Before spending millions on risky expansions or selling State of Origin matches offshore, the NRL would be better served making use of the low hanging fruit ripe for the plucking by giving the Warriors the attention they deserve.
If you are a New Zealand-based Warriors supporter, you get used to poor media service. Besides limited locally produced content (which is generally woeful) in the Land of the Long White Cloud, we only get Fox League’s NRL coverage.
Via that, Warriors supporters get used to a thin gruel of analysis of their team. Although in saying that, sometimes you would rather have silence than the patronising references you do often get when the Wahs are occasionally mentioned.
Now, some might explain this dearth of Warriors coverage on them being such serial under-performers. However, the coverage this year of St George Illawarra, Canterbury and the Wests Tigers belies that. Those franchises have been terrible all season but have got as many column inches as anyone.
In contrast to those three train wrecks, the Warriors unusually are travelling well this year.
There is serious talk of both their coach and playmaker being acknowledged as the best in the game by winning the Dally M.
So, they are for once ripe for some coverage beyond the usual occasional ‘they are no good again this year’ aside.
It is also not like they don’t have their fair share of dramas to cover if you are looking for something spicier.
One only has to take the quickest of looks at the Warrior’s current ownership (or talk to Matt Lodge) to see a mountain of potential for hilarious content waiting to be milked.
Some more macro-economically minded might say, hey, while technically the league media are supposed to cover the competition in its entirety, the money and fans are largely Australian so that is where the coverage epicentre must be.
That is fair enough in terms of the New Zealand-based fans but that is not what the NRL and its media should be looking to do.
On the assumption that the NZ media can cater for their league supporters (which it can’t but that’s a story for another day), let us just consider the Australian media market.
There are about 600,000 NZ-born folks resident in the Lucky Country (lucky to have so many Kiwis?). About 2% of the Australian population.
Firstly, as everyone knows, Kiwis do not know the first thing and have no interest in AFL. They consider it ridiculous and are frankly perplexed that anyone could watch it. This Australian-based cohort are therefore likely to be more loyal to oval-ball games that do not involve punching it upfield.
More subtly, as anyone who has lived overseas for a while knows, of that cohort, the vast majority will have a far higher level of interest in, and engagement with, Warriors stories than if they were at home.
When you are away from your home jingoism jingles and jangles louder, which means you digest news of any kind from home far more veraciously than you would if still on home soil.
Given this, is it unrealistic to say that of those 600,000 expat Kiwis, the intense engagement levels would be at 80% of them.
(Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)
Now if one uses the NRL final as one highwater mark for NRL engagement, the 2022 Grand final was watched by about 2.37 million viewers.
If you stack up say 450,000 Kiwis who would be taking an active interest in NZ league stories all season that suggests that there is at least a possibility that Kiwis in Australia could be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, Australian based fan block the NRL has. So why does one not get that impression when one watches Aussie NRL media content.
When the game is in a constant existential battle for market share it seems bizarre to think it is missing the trick sitting right under its nose.
Unlike other options, developing this market would not require lots of risk. Before you look at this an extra NZ team or having NZ host a State of Origin you make sure you are making the most of what you have already because it is so much cheaper and less risky to do.
How about just hiring some NZ-based freelancers to do the odd written piece or film some vision from Aotearoa to use on the other side of the Tasman.
That low-cost gambit would also have the substantial collateral benefit of providing the skinny NZ league media market some critical mass to better service the domestic market.
So come on NRL, Nine and Fox, don’t be Johnny come-Latelys and wait until the Grand Final week to get on the Wah-train. Get on ‘em hard now and win some classy new fans.
Saturday’s semi-final in Auckland is not only the culmination of the Warriors’ fairytale run but Newcastle are riding high on the back of a 10-game winning streak.
Even though the Panthers gave the Warriors a serious mauling when Nathan Cleary put on a masteclass last Saturday, it is not all doom and gloom here on the better side of the Tasman.
Any cunning coach, and let us be very clear, Sir Andrew Webster is cunning as an out-house rat, would have started planning afresh once the regular season ended and mapped a bespoke battle plan for getting his underpowered team to the grand final.
Marata Niukore scores a try as he is tackled by Will Kennedy. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
In working out a way to win these moments Sir Andrew would have first taken stock of the damage levels on his big guns, particularly his biggest and creakiest, Shaun Johnson.
He would have judged how many top-flight minutes he would get out of Johnson and concluded it was less than the 160 required to play Penrith and, if they lost to the Panthers, this week’s game at home.
Sir Andrew also knows Penrith like the back of his hand. He would have picked early that it was a huge ask to go to their home and win in front of that rabid crowd. He would have also seen late in the game-week how the Broncos turned the Storm “putrid.”
Knowing the Panther DNA as he does, he would have concluded that would only throw more petrol on the already on fire Panthers and thought about winning the war not the battle.
So why Sir Andrew and the Warriors can never say so, it seems that they never seriously thought that they would beat a path to the grand final kicking down the Panthers’ door. Rather, he would have figured the best way for the Wahs to extend their run was to make sure their biggest playing assets were as well tuned as they could be for the game they have the best chance of winning; the one this Saturday after Johnson gets an extra week of recovery and in front of the 25,000 man/woman and spider-person strong Wahmy at home in Auckland.
While it is tempting fate to say at a volume louder than a wink that Sir Andrew was always planning to lay a Ponga trap at Mt Smart this weekend, he absolutely was.
All will be revealed on Saturday. It is captivatingly uncertain whether Ponga and co will be return home with a Preliminary Final berth or a lump of coal home for their Christmas stockings.
However, whatever the outcome we can confidently say it will be a Wah-mazing to have finals footy back in Auckland on Saturday.
scrum
Roar Rookie
Of course they have higher work place participation. They are not entitled to the dole, if they move here it is because they see better opportunities , it would be extremely odd if they did not have higher participation. If you work in a foreign country you have to pay taxes and most if not all foreign countries do not extend the same social security benefits that they do to their citizens. It’s your attitude that Aussies should feel indebted to Kiwis because “ they are doing Aussie a favour” by being here that grates. And all the myths, not entitled to health care- pay the Medicare levy and Kiwis get the same healthcare as Aussies. And get nothing for our taxes- so education , transport infrastructure, roads and public transport, the police, the justice system do not count. And a recent conversation with a Kiwi. He was outraged that the first year of tertiary education was not free. When told that Aussies do not get that the reply was we can get in NZ so we should be entitled to that in Aussie. And are you suggesting Kiwis should be exempt from taxation. Because Kiwis are the only nation that does not go thru rigorous work visa criteria to work and live in Aussie it seems many of them assume they then should be entitled all the rights of an Aussie citizen. And your article was mainly “ why isn’t Aussie doing all this for the Warriors “. The sense of entitlement is staggering but that seems part of the Kiwi DNA , Aussie owes us. Kiwis come to Aussie for better opportunity for themselves not some altruistic goal of “ helping Aussie”. And State of Origin, if you know anything of the history it has nothing to do with NZ or the Warriors, it’s tribalism between Qld and NSW. It’s a foreign country not an extension of NZ. Kiwis in their droves have benefited by the opportunity to live and work in Aussie. There would hardly be a Kiwi family without a member of their extended family living in Aussie. But what the heck. Let’s keep moaning and stick out our hands asking for more. And cannot see the point of maths. It’s a clear illustration of who is the big winners out of the mutual agreement between Oz and NZ. Kiwis move here in their droves, comparatively extremely few Aussie move to NZ. But Kiwis like to ignore these facts because it does not suit their narrative.
Pat-A-Kiwi
Roar Rookie
Cheers. Always loves some maths, even if I'm not sure what the point of it is. Not a cheap shot at Aussie, but perhaps one at an Aussie. The article suggests that a whole bunch of Kiwis , who are in Aust. paying taxes and so are contributing as much as anyone and more than most (according to your Govt. they have higher work place participation than the average Aussie), might be made more of given they are there anyway. If more was made of them that would earn the Australian owned and operated competition more money more cheaply than options more favourable to NZ, like playing a SoO in NZ or having a second franchise, bot of which have been suggested by Australian pundits. But hey if you think suggesting a way to make more money for the NRL/Nine/ Fox by investing less in NZ is entitlement then all power to you cobber.
scrum
Roar Rookie
Afraid I cannot understand the post. Another cheap shot at Aussie, you know the country where 15% of Kiwis choose to live. Interestingly if on a pro rata basis the same number of Kiwis moved to Aussie as Aussies to Kiwis there would be 12,000 here not 600,000. And even if you went on a 1 for 1 basis there would be only 60,000. But your post only enforces the sense of entitlement Kiwis have in relation to Aussie.
Pat-A-Kiwi
Roar Rookie
Gold :laughing: A minister of foreign affairs in waiting in any future Pauline Hanson Govt perhaps?
scrum
Roar Rookie
Well matched by Kiwis sense of entitlement when it comes to Aussie. Some day the realisation may arrive it’s a foreign country
Pat-A-Kiwi
Roar Rookie
Good to see the famed Aussie sense of humour alive and well in NZ's East Island
Pat-A-Kiwi
Roar Rookie
Whatever! - We got one in the Sth Island and TWO in the North, all with remotes too!
Cadfael
Roar Guru
Feel sorry for the Warriors fans in NZ. Theeir game is on at 8.00pm here. Ten o'clock start 9if its on time) in NZ. Well done NRL!!!
fiwiboy7042
Roar Rookie
This is the issue with having the Warriors in the NRL, PAK. The numbers don't stack up. In a perfect world, the Warriors (or Vulcans) team would be one of several in a NZ domestic competition. I don't think NZ is big enough to sustain more than one purely professional competition and rugby unions blessedly has that structure in place. Within three years of the Vulcans joining the ARL in 1996, the NZ Bartercard domestic competition was gone. This was predicted at the time. Carlaw Park is now a light business park. NZ RL still struggles today especially in the shadow of RU; it still relies on government, does it not? BTW: I am a Kiwi living in Australia and while I do pay attention to the Warriors (somewhat), I'm not talking about them to family and friends. RU RWC anyone? So I'm not entirely bummed about their lack of coverage in the Australia media. (And as an media man, I can tell you that the media will follow the clicks like sharks following churn). No blood in the water, no need to expect them to follow you! The ideal resolution for the Warriors is to help set up a domestic NZ RL competition. NZRL needs a divorce from the NRL. Whether they should get that is a matter for debate.
Madi McDonald
Roar Rookie
Great article Pat, super interesting read :stoked:
Albo
Roar Rookie
No they are only here for the better TV coverage of the footy ! :silly:
Albo
Roar Rookie
Don't they have TV in New Zealand yet ? :silly:
KenW
Roar Rookie
A personal anecdote. I had a hard time during Covid. Was running the small, and apparently expendable, local arm of an overseas based business - had to make a bunch of good people (and myself) redundant and turn the lights off on the way out. My wife was cut down from fulltime to 2 days per week at her role. I don't want to over-egg it, plenty had it worse, my family were not in any danger of not having a roof over our heads or missing meals. But I had to take a casual job the likes of which I hadn't known since I was a teenager and then started building a new business. I'm happy with where I am now - and in the long term optimistic about the future - but I still don't earn the same money I was on before Covid. Financially the cumulative loss has been massive, I have 4 kids so there wasn't that much to spare before! So I've had some tough times and come out the other side, but who owes me anything? People in my industry, family and community are happy to see me doing well now - just like many of us are for the Warriors - but I don't feel that any of them owe me something.
KenW
Roar Rookie
The TV deal would have been for a certain amount of games per week and it would have had to have been rejigged. So fair enough, the Warriors probably saved the NRL some dough there. From a bigger picture though I think my point still stands.
Rob9
Roar Guru
Assuming there are more than 25k Warriors fans in Auckland, I reckon the ones that missed out on a ticket or those that would have tried for one if there was more seating capacity would think it’s the wrong call.
Pat-A-Kiwi
Roar Rookie
No - they in fact opened it up for free so people could watch the Warriors on a big screen - Walker picked right - Mt Smart is where the Wah’s fan base is and they were well and truely repaid for years of dross.
Micko
Roar Rookie
So what should Perth Glory get???
Micko
Roar Rookie
What do you want Morz?? What should Perth Glory get for their sacrifices???
scrum
Roar Rookie
Geez how about the NZ media do their job. Not only have the Warriors been granted a team in an Aussie domestic comp now you expect the Aussies to do their PR work. And broadcast coverage, if the FTA channels in NZ will not pay for content that’s also Aussies fault. And the truth is there is very little sports of any type live on FTA in NZ however it does look a little rosier in the future. And your comment 600,000 Kiwis in Aussie - lucky to have them- shows your sense of entitlement. It’s a foreign country mate, not West Island, and those Kiwis are here for better opportunities.
Rob9
Roar Guru
You can’t guarantee that though Gordon. Who are they going to call for compensation from? The NRL didn’t control covid and/or the associated travel restrictions. It would be (as it was) make the compromise to participate under the conditions at the time (that the NRL had no control over) or don’t participate. Simple. The Tigers (among others) took home games across the ditch before the pandemic. That’s not a ‘thank you’. It’s getting back to normal.