NRC annual survey reveals Players Player nominees and interesting stats on the competition

But that was the point in shortening the club season to allow enough time for players to transition from one to the other. Creating a clear pathway. Club Rugby - NRC - Super Rugby - Wallabies. The prospect of the Sydney grade clubs wanting to extend their season will muddle the patgway up. As far as I am concerned if true the the ARU should definitely not provide any help in regards to FTA funding. Frankly, if they didn't have the money in the first place they shouldn't have made the damn deal.

It is great that the Shute Shield is on FTA and Rugby should do all it can to continue that. The deal done by the SRU means that they have to pay $450K to the Fordhams for the privilege of showing it on FTA in 2017, money the SRU clearly doesn't have and will expect someone else to pay for. There's no reason why all competitions can't coexist for everyone's benefit. Club Rugby in NZ has finished at a time to accommodate their provincial competition for years. It makes sense from a pathway perspective that once Test Rugby starts Super Rugby should step up a level for Tests, and Club Rugby should step up to NRC. NRC should start the same weekend as the first Bledisloe. It's not a threat to Club Rugby, it gives players, coaches and administrators the chance to perform at the next level which can deliver benefits to Club Rugby when those personnel return to their clubs. Why does our great game eat itself in this country? It is really for those of us that love it and want to see more people playing and enjoying what is a great sport.

Brett, I agree there would be an element of that, but there will also be an element of protecting their income resources. I am not privy to the information and disagree with overlapping comps, but not all motivations would be negatively driven. I agree with Geoff above that cooperation between all parties is required, the NRC is the correct model below Super Rugby, but that doesn't mean that other levels should be totally neglected.

Hi Geoff, I haven't spoken to anyone recently, but when i was involved it was about maintaining an income. Budgets are tight between incoming and outgoings with either a small profit or loss each year. It doesn't take too much to throw this out. So losing a few home games each year, or unfriendly scheduling will have an impact. I am all for the NRC and the two comps can not overlap, but I doubt the only reason is due to spite, even if there could be an element of that from some parties. I applaud debate on this matter, but I can't stand the blind bashing of one competition as it affects a lot of good, innocent people.

That's correct. Why can't the two comps co-exist? I don't see a problem. No SS club is going to force any of its players into an us or them situation. If your best players are selected for the NRC, you wish them well and bring up a few Second Graders.

over 30% of households have foxtel The 300k spent by the aru dug the clubs out of a self inflicted contractual mess. They should not give them anymore. The supporters could go and watch the NRC instead of twiddling their fingers. Shute shield could just join the subbies comp and then their competitions can keep running. Of course that would open up the closed shop to promotion and relegation.

I've watched the Shute Shield since I was at least 12. So we're talking about at least 18 years. Every Saturday at 3pm. Enjoyed it. But am a huge fan of the NRC. Why? Because I'm a Rugby fan first and foremost and only want what's best for the game and that is the NRC. As for the Shute Shield being the only Rugby on FTA. Well, this season that was largely thanks to the $300,000 the ARU kicked in to ensure it remained so. Something I think the ARU would be more than justified in cutting off if the clubs are actually trying this.

Yeah, I think the NRC would win if it came to a head. But it's terrible that (some of) the SS clubs would even try. I'm hoping it's just a rumour, or misinformation. It doesn't serve the good of the players or the rest of Oz rugby.

The players chosen for NRC will still prefer to play NRC rather than shute shield. All it means is the best players wont be available for shute shield finals.

Brett, Having been part of a Shute Shield club I can in all honesty say that, yes, yes they do.

That's pretty much spot on, WCR. The Rays are a joint partnership between the four north shore clubs, while Parra-Penrith-Wests-Souths hold (5%) shares of the Rams. Sydney Uni are invested into the NSW Country partnership now (25%, is my understanding), while Easts and Randwick are part of it too, but downgraded pretty much to player supply. And that's the same arrangement Eastwood have with the Rams, though it might not even be formalised per se. It'll surprise no-one that Eastwood's status within the Rams has always been a little loose and underwhelming...

Absolutely agree. I'm thrilled to see Jono Lance joining the Wallabies in France, too. Thoroughly deserved..

I absolutely agree with your point Rebel, but it's hard to see the move, if true, as being anything other than aggressive and/or provocative. And unnecessary, for that matter. I mean seriously, do the clubs genuinely think a player will knock back the opportunity to play at a higher level?

My understanding is that they clubs behind the Rays are all in with the NRC concept and the Rams amd Eagles are largely privately run. But if, and I will wait for confirmation on this, the Shute Club Presidents have voted to compete with the NRC then first, they've lost me as a viewer and second the ARU just needs to sat. If you want to develop and progress as a player within Australia it's the NRC or nothing. Contrary to what many of the clubbies would like to assume the players at the elite end are chasing opportunity and will do so accrdingly. Which would leave the Shute Shield's final weeks as a poor imitation.

If true, that's an absolute disgrace! It's only because they can smell the NRC beginning to take off.

"...for no other reason than out of spite toward the NRC and a fear that their relevance is being eroded." Really? That's a pretty spiteful assumption on your part, I would say. The Sydney clubs have done nothing BUT compromise when it comes to the NRC, the "third tier" competition that we had to have, according to the ARU. It was thrust upon us with little warning, the franchises from NSW expected to be self-funding, ie: with no financial assistance from the ARU or the NSWRU, unlike the teams from other states which are basically Super Rugby sides and thus partially, at least, financially supported by the ARU. These are significant costs for sponsors - about $400,000 per team per year, a huge undertaking for the NSW Country Eagles, Sydney Rays and Western Sydney Rams to achieve each year. We were told that we had to shorten the Intrust Super Shute Shield season so that the NRC teams could prepare for their competition, and then we were told that we had to shorten the season again for 2016. One of the questions in the quoted NRC player survey referred to the adequacy of preparation time, so you can be pretty sure that we'll be asked to shorten the season yet again for 2017 to give the NRC teams more time to train together. Our Grand Final was on August 6 this year, a full month earlier than previous years. What about a thought for all the players, supporters and sponsors of club rugby who are expected to sit and twiddle their thumbs for the rest of August and September as all other football competitions, including Subbies, continue? All Premier Sydney clubs field four Grade and three Colts teams - that's a whole lot of players for whom the season is over so that a minority of elite players can continue in the NRC. I'm not anti-NRC. It does have its place; players are being noticed who probably wouldn't be otherwise and the standard of rugby this year was fantastic, but it's unfair that the Shute Shield clubs continue to be marginalised to support the NRC. There's no reason why our season can't continue until September - lower graders will step up to fill the few positions caused by NRC selections, club rugby sponsors get more exposure and the fan base of club rugby (which is much larger than that of the NRC) gets to see more rugby from their favourite clubs. Another telling point is that the Intrust Super Shute Shield is the ONLY rugby shown on free-to-air TV these days, which everybody seems to agree is a very important issue for the ARU to address. There's an awful lot of young blokes out there who won't play rugby union because they don't see it on the telly. How can they have rugby heroes if they're not seeing anybody play the game? This reason alone would be a good one for the Shute Shield season to extend its season. By the way, viewing numbers for the Intrust Super Shute Shield games on Ch 7TWO this year were better than the ABC's of previous years, and much, much bigger than the NRC's on Fox. Why? Because only 10-15% of households have cable or satellite TV. So rather than just being spiteful and selfish, as you suggest, perhaps the Shute Shield club presidents are fighting hard to give the rugby community what it wants and preserving and promoting a vital part of the grassroots division of our sport. God knows, someone has to do it. If the ARU continues to think that the game is only about two hundred or so professional players, it won't be long before they won't be able to find two hundred players of professional standard.

Thanks for the write-up Jake... all very interesting stuff!

Totally agree G... it's a very tasty bunch of fives eh! Dare we pick the winner? Mine is Simone... but geez they're all smashing candidates. Would yours be Jono perchance?? :)

Just on those nominations for the player's award, what a great set. That's exactly the 5 I would have chosen, with Sam Figg unluckiest to miss out. Let's hope we see plenty of all of them in super rugby.

I'd be interested to hear what those other reasons might be though rebel? Are they trying to force players into choosing between staying with their Shute Shield clubs or the NRC? Or trying to get the ARU to say that it's all too hard and to shut down the NRC? The bodies have to work together to make this work. But if there isn't co-operation (and this if it is true, doesn't look like it), and it does come to a showdown, where it can only be one or the other, it's hard to see the winner being the Shute Shield.