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It is five months since David Smith, possibly upset about the summer homework I set him, announced he was heading off to fresh pastures where his performance isn’t scrutinised quite so heavily.
Since that time NRL Chairman and his board have been on the hunt for a replacement.
The rumour is that by the end of this week that the NRL will announce a new CEO.
Back in October I sent chairman John Grant a message telling him that I was up for the job. As I’m one of the top 20 rugby League statisticians in Australia and a long term student of the game I think there is a very good chance that I’ll be announced as the new CEO.
I have a detailed plan to get the game we love back to its glory days.
Now Dave Smith did a pretty good job securing a $1.8 billion TV rights deal for the NRL, so I won’t have to worry about that stuff. And yes, the Broncos will still pretty much be on the telly every Friday night.
The audience figures they draw are one of the reasons that Channel Nine was prepared to pay so much for the rights. As CEO it will be my job to tell you all to suck that up.
However, there will be lots of changes.
Match scheduling
• There will be no 3pm games in March under my rule. Playing at Skilled Stadium in 40 degree heat or at GIO Stadium in 35 degree heat isn’t safe for players and is crap for crowds. In March no games will start before 5.30pm AEDST – that’s 4.30 pm Queensland-non-curtain-fading-time.
• All Raiders games during the Months of May until the end of August will be scheduled during the day. Except when they are playing the Cowboys, Titans or Broncos when they will play at 7.45pm in the months of June and July.
• State of Origin matches will only be played in Brisbane or Sydney. Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and New Zealand aren’t a part of that rivalry so it is ridiculous to play the games there.
• State of Origin Matches will still be played on Wednesday nights as Channel Nine loves the ratings they get. However, the matches will be during stand alone weeks where all club sides have byes. This will get rid of all that hassle trying to cover byes in our Supercoach sides during the Origin period.
Eligibility
• To stop Kiwis, Poms, Fijians, etc declaring that they are Australian so they can play in the lucrative State of Origin games – and therefore damaging the viability of international rugby league – players of all nationalities can become eligible to play for whichever state they first played in.
That is as long as they did so for three consecutive seasons first and can demonstrate that the really hate the other state. Players in this category can still represent their actual countries.
The rules of the game
• The NRL rules will be brought back into line with the international rules of the game. If we actually think a rule change is warranted, let’s discuss it with the Poms and the Kiwis first.
• There will be two sin bins available to the referees:
o a five minute bin for repeated infringements like holding down the tackled player, hands in the play the ball, offside, stripping the ball, etc
o a ten minute bin for punching (includes slapping), professional fouls that very likely stopped trys, players put on report for the second time in a game (unless a send off is warranted), etc
The referees will be expected to use these bins to speed up the game and stop negative play and cheating. Last season there were just 16 sin binnings awarded all up. In Super Rugby they often do that many in a weekend.
• The video referee will be able to overturn incorrect decisions. For example if a knock on is ruled by the on field official but the replay shows that the ball was stripped then the decision will be reversed. Conversely, if a strip is ruled and the replay shows it was just a loose carry then the penalty will be rescinded in favour of a scrum. And no, I don’t care that it takes more time. I want the right decisions made. Further, the American football games go on for four hours and I don’t hear them complaining.
• Any incident that the on field officials believe is worthy of a report will be reviewed by the bunker officials at that moment. The video referee will then decide whether the offence merits a send off, a ten minute sin binning or just a penalty with the option for the match review committee to cite the perpetrator at a later point. This will help cut down on the more reckless play and punish players and their teams immediately.
• Players blocking chasers who are trying to contest bombs will be penalised and sin binned for five minutes. While players can still hold their ground, the instant that their line is not directly towards the ball, or they make reference to chasers while positioning themselves they will be penalised and sin binned. It’s totally obvious when they do it and it must be stopped. It’s just garbage.
• The policing of underhanded tactics will be stepped up. Players slapping, grabbing genitals, twisting legs, twisting arms, putting knees into calves, thighs, etc will be penalised, placed on report and binned for ten minutes. A second occurrence will result in a send off. Video referees will be able to call back play when an incident is identified.
• Rather than trying to get the NRL ground managers to enforce the rule, team trainers for any team can be on the field as long as they want. However, their pay must be included in the salary cap.
Then there are a few other special issues that I believe must also be addressed.
1. The 2007 and 2009 premierships that were stripped from the Melbourne Storm will be officially awarded to Manly and Parramatta respectively. The clubs will receive all the relevant prize money, trophies and player rings. Just purely from my role as a statistician, having two seasons without an official premier is stupid.
The team that won was disqualified for cheating, therefore the beaten grand finalist at very least gets the title.
2. The NRL will take over the running of the Parramatta Eels club. While the running of the team will be left to Daniel Anderson and Brad Arthur, the board, CEO and all staff of management level will be purged. It is clear they can’t be left to their own devices and it is about time the long suffering Eels fans had an administration that was not in turmoil.
3. The Ipswich Jets will be brought in as the second Brisbane side. They will receive considerable salary cap concessions and financial assistance from the NRL to set up. This will include building a new stadium and training facilities for the team at North Ipswich Park.
4. Third party deals will be limited to two players per club. The NRL will recognise that the majority of the teams in the NRL cannot raise the money to counter the big money available in European and Japanese rugby – or the NFL – and will stop trying. NRL fans support teams first and foremost and players second.
5. Salary cap concessions will be introduced for juniors developed by a club. If a club develops a player from juniors then they will get salary cap concessions for a proportion of that player’s salary. That amount will grow the longer that player is with the same club. As I’ve said before, this encourages lots of junior development and involvement with league’s grass roots.
6. There will be increased support for the regional clubs and weaker clubs. As I’ve argued previously, we want a competition where every side can make a serious challenge at least once every five years.
However, The Roosters, Storm, Sea Eagles and Broncos have been almost perennial finalists, whereas the Rabbitohs, Panthers, Wests Tigers and Titans between them have only featured in 15 out of the 136 finals series positions.
This inequity is even worse when you look at the success rate of the regional clubs in the NRL: Newcastle, North Queensland and Canberra. Between them they have never won a minor premiership, only made the top four 16 per cent of the time, only made up eight per cent of grand finalists and only won two premierships (2001, 2015).
The regional sides in particular need increased salary caps to help attract players away from the metropolitan centres. The weaker metro sides could also benefit from this measure.
So there is what I intend to start the ball firmly rolling on as soon as I start. If for some strange reason I don’t get appointed to the role I expect that the new CEO will see the obvious genius of my agenda and implement it anyway.
Have I missed anything? Let me know.