Relegation in the NRL is a terrible idea

I like this idea much more. Like a FA cup tournament ? I am sure there are issues but hey what's life without issues like?

Ha Ha Ha Wigan were my adopted team when they were relegated. I totally agree with everything you say. I have just watched three internationals and many of those Samoa/Fiji/Cook Islanders have considerable talent and with good coaching could become NRL players. What else is out there ? I always say that if the opportunity isn't there in RL then potentially good players will go do something else. How many second tier but talented union players are out there ? How many Poms would love a chance in the NRL for a couple of years etc etc. As for the Sydney centric bit, I have been banging that drum for years. The NRL has massive scope for profitable expansion. You create the opportunity and watch this game flourish.

It's actually 226 million pounds or $400 million dollars with Ronaldo on 510,000 pounds per WEEK.

The Rabbitohs are also funded by Russell Crowe and James Packer.

I lived in the UK too. I think it works there because its in the culture and English sports fans are diehards. Australian sports fans, esp NRL, are fair weather and wont follow their team when it goes down. Lets not forget that it takes about 6 hours to drive from London to Newcastle. It's a lot more price prohibitive getting round Australia.

Exactly. The 2nd biggest TV deal in England is 2nd division soccer.

Chelsea just got sold for $5B USD. United would definitely be worth 6 or 7. Souths wouldn't be worth 100M AUD. That's equivalent to an English soccer club in the 2nd or 3rd division.

United's wage bill is about 200M quid. Don't know where you get this 11.5M from.

I'm an old Pom and went to watch Wigan when they were relegated, promoted etc. I love promotion and relegation but accept that it would take a lot of work here to set up. To me the big issue is in the power of franchises. Poorly run clubs can remain poor and get same cash as the winners. It's a bit like professional wrestling when you've been brought up in a different system. Clubs playing each other twice before some clubs have met at all! My biggest frustration is the rubbish spouted about a lack of talent meaning expansion cannot work.... Think back 3 years, J Hughes, Pap, Cheese, Nico H, all struggling to get a game... Not good enough apparently. Foxx couldn't get a game it's rubbish clubs that cant harness talent. Load more examples. Is Olam unique, or is there a raft of other hard working tough players in PNG that don't get developed. Look at the Panthers and their stocks. Problem for me is two things, administrators are terribly short sighted and Sydneycentric and the grass roots is getting neglected.

Run with it, Dio. If they introduced the relegation system last year, who would the teams to be promoted? If we relegate 3 teams in 2021, it would have been the dogs, Broncos and (gasp!) cows! Although I'm all for booting two Qld teams. Let's go for it.

"Phil"? Is that you, Buzz?

I dislike Crawley. He's just a sook. Can't recall a single idea or opinion that was useful. And he's a ranga

Penrith v Penrith. They have so much depth they would probably make the grand final.

Do the teams getting promoted get a "balloon" payment to help them recruit players to play in the top grade? Some pommy nitwit mentioned it to me in disgust when Norwich got promoted. I just laughed at him. Go Wolverhampton

Just run with the fantasy, Dutski. Ignore the critics. It's a sensational idea. It'd be totes exciting and the joy of watching Glebe return to the top tier and seeing the dragons relegated. Fifteen thumbs up

The Rabbitohs don't have a Leagues Club but they are the 2nd richest club in the comp behind Brisbane. What they supposedly lack in Leagues Club grants, they make up in Membership and Sponsorship income. What is also regularly overlooked by media types and opposition fans is the Juniors Club at Kingsford actually puts in $3M per season for our Junior Competitions and Junior Reps. That is then $3M less the NRL Club has to find.

I'm in support of it if the first team relegated is the dragons.

Dwanye, The information he got was the NRL were going to introduce a 16-17 team reserve grade competition and the state leagues would no longer have a Host Plus or Knock on Effect cup in NSW and Qld . So effectively NSWRL would look after Ron Massey, Sydney Shield and country rugby league . Same with Qld . My thinking and I may be wrong the NRL maybe would contribute less to NSWRL and QRL money wise. So if that's true what happens to Blacktown Worker's, Mounties, North Sydney and Newtown. Does salary cap increase - i really don't know. Maybe this was all caused by NSWRL suing the NRL . If you can find it , it's a good article .

I love the idea of promotion and relegation. The main concern seems to be relegated clubs losing all their players and disappearing. But I have a simple solution for this below. This would be my model. Firstly give everyone a few years notice and fair warning. Then Div 1 becomes the top 12 teams in the NRL, with the bottom 5 joining Div 2. The top teams from NSW Cup and Qld State League and/or other bidders round out the 12 teams in Div 2. Money is the key to making it work. Three Div 1 games are on free to air, while all 6 Div 2 games and the other 3 Div 1 are on Pay. The key would be all 24 teams receive equal funding from the broadcast money. The incentive to play Div 1 is free to air coverage, prestige and the brand benefits, exposure etc it brings. So essentially we have 12 big watchable games each weekend. Say for example a round of Div 2 matches were ... Dolphins v Bunnies, Manly v Newton, North Sydney v CQ, Ipswich v Canberra, Kumuls v Christchurch and perhaps Perth versus Parramatta. I'd find all those quite interesting to watch especially with all teams facing either the threat of relegation or the opportunity of promotion. I'd imagine quite a few Div 2 players would be internationals and Origin players, and I can't see why this couldn't happen if both divisions had the same salary cap and funding. All remaining teams form the revamped NSW Cup and Qld State Leagues each of which ideally has 12 teams so that theoretically a feeder is available for each Div 1 and Div 2 club. It would be critical that Div 2 teams could not feed Div 1, so for example if the current Penrith NSW Cup team won Div 3 they would not be promoted. In this model a club being promoted from Div 3 would receive the same funding as any elite club so in theory should be able to attract enough players, sponsors and crowds to be competitive in a second division. So we end with 24 rounds, with 12 quality matches each weekend, and then a lot of excitement with relegation matches .. and two grand finals to watch and enjoy.

Hi James. Yeah 25 years ago would have been a little easier then now, a better time to ‘reset’. I always wonder what the ARL’s plans really were. I’ve never heard of promotion/relegation was on the cards. Maybe a ‘sliding doors’ moment.