The National Rugby Championship (NRC) was canned in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, effectively ending the only third-tier rugby competition in Australia.
Although the NRC was a flawed competition and didn’t really capture the attention of the public, it served its purpose well in developing players for the step up to Super Rugby and eventually the Wallabies. The likes of Taniela Tupou, Liam Wright, Brandon Paenga-Amosa and Tate McDermott all first played in the NRC and now play an integral part in the Reds and Wallabies squads.
With the Currie Cup played in South Africa, the NPC in New Zealand and the Nacional de Clubes in Argentina, Australia risk falling behind even more to the other Rugby Championship nations if something isn’t done quickly to solve this problem. Numerous reports have surfaced that Rugby Australia is working on hard to re-establish the NRC but has been met with some opposition about the structure, especially from the Sydney rugby union.
With the Shute Shield practically semi-professional already, some have called for it to become fully professional and step in as the new third-tier rugby competition in Australia. This concept, although intriguing, could never work in a practical sense. NSW Rugby Union can barely keep its own head above water; how will it ever be able to fund and operate 12 professional clubs?
(Photo by James Worsfold/Getty Images)
However, the efforts made by the Sydney rugby union in making the Shute Shield relevant again should not be swept under the carpet. In recent years the club game in Sydney has seen a boom like no other across the country. Even though the Waratahs are a struggling outfit, the amount of talent coming out of the suburbs is extraordinary. To stop this process from reaching its full potential would be a shame.
This leaves the question: what is the best way to reinstate the NRC and keep the club game relevant while also developing players for the Super Rugby sides and the Wallabies? If I were RA, this is how I would go about it.
Firstly, the competition shouldn’t be professional. Too much money went into funding and maintaining professional sides in the old NRC, which is one of the reasons the competition was disbanded. Having all your sides as semi-professional is more beneficial from a financial and practical point of view. Young, amateur players coming through the ranks can learn a lot from the already experienced professional rugby players not playing for the Wallabies. More teams will also be able to compete, giving more players the opportunity to showcase their talent. This will also give teams an equal footing when competing, because one side isn’t stacked with all the best players in the league.
Secondly, we have to reassess the teams competing. The old NRC had the problem of a lack of interest in the teams, because they were generic and specifically made for the competition and not what the fans wanted. Having said this, some teams, like Brisbane City and Queensland Country, did draw the imagination of the people in the region and were relatively successful in creating a firm supporters base. The new NRC competition should incorporate both ideas so that rugby fans can invest their time and effort into watching games and supporting teams.
All teams from the Shute Shield should be included in the NRC. The teams have been around for ages and have a strong supporters base. The semi-professional structure mentioned earlier will make these teams some of the strongest in the league and contribute immensely to the development of rugby in NSW.
Queensland is in a special position because the Queensland Rugby Union can choose between going back to the old NRC teams or going the route of the Sydney rugby union and semi-professionalising its Queensland premiership clubs. As mentioned before, the NRC did good work in Queensland, but the old Hospital Cup is still extremely relevant. The Queensland Rugby Union needs to choose what will be the best path forward for its players and the fans.
The rest of Australia unfortunately doesn’t have the club structure of New South Wales or Queensland. Therefore representative teams made up of club players will be the best way going forward. The ACT have the Canberra Vikings, Western Australia the Perth Spirit and Victoria the Melbourne Rebels and Melbourne Rising. This will ensure that teams stay competitive and draw interest from the clubs in the region.
Lastly, we need to consider the structure of the competition. The new NRC should take place after Super Rugby and the conclusion of the local club competitions. If the Queensland clubs are involved, teams could be split into six groups of four and play everyone in their pool home and away. The best eight teams qualify for the quarter-finals. The winning team is crowned the best club side in Australia.
My solution is only theoretical. RA needs a practical, viable third-tier rugby competition to develop young and upcoming rugby players. Whatever they choose to do, it needs to happen fast. Australia is falling behind, but a new NRC competition could go a long way in bridging the gap.
KaivitBati
Guest
Not only was Fiji in the NRC, it developed many Fijian players who went onto represent Fiji & strengthen the National team & few of them even got contracts in MLR & Europe. I reckon a Fiji team should be a must for any future domestic tournament in Australia to not only strengthen the Fijian Drua & national team but also develop more players for Super Rugby & Wallabies. Reason Aussie sides fail to compete against NZ sides comes down the player development. Aussie sides were getting better when NRC was around but once that was scrapped, Aussie sides got hammered.
piru
Roar Rookie
Because if you want to argue that you are the best nursery for talent, you need to explain why your team has so little success
LBJ
Roar Rookie
Why?
piru
Roar Rookie
Let's do a list of all the great players who had to leave nsw to find success because they weren't at the right club or the right person's son...
LBJ
Roar Rookie
Let’s play a state of origin match and find out which state is doing the best job of developing players.
AndyS
Guest
Pretty good summary, but IMO (and as above) the key change has to be the NRC aligning to rugby communities and age development systems, rather than being a reflection of SR. So, for instance, while the Spirit might start with a 50-50 mix of locals and others, there needs to be a push inherent within the structure of the competition towards promotion of local players coming through rather than outsiders brought in. The teams would obviously all still be feeders for SR in whatever form that takes, but the first and foremost change that is required is that the NRC be the pinnacle of the local player development pyramid. And in doing so, the money that needs to be spent on it is intrinsically money that will also benefit the standards and opportunities in community rugby.
Iain
Guest
There seems to be a - slight - majority view that sort of going along the lines of the old NRC would be good; always assuming the Fijian's want to continue. So maybe NSW & Qld Country sides plus Sydney & Brisbane; an ACT side, Melbourne Rising, & Perth. It does seem that Perth has a pretty good catchment area so maybe they could run Perth & Country sides as well. Melbourne - being the AFL heartland, definitely couldn't, but what might be nice for Victorians (like myself) who don't happen to live in Melbourne is if the Rising played games around the state a bit? Bendigo, Ballarat, Wangaratta, & Wodonga come to mind. Apart from Ballarat I'd go to any of these venues. Also the comp should - if at all possible - have at least some coverage on FTA TV; maybe 1 game a week plus a highlights package (which could also be put on You Tube for instance). NRC teams should be feeder teams for Super Rugby sides, & local competition players should be aiming to make it into their local NRC teams. What I definitely don't want to see is one geographical area holding the rest of the country to ransom! Bring on a re-vamped NRC !!!
piru
Roar Rookie
So we're agreed NSW to be left out of any new NRC because they are
too far up their own backsideshappy with their current setup. Perhaps the NSW Rugby Gods could descend to earth once a season and play the mortals from the other states - similar to the way the NFL's separate divisions and conferences do. How did the NSW Rugby Gods go this year in Super Rugby, can you remind us?Crazy Horse
Roar Pro
… Sydney/NSW Rugby is no longer as far ahead of the rest of the country as they delude themselves into believing.
Muglair
Roar Rookie
Generally agree but it is good for rugby how the world has moved on. The Melbourne and Perth competitions are now much stronger and also talent spotting means that the best players in Sydney and Brisbane are constantly being filtered into SR or NRC teams anyway. I think one is enough for both cities, it is not as if they are comprehensively winning the competition each year. The two country teams are a bit problematic, especially if the NRC is run in season. They need to be there for a number of reasons but are just more challenging to fit. Personally I would insist that players are playing in the local club competition to be eligible for selection e.g. a young Randwick player would move to Perth and join a local club to be eligible for selection in the Perth NRC team.
Sheikh
Roar Rookie
My issue with this idea, Gatesy, is that if the same teams qualify out of each state for a couple of years then decent players at the 5th, 6th, 7th best clubs in Sydney and Brisbane and 3rd, 4th, etc best clubs in Canberra, Perth & Melbourne will want to move to the top teams for qualify for this competition each year. This means the top sides become even better and the state competition becomes more one-sided itself each year. This can be seen in Europe with the Champions Cup, and with extremes in soccer. (When was the last time a non-Glasgow club won the Scottish league? Or a non-Champions League qualifying team won the league in England, Germany, Italy or Spain (well, apart from Leicester!))
The Ferret
Roar Rookie
I agree that the placement of players especially in Sydney was stupid. In order for the 4 teams to truly benefit the fans, players and clubs they needed to be divided into regions. This means fans like yourself can look up the pyramid and know who to support. Clubs can have 3, for or 5 players in a NRC team to come back and boost their clubs overall strength. This also allows better player movement within the clubs. If a player is not getting selected to the NRC team bears of depth in that squad, they can take their talents to another club under a different NRC team.. this will strengthen the entire club scene as players depth will be spread across more teams and not just the same 3 or 4 clubs. I’ve always thought that Brisbane should have 2 teams and a Qld country and Sydney the same if not 3. Problem is more teams equals more money to run and that just makes it harder for everyone.
carnivean
Roar Rookie
I don't think there's enough in that article to clearly answer the question. It clearly states that it wants to include the academy players, but equally wants to include players that aren't in the academy. That can be higher or lower standard. For me it doesn't help them much to play players of a lower standard, hence you'd need to include the fringe Super Rugby players, even SR players that are entrenched but not in the Wallabies squad. It takes a fine balance between the amount of players and elegibility to get the right standard. I think by including enough teams (but not too many) you can have SR players, academy player vying for SR spots and a layer of club players that are also able to step up to the next level all playing in the same competition.
Paul
Roar Rookie
Pulver explained it as a Super B competition. In my mind that defines the concept as one for those who haven't been selected for SR. I'm saying that by reducing that emphasis and framing it as a development pathway then it becomes one for those who are pressing for selection. I know it'd a fine distinction but I think it'd important. The article I refer to is here http://en.espn.co.uk/blogs/rugby/story/203437.html
Sterling Anderson
Guest
LBJ, Unless it became cost neutral at some point like the NRC was.
Sterling Anderson
Guest
LBJ, Absolutely. But not under the current state based national structure, which is just a horses ass and one of the things holding Aus Rugby back. And only if an NRC type comp replaced SRAU as the regular season full time pro comp. Lots of other reasoning that would require an article sorry.
LBJ
Roar Rookie
BANKRUPT! That's where you would be. | At a $7m loss each year, thats over $150m in losses over the 15 year period - from an organisation who can't pay its normal operating expenses. And who cant contribute
LBJ
Roar Rookie
Wouldn't you like to find out if that's true? | I'd be far more interested in watching the two best clubs from Perth / Sydney / Brisbane / ACT go at it than some made up American style franchises.
AndyS
Guest
TBH, I suspect a lot of people would be fine with an NRC that didn't feature any NSW teams, running in parallel with the international season. Better than even chance Q'ld would go with that as well, rather than follow the NSW lead.
Rhys Bosley
Roar Pro
The old NRC model was fine, it just didn't work in NSW because the cult of entitlement and mediocrity within influential sections of the Shute Shield, white anted it. RA should just bring the comp back as it was, with an option for NSW not to contribute teams, if they can’t see their way clear to fully embrace it.