Yes, I feel the algorithm that they pulled from the spreadsheet into the article may have converted the percentage number into a fraction, inadvertently showing the sample size of the survey. I don’t know if 77 is a large enough portion of even just readers of the Roar Rugby to initiate any change.

While there was a lot not to like about the selection process and what transpired because of it, what can’t be ignored is it shook off the rusted on players and gave all those young men an opportunity on the biggest stage of all.
Now, with that experience under their belts, and what could only be described as a far more measured approach with a new coaching group, there is plenty to be excited about! It may not bear fruit instantly, but there are definitely green shoots.

Time to level this domestic comp up to a national stage much like the domestic comp in nz.

100% THIS!!

Having previously also being employed by Nine, she may actually carry more weight than her position could suggest.

In all of that, the best thing I read was the appointment of former NRL Exec Alexi Baker. As chief customer and digital officer of the NRL, she would no doubt bring with her some inside understanding of what made the NRL work and advise how those ideas could implemented in RA. Also, her previous role would have exposed her to all the good and bad reports from customers (supporters) so should have a firm grasp of what people want in their sports/entertainment. All in all, a beige result with things we expected and not a lot of surprises.

If the starting 23 were selected on attitude alone, I’d pick him!

And, not to gloss over it, it’s a great point you make. SRP is supposed to be the pool you pick from for international selection. The best of the current crop at the highest domestic level. But, what if it’s not? What if there was a player, toiling away in Subbies that had the foundations of a great player, they just needed some refinement in their game or fitness…..

Better be careful, or we’ll all be strapping on the boots!

A good result by WR! A good result when you look at social media as a whole.

For all the good that social media can do, there plenty of examples where it has become a stain on in modern society. And, while I initially thought a $1000 suspended fine wasn’t a lot, as a youth worker, you would have to think this will potentially cost a bit more than what has been handed down.

My issue with SR is that it is not club rugby. The Waratahs and the Reds etc. keep being referred to as clubs, but they’re not. They are the first step on the representative ladder after club. This is why it lacks the parochialism and passion that other sports thrive on!

Yes, it had a period of success, but what new things don’t? Over time though, the luster has rubbed off and that sugar hit died down.

But, if it were a club, then it has the rusted on supporters that stick through thick and thin, and the fair weather supporters who blow the dust off the scarf and beanie when they start doing well. Look at Souths in the NRL. Cellar dwellers for what seemed an eternity, now they’re fairly profitable with a strong supporter base. A lot of which were there at every game during those lean years that most would sooner forget. That is the passion we need to unlock in our game. Those are the people we need to grow our game.

You aren’t going to find that at the representative level. They need to be nurtured from clubland in the various state comps, grown into a semi-professional national competition, and with them will come the supporters to the representative game and SR. The exact model is open to some debate, but the center of it all is the community game and it’s need to rise above from where it is for people to take notice.

To be a fly on the wall at that meeting! We’ll all know the outcome in the end, but how they get there would to be worth the price of admission!

Mick, Community Rugby is still there. There are places to play, if you want to play the sport. I’m a coach and member of our community club and we are constantly fighting the image that you refer to about it only being a game for private school kids. That simply isn’t true and more work needs to be done to highlight that fact. It’s genuinely hurting the game.

And the point about the competition, absolutely needs work. It needs eyeballs on the game and players who the community can relate and look up to. But the sport itself, if adjudicated correctly (I’ve gone and opened that can of worms, haven’t I), is actually a more free flowing game than League. None of this uncontested scrums, not being able to compete for the ball and 10m offside rules. Just get in there and fight for the ball! (within the laws of course)

And, to your point on the indigenous community, I hope what your saying about not being welcoming, while maybe true from your experience, isn’t an indicator to the game overall. We have a number of indigenous kids at our club, and other clubs in our district. But back to the elitist tag you refer to, it could very well be turning a lot of good young players off of Rugby.

Agree the product needs work, but I don’t really think it is that bad. We just need to do better at putting faces and names out there. And buying the playing talent, I’m with you there too. There is an argument for getting the talent back that has been drawn to the NRL, but that was through money and the bright lights that the NRL marketing dept. have created. So if we can match them on that, revenue goes up and (should) flow down to retaining more of those players. Although, if it means paying over the market value AS a marketing stunt, then I’m definitely not on board with that. But at reasonable market value, then I don’t think that should be frowned upon too much.

I very much agree that there are people that follow both (born in Redfern, so I have healthy dose Cardinal and Myrtle mixed in there). And no one ever came out on top when it goes tit for tat. That just gets childish, I agree. But as a code we give League a lot of exposure compared to the reverse.

And, my biggest concern is very much around the juniors. We need to win the hearts and minds of the kids if we are going to survive. As it stands right now, we are losing that battle and I’m not sure merging would improve that. Granted, the body type comment is 100% true, but when all your backs qualify for 75% of the available positions in League, where do you get your 9 through 15? That’s my concern.

I feel like people that write articles of this nature are on the NRL payroll.

The NRL, at every opportunity, sinks the slipper into Rugby. By telling the world that we are that far beyond help that we are willing to discuss mergers/takeovers, is only fueling that divisive fire.

It doesn’t help either when the two people Stan Sport interviewed in the lead up to the Reds/Waratahs game were Les Kiss and Wally Lewis. Granted, Kiss is the coach, so has every right to be there. But when the topic is State of Origin to explain the rivalry between the states is gross mismanagement by both the broadcaster and the governing body! And probably instigated at the suggestion of the NRL who Ch9 are also in bed with. Surely when you have Tim Horan and Michael Hooper on the list of presenters, you could have made it more focused on the code people are tuning in to watch!

Rugby have just cleared several positions from the employee register to free up some capital. The next investment they need to make is on buying another NRL recruit. But, not from the playing ranks. From the marketing team! We need to stop accepting that as Rugby fans, we also dip into the world of league. We need to take a League approach, who completely dismiss Union (even if they do recruit heavily from the nurseries) and take the same view. Get in the mud with them, dismiss League as an alternative and start getting behind our own game as the one that should be capturing the hearts and minds of the viewing public.

I’ll admit to checking 😂

Well played 👍

I don’t NOT like the idea, and to be fair, any thinking outside of the box is to be applauded, the system as we know it is broken, and I don’t think the answer is a simple one.

What 99% of other sports have, is a club competition. Clubs based in major centres, like Penrith in the NRL or North Melbourne in the AFL, or districts like Macarthur or Central Coast in the A-Leagues. They then play for representative honours for either the state (NRL) or straight into the national team (Sorry AFL……).

Our club competitions, irrespective of how parochial those supporters are, aren’t a patch on the other three, yet we put what is effectively representative rugby at the forefront for the hearts and minds of people. it’s like watching state of origin for 17 weeks in a row. It’s high quality, but it isn’t what really grabs people.

There needs to be a story. The story of the hardships a player or players had to go through before they earnt their place in the representative team. Sport is about stories. The product is good. The Rugby, for most part, is entertaining. But if people aren’t captivated by a story, then what is going to compel them to watch? We need to push club rugby to the front of peoples minds. Rivals like Brothers and the Students in QLD, or Manly Marlins and Warringah Rats in Shute Shield. Have SRP be the ‘Premier’ Grade, but raise club to ‘First’ Grade!!

Until that happens, it’s going to be a struggle for the long term.

There is something to be said for smaller grounds. I follow Gloucester in the Premiership and Kingsholm Stadium only holds 16,000 people, but the atmosphere always looks great! And you only have to cast your mind back to when the Waratahs were at Leichardt. Great call Paul.

Yes, but it needs to be without the added pressure of managing the needs of a SR franchise.

I certainly understand that point of view, and can only hope they have learnt from past mistakes, because as I mentioned, I think the model as it is flawed at the moment. There needs to be less pressure on the states from running all aspects of the game from the ground up to the elite programs. I believe there needs to be an understanding that the states are responsible for running their own nursery (for want of a better term) to build the players needed for the elite pathways.

I’m not sure I understand the question.
The point I was trying to make was that the states, perhaps, don’t have the capacity to run an SR franchise and keep the lower levels and pathways operating to feed into the franchise. By handing the responsibility of the elite programs to RA, to incorporate it into the Wallabies and Wallaroos operations, then it frees up the states to further develop the grassroots and senior state comps for progression into the elite levels. If I’m not mistaken (and I quite possibly could be) this is how the AFL and NRL currently function.

That confused me a little also, since they are wanting the SR franchises to join up with their alignment strategy. But if they own the license, then what’s the story there?

Yes, it was Newscorp, who at the time were also the majority share holder in the NRL at the time also.

I can’t help but think that this has a lot to do with the fragmented nature of Rugby in Australia. The state unions are so determined to maintain control of their state operations, that they themselves get in the way of progress. You only have to see what the NRL did with the Storm. They funded that team for the best part of ten years! They also made a grand final in their 2nd (?) year and have been there or thereabouts ever since through various mechanisms to ensure balance across the league. The SR teams should be, and I would argue should have been from the start, been under the auspice of RA for performance management into the Wallabies. Leaving the states to run their respective state competitions from juniors to senior representative levels.

Surely you aren’t suggesting the 9 network has a white ant problem???

I feel like we are going to have to agree to disagree.

The problem with that analogy is that the coal industry isn’t in competition with the iron industry. And it might sound small minded to want a dyed in the wool coach, but like I said about Mal Meninga, he wouldn’t be caught dead talking about union. Guys on the other side of the divide are exactly that. They live, breath, eat league. It seems ok for union to not be that committed.