A hand grenade was dropped by the head of rugby in Australia, Hamish McLennan: “All bets are off.”
Australia may ditch the Super Rugby from 2024 onwards and like the NRL and AFL, focus on a domestic competition.
Now that is intriguing. And what would a domestic competition look like?
For a start, it can’t be the NRC. Nor can it be Super Rugby AU. Both have flaws.
Tim Horan is correct. When you only have five Super AU teams, it gets boring very quickly when teams only play each other twice.
And the problem with NRC is it dilutes the competition. When the Wallabies had best success, we had a concentration of talent at the Reds, Waratahs and Brumbies.
From these teams we had combinations and the backbone of a World Cup-winning Wallabies. It is essential that we develop combinations before taking on the All Blacks and European powerhouses.
So, what might our own domestic competition look like? And how do we concentrate our talent?
Here is what I would look strongly at.
Nine teams. Two more than the current Super Rugby AU. We concentrate on our heartland regions in Brisbane and Sydney and leverage off the most highly marketable club names from Sydney and Brisbane – Randwick and Brothers.
Now, people will complain about clubs like Randwick or Brothers entering the fold. Don’t care. You go with your most marketable names possible. Names with long history to give the competition better pedigree. My team is the Sunnybank Dragons, for what it is worth.
Not only that, but we ensure the University of Queensland, University of Sydney and Bond University are brought into the fold. This shows them respect and provides three strong team sponsorships well into the future.
The NRC would be as follows:
1. Western Force
2. ACT Brumbies
3. Melbourne Rebels
4. Northern Sydney Rays
5. NSW Country (perpetual sponsor – University of Sydney)
6. Randwick
7. Brisbane Brothers (Northern Brisbane – Sunshine Coast)
8. Queensland Country (perpetual sponsor – Bond University: Southside Brisbane to GC)
9. Western Brisbane (perpetual sponsor – University of Queensland)
Each team plays each other twice with bye rounds. This delivers our domestic competition. Top five finals system.
Now, for the next key component: a best-of-three State of Union series (Waratahs versus Reds). This would ideally take place after the Grand Final. The important thing here is we have two champions and not undermined by getting dominated by NZ teams.
The revised NRC will deliver an Australian champion.
The State of Union will deliver an interstate champion.
Next onto the Test matches and Bledisloe. And hopefully more winning.
One thing I’m not sure about is a post-State of Union trans-Tasman title fight between the NZ Super Rugby champion and State of Union champion. On one hand we would have a concentration of talent for the first time in a long time taking on the best NZ Super Rugby team.
But on the other hand, would that detract from the Bledisloe, or would we roll straight into Bledisloe?
Kevin
Roar Rookie
Private investors like other commercial ideas. The Welsh are having the same struggles where the union is controlled by a group of non-business people and therefore do not understand commercial business
Kevin
Roar Rookie
Rugby Australia needs to relinquish full control of the teams. In France the Union concentrate on development, leaving the clubs to make the money as businesses. In exchange, the union gets better access to players and has rules to allow development of French talent whike the clubs can go about increasing the miney in the game. I am sure there are Private Investors that would jump into run a franchise.
wms4220
Roar Rookie
Don't forget WA, South African and British expats; bring in SA and Argentinian players. Add Twiggy to the equation, he will open his wallet for the cause of rugby, for sure.
Gus
Roar Rookie
Should Australia give super rugby the flick?????? Hahaha. Australia should be grateful of the proximity with NZ and South Pacific, and embrace everything that comes from it. Make no mistake: it's the only thing keeping Australian rugby alive.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
Not too sure about the sides there. Aus SR teams, Qld Country and NSW Country and the Drua. Eight teams so no byes. Fourteen rounds, home and away, Two week finals. Yes we lose out playing the Kiwis but they don't have the same issues as we do in retainming players with many of ours going overseas or going to league. NZ does lose players as well but it has far less impact on thgem than it does here. But, like everything, it will depend on sponsors.
Micko
Roar Rookie
And who pays for all these NRC/ARC style white elephant development comps Piru??? Super Rugby is a failing dud product that's rapidly losing money for RA and public support, and that's supposed to be the elite level in Australia! So who is paying for all this, and what are you willing to pay to attend and watch another inserted tier of rugby of an obscure and irrelevant development comp that'll never make money?!
Jerry Seuseu
Guest
Aussie teams are too weak to go it alone, and the TV deal is too light to support it. Dave Rennie has warned against it, listen to the man.
Terry Polious
Roar Rookie
Yeah agree, the NRL do it, only a few times a year and the teams are always strong
The Observer
Guest
You have answered your own questions ME. The game is dead in Australia. Sure NZRU get $100 million per annum which is great, but NRL gets $400 million per year and AFL has 2.5 billion over seven years.
tsuru
Roar Rookie
TJ, I admit I do get a bit more interested in the grudge matches.
TJ-Go Force!
Roar Rookie
Mine is the travel and affordability of it.
TJ-Go Force!
Roar Rookie
Do you watch super rugby?
TJ-Go Force!
Roar Rookie
Nice to hear a different view mate, I’m not sure it’s the view of the majority but I respect your line of thought. I personally love Derby games force v Rebels, Tahs v Brums, Reds v Tahs, etc.
Gus
Guest
There has to be a rethink into the model of provincial rugby in Australia. Queensland and NSW/ACT will always be the hotbed of rugby in Australia but if RA want to go to a domestic competition, there needs to be a change in direction of club ownership. Places like South Australia have plenty of rugby players and supporters but it's just considered lost to AFL. Some outside cash and a more national approach is the way forward in a domestic competition. The quality might drop but if the objective of the league is the code's development, the quality will rise with the game's growth. If RA goes it alone, it has to be as a Southern Hemisphere Top 14, not just Super Rugby Australia all over again.
piru
Roar Rookie
There was absolutely nothing wrong with the NRC, or the ARC before it - it simply didn't suit certain people who lived close enough to RA headquarters to have their ear. If it hadn't been white anted by self serving clubs back in the day, the ARC would be celebrating 15 years this year. All this nonsense arguing about formats and what will and won't work and 'tribalism' (god I'm sick of that word) is the problem. A bad comp today is far far better than a perfect one tomorrow. Tribalism is something that is built over time - there's no other way to create it. If they'd just stuck to the format in the first place, the original teams would have 15 years of history - there's your tribalism right there.
Rugby Scholar
Guest
Open up your schools rugby comp public, then have your club teams prems and second tier prems sides play each. 1st rounds in your local comps? Have like 10 or 8 winning teams to play in the 2nd round for the play offs or to aspire to be in the top 10 tier 1 for the play offs and your loosing teams play for the second comp as you seniors 1s teams can play those prems teams that didnt make the top 10 teams creates comps in the local clubs and comps plays and team will be hungry for to make the top prems teams in the 10s. Thats NZ systems I believe it would work here in Aus as you have some much talents floating around here in Australia.
ME
Guest
So what is it "NZ might have to look further afield as the small population might fail to attract tv dollars" or "Everyone know NZ gets more".? NZ Rugby get close to 100 Million a year from TV alone. That's enough to run a 8-10 team comp, assuming it doesn't get more. NZ Rugby is already looking afield. It has MP, will include the Drua, and already has links in Japan. Aussie may have more people, but it certainly doesn't have many Rugby fans, so Aussie going it alone wont last long.
ME
Guest
Split games? Are you nuts? splitting home games is the quickest way to kill your home support there is, you have artificial teams with double the basing and travel costs. That's as dumb an idea as there is. When Aus rugby goes it alone, and withers and dies, the NZ Rugby comp will gladly accept two or three Aussie teams into it.
Frank from Geebung
Roar Rookie
They’d still be there in hospitals cup. Only suggested Brothers as they have clubs in Cairns, Townsville, Rocky, Bundy, Sunshine Coast etc.. The Brisbane team would be drawn from the other Brisbane clubs bar Uni and Brothers. Except Norths as they need all the players they can get and keep.
Frank from Geebung
Roar Rookie
No need for the question marks ME. Everyone know NZ gets more, because it’s basically all they watch, but it’s a closed market without expanding to Australia, Asia or elsewhere. I’m one of the Australian fans who believes we only have the cattle for two, maybe three teams in SR. The game in Australia will not grow without some really creative ideas and money. Non rugby following people in Australia find it convoluted, over reffed, boring and could not care less if a team in Melbourne made up of Queensland and nsw players are up against Otago or if Auckland played Christchurch in a final, that’s the reality. It’s a really hard sell here when they can go to a league or afl game and not scratch their heads when a scrum penalty is given. It really seems SR exists for the ever decreasing number of rugby fans in Australia and expat kiwi’s. It’s a real issue, as at present in media exposure, rugby sits somewhere around soccer and basketball in this country and afl sticks are going up everywhere in Brisbane and Sydney. NZ is not the answer for Australian rugby. Sure it may fail again, but as long as SR is in this format, I’ll continue to watch Brisbane club rugby. It’s a real issue, and no amount of vitriol from NZ people being offended by what happens here will change it. It has to be done here.