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.
(Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
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.
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.
(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.
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.
(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.
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.
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.
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
If you sell them for $36 million per year or thereabouts. Good luck with that!
Wallace
Guest
Executives and board members of every public company has their salaries published. Every major league with a salary NBA NFL MLB all do it.
The Barry
Roar Guru
I’d have given ‘no’s across the board What does making player’s salaries available to the public achieve? Will we suddenly spring a team rorting the cap? It won’t solve anything If say the Roosters, publish all their player’s salaries will that suddenly stop fans calling BS and quoting made up media figures from zero tackle?
Max
Roar Rookie
I’d like to see two changes. Firstly, cut the audio between the referees and the bunker. We don’t need to hear what they are saying. This would allow them to be more candid and therefore more likely to get the correct decision. Secondly, and this kills me, as soon as the ball is out of play the clock needs to stop. Having it running when there is no play is amateurish. It’s embarrassing.
Dionysus
Guest
Don't need it, just wait till they are 18 and then bring them across from Union.
Dionysus
Guest
Firstly "Let’s take the Melbourne Storm salary cap scandal. They used two different books to try and cheat the salary cap" is incorrect. Melbourne only had one set of books plus a side letter for several players. The books correctly stated the salary that each player earned. The side letters "guaranteed" a player a certain amount in third party deals. Waldren kept those side letters hidden because he discovered the fact that they were "guaranteed" by the club made them part of the player's salary as far as the Salary Cap was concerned. The Broncos did exactly the same thing at the time however they were smart enough not to guarantee anything. It was the press that labelled those side letters as a second set of books that has now become a popular myth. As for your changes 1. NO - a man's salary should be a private affair between him and his employer however I have no problem with the NRL assigning a "value" or "points amount" based on player standing and setting a salary cap based on those standing points. 2. Sort of - If the ref thinks it was a try then it should be a try unless the video ref picks up a major problem (e.g. the player drops the ball or has a foot in touch). Lets stop the nit picking, I don't care if a boot lace crosses the touch line or a finger might have left the ball by 1/2 a millimetre or a player in the back line slightly got in the way of a player who could never have influenced things anyway. Lets just keep things simple (and a word to media pundits and their replays - shove it). 3. Not Fussed 4. Yes - we need an even number of teams 5. No we don't need a draft. The current system is fine. 6. No, it becomes boring after a while. That said, finding unique ways to promote teams I am all in favour of.
Adam Bagnall
Roar Guru
I like the idea of special magic round jerseys but it would be a tough sell. Jerseys aren't cheap to make and you're asking fans to fork out well over $100 for a one off jersey that will likely be replaced next year. The draft was tried and failed and I really don't think we need to rush into admitting an 18th team. We've seen the Dolphins struggle to sign players I'm not sure adding another team will help. As Joey often points out there's not enough players add more teams
Nick
Roar Guru
1. No. Every non-public employee is entitled to privacy if they want it. If you want a club to publish an anonymised list of salaries of the squad, fine. You can then speculate who is on what. 2. No. Deal with it. 3. Worst idea of the lot. There are FAR too many jerseys worn by a club in any given year already. Home kit, away kit, indigenous kit, heritage kit, that silly Marvel kit, anzac kit. ENOUGH! 4. Not yet. Talent pool is too thin. Nothing wrong with byes. 5. A draft yes. But I guess you are either too young to attend university, or you never attended university? No one watches university sport in Australia. No one ever has, no one ever will. Only families and boy/girlfriends watch university sport. NRL can hold an AFL style draft without the need to do the college system. 6. Sure.
Nick
Roar Guru
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. Rubbish. NRL players are entitled to have their salaries kept confidential as much as anyone else. Saying you want to know so you can do your own cap maths is ridiculous. If the club wants to list the 30 salaries in a completely anonymous way, then they can do that, but each player is 100% entitled to privacy if they want it.
The Boss
Roar Guru
If you make playing rugby league more attractive to younger players like 100k wage plus free Uni more parents willing to let kids play and we will have increase in talent pool. Don’t see why NRL Draft wont be cool viewing at the end of the year, it gives you hope if your team is sruggling.
Expat
Roar Rookie
As a member, i believe i should have the right to see what salaries are not only for players but also the executives who make the decisions.
Phil
Roar Rookie
Can't agree with any of your ideas. A person's income is between their employer and themselves. Extra jerseys, too many now; 18th team, Redcliffe have difficulty filling a 17th; player draft, no. As for the dramatic TV show, it's RL, not a soap opera; awarding tries, leave it as it is, too many changes already. Let the comp settle down for a couple of years so we can get used to the changes that have been made. I hope PVL hasn't read this article.
Dennis
Guest
If you sell the TV rights for the games you can morw then afford to pay each player $100k.
Adam
Roar Guru
"college" sport will never work in Australia. It just won't. Notwithstanding university starts when kids turn 18/19 the ones with any talent are already on 30 man rosters or at least in the NSW/QLD cup affiliates. It works in America because there are so, so many kids who think they might want to play sport, but many more that use sports to pay for exorbitant uni fees. Then to pay them 100k on top of free uni degrees, the money just isn't there. if we have 12 teams with 30 players at 100k that's $36m. But hey we can't play the NRLW players we can surely afford a bunch of teenagers to get drunk all weekend and play on a Tuesday night?
Adam
Roar Guru
Succinct and to the point (y)
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
1 yes , transparency is always good. 2 no, imagine the Ref goes ' um ah I don't know if he scored, up to you ' . Ah we looked at all the shots , no idea, back to you. OK captain pick which hand my whistle is in. Get get it right it's a try.' 3 No , how many jerseys does a team need.? 4 no, let's bring in another 11 teams . Don't worry it won't affect the quality of the footy 5 no, A draft can't work in RL , we have a competitor for talent . We can't be forcing youngsters to go where they don't want. Plus seeing young local juniors come through the ranks is one of the highlights of the game for me. 6 No, I'm a sensitive soul and the language !!!!!!!!!!
Clint
Roar Rookie
Some good ideas The Boss. Salary transparency could work. It does in local government and some other organisations. They'd have to sort out how TPA's work though. Definitely agree with suggestion 2. Such a horrid feeling getting a try awarded and then taken away.
EagleWal
Roar Rookie
Agree, the only one that makes some sense
Soda
Roar Rookie
The only suggestion I really agree with here is the one about the taking back of tries and the refs call biasing the bunkers decision before it goes up. As far as everything else, knowing the players actual wage and an nrl draft does not interest me. Another jersey is not that urgent a need either.
no one in particular
Roar Guru
1. yes 2. no 3. no 4. no 5. no 6. no