As NRL post-match media conferences go, these were two doozies.
First up, after Melbourne’s 15-8 victory over Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium, Storm coach Craig Bellamy said forcing his men to play three times in 10 days was “criminal”.
Sitting alongside him, Cameron Smith – the most powerful player in the competition and captain of Australia – revealed the NRL’s stars had already told the league in no uncertain terms that they did not want five-day turnarounds between games from next season.
We reporters already had our lead. There can be a month of post-match media conferences without quotes as good as these.
But, as in so many areas of life, it’s either feast or famine, isn’t it? It didn’t rain quotes last night, it poured.
Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett paused when told about the comments of Smith and Bellamy, weighing up his options.
He started off slowly. It’s a “balancing act”, Bennett said. The only reason the game gets so much money is because people watch it, and people won’t watch if we can’t have the best teams on TV. And it’s hard to get the best teams on TV if there are no five-day turnarounds.
Then Wayne got more strident. He was not down with player power, yo.
He reckoned it was hypocritical of the players, who were being paid a motza and happily backed up two days after State of Origin matches. It was “double standards”, he said, something he disliked.
Normal journalistic practice dictated taking these comments back to Smith and Bellamy. But the Storm weren’t letting media representatives even into the giant anteroom, packed with sponsors and people like Danny Moore and Chris Flannery.
No biggie. Getting their reactions to Bennett’s hard line will tie us over for a few more days. This is an exchange that has legs.
What to make of it, then?
Smith and Bellamy have a very good point – but they are in a very weak position. The Rugby League Players Association has recently lost its CEO, who reportedly walked before being pushed, and the league has just agreed a new free-to-air TV deal which doesn’t even start until 2018.
In that deal, there is just one fewer round in the NRL regular season – the NRL and players really wanted four fewer.
Player welfare? It’s already been dismissed to a degree. You’re not getting a break, boys. What can the game’s stars do to abolish five-day breaks between games when they have already copped it in the neck (or somewhere else) over the number of rounds?
Do they have the requisite cajones and unity to threaten industrial action, in careers that are over in the blink of an eye, to get what they want? Are they willing to sacrifice their income in a sport invented 120 years ago to give them just that?
Bennett’s argument is interesting.
Under the new TV deal, we are told that the NRL “has control of its draw”. But what we don’t know is what the NRL actually wants from its draw.
Is it not in the game’s best interest to share the free-to-air pie around? Should Canberra not be on television as much as Brisbane, to grow their sponsorship and fan-base?
Bennett’s argument seems to be that fans don’t want Canberra or the Warriors on TV, and if we force-feed them, they won’t watch and we’ll get less money from broadcasters next time.
Easy to say if you are coach of Brisbane, who are on every Friday.
He says everyone has to cope with adverse conditions, but do they really?
At its most basic level, it is immature and unfair of the NRL to treat clubs differently, to make any concessions whatsoever to broadcasters. If the NRL really believed it had an even competition and that every game was a spectacle, it wouldn’t care which were on free-to-air and which ones weren’t.
The NRL won’t get less if it makes Channel Nine show the Raiders every eight weeks – the increase in the next deal just won’t be as big as if it allows them to show Bennett’s team on the same bat-time, bat-channel until 2020.
And that’s a sacrifice it must absolutely make. Broadcasters buy a certain number of NRL games. They deserve no say whatsoever in which games they get. That is just backwards-thinking from a sport lacking self-confidence.
The second part of Bennett’s argument is classic double-think.
Players back up two days after Origin so they shouldn’t complain about doing so at other stages of the season, because they’re always going to back up up two days after Origin.
When asked if they had a choice in the matter at Origin time, Bennett said sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t.
In other words, his logic is because players have to do one thing they don’t like, which is rough on their bodies and could shorten careers, they are hypocritical to ask not to do it again.
And that’s not logic at all.
Jay C
Roar Guru
And how about instead of whingeing maybe a thank you for bringing some credibility to the competition. You think 9 would pay a billion dollars to play Sharks v Raiders every Friday night. The commercial success of the Broncos accounts for a fair chunk of that money you'll all be lining up at the rough to receive.
Michael Keeffe
Roar Guru
If we are talking about adverse conditions the teams that had the most 5 day turnarounds this year were the Broncos, Storm, Penrith & Tigers. Canberra had none. So the Broncos may have a commercial advantage but they definitely don't get the standard 7 day turnaround everyone thinks they do
The Barry
Roar Guru
Apparently not Con. the eye sees all.
The Barry
Roar Guru
You make this up as you go along....now Cronk and Smith were 'coaxed' into the four nations....? The storm were 'broken shells'. How is it that you have all this information but the bookies, media and fans never did? Facts are facts, the storm were massive favourites going into that game last year. Provide a link to one article, one story, one post BEFORE the game that said the storm were busted. You get upset when you get criticised but you make all this up on the run and then put on this faux confused act when you get called on it.
Glenn Innes
Guest
Bennett is correct it is commercial reality.If you want a fair draw you need to accept less money from broadcasters, which means less money to spend on players salaries. It also means you might lose out in the weird dick measuring contest with Australian Football as to who gets the biggest broadcast deal (like if the AFL gets an extra twenty mill a year they are suddenly gong to take over and vice versa) Most of any extra coin either sport earns will go into the pockets of the players and or be wasted by the bureaucracies that run them.The game has two choices the first is to redistribute income to the clubs that are not popular enough to cut it on free to air.The second is to take a brutal market approach and say if they cant cut it fta be rid of them.I think the latter would be stupid and short sighted so I favour option A.
Kc
Guest
Losing Coach? Brisbanes lead all year?
Johnnyball
Guest
Creepy old Turkey. Never interview a losing coach
Irritated By Stupidity
Guest
I remember a Gus article saying the Broncos get advantages from always playing on Fridays because their training schedule never changes.
Irritated By Stupidity
Guest
Yeah but they're bringing in Thursday night EVERY round.
The eye
Guest
this isnt about the bulldogs,so no need to circle the waggons Barry..its about Belly trying to manage recovery of his trio of aging superstars for next year after the stinging he copped last year ..all 3 were shot in the '14 finals..Billy S.had shoulder surgery immediately following the game,the other 2 delayed it,were coaxed into the 4 nations where in the significant games they were insignificant,then also went under the knife..sound like..look at the time like they were physically fit to you ? storm arent going to come out before a game and say their 3 champions ie their team,are going in broken,thats absurd..and team management rarely if ever will use injuries as an excuse for losing,thats for the media.. this is my hypothesis as to why Belly complained of the short turn around..NOT as to why the dogs won that game.. As for the ambush..it happened 2 weeks later..against a fit side
The Barry
Roar Guru
With footy on 4-5 days a week, five day turn a rounds are unavoidable....
Sue
Guest
The Melbourne Storm have just played 3 games within 10 days, if ever there was a chance of injury, it was this ridiculous schedule. If the Broncos, Rabbits or Roosters had received this sort of treatment, it would be front page with the media puffing out their chest in outrage!! How fortunate that those teams are the focus of ratings for Channel 9. The NRL needs to take control of this unbelievably unfair manipulation of the draw by the broadcaster if it intends to show us a competition without bias.
SpongeBob
Guest
No no I'll do less work, but I want more money.
soapit
Guest
sorry, not live of course.
soapit
Guest
being live on tv each week must soften the blow a bit tho.
Jared
Guest
Bit over the bagging of Brisbane for Fri night games. It's not actually what the club wants! They request as many Saturday or Sunday afternoon games as possible... So that families from Sth Qld can attend. They say it every year. So they don't 'get what they want' and 'dream scheduling'. Brisbane actually get very little of what they want. -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
Muzz
Guest
Coaches and players get over these issues as soon as they check their next pay slip. It's the fans that suffer when their team is eliminated.
Squidward
Roar Rookie
Who said that? Two of the more exciting teams to watch Better than last nights snooze fest despite its finals outcomes involved
jamesb
Guest
Agree. Not team should have two five day turnarounds in a row.
The Barry
Roar Guru
It's hindsight because 12 months later you're saying the storm were broken shells. No one in the public, at the storm, in the media or anywhere were saying that before the game. That's 100% hindsight - unless you can come up with something that shows you said all this before the game. You are completely hypothesising that Melbourne weren't physically or mentally ready. No one at the storm blamed the loss on being 'broken shells' at the time. 12 months later you come out with gems like they weren't ready. As if a Bellamy coached Melbourne at full strength containing Cronk, Slater, Smith, etc weren't ready for a semi final. The Storm copped a gold old fashioned ambush.