Look, you know and I know that rugby league is currently in rude health. Television ratings are high, standard of play is excellent, Jamal Idris is taller than ever, and crowds are occasionally present.
It is a great and noble game at peak fitness and all those involved deserve a hearty pat on the back for the success of their efforts to not totally destroy it.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t problems. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, and the price of a glistening goblet of gold like modern rugby league is forever being made aware of those phenomena that threaten its prosperity, so as to be able to extinguish them.
Let’s have a look at some of the more severe existential menaces that swirl about the NRL at present.
Threat One: Opinions
A shudder went through NRL headquarters, a shudder no doubt shared by all leaguies of goodwill, when Paul Green said he had “no confidence” in the judiciary. A more disturbing development I have not seen in all my years of seeing developments.
It was a textbook example of how the foundations of the game are threatened by the flagrant possessing of opinions that it seems every Tom, Dick and Harry nowadays believe they have right to. How on earth can the judiciary even function if it is aware that people have no faith in it? If Green’s dangerous activism were to spread, it would be an end to the universal confidence in the judiciary that we enjoy now.
And for those who say “it’s no big deal”, let me ask you to think of the kids. When Paul Green talks, children listen, and if you really want our young people growing up without faith in the judiciary I shall have to ask you to step outside.
But the problem of opinions goes further than just the judiciary. If Paul Green is allowed to say whatever he likes about the judiciary, what’s next? Ivan Cleary saying what he thinks of the salary cap? Wayne Bennett airing forthright views on neck tattoos? A slippery slope indeed. Thank god the NRL nipped this threat in the bud with a $10,000 fine, which will I am sure have restored Green’s faith.
Threat Two: Loyalty
It is frankly disgusting the way in which the Manly saga has carried on. Former Sea Eagles boss Ken Arthurson was quite right when he decried the manner in which “the lunatics are running the asylum” – the asylum being Manly, and the lunatics being the players, probably mainly that weird-looking one.
In a way this relates to the first threat – the fact that Anthony Watmough feels entitled to an opinion is a demonstration of the aforementioned slippery slope. But it goes further, it goes to the sudden and rather odious outbreak of loyalty in rugby league.
That Watmough feels aggrieved because the club failed to make an effort to retain Glenn Stewart is pretty repellent to all those of us who revel in rugby league’s simple manly principles of free enterprise and high mobility of labour. This sort of blatant loyalty to one’s teammates needs to be identified and eradicated as quickly as possible, or we could have players being loyal all over the place.
Watmough, it must be said, has acted disgracefully. If other players were to follow suit, we might see all kinds of unpleasant consequences, like pay cuts and increased emotional investment by supporters. What a horrible thought.
So it’s a good thing Watmough won’t be infecting his club with this nonsense much longer. Yes, he has been a faithful servant of Manly for many years, but to be honest that’s the whole problem.
Threat Three: Players deliberately spearing themselves headfirst into the ground
We go again to Manly, and courageous coach Geoff “The Termite” Toovey’s pinpointing of an unsavoury new habit creeping into the game – ball-carriers purposely performing dangerous lifting tackles on themselves just to get their opponents into trouble.
It’s a shame it was up to Toovey to bell the cat, when really the NRL administration and the referees should’ve cottoned much sooner to Greg Inglis’ habit of spear-tackling himself.
This latest incident, where Inglis created finals havoc for the Sea Eagles by having Watmough suspended for a dangerous throw which, as the Termite pointed out, was his own fault, is just the latest in Inglis’s long campaign to smear the good names of his fellow players by deliberately inflicting spinal injuries on himself.
Imagine being an innocent tackler, moving in to make a perfectly safe and legal tackle on your opponent, when all of a sudden he heaves himself up into the air, cunningly forces your hand between his legs, and performs a lethal somersault so he ends up upside down. How terrified for your rival’s safety you would be, even as you mourned the death of sportsmanship inherent in this man’s attempt to besmirch you with his self-spearing ways.
It’s time Dave Smith got tough. Introduce automatic 10-week bans for anyone who, like Inglis seemingly habitually does, causes dangerous throws to be performed on himself. If not we could see someone seriously injure himself, and more importantly, injure his opponent’s reputation.
Threat Four: Phil Gould
Well, obviously.
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
If I was a TV exec I would look at the sport which is still up there rating wise but is far from its full potential as opposed to a sport that has maxed out in terms of stadia/expansion perhaps, still has unsatisfactory ratings in half the country's population markets, despite mega promotion. The NRL has a lot of ground to catch up. But it is ground and potential is highlighted by satisfactory ratings in the Victoria market (superb if you count origin) which have only gained consistent NRL coverage via GEM in the last 2-3 years. Stadium developments to come plus Intl footy, Nines, Origin to ram things home.
Jay C
Roar Guru
I don't think you understand what first and last means. It doesnt mean they can come in and offer bar snacks as payment for televising the NRL. It means they can match any competitive offer and have the final option to match. Gallop oversaw huge growth and I don't get why people are so anti Gallop. He did amazing things for RL and is now doing amazing things for the A League.
Marco
Guest
If you were a TV executive , which horse would you back going forward? The NRL should of negotiated an even spread of FTA games across Australia but instead went for the money. The AFL play out of top rate stadiums and have taken the plunge with 2 new teams. These teams have mixed results but it's a start. Rugby league will always be number 1 in NSW and Qld but it looks a bit shaky in a national context. It still has the feel of a sydney suburban competition with games played to limited spectators sitting on a grassy hill. State of origin is the jewel in the crown.
ranga
Guest
Yeah ch9 and fox gave the NRL a billion out of the goodness of their black hearts, I've read it all from soccer, union and Fumblefans. If the game was not worth that, they wouldn't give it plain and simple. The SL war took AT LEAST half a billion dollars off RL over the 20 years News limited controlled and ran the NRL as their own simply because they made an offer, they liked their own offer so they took their own offer. Rugby League has fought tooth and nail to get rid of that lot and the last billion dollar deal which you trolls think the NRL doesn't deserve would've have been worth a hellava lot more if the half owners of the game were not involved. Thank god the NRL got rid of Gallop and his news stooges, if he was still around, we'd have still had the first and last rights hanging over our heads until the year 2030, that's a hellava long time to have the #1 rating sport on TV for a packet of chips isn't it. yeah the NRL didn't deserve a Billion yet other sports do. Hahahahahaahahahaahahahahahahahaahhaahahahhahahaahah
ranga
Guest
Wrong clipper, the Tahs couldn't get anyone to their games at the beginning of the year and didn't even release crowd figures for over half their games, the TV ratings in Aus for Superugby are the lowest out of our big footy codes. The eels had a bigger average than the tahs and the Tahs won the lot, the eels off two spoons managed a 10th. I showed you yesterday where 3 million veiwers have gone from channel 9 and fox sports ratings, they are watching on other apps as I showed with 3 million or so having already downloaded it. The swans might average 30k, but that's around half what they average on FTA TV in Sydney in ratings, let me know if you have ever seen any RL game in Sydney on FTA TV rate like that no matter who was playing. Soccer has always had the juniors, i have no idea why you keep banging this drum, it's like wishful thinking that soccer and any other code takes away all of RL juniors, I think people who want a sport to die have something seriously wrong in their head, and don't come back saying that's not what you want, it'll only make you look like a bigger hypocrite than you already do. keep banging the NRL is dying drum all the while everything points to it not going that way at all.
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
Well, good luck to them. Won't effect me as I watch my NRL via other means than Nine or Foxsports (cancelled that one 3 years ago).
clipper
Guest
Hindsight's a wonderful thing, Marco, but at the time anything less than 1B would have seemed like a loss, so all control was ceded in this quest. As they say 5 years is a long time in the TV contract world. It's hard to believe now, but league in Sydney was massive 30 years ago (although not to the same extent as VIC, SA and WA) but Sydney has become a multi sports city now, with the Swans being the most attended team, Soccer having the most juniors and the Waratahs being the team to watch this year.
Marco
Guest
Well done cathar. That's the most well thought out and written reply you've done.Nice and calm. Be aware of channel 9, they have clearly demonstrated they are in it for the money many times over. They have stated that they want a piece of the AFL pie.
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
Another who dismisses the other impressive figures of social media/digital pass growth etc which show NRL fans are dismissing out dated coverage of its sport by the likes of Nine and finding new ways to follow the sport. I think you'll also find TV ratings dipped during origin, you know, the series that takes away the best players and attracts record TV ratings? The run home toward the finals saw TV ratings surge again. So with the aforementioned opinions/facts, the TV ratings fall is not too much to worry about esp when other codes have suffered the same.
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
And take a further step out of Vic, WA, SA & Tassie and AFL is nothing. No one pays for its broadcasting rights while the NRL increases each year in this area. NSW & QLD also account for half this country's population. The NRL could have taken Channel Ten's deal but Nine had the 1st & last bid rights and I'm not sure what the legal ramifications of this is but the NRL have now got rid of this. Next rights will be interesting and Foxtel's moves at making its product more cheaper, highlights the incoming competitive bomb on its way in the media industry. The NRL is poised nicely to take advantage of this. Added, sometimes things can be over exposed and certainly AFL ratings for the live game sin QLD & NSW show little growth. In fact, NRL ratings in Victoria aren't too far behind AFL ratings in the Northern markets especially when Lions or Swans don't feature.
Marco
Guest
Channel 9 are trying to get a share of the AFL broadcasting rights. They've kept Saturdays free and are giving the code a lot of exposure lately. It's a bit hard for the NRL to just do it's own thing these days. It's all business and the AFL is massive. It's hard to believe this if you are from NSW or Qld.Take a quick visit to Victoria, SA,WA or Tasmania and you'd see what I mean. In hindsight the NRL should of taken less money and negotiated the same free to air exposure as the AFL.
Pickett
Guest
Sarcasm spreading from article to comments.
Pickett
Guest
Jared's headbutt on Horo....yeah right. That was about as headbuttish as Lyin Lyon's Nida penalty try was legitimate. ie it wasn't.
Judge Holden
Roar Guru
Nah Gould is great. And this is coming from a Queenslander. Without his banter with Rabbits I would loose my insanity.
Judge Holden
Roar Guru
Zing! Nice one Scott.
Knightblues
Roar Guru
can we please have a Gould mute button put on our remotes?
scott
Guest
Or the best player at Cronulla.
johnnno1
Guest
I feel sorry for anyone with a name like jake
johnnno1
Guest
Lowest form of wit.
Shouts Chen
Guest
Cronulla sharks is the biggest casualty in NRL due to the anti doping scandal.