- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
In Round 26, all eight NRL games should be played at the same time. With one match to play, top four and top eight positions are still on the line, as is the wooden spoon, meaning simultaneous games is the fairest way to finish the season.
The money Channel Nine and Fox Sports pay for their TV rights means this happening anytime soon seems highly unlikely. Despite this, the NRL should look at working this into the next TV deal. Possibly all games being played on Sunday at 2pm.
What an event it would become. Households would have the ability to switch between games to ride home the results their teams need, while live sports venues would be able to telecast multiple games at once.
The main reason that this should be looked at is fairness.
Parramatta and Cronulla are both battling for one top-four spot – important as no team from outside the four has ever lifted the premiership on the first Sunday in October. If Parra beat the Rabbitohs on Friday night, then the spot is theirs and Cronulla will be looking to then hold onto fifth. A Parra loss gives the Sharks the opportunity to leap frog into fourth.
Four teams are also battling for the final three spots in the top eight. The Dragons will go into their game on Sunday afternoon knowing that a win will guarantee them a spot (unless Manly and Penrith draw the night before). North Queensland cop the worst deal of all, as a loss to Brisbane on Thursday sees them nervously relying on other results across the weekend. A big loss, and Manly and Penrith will know exactly what they can lose by to ensure they still play September football.
They shouldn’t have the right to have that luxury, and it would be eliminated with all games being played simultaneously.
This goes even further, with several teams keen on securing home games for the first week of the finals.
Finally, the wooden spoon is still on the line. A Knights upset win over Cronulla will see the Tigers go into their Sunday night game with a margin that they must not lose by to avoid the dreaded award. Again, it’s a scenario that shouldn’t be available to the joint venture.
This is no original idea, as the English Premier League employs this method, proving associations can negotiate in the best interests of their game and not be held to what is best for television networks.
And who can forget the final day of the 2011-12 season, when Manchester City scored two stoppage-time goals to clinch their first Premier League title? It was described by some in the media as the greatest moment in Premier League history.
That is some of the excitement we could look forward to if we adopted the same approach and had eight games on one day at one time.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.