The NRL needs a second comp

I would suggest rather than too many games its more a dirth of quality games. This is inherent by the issue of the leap that is required of young players from Holden cup to NRL standard. Sure there are those who can make the change relatively easilly stay up, but they are the rare ones. Having a comp that is restricted in the main to 20, often means many future top liners simply drop out of the game, as there is no where to go on the upward scale. Even the old under 23's showed that problem but at least those who could be seen as being late bloomers could be graded in reserves, the league has many of those who are called late bloomers usually around 25yrs old. Having a quality reserve or open 2nd tier division as a stepping stone shows off potential talent, also was used to ease injured players back into the game. If the competition needs less games, then just have a comp where they only play each other once in the season, for the interstate teams, then it should be a rotation system whereby the team you play this year away, next year you play them at home.

exactly again!

exactly!

Sorry, this idea is not wise at all! We already have too much football. you want fans to try to attend more games even though average crowds have dropped alarminly down to 15,100 this season. From 2009 to 2012 they averaged 17,000. This idea will never take off and would fail with poor crowds.

Looking at the crowd number for the suburban grounds in the soccer FFA comp maybe a clue on how this can be done. The state club levels crowd are getting crowds around the 600 - 3500 for a club game ( no A League side) These number as not great but it is getting the game followed at a basic level. The interesting number are the A - League teams that play away this is where the number jump as much as 8000. If you think that this is amateur team playing a professional team on a Wednesday night at some suburban ground it decent. I would like to see a similar set up for league, it can blood the new players at all level.

A round of 22 or 24 matches in a year is more than enough for the NRL comp with SOO added in. Having given a bit more thought on this, my idea would be to drop NRL & other associated games while SOO is being played, & just have it over 3 weekends & play them on a Saturday afternoon around 4pm. following the junior SOO game.. The season would start & finish at the same time as well. Encourage all states to have a primary competition, that would be eventually NRL standard in the 1st grade. The current NRL games would be played as normal, but each club would have a reserve grade standard game & a main junior league competition played on the same day as the NRL game. These comps would play the same number of games over the same season. When the NRL team played away, then their oponents teams would play on that day as well. When the NRL team had to play away such as Interstate, the away teams would also go. While this may increase club expenses, I believe that having 3 games on game day, it would provide value for the fans, a much better showing off of talent with progression paths to the NRL side. Not only that but, there would be a boost in junior league as players would see more of chance to be seen, as well as more chances of being spotted but most of all they would get better development as well. Interchange rules could allow for 6 interchange players within the 1-17, with 2 others on the bench from the immediate previous game, to cover for injuries only, & they must have played a full game.

Good luck getting the players to agree to play more games

Get rid of the biggest sporting event in the country?

NRL tv ratings are down and crowds are down. Im not sure how another competition could help.

The NRL could accommodate another competition if the rounds were cut back and pave the way for a potential rugby league treble, the NRL, ARL Cup and World Club Series

Does interest naturally drop off or does interest drop off because of the effect of Origin? There's only one way to find out for sure. Although, I am also unsure about moving Origin to the club off-season. It may work but I tend to think support may decrease as the year wears on.

Bringing back the AMCO cup would be the best thing for RL . Packed country grounds , good TV ratings a chance to watch the unrestrained attacking flair of our top clubs with a potential rags to riches story in every game. And the players loved it. Bring it back , just bring it back.

I proposed a knockout format comp about a year ago involving more clubs across Australia. http://www.theroar.com.au/2014/10/09/knockout-cup-reinvigorate-rugby-league/

I agree with this AK. I think any new comp involving just the NRL clubs would be a waste of time. I'd rather see a comp like the FFA cup or Challenge cup that brings together every club in Australia. To be honest, I would even leave the NRL clubs out of it. I think it would be a great way to engage the grass roots and communities.

The Holden Cup looks like it will be scrapped anyway with a new format similar to Harold Matthews etc. Junior pathways will be a major talking point over the next few years.

Why would we have a competition involving all states when Victoria has one player in the NRL (who has been given the all clear to go to England) and maybe 1 or 2 Western Australians, not to mention zero Southerners or Tasmanians. I dream of a time when we can have the Origin series you propose, but it is still very far away.

I definitely think there should be a natural progression, but I don't like the idea of moving Origin and test Football exclusively to the off-season. Everybody seems to think that Origin kills club football in the middle of the year. I think you'll find that interest naturally drops off in that time of year and Origin adds a bit of spice to an otherwise dull part of the year.

Agree with all the above - story and comments. To continue as is during Origin will eventually kill the game. No point having a marquee games if the rest of the game suffers in the mean time. The one thing they can do from next year is move Origin to Sunday as stand alone (never going to happen but you can dream) and create a round robin tournament from International week - Samoa-Fiji-Tonga-PNG. 1st round played on Anzac Test week as it is now, Weeks 2 and 3 on the Friday/Saturday night of Origin 1 and 2 weekend. And the final on the Friday night of Origin 3 and "plate final" on the Saturday. From there you could expand the comp to include the top 2/4/6 sides from Qld Cup and NSW Cup plus regional rep sides (Vic, WA Qld/NSW country) and make it a knockout. With the rounds still being played around stand alone Origin Sundays. But ultimately the NRL needs Origin standalone. Games like NQ v West Tigers this year during origin or 4 game rounds are a waste of time, and tempt the viewer to look elsewhere for a few months. But I do like the idea of 18 teams. Playing each other once, plus a UK style Magic Weekend (opponents drawn from hat) to make the full 18 rounds. Make that Magic Weekend just after Origin to get everyone back into the NRL after the Origin break. Or at a bare minimum, let the game decide the future not the TV stations.

The NRL needs to follow the lead of the FFA Cup where lower level clubs have their time in the spotlight, but I fell rugby league in Australia has become to americanised and it needs to embrace the english game by working more with the super league to bridge the gap

I have to say that in many ways I'm over SOO, last year even with the blues winning, it was not enough to get me to sit in front of the box to watch it as I had other activities to enjoy more in a group that I belong to, even they are only mildly interested in it. I do not believe that any new mid week comp will lift the series any more than what we see now, likewise any new regional sort of comp to be played instead, if the object is to find some form of mid week rep typ comp, then it will to be a short spaced elimination series & played over the same time schedule that SOO is played now, but that will take out how many weeks from the main game the NRL comp, even with the bye & like, however to me it might end causing a Bye & Bye Bye with a big hit on crowds & support for the NRL comp. Last Sunday for the first time I fully read Phil Goulds Sun Herald column, & while he is a turn off on TV when broadcasting like most of the 9 team, he makes more sense in print, & this one scored for me. Before trying to do anything with SOO, as it will live or die on its own merits or otherwise, its about time that something was done about the huge gap between the NRL teams & that of the Holden Cup competition being the main feeding comp to the NRL, seriously in the main its too big a leap for the greater proportion of younger players in that comp for sustained NRL involvement. Gus described how Penrith has a program in place that has a strong 2nd tier competition on par with the old Reserve grade, which was the primary feeder for the old 1st grade team, it was a comp that was almost as strong as the 1st's, yet the current set up of feeder clubs which is mentioned in the article is half baked & teams play before a few hundred frequently, rather than in the lead up to the main game where crowds build up. It is seriously worth reading, & doing something about, rather than trying to build on something that is a success but is in no real critical position other than NSW not being up to the QLD juggernaut, as much as I hate saying that, to fix SOO fix NSW teams & their hunger to win, put some mongrel into the whole team, rather than pups.