Is the North American sports model the right one for the NRL to pursue?

I’m just telling you how it perceived up here. In my opinion The Giants got a free ride In the Sydney Media that year. Where as teams like Parramatta got hammered for similar on field results.

#Jimmy Cheers. I found the Hunt-Folau thing an interesting sporting experiment. In the case of Hunt - he'd already flown the coop to RU so I found it interesting the manufactured rage over him. Hunt has since come to grief off field. Folau has shown his true colours subsequently. AFL are better off without them and it was a hugely expensive exercise - - again an interesting cross code experiment but I was more interested in the initially lower profile Mike Pyke (exCanadian RUWC rep) who sought out the AFL and started with little to no fanfare. The negative flip side was it highlighted for the players how much money might be floating around that they hadn't bargained for.....so they did. That ensured less money for the AFL to look internationally. The irony over the Nathan Hindmarsh furore was that I suspect Kevin Sheedy was being a bit cheeky - but gee look at the vitriol that came back the other way - I suspect the Daily Telegraph was just itching to blow the powder keg. The other main Sheedy comment in part in jest but in part very true and a shared concern for AFL and NRL is the notion that immigration to Australia is most commonly of people for whom their idea of 'football' is soccer. Nothing new there. That's been the case for 100 years. Again - it was the faux outrage that was humorous to follow. But Sheedy can agitate and aggravate - and is part of the reason that I as a North Melb supporter do NOT like Essendon. (google marshmallows and Sheedy).

I suppose it’s all perceptions. But passing out flyers in shopping centres claiming that League isn’t real footy. Signing League players at massive overs and pursuing other on contract players. And dismissing test legends are all moves that some League fans found hostile. Certainly not as bad as comments made about the ALeague but not ideal I believe. They seem to have gone away from this to a much more community friendly model, and I particularly admire this clubs stance on the women’s game, so I’m not bashing them for the sake of it.

All this gets “more kids playing” in Australia but not worldwide. The sport is in a critical state, and NRL are the big brothers who can do something about it but won’t, everything is the bare minimum and even that is reluctantly. The sport is dying in the UK, and not growing fast anywhere. Meanwhile RU is eating up everything, even the .rugby domain name, even starting competitions like “Major League Rugby”. In the short-term the NRL and Aussie fans could care less about the rest of the world, but long-term it hurts itself. No more World Cups to take seriously, and NRL growth and revenue will reach its peak within the next decade. Then what? Australia is only 25 million people. Not 340 million like the US is, that’s a huge market for the NFL and it still airs in other countries despite nobody playing it. How is NRL planning to grow if the sport dies outside its backyard? Sell TV rights to tiny island nations and make 400k dollars a piece? Doubt they even pay that, that’s probably what Union licensing is getting. Here’s an idea, develop a Rugby Nines tournament structure similar to RU7s. Play a tournament every 2 months involving nations; all games start and finish within a single day. Then get it into the Commonwealth Games, and RL’s fortunes change overnight. Now you have countries playing it with tens or hundreds of millions in population. Who makes money from that? Everyone in RL does, but NRL does the most. They position themselves as the premiere league of RL and it’s revenue expands dramatically. Currently, NRL doesn’t even air in mainland Asia or continental Europe.

RLIF don't really push the sport anywhere to be honest. Heck, they sat back and watched while RU registered trademarks like "World Rugby" and domain names like .rugby and take joy being stepped over. RL is banned in multiple countries, always because of the local RU, the game is slowly dying in the UK. Barely on TV there. They don't really have finances to do much either. NRL and ARLC are the most powerful entity in the sport. In some regards we need them to do more. Rugby Nines should be in the Commonwealth Games. That will be a game-changer as more nations will be introduced to the sport overnight, countries that aren't mini states in the Pacific. Of course, before doing so they need to really make a case for it to be there, and that means structuring it so that Nines has it's own competition between nations much like Rugby Sevens does. This would be relatively cheap to do. The Pacific nations would take part. Games are short, and they would only be playing once a month, every two months. An entire tournament can be held and finished within daytime. In contrast you're paying far more for regular season games with far more players –in the hundreds– for 80 minute games. This will be 18 minutes.

People pay attention to the FIFA World Cup more than anything, the viewing numbers speak for themselves. Entire nations, not just the ones involved in the game, but even nations who aren't in the tournament become empty in their streets to watch games. Half the soccer viewing public don't pay attention to regional tournaments apart from their own neck of the woods. Only someone delusional would put more importance behind a regional title.

#Jimmy I gather the public areas - stands - are dry zones. Puts a dampener on things. So you can only get served alcohol in the corporate tents and gotta stay there to consume it......and as a neutral you'd need to be topped up to enjoy Port v Suns over there!! Just for my benefit - what were some of the "hostile moves towards the NRL and it's fans". I'm curious.

The offside rule is critical to rugby, if you took away the offside players would spread and even if they cant pass it forward they can kick and it would become like AFL or gaelic football. Mob football would have been like rugby but only because with hundreds involved they pack out the area within kicking distance, rather than the rules stopping them. The most plausible explanation not having an offside rule is that AFL is based on the field football that pre dated the offside rule so AFL was similiar to games played around the 15th-19th centuries and before crossbars were invented as well. Another misconception is people believe Ireland was the only one playing these style of game because they ended up with Gaelic football, it would have been the same in England. Yes in rugby it useed to be a try only let you attempt a free shot at goal from the same line that you scored, even more evidence that rugby is derived from AFL style field football games, because in mob football all you needed was to get it to the other side of the village to win the game. I dont think you watch a lot of rugby there are a number of times you have teams score a single try and 8-10 penalty goals.

Maybe the crowd in China need to learn the concept of having a drink at your seat while you watch the game. The Giants made some pretty hostile moves towards the NRL and it’s fans early on, I much prefer their approach these days of community engagement. I’m not sure Football and League fans in the west will forget so easily.

#Jimmy I've been to enough events to know that the proximity to and location of the bar for the ex-pats is the most important factor!! Seriously though - the Port Adelaide are the driving force behind these games via David Koch and others seeing the international trade/business opportunities. The fact that the Victorian minister was keen for a Vic side to go over (St Kilda doing so this year) to help structure a Vic delegation around it - illustrates that there is a sense of worth about the exercise. Beyond that I don't know much. The NRL and the Giants - that was interesting watching play out. The Daily Telegraph and Roy Masters in the SMH had a field day. I felt at the time they were missing the point - that the AFL weren't in battle with the NRL but with the FFA/A-League. The NRL media cheerleaders perhaps though were helping try to rally the NRL cause via portraying the AFL as enemy #1 but in reality to firm up the defenses for the real first against soccer (the real enemy #1 on the ground in Sydney and West Sydney in particular). Surely they've moved on since then?

That US model comparison isn’t really fair just because there’s no uniform US model. NBA, NHL and MLB have affiliates where non playing squad do ply their trade.

I’m not sure I buy that line about the China game being a success with only 10, 000 tickets sold I’m sure it’s a lovely outing but I feel you’re just reading me the AFLs PR line but I don’t know the intricacies so I may be wrong. I’m not sure the NRL will want to work together with the AFL after the beating it took during the Giants year of inception.

#Jimmy The AFL game in China isn't about the crowds in the stands....it's more like a 'trade show' going on down on the ground in the marquees (where the alcohol is served!!). Success in this match will look different to most other matches!!! The AFL has the opportunity to throw some serious money and effort into the Pacific - the foundations have been laid. I just don't think the AFL know what the next step is. They have a tendency to dabble a little here and there without making overly rock solid commitments. The AFL South Pacific pathway has been running for 10 or so years now - Tonga for example won the tournament in 2009 and the senior squad that came to the 2011 IC tournament was pretty well the squad that had competed in 2009. But what next? The star player (Peni Mahina) has been living in Sydney pretty well since then - and playing with Campbelltown (B&F in 2015 and played his 100th game for them in 2018). He's a lovely fellow. A very good player but at 6 foot he's in competition with many, many players for the higher level. The Pacific breeds a lot of fellows of ideal build for the Rugby codes. The AFL aren't crying out for such body types. It's the quality athletic talls that are always sought after - by the AFL, basketball and cricket as fast bowlers. This is where the NRL and AFL could potentially work together in the Pacific. It'll never happen.

#Train Without A Station Ah - I did limit my commentary to the Victorian clubs - alas, the VFL is butchering the old and historic VFA (from which the 1897 VFL was a break-away). Certainly - it's far from a move to a national reserve grade and I'm not envisaging that any time soon. Certainly the costs of such were prohibitive and there was a time where my club - North Melbourne - couldn't afford to have their full compliment of 'rookies' whilst affiliated with Port Melbourne and famously missed out on Aaron Davey. My assertion was more around the club structure that has been returned to - as compared to a stand alone 'franchise' elite squad. The US model of farming the squad out to the 'minor leagues' - well - in this case the Vic based AFL clubs are running a 'minor league' team as their '2nds' however have little real benefit regarding the non senior listed players other than getting to know them.

I think the Australian Football would like to have the same sort of inroads as RL is having in the Pacific although it doesn’t seem to be a huge priority for The governing body. The AFL appears to be trying to emulate the NFL’s annual game abroad (usually in London) concept with its China fixture with Port Adelaide. Not sure it’s as successful though.

Rugby is evolving too - the kick off is not far off being a 50/50 option as teams are skilled at kicking and winning possession.

"How many players are chosen for All Star games and pull out for “injury” reasons" looks like that Darwinian evolution phenom called 'convergent evolution' where similar conditions in places with no contact with each other influenced the development of similar characteristics in otherwise quite distinctly different species. V-AFL players 'pulling out' of State-of-Origin games 'for injury reasons' became so rife in the 1990s that these games now look to be extinct; the same to a lesser degree is quite common in the GAA/AFL hybrid series, even though rostered at the end of each other's premiership season. Priorities rule, OK!

The world cup is barely worth more than a single year of the champions league - let-a-lone a four year cycle

I think you’ve got it the wrong way on the AFL. For cost reasons the AFL removed the obligation for the auxiliary teams. For High Performance and player management reasons, many AFL clubs are looking to have their own standalone VFL teams because as a VFL team it has minimal additional cost, for complete control of their players when they are there. It’s not an attempt to move back to a national reserve grade.

#Brainstrust Ice hockey is a nice example too of neutral restarts. The reality is that most of the individual concepts predate all the organised games. It's the way it's bundled together. The presence of absence of 'off-side' is an oddity. To my mind it's the difference between a defensively geared rule book and a game more about scoring to win. The irony of which is that soccer has retained it and to this day has too high a ratio of low score drawn and even nil score matches. The Rugby codes via their more advanced methodology found it so hard to score goals that they gave up and made the touch down/run in/try the major score and the kicking a goal becomes an after thought. So - yes - Australian Football is somewhat unique - it's still about kicking (actually kick, as distinct to soccer - scoring) a goal (the major objective - 'goal' - of the attacking team). Yep ..... there's evolution and devolution.