Aussie rugby talk 'over the top': McKellar

Excellent - you want to talk TV ratings. Well straight from the horses mouth, so to speak, are the 2017 annual ratings from Roy Morgans. Here's the link - http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/7508-top-sport-tv-viewing-december-2017-201803020101. What did they find, well in order of viewing numbers it goes on a sliding scale: Sports measured for TV viewing by Roy Morgan: • Over 5 million TV viewers. o Olympic Games, o AFL: AFL Pre-season, AFL Regular season, AFL Finals, AFL Grand Final, AFL Women’s, o Commonwealth Games, o Cricket: Test match cricket, One-Day international cricket, Twenty20 Cricket/ Big Bash Cricket, o NRL: NRL Regular season, NRL Finals, NRL Grand Final, NRL – State of Origin, o Tennis: Australian Open, Other Tennis, Horse Racing: Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate, Golden Slipper, Other Horse Racing, o Motor Racing: Bathurst 1000, V8 Supercars, Formula 1 car racing, Motorcycle racing, Rally car racing, Drag racing, IndyCar racing, Other car racing. • Between 1-5 million TV viewers. o Soccer: FIFA World Cup, A-League, English Premier League, Other Soccer, o Cycling, o Rugby Union: Rugby World Cup, Rugby Union Internationals, Super Rugby, o Swimming, o Golf, o Basketball: NBA, NBL, Women’s Basketball/WNBL, Netball, o Athletics – track and field, Boxing, Winter Sports: Figure skating, Snow skiing/Snowboarding. • Under 1 million TV viewers. American Football/NFL, Surfing, Gymnastics, Professional Wrestling/WWE, Lawn bowls, Iron Man contests, American baseball/MLB, Horse riding/Equestrian, Greyhound racing, Trotting/Harness racing, Snooker/Billiards/Pool, Marathons/Running, Triathlons and Sailing. And guess what genius - no ice hockey, and nfl & nba are both behind RU. Who's laughing now? In terms of viewing numbers here's another reality check for ya: Fox Sports is reporting a four per cent ratings uplift after eight rounds and a three per cent rise for Australian home games (for Super Rugby). in 2018, and frankly that's all I care about.

lol, more people are watching nfl, ice hockey and nba in Australia alone (yes, Australia) then are watching rugby in Aus. You know how we know this, it's called tv ratings, maybe check out mediaweek on twitter to see the dismal numbers rugby gets. You will also see that your so called 'aussie perspective' is a significant minority compared to the number of people watching NRL and AFL. That's the only reality check here.

Thanks for the clarification. Makes you wonder about the content of those courses?

You have to do all these coaching courses to coach club rugby that the ra organise .

Win a game you joke

Well named Ignoramus. Nothing interesting happening on your sports page? For the record I never watch NFL or Ice Hockey though I do concede that they get a lot of support in North America and probably get watched there more than any of the other sports you have mentioned. Something to do with population numbers. From an Aussie perspective I hardly ever watch "count to 5 & kick" or "Victorian Handball", and I discuss Rugby Union with my mates. As most of the sports mentioned won't ever play a NZ team, and hence saving themselves the embarrassment of a loss, your final question is irrelevant. There's your reality check.

It's almost Fawlty Towers. 'Don't mention the 38. I did once but I think I got away with it.'

The Dregs?

Everyone is either watching the AFL, NRL and the hipsters the soccer. Noone watches or discusses rugby union in Australia. More people are watching NFL or ice hockey than union. There is your reality check coach. When was the last time your team beat a NZ team too?

Only way Australia Super Rugby teams are going to win is through getting foreign talent but that is being phased out, not that it was really a thing. Australian teams are not going to win much in the future. The occasional game but I would be very confident of at least a 10 to 1 loss/win ratio for the very long term. Probably much worse. We're not going to win with homegrown talent. New Zealand has more players, playing in better youth competitions and better coached, especially at youth and club level. Great to see McKellar optimistic but optimism doesn't change reality.

Not sure what you mean by coaching red tape - it seems to me that his comments about games going either way are very naive. This points to a basic lack of rugby nous. Robbie Dean's will be shaking his head at the inability of any Australian team to play what's in front of them. That I think is the fundamental issue - a lack of vision and direction from RA in establishing a framework for the way the game should be played.

The coaching red tape is another major ra caused issue.

totally agree John this guy is as clueless as the team he coaches

Win a game. Will it get to 100-0, will then ra do something then .

+1

An Aussie team is bound to win against the Kiwis at some point. This run has been rather dreadful for Australia though. We're not setting the world alight in South Africa, but if we had that record I can't imagine what the sentiment would be here.

Works for me. I was thinking maybe like Rudderless, but it's too many syllables aye.

Deads, Dreads

He has to justify their position but all but the reds are getting worst. Until we address the lack of rugby nurseries and declined club comps talking about improvement is a dream.

Coaching is the single biggest issue and RA culls Force to save $. Done it again Clyne or should I say clown.