How to fix Australian rugby, Part 10: Skin in the game
One of the few remaining things that rugby has going for it is that the remaining support it does have is in the best…
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One of the few remaining things that rugby has going for it is that the remaining support it does have is in the best…
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Australian rugby is in dire straits and there is serious doubt whether the game can survive in its current form. From a financial perspective,…
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They may or may not be true but totally outside Rugby Australia’s ability to change. There’s a whole post on this coming in a couple of days anyway…
How to fix Australian rugby, Part 3: Protecting and growing revenue
Oh I agree – should be in the post but the intent would be to distribute the vast majority of that money out to the clubs
How to fix Australian rugby, Part 3: Protecting and growing revenue
I would argue that club rugby doesn’t need to appeal to a ‘broad Aussie audience’. Club rugby needs to satisfy hardcore rugby fans (who have associations with locals clubs and want to watch both the best and up and coming players) and provide a link with grassroots participation. There may not be millions of these people but the ones who are in this bucket are generally wealthy and so will be willing to pay. The club rugby audience is a rich niche – that’s the point.
Not sure where you get 51 Premier clubs? I assume that includes Canberra, Melbourne and Perth – I’ll be honest I don’t know much about club rugby in those cities. In reality I think you’d end up with many of my fifty migrating back to Sydney and Brisbane (which is where most are originally from) with a handful elsewhere so there would be more concentration than what you are suggesting.
wrt interstate games short answer is they’d be significantly amateur (as they were for most of their existence). Long answer is that there is a whole post coming on how I’d see the calendar working so pls keep reading
How to fix Australian rugby, Part 3: Protecting and growing revenue
The value of club rugby is low at the moment because it’s on at the same time as Super Rugby and none of the best players play in it. Put the best players in and actually make an effort to promote it, I think that changes pretty quickly.
Even so, as a viewing experience I honestly believe club rugby is better to watch than most Super Rugby.
With regards to expats, you’re making an assertion with no evidence so pretty hard to argue against other than to say you could buy the rights to those countries’ domestic competitions very cheap and bundle with all the other Australian rugby content so you can still capture that audience and the revenue they generate…
How to fix Australian rugby, Part 3: Protecting and growing revenue
My structure is an effort to (1) attract enough of the best young players to stay with union and stop what has happened with Angus Crichton, Kalyn Ponga, Cam Murray, Tyson Frizell etc. etc. choosing league over union and (2) keep our very best players here & make an rugby career as financially attractive as an elite NRL career. At the moment Sean McMahon, Will Skelton, Tolu Latu, Isaac Rodda, Rory Arnold, Samu Kerevi are all probable selections in the Wallabies best 23 but aren’t available because they’re overseas. We just can’t win without picking our best players.
I agree it’s not perfect but without paying big money for the best players they will ALL leave (rather than my model which would see a lot of the mid tier guys go to Europe but have the best guys stay).
How to fix Australian rugby, Part 2: Reducing operating costs
I get where you’re coming from but it’s really a question of how you define ‘quality’. Is Manly vs. Randwick with a couple of Wallabies and a couple of junior Wallabies on each team lower ‘quality’ than the Chiefs against the Stormers in the rain in Hamilton? in terms of pure rugby? Yes. As a broadcast product for an Australian audience? No.
How to fix Australian rugby, Part 3: Protecting and growing revenue
$70k isn’t enough – league can outbid that all day. And without big contracts at the top end all the best players will just go to Europe.
How to fix Australian rugby, Part 2: Reducing operating costs
This is a good point. Lack of clarity in terms of the overall goal is a huge part of the problem. There’s also no sense that any sort of competitive analysis has been done. i.e. where do we sit relative to NRL / AFL. What are our advantages / disadvantages and how should we operate to capitalise on our strengths and mitigate our weaknesses…
How to fix Australian rugby, Part 2: Reducing operating costs
There’s 8 more posts coming
How to fix Australian rugby, Part 2: Reducing operating costs
I’d leave the women’s and 7s basically as is. And scrap the giteau rule. All covered in coming posts
How to fix Australian rugby, Part 2: Reducing operating costs
100% agree. Scrapping the giteau rule a big part of my solution. Read on…
How to fix Australian rugby, Part 2: Reducing operating costs
These questions are all answered in the coming posts. I’d hope you could reserve judgement until you’ve read the lot. And then by all means tell me I’m an idiot…
How to fix Australian rugby, Part 2: Reducing operating costs
Fair criticisms. I had to make a heap of assumptions because the transparency in the publicly available numbers is lacking… and wrt the player contracting the model I’m proposing ensures a balanced approach rather than one that sells out the future for immediate success (arguably something we’ve done numerous times in the last 20 years)
How to fix Australian rugby, Part 2: Reducing operating costs
Keep reading. 8 more posts coming.
How to fix Australian rugby, Part 2: Reducing operating costs
Keep reading. 8 more posts coming…
How to fix Australian rugby, Part 2: Reducing operating costs
There’s 8 more posts coming. Hopefully they should answer your question.
How to fix Australian rugby, Part 2: Reducing operating costs
Yeah it doesn’t really all makes sense until you read it all together so would encourage ppl to reserve judgement until the end.
How to fix Australian rugby, Part 1: State of play
Stay posted. Private ownership is a key part of the plan.
How to fix Australian rugby, Part 1: State of play
Do you honestly think that’s a fair comparison? A full season in ‘clear air’ with the top players (including the Wallabies) is a hugely different proposition to a few end of season games with the non-Wallaby super rugby players.
How to fix Australian rugby, Part 3: Protecting and growing revenue