Despite what Clint Newtown and the RLPA think, the NRL does care about player burnout. That is, unless there’s a massive wad of cash involved.
Australia will play fewer and fewer Test matches in the coming years to lessen the load on State of Origin stars. They will include Origin in their tally of games compared with New Zealand and England.
Practically, that means Australia playing three fewer Tests per year than their major rivals. The NRL will risk derision from the rest of the rugby league-playing world – and real damage to it – to look after its biggest stars.
(One of the benefits of the proposed Nines World Championship is they’d be able to able to send an under-strength side)
But when the doors are shut, the TV executives are in the room and the pizza has been ordered – the players tend to be forgotten.
Much work had been done on a 22-round season when David Smith moved out of League Central and into a secret bunker to secure the $925 million deal with Channel Nine. The season they agreed on was 25 rounds – and the sacrifice made was the representative round, which had been trumpeted as a great opportunity for the international game.
Once more, international footy (and City-Country, but it had probably run its course) is the first to be shoved off the boat. The players are, invariably, next.
This year we had so much discussion about five-day turnarounds disappearing.
Then the CEO of News flew in, the doors closed and Dominos got a phone call. As Trent Barrett reminds us, they are back in 2015. Now – in the Sunday press – we have the spectre of industrial action early in the new season as a protest.
In fairness, Monday Night Football is not long for this world. But won’t the same problems exist Sunday to Thursday? If not, how will this be achieved?
There is more to like about the new NRL TV rights and playing schedule than not.
One colleague said no-one would look back fondly on the original $925 million arrangement with Nine.
I do.
It created enough competitive tension to upset Rupert Murdoch. That’s a win in my book. With the loss of Premier League rights to Optus, Fox was placed in a position where it was forced to the table and the NRL ended up with as much money as it originally intended.
David Smith, who fell on his sword to make sure that objective was reached, deserves his bonus. So does whichever adviser who told him the digital landscape was changing so quickly that he was better off keeping his cards close to his chest in that area.
The game needs more people who come in, piss people off, achieve an objective and leave. Generally speaking, our most effective administrators are those who could walk into another job at an time.
They tend to be the most altruistic.
The next battle is with the clubs. Tell me, what other businesses can you think of that have most of their wage bill and travel paid, have enormous intellectual property that matters to millions, and still can’t balance their books?
They want to spend money on things that, in my view, should be run from headquarters. I want to see clubs as shells, as true franchises.
They run a team, they sell tickets, they flog sponsorships. Let League Central do the rest.
eagleJack
Roar Guru
The NRL set the market value. If Souths wanted to sign Greg Inglis for $200k per season, with all parties happy with the arrangement, the NRL would not register the contract.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
How does a star's wage get inflated? By the clubs.
Jacko
Guest
So the 2nd ranked team out of 3 says no to internationals!!! That will grow the sport wont it? I don't understand how anybody still tries to call SOO as the pinnacle of the game anymore. Only 60% of a competitions players are qualified to play leaving every player from the no 1 & no 3 ranked teams in the world, or superstars like Radrardra, not seen on this self-labelled Pinnacle. There is probably 2 more teams of non-Australian players which could beat both SOO teams on any given day. As to player welfare I agree with others on this site saying the clubs are to blame not the NRL. They have total control over who they pick to put on the field every week.
Alvin Purple
Guest
I do not think is the point Parra. We want our stars to be at their best and the game is now so much more physical that they need this extra recover time. The good thing is that its is only for one year and we can then all get back to a more fairer scheduling
Alvin Purple
Guest
If there was going to be a fall out why not now? In the end Foxtel needs RL just as much RL needs it. Without each other they would struggling big time. Draw is not ideal but it is for only one year where more equity will be established. Clubs will get more than ever before and this is at least a starting point. In all a great win for the game and its fans
G
Guest
Not everyone has a roster like Bennett's, and he had the advantage of competition points in the bank. Teams with less depth than the Broncos (most teams) were fighting for spots in the 8 and simply couldn't risk rotating players.
G
Guest
Due to the inflated wages of the games stars, this leaves little money left to build depth; if you don't splash out on at least 2 or 3 genuine superstars you're just making up the numbers. Then you need to pay for another 14 or 15 players that are genuine first graders. If you manage it well or have the benefit of TPA's, you can either fill the rest of your 25 with good players or beef up with extra superstars in your 17. The second tier salary cap is a farce, you see teams unable to blood local juniors when in the midst of a crippling injury toll. And even if the salary cap was raised, theres still the problem of not enough players to go around.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
I hate to suggest it,as I see a battleship size slab of concrete coming down on me,but would 4 quarter football be of some assistance? .Two minute 1/4 3/4 time breaks,and 15 minute half time breaks. More so with reduced interchange coming in.
Chivasdude
Guest
The game is so much quicker and tougher today that short turnarounds are a player welfare issue. And yes, it does not affect every player, but it affects the best players and as others have noted here, there is a shallow talent pool so it be behooves us to protect our best players. The only fair way is to have a roster system so that the clubs share evenly the burden of the 5 day turnaround. I think the NRL did well to get $1.8bn for the broadcasting rights. This may well have been the best thing Smith did form the code. Now the challenge is how will the NRL handle this money. Issues for consideration should to establish a game wide player insurance and disability scheme. The salary cap needs to be revisited. Club financials and governance should be looked at. Many issues have been ignored, so this is not a time for the NRL to rest on their laurels.
Glenn Innes
Guest
I know economics is not Steve"s strong point, the clubs struggle because their revenue streams are lower than their expenditure, because of salary cap increases,EVen if the NRL takes over the things Steve wants them to it changes nothing, it just shuffles expenditure away from the clubs and onto the NRL,the clubs spend less the NRL spends more . Steve wants it run like a business well the first thing a business looks at is labour costs. that is always their first point of call.Profit share, and keeping the employees share as low as possible and in this area the game has the upper hand. Yes there are a very small number of players who could earn more money outside the NRL but the vast majority really have no better options, The only alternative employers they really have are the ARU who have little money and would only be interested in celebrity players, Northern Hemisphere Rugby, which might take an interest in the top couple of dozen players at above NRL rates. and English Rugby League which can't pay Australian rates because it does not have the revenue stream.. If a ruthless capitalist where to run the game the first area they would look at increasing productivity would be to reduce labour costs or squeeze more work out of the players. The truth is as long as the NRL is paying better coin than the English Super League most of them have no better employment options than the NRL and so they have no bargaining power and there is plenty of room to screw them Let them strike. they can't win if you hold firm and will crumble pretty quickly as long as you are paying better than England.That is how a walmart kind of bloke would look at the NRL
pete bloor
Guest
The problem with the nba/nfl discussions is the owners will only agree if the players to take the entire reduction rather than on a prorated basis.
pete bloor
Guest
How can the salary cap stop everyone building depth?
G
Guest
You can't compare soccer to League in regards to physical recovery!
G
Guest
There is nowhere near enough depth in an NRL roster to rotate players! Most clubs have a serious drop in performance once they've lost as little as 3 players to injury. It's the fault of the salary cap, not development and recruitment that they can't build depth. Once you've paid for your top 17, you're lucky to have more than 4 genuine first graders in the rest of the 25-man squad. If the Dragons rested Widdop, or Dugan or Benji they'd be flat out competing, and would be forfeiting competition points as a result. Likewise even a team like Souths or Roosters would struggle if they rested say Inglis or Jake Friend. The lack of a peoper reserve grade is also another reason why there is a shortage of players capable of being good first graders.
Terry from Nyngan
Guest
Player burnout is a myth. Half of the teams finish the season at the end of August. One game later another 4 teams are finished as well. Only 34 players get all the way to the grand final. Clubs were training last week in the summer heat wave. No clubs and players were crying then about player welfare.
William Dalton Davis
Roar Rookie
But they should be allowed to play Japanese rugby in the off season as well remember. I don't know but maybe over training during the season is an issue. Mick Ennis said he was beginning to suffer burnout at the backend of 08/07 and after a really physical game Bennett told him not to come to training for the week. He said he felt back to his best the rest of the season. I notice a lot of coaches say "(insert stars name here) will be wrapped in wool for a couple days" but you still see them at training running and working in the gym etc. anyhow the NBA and NFL player associations are constantly harping on about playing too many games yet wanting more money (Michael Jordan himself wrote an article saying how unreasonable that request was and was ridiculed for "forgetting his roots". Of course he is an owner now so there may be some bias). The big football leagues are the only ones I know of that as a compliment truly rotate players efficiently. Though I'd say the Spurs do it the best.
Mamma
Guest
I note the Manly doctor was commenting on the deleterious effects of 2 games on 5 day breaks yet only 2-3 years ago they had Broncos playing Melbourne in Melbourne on 2 day break after SOO with 12 or so SOO reps.."Its better that they play after 2 day rest than 5 days" they said and people just swallowed it ... unbelievable.. Johnno The players were promised last year that they wouldn't schedule 5 day breaks and the RL itself wouldn't schedule Friday night turnarounds for Monday night participants. Run by amateurs
Mamma
Guest
Trouble is they have pissed off the Murdochs and since he and sons have long memories watch for the fallout
Johnno
Guest
Players can't have it both ways. Big TV deals, and better player welfare don't always go hand in hand. If the players want better player welfare, they'll have to accept a pay cut, as the TV networks will then play in less TV ratings timeslots. Can't have your cake and it to "PLAYERS".
parra
Guest
Stop whining and get on with it. It is what it is. If I was paid $200K + in my 20s id play every day if need be. The older stars being paid a lot more should simply be rested as required, blood some juniors in the process. simple.