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Opinion

The six changes the NRL must implement

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Roar Guru
6th April, 2022
20

I am a fan of many sports: football, basketball, tennis, cricket, athletics, swimming, golf and American football.

But no sport compares to rugby league. The physicality, skill and brutal nature of the sport makes it the best game in the world.

However it is not perfect. Here I will outline what changes must be introduced to rugby league to make the best game even better.

Make every NRL player’s salary available to the public
This is one of the most critical rules that must be implemented in order to keep the integrity of the game to keep the salary cap in check.

First let me dispel the argument that it is no one’s business; ‘the plumber or mechanic doesn’t reveal how much he earns’.

Well the local plumber or mechanic doesn’t not work for an organisation in where there is a cap on how much he can get paid and there are no consequences on what an average person makes.

The main reason I suggest this is it puts the onus on players to report any possible rule breaks or breaches.

Steeden football on the tryline

(Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)

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How it will work is before the start of the season, the NRL will release a report in which it will detail how much a player earns in that year. If a player earns any different to what is stated in the report, they must contact the NRL immediately.

Let’s take the Melbourne Storm salary cap scandal. They used two different books to try and cheat the salary cap.

If a player was paid $800,000 that year but the NRL report released states he was paid $400,000, they will then be obligated to notify the NRL.

Failure to do so will result in a one-year suspension to the player who fails to report any discrepancies between what is reported and what they really earned.

No more allowing tries to be later overturned
Nothing is more frustrating as a fan than to be awarded a try, celebrate, then a few minutes later have the try overruled. It is such a deflating feeling.

It will be much better to go back to how it was before. Have the referee award it or send it to the video referee.

In addition I will not have the referees be forced to rule whether they think it’s a try or no try. Give them the option to say they don’t know, as so many times the referee is taking a guess and the video referee is trying to find evidence to overturn what the referee ruled.

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Each team must wear a special jersey for Magic Round 
Magic Round is one of the most special rounds in the NRL. It will be a great marketing ploy to have every team wear a totally different jersey.

It is a unique round in the NRL and every team should wear a special one to commemorate the round.

Brisbane Broncos

(Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)

They will sell like hot cakes. Take a look at the NFL with the colour rush jerseys. These are bold and unique jerseys worn whenever a team plays on Thursdays.

For that week, have names and custom numbers on the back of the jerseys.

Bring in an 18th team ASAP
It really makes no sense having an odd amount of teams in the NRL. You are missing out on extra revenue from another game.

They have the opportunity to grow the game in another market, like Perth or a second New Zealand team.

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Moreover, it is very annoying giving a team a bye every round. How about the start of Round 1 and you are eager for the season to begin and your team has a bye, or even worse in the last round of the year, a team will get a week off before the finals and that will provide an unfair advantage.

Make an NRL draft
Relying on junior development is unfair and skewed towards teams with big junior nurseries like Parramatta and Penrith.

Teams in large geographical areas are at an advantage. Instead I propose a system where you get 12 universities who will enter an under-20s tournament, and all the best young players in the nation will participate.

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 03: Nathan Cleary of the Panthers and Jarome Luai of the Panthers celebrate winning the 2021 NRL Grand Final match between the Penrith Panthers and the South Sydney Rabbitohs at Suncorp Stadium on October 03, 2021, in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

You can sell this this to Channel Seven, Nine, Ten or Fox Sports or go the streaming route and do a deal with Stan or Amazon. It will provide another income stream for the NRL.

The benefits of this are that every player will get paid $100,000 each per year plus a scholarship at the university they are representing.

Have these games on Monday to Wednesday so there is always rugby league on, and play weekends during bye rounds.

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Make tickets to these games cheap and create an atmosphere and environment so that students of those colleges feel passionate about their university.

Make it mean something by having it advertised within the media, plus it is televised nationally.

The draft will reward scouting and player evaluation rather then being lucky to be in the right area where a star player grows up.

It will give teams who are struggling a way to rebuild. Two or three good drafts can make a team go from being bad to being a contender.

Also it always keeps the NRL on the news and minds of people. People have debates on who players should draft. If done correctly, it will add so much financially to the game.

Have a Tales From Tiger Town every year
The NRL is not only in competition with the AFL, rugby union and other sports, but any TV show, movies or video games.

The more access and content the NRL produces keeps more eye balls on the brand. Make it compulsory to have one team be filmed behind the scenes every year.

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It won’t be up to the clubs to decide if it can happen. The NRL must make an edict that you must grant unfiltered access to cameras at training, before games, halftime and post games.

Teams may hate it but bad luck, the fans are the ones who make the game what it is.

There you have it. I doubt anyone with real influence in the game will read this or implement any changes suggested above, but it will be great if we can get two or three of these changes outlined in the article.

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