Rugby league is back! I don’t know about you, but I quite enjoyed casting aside the negativity and noise about the Perth nines tournament and taking in two days of good clean rugby league fun.
For all the huffing and puffing of those who thought the weekend was a waste of time, there were great skills on show from the men and women, a good vibe from the crowd and, in true rugby league fashion, there was even room for a high-quality #refsfault after the Dragons scored a hilariously dodgy try to win their quarter-final.
Some folks took it pretty seriously (looking at you, NRL Twitter), some took it for what it was – an exhibition (looking at you, Canberra) – and others left it alone, which is fine too. It’s mid-February, way too early to be 100 per cent fired up about the NRL.
So we should absorb the nines and move on to the coming All Star game, world club challenge and trial matches, but to be honest I can’t do that until I get one little thing off my chest.
What was with all the Perth hate?
The host city of the NRL nines was copping it for the heat because on Day 1 temperatures were in the mid to high 30s, then for team selections because most clubs took their kids along, then for supposedly low crowds, you name it.
It was a free-for-all on the western capital that gave a big impression of being a preordained hit job by certain people.
Indeed, Sydney’s Daily Telegraph felt fit to include this definite statement in a wrap of the tournament:
“Poor attendances at the Nines over the weekend should end any debate about having a team from Western Australia in any expanded NRL competition.”
Let’s tee up how completely vacuous that claim is.
The international nines held last October – in much, much friendlier weather – at the shiny new Bankwest Stadium drew 12,528 on Friday night and 15,684 on Saturday. That’s 28,212 all up.
Friday’s Day 1 in Perth got 10,128, Day 2 attracted 14,739. That’s 24,867, barely less than Sydney and a little more than the 2017 Auckland nines, which drew in approximately 22,000 over two days.
Day 2’s crowd was up against the AFLW western derby at Perth Stadium (a crowd of 35,000-odd) and a Perth Wildcats NBL game (13,493). Getting almost 15,000 to HBF Park was pretty damn good.
I’ve said before how Perth and West Australians will get behind a team of their own. Perth teams constantly draw higher average crowds across a number of sports, from Aussie Eules all the way down to baseball. But it has to be a team of their own, not a relocated charity job or a defunct, broke failure.
All these whacks for Perth got the green light back in December 2019, when newly appointed chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission Peter V’landys spoke to the media.
He made it clear he saw no value in getting into Western Australia, saying the NRL “want to dominate the market in Queensland” and that the ARLC should “forget wasting millions in rusted-on AFL states.”
“We must undertake a full analysis of growth markets but Perth does not have a huge league audience,” V’landys said.
So you acknowledge you must undertake a full analysis but at the same time can definitively state Perth does not have a huge audience.
That’s the same Perth who averaged over 10,000 for their own team between 1995-97 and average almost 14,500 crowds as neutrals when NRL games are held in town.
The same Perth who crammed 59,721 into Perth Stadium for Game 2 of last year’s State of Origin series.
The same Perth which is the capital of a state that has more active junior and senior rugby league clubs than Victoria, home of the Melbourne Storm.
(Mark Evans/Getty Images)
In 2019 St George Illawarra averaged 9813 per home game. Penrith averaged 12,482. The Gold Coast Titans averaged 11,587 and Cronulla 12,224. Are you seriously telling me you don’t think a new Perth team would at least match those figures at the boutique 20,000-seat HBF Park?
If you wanted confirmation that the NRL now has zero ambition beyond tending to its front fence, it is here in another V’Landys quote: “Then there is the concern around flying NRL players five hours when we already hear criticism of player workloads and how taxing the season is on the stars of the game.”
Far as reasons to avoid expansion go, that’s possibly the most half-arsed I’ve ever read. The fact it was actually said out loud shows there is absolutely no appetite in the NRL and ARLC for big-time, long-term thinking, and that is a real shame.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d be bemoaning the fact that after a brief flourish of optimism and big-picture possibilities rugby league in Australia is settling back into its butt groove on the couch and refusing to get up for anybody.
I really hope I’m wrong. I want to be wrong, and there’s a long way to go in 2020, so I can be wrong, but the early signs aren’t great.
Noosa Duck
Roar Rookie
Tim Beeto was a great bloke not just because of his standing in the game but he was a fair dinkum honest human being. You may not know this but Arthur was a champion racquet ball player, A Grade squash player and played competition tennis at White City at Ruchcutters bay. After John recovered from his busted neck the Club held his job open for him. John was the swimming pool manager at Easts Leagues club, Arthur was the Billiard Room Manager. Many had jobs at the club in those days back in the late 60's to early 80's. Bunny Reily was the Recieving dock Manager & Cellar man. Beeto had a house a few mile from where John lived at Malabar and he would pick John up every morning go and play an hour of racquet ball then head off to work at the Leagues Club. John was bemoaning turning 82 in a few weeks (Arthur would have been 79 this year from memory) and I looked at Straw and said mate, considering what happened to you 50 years ago I would be jumping for joy at making 82. :stoked: He realised I was pretty right as not too many walked away from a broken neck 50 years ago. Beeto used to come up here every year for a week or so and stay with John at Noosaville and go bike riding around the place and catch up with his mothers people who are our local indigenous.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
Arthur Beetson is an immortal and he seemed like a good bloke and of course he was a knowledgeable commentator. I was on the hill at the 75 grand final and I remember a lot of Saints fans were eating chicken. It's a tough game and quite dangerous without spear tackles and it's understandable that any lifting these days is penalised.
Noosa Duck
Roar Rookie
I have a Jack Gibson autographed copy of the 1975 Premiership Locker Room photograph on my wall behind me right now. I met many of the players of that era and got to know Arthur Beetson reasonably well. His life long mate John "Straw"Andrew is a mate of mine who lives up here in Noosaville John was the first grade full back in 78 & the early part of 79 Until he copped a fractured neck in a spear tackle against Newtown.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
Yes the GWS loss was not as embarrassing as the loss by St George to Easts in 1975 but it was more of an embarrassment for Graeme Langlands. The rest of the team gave up after half-time when Langlands wouldn't replace himself. I agree with you that they were favourites but not red hot as Easts, the 1974 premiers, did have a fairly good team. Langlands was the last St-George Captain-Coach.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
Yeah I don't know anything about Aussie Rules as I only watch the grand final but I thought their presence in the grand final was due to them being the team that represented the Rugby League part of Sydney. The Swans represented the Rugby Union part of Sydney.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
It goes without saying that they're going to have a plan. Expansion without rationale is never going to happen so you need not worry about death sentences for businesses.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
It goes without saying that they're going to have a plan. Expansion without rationale is never going to happen so you need not worry about death sentences for businesses.
Noosa Duck
Roar Rookie
Gee Tim, only a short time in the AFL make a grand final...did anyone who knew anything about the game expect them to win that Grand final. well no they did not and really was it as any more embarrassing than the loss by the red hot favourites St George to the Roosters in 1975 no not really not considering it was far from the first ever grand final that St George had ever played. AS the saying goes you generally have to lose one to win one and considering the age of that GWS team it was a might fine effort just getting there in the first place.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
What are boomers? It is a bit of a leap to assume that an age group would all be against expansion.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
What are boomers? It is strange that some people view a team in Perth as a bad thing but I don't think it is restricted to a certain age group if that is what you mean.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
GWS made a Grand Final some years ago only to lose it in the first quarter. It was the most boring GF for everyone except the team that thrashed them. The AFL plant was an embarrassment for the game.
mushi
Roar Guru
The roar machine clearly didn't like my first reply... So how about: Read what I actually wrote – in particular the “without rationale” part that you deliberately excluded.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
How is expansion a death sentence for businesses and a criminal breach of the directors duty? When Canberra joined the NRL it was a VFL town because Melbourne was the previous capital and when Melbourne joined the RL world didn't change much and certainly no death sentence or criminal breaches. Rugby League, the game they play in NSW and Qld only, where the state game is the pinnacle of the sport. Will expansion kill origin?
Gray-Hand
Roar Rookie
To be fair to Peter Beattie, he knew who the Sharks were and he knew they played out of Cronulla. As a Queenslander, he didn’t know what the Sutherland Shire was, which isn’t really surprising. That is the only time I will ever defend Peter Beattie.
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
Who Labor pollie backbenchers? :stoked:
AWesternRed
Roar Rookie
"Hundreds of millions of dollars to create a viable entity in a market with ZERO home grown talent or grass roots competition" - thats never stopped the AFL and one of those teams just made a Grand Final.
AWesternRed
Roar Rookie
V’landys comments make me fearful the NRL will go the way of Holden! Put a team in Perth and watch it flourish.
Darren
Guest
Well said! I relocated from Sydney you Perth 16 years ago, I still love my rugby league and have managed to convert a few die hard Aussie rules supporters. But I've gotta say, my love for the narrow minded thinking of the NRL (predominantly NSWRL) board has worn out. Perhaps we need to bring back big thinkers, like Ken Arthurson and John Quayle, the ARL in the 90's was definitely the dominant code. If this is to be their stance, then we should look at the Toronto wolfpack model and look to bolster the super league competition. It is no longer a domestic market, it is now global!
Pablo
Guest
Mate there has been a Competition in Perth since the 50s. It is the strongest comp outside of NSW and Qld by a long way. They have had a massive increase in player numbers in the last 3 years and have had junior rep teams playing in the NSWRL under 16s and 18s for almost a decade.
Rellum
Roar Guru
That just means Perth would get a lot of Sat arvo games