The NRL can put itself in a position to have more teams in more cities across Australia & New Zealand than any other domestic sports league. They’re also looking at restructuring the state comps and bringing NZ & PNG up to NSW & QLD level. Meaningful international matches offer the diverse NRL talent pool the opportunity to represent their heritage and State of Origin remains the giant of Australian sport.

All 4 tiers.

I’ve spoken before about the Origin issue — http://www.theroar.com.au/2014/05/26/sunday-night-origin-is-the-way-forward-for-nrl/

In this competitive Australian sporting market I don’t believe we’ll ever see the NRL stop its presence for 3 weekends during the middle of the season just so it can be replaced with internationals involving countries other than Australia. It’s about as likely as the AFL shutting down shop so China & Nauru can go at it in fumbleball.

In my opinion the best compromise solution with the least risk is Sunday Night Origin, it reduces Origin’s impact on the league to 3 weeks only. The Grand Final thrives on a Sunday Night, there’s no realistic argument that Origin can’t do the same. Split those 3 weeks with 1 round of football and every team is only affect by 1 or 2 games max out of 24. The NRL ensures its continuity whilst minimizing impact on the quality of the league.

I also think we have to be realistic. Even two Origin depleted NRL sides going head to head are going to smash Tonga vs Cook Islands both in the stands and on television. What we’ll really see are the AFL & ARU scheduling matches on those vacant weekends.

To some degree it’s almost disrespectful that international football is crammed in between NRL & State of Origin – it is truly worthy of its own unique season.

As I’ve said there may be scope to reduce the length of the tournament by playing the Anzac series in a different year & maybe taking away the GB&I match against PNG — that would reduce it by 2 to 3 weeks.

However if GB&I/England are touring they should be aiming to play the Baskerville & Ashes in the one year.

Say for the opposite trip —

in southern hemisphere:
Australia vs New Zealand (Anzac – 2 games at end of year)
Australia vs Pacific Islands
New Zealand vs Pacific Islands

then after leaving for the northern hemisphere:
Australia vs Lions (Ashes – 3 games)
New Zealand vs Lions (Baskerville – 3 games)
Australia vs France
Australia vs Ireland
New Zealand vs Wales
New Zealand vs Scotland
Pacific Islands vs Lions
Pacific Islands vs France
Pacific Islands vs Wales
+ European Cup with France, Wales, Ireland, Scotland etc involved

It’s time we stop treating international rugby league as an afterthought.

I’ve long said that rugby league’s goal should be to create a world wide international window in October-November. Only through regular tournaments and scheduling will we ever create something meaningful out of these events.

An important reason why I suggest a Pacific Islands combined team as a once-every-4-years event is that qualification for that side would only be for players who have represented those nations (not for players who ditched them for Australia & New Zealand). This would be a massive draw card which will to stop the talent drain and improve all of the individual pacific nations. Combined with regular tournaments like the Pacific Cup, 4 Nations and one-off matches against the Big 3 you’ll start to see those nations edge closer.

Renegade that’s definitely another way of looking at it. I’ve suggested before than an alternate to this plan is to attach a series to the 4 Nations tournament. So say this year it could’ve been 4 Nations + Ashes series etc.

However I believe we need to keep the 4 Nations model (Big 3 + Best Minnow) hence why I was suggesting a system where it remains as a biennial event (alternating hemispheres). This can then incorporate a 4 year European & Pacific Cup cycle.

The current system of scheduling internationals on a whim is terrible. The 3 match England vs New Zealand series is a step in the right direction but it only means something if its played regularly. Rugby League is littered with tournament and events played once and twice and then left to gather dust…

By one sided I was referred to the string of Kangaroos series wins but yes the 2003 series was closely fought and with a full squad at peak performance a new series would see GB&I win.

Just to be clear I’m not actually suggesting that GB play in the Pacific Cup. The Pacific Cup should be a regular end of season fixture with teams like PNG, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands etc.

In this particular what I’m saying is that those teams play the Pacific Cup then their best players combine to play one match each against the big 3 under a combined Pacific Islander team brand.

So effectively Great Britain & Ireland’s 8 matches are:

Great Britain and Ireland versus Papua New Guinea (one off match)
Pacific Islands (combined) versus Great Britain and Ireland (one off match)
Australia versus Great Britain and Ireland (Ashes I, II & III)
New Zealand versus Great Britain and Ireland (Baskerville I, II & III)

Those 8 games plus the 3 game Anzac series would likely generate more $$$ than the other non-world cup years combined.

As I suggested there’s definitely pros and cons with reintroducing Great Britain and even extending it further to better incorporate Ireland.

Regardless of whether it’s GB&I or just England, the Ashes should be resurrected as a rugby league brand. An interesting fact is that the original trophy actual says England not GB and the early games were promoted as Northern Union.

However if we put the brand issue aside for a second and consider it from another perspective. How can we make this series more even to ensure its long term success? By allowing players from Scotland, Ireland & Wales every 4th year to play for GB&I the Lions increased their talent pool but also there’s less likelihood of these players abandoning their own countries in the other years. I often talk about whole-of-the-game benefits, that’s just one example.

Time to end this farce and have all player payments go through NRL head office.

You have to have key marquee pro players in those sides, the amateurs benefit from the experience long after the tournament has ended.

International growth is intrinsically linked to the NRL’s growth. The NRL has put minimal investment into finding and developing talent in its own nearby backyard of PNG, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga etc yet they’ve been able to benefit from the amazing talent that they’ve been lucky to encounter. Imagine if the search was actually organised and well funded. With more effort those nations could have entire test teams of players born in those countries but playing in the NRL and that talent can be spread out across the league in order to fulfill the requirements of the new expansion sides.

We need to take a ‘whole-of-the-game’ approach on this.

The second week of October through to the end of November should be an 8 week worldwide International Rugby League window.

With some coordination we could have some 20+ matches played every weekend.

Well the biggest argument I hear about developing islander talent is the cost. Why should an Australian competition develop overseas players blah blah blah?

Regardless that it grows the overall talent pool, the things I’m suggesting are actually income generators.

NRL games that might only get a small crowd in Sydney could pack out Port Moresby or Suva, likewise with a Pacific Cup. Test matches against the big 3 and All Stars would allow the APRLF to have a regular income stream. Then every 4th year a 3 game Pacific Nation series against England, New Zealand & Australia – with the right preparation that squad could beat the others – that would do wonders for the game. In time its likely to be so successful it might even be a 4 way series.

We wouldn’t even have to worry about the debate with Islanders electing to play Origin, with more opportunities in All Stars, Tests & Pacific Nations they will opt for their own countries.

How can rugby league stamp its dominance on the Pacific Islands?

1. Second Tier Growth – getting PNG into QLD & Fiji into NSW cups is a step in the right direction but also creating an end of year play off structure (Challenge Cup style) between NSW, QLD, PNG, NZ, Fiji, WA, VIC, NT

2. More Islander Players in the NRL – relaxing visa restrictions, encouraging scouting camps, trial matches, regular NRL games and providing cap exemptions to ensure each country – PNG, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga & Cook Islands has a full test squad playing in the NRL at any given time

3. Regular Pacific Cup & Pacific Shield tournaments – The cup needs to be a regular tournament in all years except the world cup year. There also needs to a biennial format for the second tier non-test sides.

4. More International 9s – even if its at secondary level akin to the recent Commonwealth Games format. The Pacific Games is a logical start.

5. More Tests Against The Big 3 – every year Australia & New Zealand should be playing a warm up match against one of the nations and England should do the same when on tour. Obviously keeping the 4 nations format helps meaning 1 team gets extended play against all big 3 teams.

6. Pacific Islanders touring side – every 4th year after the world cup year should be touring year to the opposite hemisphere. When the Ashes & Baskerville series are played, a combined Pacific Islanders side (combined PNG, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands & Others) would play 1 game each against England, Australia & New Zealand. These matches would create substantial income that could go directly into developing the game in the region

7. Indigenous vs Islanders All Stars – the format should be reworked so that the two largest minority groups in the game are represented. Again this will provide more year-in year-out development money.

Indigenous vs Islander All Stars

The NRL should aim in the next negotiation to have a 9th game available and look to dump Mondays for Thursdays. If a station like 10 or Fox got the Thursday night rights (or simulcast) coverage could start at 7pm.

Thursday Nights would provide bigger crowds and TV audiences. The 9th game could be played Sunday evening finishing by 8:30pm which is easier for fans to get to and return home from. In conjunction there could be 4 daylight matches Saturday Arvo and 3 Sunday Arvo games.

Thu 7:15pm – F2A
Fri 7:45pm – F2A
Sat 3:45pm
Sat 5:45pm
Sat 7:45pm – F2A
Sun 12:15pm (mostly for NZ games)
Sun 2:15pm – F2A
Sun 4:15pm – F2A
Sun 6:45pm

The A League are likely to set up shop in southern Sydney to target both the Campbelltown-Liverpool and St George-Sutherland areas to get a catchment of over 1 million. So really it makes little sense for the NRL to be contracting its influence in the area.

The people claiming that Sydney NRL clubs like the Sharks have only 10 thousand fans are morons. Nationwide these clubs have hundreds of thousands of follows, the Sharks obviously one of the smaller around the 150-200k mark. Does the NRL really want to disenfranchise those supporters?

If you were to look back at the post super league mergers, if they had been based on the rationale of strategic importance rather than survival of the fittest you would question whether or not the Sutherland Shire actually needed or deserved 12 games a season. They would have been high on the list to be merged rather than relocated. A good partner would have been Illawarra which would have provided both clubs with a contiguous area however that boat has sailed and I would not suggest that St George-Illawarra risk damaging their brand by demerging.

Rather than killing the Sharks or relocating them 1000kms away from their fan base, a merger as a worst case option would at least allow them to keep the majority of their supporters. So which club? Well ruling out the bigger/merged clubs like Eels, Bulldogs, Tigers, Dragons, Rabbitohs that leaves Panthers, Sea Eagles & Roosters. Panthers have the massive north-west growth to expand into and the Sea Eagles have barely tapped North Sydney and the Central Coast.

A Roosters-Sharks merger would make both clubs bigger than what they will likely ever be individually and spreads both further across Sydney. The Eastern Sydney Sharks could also become a financial powerhouse of Australian football code clubs. However the merger would need to be a mutual decision and not forced upon either club.

Unequal Draw?
Regardless of expansion it will remain unequal – just a fact of life that people need to stop whinging about.

Player Overload?
The number of games each player plays will be effectively the same. If anything with expansion it likely means representative players are spread over more teams.

Talent Dilution?
If you take seven first graders out of any squad, they’re going to languish, even if the competition had only 14 or 12 teams in it. Really though, the Pacific Islands have barely been tapped, likewise with the southern states. Basically anywhere that plays either code of rugby is a potential player. And with expansion, grassroots in each market grow with each year.

And as I’ve said the best way to do that is to set their preferred scheduling upfront and use competition between the networks to get the desired outcome, rather than going in bending to a particular networks demands.

With no first and last rights, next time every game in every possible arrangement will be up for consideration. I think it’s naive to think that certain options would be discarded off hand 3-4 years out from the next negotiation.

The NRL should go in with a game plan – 9 games all in unique slots with more daylight matches, similar to what I’ve suggested – and use competition between the networks to get their desired outcome.

The scheduling this year has been strange to say the least.

As far as free kicks go though, stand alone Origin weekends with only filler matches are going to be the biggest free kick of all.

The NRL should have planned ahead and set terms to how the NRL is scheduled around Origin as part of its broadcast negotiations. Because of that lack of foresight we’re now locked into the current system until the next negotiation window (unless we introduce a new product such as a 9th game to counter).

Assuming expansion to 18 teams the answer for 2018 and onwards needs to be Sunday night Origin with a split around spread across the 3 week Origin weekends. That means only 9 games are affected.

I believe that Monday Night Football may have already served its usefulness. By 2018 it may be time for it to be swapped.

Thursday Night 7:15pm
Friday Night 7:45pm
Saturday Afternoon 3:45pm
Saturday Twilight 5:45pm
Saturday Night 7:45pm
Sunday Afternoon 12:15pm – primarily for Warriors (or other games in NZ) so 2:15pm local
Sunday Afternoon 2:15pm
Sunday Afternoon 4:15pm
Sunday Night 6:45pm

That’s 4-5 daylight/twilight matches.

Actual it’s Roy Morgan.

But in true fumbleball style you can have 1 point for trying and failing.

Well the word ‘action’ is debatable. Fumbleball could go for 10 hours and it would still be a fumbling mess.

To be honest, if you look at most of the expansion teams outside of NSW their first few years were boom years then they suffer declines, stabilise then grow in a new cycle. So part of the context should be that Titans are currently at the bottom of that cycle.

Some thoughts –

On Field Success: success increases gates. It’s not a long term fix, but puts you back on the incline
Scheduling/Draw: as some locals and others elsewhere have said, don’t clash with the local games plus also look at away teams
Local players: reconnect the community to the club
Membership drives: in a place like the Gold Coast, memberships are what’s going to provide crowd stability
PNG: sacrificing a home game to Port Moresby will boost the bottom line and less Robina games will increase averages
Rivalry: need to hype the Broncos, Cowboys matches but also the Knights games – they seem to have to been overlooked

If there’s a 100 things you can do to fix a club, a total rebrand is the last option. It also comes with consequences.

The Titans do have a decent sized fan base – recent independent polling had them at 250k compared to 110k for the Sun, based on the same questionnaire.

I think you’re right re local players Pelican. it’s just one part of connecting a club to a community.