Flying kites about a ‘Sydney conference’ makes the NRL look idiotic

I hate the phrase "read the room" worse than genital warts. Please don't use it.

Firstly, I have always been a fan of Conferences & Divisions (within conferences). I see the merit in a Sydney only conference, non Sydneysiders simply have no idea what Sydney derbies mean to Sydneysiders, regardless of what the crowd numbers say. Those rivalries are the games lifeblood. You don't hear anyone talk breathlessly about the Knights v Titans, but the Dogs v Eels is still massive regardless of where the two clubs sit. Without them there is no NRL. The TV ratings for those games are off the charts. Period. As an Eels fan, I live for games against the Dogs, Panthers, Manly, Dragons, Tigers & Roosters. Other than beating the Broncos or Melbourne, games against the regional clubs don't mean more than the 2 points. However, what people are failing to understand is that grouping the Regional clubs in one conference robs those clubs of many great marquee match ups against traditional Sydney clubs. I'm an Eels tragic, but I have lived in Brisbane for over 40 years. I can tell you, that aside from their Qld derbies against the Cowboys & Titans, and sometimes even more so, the Broncos biggest drawing home fixtures are against the Eels, Dragons & Dogs due to the huge ex pat Sydney population living in Brisbane. When the league asks the clubs for the scheduling preferences every year, I can tell you the Broncos ALWAYS ask for those 3 clubs, preferably on Friday nights. They are guaranteed 30k plus crowds. Not so the Raiders, Warriors or Knights. They struggle to break even on those games. So, I believe the league should have C's & D's, but the divisions should be geographical, not the conferences. My future NRL structure National Conference Australian Conference North Division North Division Broncos Knights Cowboys Sea Eagles Titans Roosters Brisbane Two Rabbitohs West Division West Division Eels Storm Panthers Perth Bulldogs Adelaide Tigers Melbourne Two South Division South Division Dragons Warriors Sharks Auckland Two / Hamilton Raiders Wellington Steelers *** Christchurch *** You'll note that I have de merged the Dragons. Wollongong needs a fulltime club. Unless the Dragons are prepared to locate permanently to the Gong. The other options are to demerge the Tigers, but Balmain are dead broke so not viable, or to award a license to the Bears out of the Central Coast, but that presents Divisional alignment challenges. Under this structure, Each team would play the other teams in their division twice, home & away, (6 games). They would play the other 8 teams in their conference every year once, home or away, (8 games). They would play the four teams in one of the divisions in the opposing conference once each year home or away, (4 games). The division that they would play in the opposing conference would be on a scheduled rotating basis. Finally they would play one team from each of the other two cross conference divisions that they weren't playing that season. The two teams would be the teams that finished in the same spot in their respective standings. For example, if the NC Nth was playing the AC Nth that season in cross conference play, and if the Broncos finished 1st in the NC Nth this season, then they would play the two teams that finished 1st in the other divisions from the AC, eg the Storm in the AC West & the Warriors in the AC Sth, That would result in a total of 20 regular season games, allowing more time for a meaningful mid season rep window. The 3 division winners in each conference would automatically qualify for the playoffs, (and be the top 3 seeds in their conference bracket), whilst the best non division winner would be the wild card getting the 4th seed. The playoffs would be a simpler, single elimination tournament, no 2nd chances, no rest weeks, loser goes home, higher seed gets home ground advantage. The two conference champions meet in the Grand Final. Done. It's not perfect, but a better version I believe. It encourages divisional rivalries & divisional title races, and the playoff seed that goes with them. But it doesn't rob regional clubs of the opportunity to play the traditional Sydney clubs. Now yes, we would never see the Roosters v Rabbitohs in the GF, or the Eels v the Dogs, or any other geographical rivalry, but you can't have everything.

No wonder South Sydney CEO Blake Solly has trouble working out a way to keep Adam Reynolds without going over the salary cap. As for “15 big Sydney games” I thought there would be 16 games? There are currently 9 Sydney clubs, and they play their 8 Sydney opponents twice so 2 x 8 = 15, Solly? Given a choice between Adam Reynolds and Blake Solly, clearly it’s time for Solly to go… he is the weakest link!

Great read. It's been said before but somehow the game survives in spite of itself. When are the lesser Sydney clubs going to do something about growing the game? What's their plan for a bigger slice of the attendance pie? Why do people think Bulldogs playing the Tigers twice a season is going to boost crowd numbers? Beyond the Rabbitohs and Eels and at least of late, the Panthers what Sydney team draws a semi decent crowd to any of their games? If the NRL is serious about growth and expansion Perth and/or Adelaide have to be considered - the boost to TV contracts would have to be greater than that from a second Brisbane team, surely anyone who became a fan of that team is already an NRL fan who, if they don't support the Broncos as their team now, at least watches other NRL games on TV. Has anyone considered 3 divisions, each with 3 Sydney and 3 outer Sydney teams in them for a 22 game season (10 in your division and 12 out)?? there's mpre than one way to come at this idea.

its seems the relationship between PVL and the Daily telegraph is a little too cosy

I'd long argued that Brookie oval could be redeveloped for many purposes other than league and I believe that will happen if it goes ahead.

Greenburg says he loves the suburban grounds but it's V'landys actions which prove who actually loves the suburban grounds.

I’d rather see a strong second tier, the resurgence of suburban grounds and contracts that stick.

An utterly bizarre, regressive proposal, clearly formulated by some good old boys getting nostalgic over a few beers about how good it used to be. Splitting the game, and a creating an Sydney-centric conference is the complete antithesis to improving your national appeal. The issue with Sydney, as it has been for a while now, is there are too many teams for too few supporters. The membership numbers tell the story, with the Sea Eagles, Dogs, Sharks and Roosters only edging out the Warriors and the Titans for the least members. These teams are fighting over a small geographic footprint and becoming more insular wont improve things. In fact with their fans spoilt for choice, attendances are likely to drop. The NRL needs to take the game on the road, appeal to people outside of their traditional population centres. Offer cash incentives to cash strapped teams to play games in more regional centres, the NT and WA. Have some NRL clubs play trial games against a PNG rep side. Hit the school and indoctrinate the kids. Ultimately money is made in TV deals not gate receipts, and I can't see how Sydney teams never leaving Sydney is at all appealing to the networks. The NRL for mine is too small for conferences, you run the risk of have a weaker conference and less deserving teams making the finals, inevitably creating debate about how legitimate the results are. But in the end, its even laughable they're talking expansion when the NRL was cap in hand crying poor last year when the competition was halted. The AFL invested millions putting teams in Western Sydney and Gold Coast, who the hell is paying for an NRL team in Perth or a second team in New Zealand? Twiggy's busy pouring his millions into a different code.

promotion-relegation. He doesn't realise that Brisbane would have been relegated under his plan

I think they’ll only have relocation as something if they are going to ride that train to less Sydney teams. To me the conference idea is a sort of way around it. ‘Sort of’ cause still really leaves with same issues.

While I appreciate your ideas, Walter, I would need far more detail & clarification,as to the real benefits & set up up, before I could consider a change to a conference system competition.

Totally in favour of a conference system but a Sydney conference and an "others" conference. No. Add two teams, Perth and a second Brisbane side for the 18. The question then is how the conferences can be made up. Perhaps at the end of the 2024 season set up once conference as 1,3,5,7 etc and 2,4,6,8 etc from positions on the 2024 ladder and add one of the newbies to eacj=h conference.

Forget a Sydney conference, Sydney needs less clubs in a saturated market. Relocate the Sharks to Perth #WestCoastSharks

I probably could do the 2021 but guessing who was injured versus sitting out 2 years ago is fraught with danger. I also just pulled the spreadsheet together quickly, rather than thinking about making it easy to analyse more data sets (which is what I chide people for in real life but do as I say apparently...) I'd think the last few weeks of the season gets distorted though as almost every injury gets close to season ending. If I had to guess the effect of season ending injuries means "weeks lost" would gradually rise to about round 14-16 and then taper in an S curve. I think comparing week versus week and then overall trend is probably the best. You could then do average difference to the 18/19 curves and 20/21. If I spent enough time on the data I could look at when each injury ovvurs and do an actual injury rate. I didn't really look at 2020 - The "NRL Physio" talked about injury rates being up 30% last year based off the same data. They also talked about serious injury (4+ weeks) but they have the expertise to categorise that and I don't when the season gets closer to the end. Initially thought it was influenced a bit by emerging from COVID but the data seems like it is more permanent than that given it didn't wane during 2020 or this year. The most interesting part I found of this years stats were the two bell curves though. Think it is an issue which feeds upon itself.

Who pays for the Non Sydney's teams flights and accomodation as the Sydney games will all be a couple of hrs by bus at the most but the Non Sydney teams will need to travel all over Aus and to NZ..... Not fair to the players or the clubs...

Thanks for the reply AJ. But those articles only prove my point - the NRL haven't gone into any of the detail on this yet. By all means attack them with facts when it is deserved, but you're losing your credibility when you attack them with incorrect information. Unfortunately your story is now just typical of a troll.

Yes, I appreciate the point about creating a fair draw. But we have to admit, pursuant to the public statements, the people putting forward this idea were talking up the prospect of having three grand finals.