The NRC: The best rugby you're probably not watching

Be honest, you haven't actually watched a single game of the NRC have you. You're just trading off old and tired stereotypes of the game. You're clearly a League fan who for some reason thinks he needs to comment on something he knows nothing about.

The NRC is possibly the biggest joke in sport. 6 points for a try and the "pick and drive" and set and reset scrums. The backs are catching a cold. It is painful to watch and not worth putting on Fox Sports. I'm sorry to say but no one is going to the NRC and it is little wonder why. Compare this rubbish to the Cowboys vs Broncos league match.

They are not London Wasps anymore. Merely Wasps.

The London Wasps play in Coventry in the Aviva Premiership. There are three or four 'New York' teams based in New Jersey in American sports. The Wests Tigers play in Leichardt. Pretty sure the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs play their home games at ANZ which is in Homebush. The Fremantle Dockers play out of Patterson Studium in Subiaco. The Rams may not be at the same level as all the above but their situation os hardly unique. Christ, the Greater Sydney Giants play home games in Canberra.

I'm still laughing at the Rams changing their name from Greater Sydney to Western Sydney. Who are they kidding ? They play an Eastern Suburbs / Lower North Shore game based out of Concord, just think about that for a second.

Yes they should pay back the nzru for propping them up.

Take all them special visa players out of our teams and we won't have any competitive ones.

You have to find an Australian Torrent site for sports. I'm in the US and have to watch all my sport this way. It usually takes a day (sometimes two) for them to get posted. Just have to stay off the Aussie news sites and not catch the results.

Most importantly clubs need to recognize that it is in their interests. Players who are kept in Australia due to being paid by the NRC are available to clubs. Players that go overseas for the opportunity to play professionally are not.

The thing is being paid for the NRC enables them to train at elite level outside of the NRC period.

I agree. Perhaps in regards to the NSW franchises part of signing with them is a commitment to playing for one of their feeder clubs during the club season. That they can further playing and training opportunities throughout most of the year.

They do, but they also need to be very careful to retain the link with Premier rugby. They need to commercialise specifically to pay players and improve coaching, but not just for eight weeks a year. The coaching and full time training should be happening throughout the year, even while those players turn out for the Premier clubs that own the team and program. It is how the top amateur clubs should link to the professional game without going over the top and crippling themselves.

I haven't listened to 230 yet but I really did enjoy hearing the opinion of someone not only intimately involved in the NRC but also someone who have vast experience as both a player and coach at the Premier Club level. He is very clear that he see's the NRC as the way forward and that the clubs and the ARU need to really look to develop it commercially.

Just on this line of conversation. I've just finished listening to Green and Gold Rugby podcasts 228 and 230. They both have great discussions about this and put some facts in real context. In 228, former Super Rugby player the Shute Shield stalwart as well as Shute Shield Coach, NRC former coach and current administrator Peter Playford talks about the importance of the NRC and the limitations of club rugby in lieu of it. Won't be popular with many Shute Shield fossils. But what would a former professional player who played about a decade of Shute Shield know? One point Playford brings up is the payment that NPC players get in NZ. It basically allows them to be full time professionals. The more I think about it, the more I think this is the difference between Aus and NZ. Australia generally competes well at Schoolboy level. When it gets to U20s this declines and then declined further at Wallaby level. What's the difference between the Australian U20s and NZ? On the surface not much. Seems to be similar Super Rugby representation, etc. But when you look closer, how many NZ U20s are not playing NPC, being paid and as a result of that, training full time? Suddenly half the Aus team or more is well behind. Why does NZ keep producing great players? Because where outside the EPS Super Rugby contracts which are now around $50k, nobody is getting paid, and therefore only those that don't need to support themselves can train full time with teams. In NZ there's almost twice as many players due to NPC that are training and developing like full time professionals. The NPC contracts range from $18k to $60k. Guys can actually earn a full time living only playing NPC. The other point was attendance. Club rugby has 100 years of history and multiple grades of current and former players. How many people are attending club rugby that didn't play for that team? It's easier support to tap into, but it still holds almost zero appeal outside of that group. The only attachment NRC attendees have is being NRC and rugby fans. Therefore it opens the opportunity to so many more potential fans being attracted for the same reason.

Well, this was last season but perhaps, the more I consider it perhaps not the surprising to be fair.

She must not read her emails because the Rebels have certainly emailed me about the Rising season this year.

Anyone who doesn't understand the need for an NRC are seemingly unable to accept the idea if 'distillation' , it's as simple as that . The NRC provides blokes with tough matches each and every week unlike the Sydney, Brisbane or ACT comps , let alone Perth etc. It 'distils' the best out of each of these comps to a better comp with higher standards that can only produce better players . The NRC is shaping up as a great pathway and comp in it's own right , the tribalism aspect is missing for the moment but it will come in time. NRC doubters seem to me like Climate Change Deniers , they think it's sexy to argue against sound logic.

Yes, I can imagine. Last October actually, happened to be in Melbourne for work and was hopeful of taking in the Thursday game but unfortunately commitments did not allow. Anyhow, was talking with a colleague in our Melbourne office, turned out she was a Rebels member so naturally I enquire if she was heading into the Rising game. She genuinely had no idea what I was talking about! Very odd to me being a Rebels member.

BBL also enables CA to fund the Sheffield Shield which does not make enough money to support itself any more. Sheek loves to bang on about tradition, etc. but ignores that you need to make money somewhere along the line to preserve it. If its not from the traditional element it needs to be somewhere else to support the traditional element. Until athletes go back to playing for free, most of Sheek's points are irrelevant.

This season the coverage has improved in terms of both broadcast and presentation. Two games are on shown on Fox while the other two are now streamed by Fox itself as opposed to farming it out in previois seasons. Hopefully in the near future well see all the games make the jump to Fox Sports proper.