year when you can see some teams have either given up, or have senior players waging wars with their coaches and it must be tough for their fans. It isn't attractive for the game. I actually thought people would be more upset about reducing the number of play the balls to be honest... It would have to be set up in such a way with built in protection for growth corridors, and such a slim chance of occurring that it would have to be such a great Cup team that it couldn't be ignored. I also think it would double attendances to Cup games which in Qld are already not too far behind NRL. The marketing dollar losses of a clun like Melbourne or Brisbane or even Cowboys would need to be weighed up though.
Johnno
Guest
Jay C, your Man United is a good example and point. -Example. Both Leeds United and Newcastle United have been relegated in the last 10 years. Leeds is a big town in England and big soccer market up north,and a long term rivalry with Man U. Not haveing Leeds in the EPL is a big local market lost. They are working there way back up and now in the championship 1 divsion below the EPL. Same with Newcastle United going down, a big market there. But the EPL is so strong it can have the mid-table teams go down eg Aston Villa,Spurs,Leeds,West Ham,Newcastle United etc. If Chelsea or Man U or Arsenal went down it would be a blow but the EPL is so global, has so much money it can off-set any losses, NRL doesn't have that luxury. Promo/relegation, makes the comp more exciting, no more mid-season lulls, incentives to play well ALL THE TIME etc, but despite bigger crowds and interest, the profits from higher crowd/tv ratings I don't reckon would off-set the losses or promo/relegation.
Tim Gore
Expert
Let's go with 'encouraged.' It was well worth it too!
Jay C
Roar Guru
Yes thanks Tim. You goaded me into it.
Jay C
Roar Guru
But you could say the same thing in the EPL. What if Man U have a bad year? Maybe they could put protections in place of some kind. It isn't a fully formed conclusion of mine. I just feel it would add excitement to the back end of the season and improve the second grade teams and interest in the second grade teams. Lots of unrefined details though.
Tim Gore
Expert
Jay C, great article with some sensational points/ideas. I miss the shoulder charge.