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Seven steps to save the NRL

18th August, 2019
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Roar Guru
18th August, 2019
78
1632 Reads

In the NRL, we love to watch the game – 80 minutes in which we can just watch the contest.

I love football and I have my whole life. At the end of the day, we go for different teams but we have the same passion for the game.

However, we have got far too much inconsistency and it’s driving people away. We have seen a decrease in both TV ratings and crowd attendance and something needs to be done.

I have got a lot of ideas of what needs to be done. No, it’s not bringing back the Bears or dumping Manly. However, there’s a bit more to it along these lines.

1. Merge Sydney sides
Simple logic – Penrith, Parramatta and the Wests Tigers can own the Western Sydney Suburbs together, with six home games at Penrith and BankWest each.

Fun fact: the Balmain Tigers were supposed to merge with the Parramatta Eels to form the Parramatta Tigers but that didn’t happen due to controversial circumstances.

St George Illawarra and Cronulla – the two teams south of Sydney’s CBD – can claim the region and share it together.

We’ve got too many Sydney teams.

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2. Add expansion clubs
Introduce teams for Perth, Adelaide, Central Coast and a second NZ outfit. Simply put, common sense.

3. Drop the Bunker
I have seen so many tries that should have been awarded and vice versa. It is absolutely ridiculous and I just cannot believe what I’ve been seeing over the last few years.

4. End protected species
You see certain players who get away with everything. I just don’t understand it. It’s like the refs are just too scared to penalise them.

Back in the days of the greats like Andrew Johns, Darren Lockyer and Peter Sterling, if they breached the rules, they’d be penalised straight away.

5. Bring back the shoulder charge and the biff
These players have got a lot of aggression and firepower in them, so just let them have it.

I get the idea is to make the code safer for children, but if that was the case, then there would be no boxing, UFC, MMA or WWE. State of Origin is not the same without the biff.

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6. Scrap TPAs
There’s a salary cap for a reason and now the richer clubs use TPAs to get an advantage. It’s wrong!

7. Clean out the entire NRL board
They have no idea what they’re doing. They are not doing anything to fix the decline of attendance. You’ve got Peter Beattie, who can’t tell the difference between a Newcastle Knights and an FC Barcelona fan.

Put people in there who actually want to bring out the best in the game.

Phil Gould, Mal Meninga, Bill Harrigan and Tommy Raudonikis as a quartet could fix it up within 12 months.

Roarers, what do you think about my proposals?

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