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.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
Referees getting overruled all the time is a big sore point with me. As far as I am concerned, Melbourne won those two grand finals.
Dean - Surry Hills
Guest
Kaks - playing origin in Melbourne brings a crowd that disproportionately hates NSW with as much passion as when they're being played in Brisbane. It's without doubt another home game for Quennsland, and should not be classed as a neutral venue.
The Barry
Roar Guru
I'd fallen asleep by the time he got to the point of liking the article.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Each to their own I guess fellas. I consider my tips seriously but I don't attach that much importance to it that I let it affect my enjoyment of the game...I've seen too many people who admit to no knowledge of rugby league win tipping comps to take it seriously. Unless I'm winning, of course ! As for supercoach, I still prefer talking about players in terms of their overall skill level rather than the points they deliver at supecoach. But the two aren't at mutually exclusive. There's very few 'dud' players that end up becoming supercoach stars. Good players are usually good supercoach players and vice versa - although there are some exceptions. Supercoach just quantifies their statistical contribution. Rather than taking away any enjoyment of the game - I find it gives me another level of the game to enjoy. I'd recommend it to everyone, although it's definitely not for everyone. It's hard work at times but it's a lot of fun.
Tim Gore
Expert
I'm not sure CH96. It's an issue I'm totally unaware of.
Tim Gore
Expert
Wow Von, you really take a lot of time with your responses. Thanks for the feedback.
JoC
Guest
Why not Bruce stadium?
MAX
Guest
There are some highly intelligent contributors at the Roar whose works are a delight to absorb and better than most offerings in our newspapers. The above is why peter bloor has claims to being dux of class.
Ismo Seppänen
Roar Rookie
You would get more viewers!
Ismo Seppänen
Roar Rookie
Not sure, do any RL teams recruit directly from the islands? I guess the PNG contingent is so high as they selected a lot of their players from their QLD Cup side. Perhaps eventually, and I know travel and money is the issue, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, could john the 2nd tier competitions.
Von Neumann
Roar Guru
They will not change these things because all told they add to the competition; none of them are ideal as such, but nothing ever is really. If all TPA's are maxed thats an extra 10 million (approx/under) thats coming into player payments. Just several years ago people lamented the game could not harness its extra earning potential, and now we are here people are complaining. I like this article. Good food for thought. About TPA's, I see a lot of complaints now. Maybe those complaints have good causes and good intentions behind them. But if we take a step back and look at the whole picture the game is better off for such payments like TPA's than without them. If anything they need to make stricter guidelines/transparency around them, however if they are tampered with too much they will become restricted and defeat their purpose. One of the big benefits of a TPA is that a sponsor can use the player for promotional/beneficial purposes. Its not only about money - this is not free money either. The game does not need a situation where its being restricted in this area (services from players to outside the game AND in earning capacity). The whole mechanic behind TPA's is that it allows and inflow into the game where before there were none due to a harsh and hard salary cap. __ As for a second brisbane team, it needs to come and the sooner the better. I dont agree with origin not being taken to wider Australia. What a massive lost opportunity that would be. I would have hoped by now those premierships were already awarded to the runners up. Seems like a simple tweak. __ I like the sin-bining tweak. I have even suggested similar in the past. Mine is two fold, for undoubted flexibility while maintaining some structure for consistency. Tim, yours could work. Mine was due to grubby players not playing in the spirit of the game. Something like 2 warnings on something equals one official warning, then 2 official warnings see's him get a yellow and in the bin. That probably would never go any further, surely a player would pull himself into line (and don't forget right now the coaches will grub-it-up for advantage;; which is my whole point on this - a little bit is good to overcome, shows character - but too much will restrict a teams skill and tactics, dumbing the game down, so to find a balance this would be it. And of course once a yellow card is awarded, the ref can at his discretion (and following no further official warnings then-on) send the player off with another yellow card. This would come out. If however, the player does something heinous or like Tim, you mention in the article, it could be a direct yellow. ^^ So on that, I am all for players trying to push the limits, go hard or go home attitude, go for it, but in fairness we don't sin bin enough players when they overstep bounds; its like the refs are afraid of it. __ See, with many things, and Tim you are on the money here with the clear attitude of what you want to allow and what you don't want to allow ....such with many things, we need to embrace it. We need to embrace the fact some players will do grubby, cheaty kinds of things, and they may get away with it, but they may also be pulled up for it too. We need more sin bins. We may not call them yellow/red cards (but I think we should, our sport being a rugby has them overseas in all forms and throughout history) we should have them back. So be it, let games be decided with 12 men on the paddock. Mix it up. The only other thing I would do here, perhaps, it may not be required/wanted/desired, is to send off a player until the other team scores or ten minutes. Thats up for debate, but the former suggestion I made and the one in the article, I would implement immediately. We need to empower the laws of the game and the men in the middle who police them. And as such, once good systems are in place (including the bunker) then the law can be unto itself and not be seen as outside influences from admin and the crowd, player special pleading, man handling, ect, influencing it. __ I think origin needs to be untouched in regards to players' origination for now. When they change it should be when the international calendar ramps up. And I also think in 10 years we will almost certainly change up the laws. They come across as largely organic right now, and this is good. I dont think we need to open up origin to all and sundry. I simply think we need to promote international football better, and start proper leagues for selection and development in those countries who want to play international league. I can't for the life of me work out why more countries dont have at least semi-reasonable leagues. The big issue here is not every nation wanting to play origin here in australia, its every nation wanting to play in the nrl in order to be even noticed, and australian based/born/bred players all lining up in a 'world' cup. They should be aiming to do what rugby has done, and they need to dedicate money from events like origin and finals to international football. Profit from world cups is not going to be enough. They need to say they'll throw 5 years of such profits (at some point in the near future + as much as only is needed) into a kitty used to develop international rugby league on top of international proceeds. So the funds would serve dual purposes, the current ones (propping up nrl clubs for example) and new international ones. They need to essentially take their inward looking weaknesses and redirect them outwards; so the inward parts are starved and settle, and the outward parts that are undergrown may grow. Such leagues overseas need insurance and things like that. Give it 10 years of this policy, and they would come along in leaps and bounds is my best guess. Good article.
Quarter flounder
Guest
God no. Keep Jones, Hadley and Rothfield as far away from everything and everyone as possible. At least Gould played the game. The other three only play with themselves.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
Leeds, Canterbury, Roosters and Melbourne seem pretty well run too. I think Brisbane have a few legitimate advantages over other clubs in Australia, for sure, but I don't think that that should be held against them.
MikeTV
Guest
Should individual tries and goals be scrapped for "stats purposes" ? Billy Slater needs 40 tries to beat Ken Irvine's record. He scored one try in the 2009 Grand Final. Should that be scrapped ?
Bronco Juggernaut
Guest
The Broncos are easily the best run/most professional rugby league club in the world. You are delusional if you don't think that's the case.
Birdy
Guest
Agree Geoff the Bruce , After years if tipping comps I found I didn't care about the game so much as the result. Even my own team winning when I tipped against them was a major frustration. Got what I deserved I suppose. I thought about the roar tipping this year but no . Glad I left it too late.
Birdy
Guest
Cruel Epi .
Birdy
Guest
Jay C is always a good read . Must have gone back to the frozen north.or he's in his dog house. Maybe for the better. Imagine the bronco articles he'd be pumping out.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Guest
Like most of what you've said Tim. I think you add another - penalising blokes who simply lose the ball at the play the ball and look around in shock that an opposition player dislodged it. How many times do you see it? Players losing it stone cold with a poor attempt at playing the ball and somehow they get rewarded with a penalty. I hate it. It frustrates me. Make the bludgers pay! Love your idea of a second Brisbane idea. I've been barking on it for ages. It would certainly help dilute the Broncos Brisbane monopoly predicament. And like others have said I'm not advocating destroying the Broncos just levelling the playing field for all NRL clubs. Not sure about the salary concession idea for juniors concept now that the Raiders have ditched the idea of fostering junior development - might get them thinking about it again though. The 5 pm at the latest kick off in March is a no brainer - the 3 pm starts at Bruce Stadium in the past 2 weeks have been a killer both for the Raiders and visiting teams. Further food for thought - I'm not sure the time constraints on scrums and restarts after kicks in goal are working. All its managed to achieve is get teams to wind down the clock to the last millisecond. Another example of the adaptability of the human mind to maximise gains from changes in the rules. What economists love to call unintended consequences. I still haven't got a handle on TPAs. Is there a limit on how much clubs can access using these deals? If not what is the point of the salary cap? According to the NRL.com website In 2006, the NRL introduced an allowance for players who enter into Third Party Agreements with club sponsors, referred to as Marquee Player Agreements. In 2014 (its a bit dated), the Top 25 players are allowed to earn up to a maximum $600,000 in Marquee Player Agreements but the total payments under these agreements must not exceed $600,000 per club, otherwise any excess amounts are included in the salary cap. Someone needs to nail how much clubs can spend on TPAs and what they are actually spending on TPAs
Chris
Guest
Traditional club's should not go or die but instead play in a league down or semi pro league.I would love to see a strong NSW/QLD/Newcastle and Illawarra comps.