You should probably change “no one” to ‘you’. You have little interesst and that’s fine but the NRLW has been growing in every demographic. The NRLW State of origin was sold out and had 580k viewers. Corp support has grown every year. Both QRL and NSWRL have organised comps running outside of NRLW and participation numbers have never been higher.

You don’t have to watch but some people are and I’d say there’s a bit more to it than following club colours.

Yeah true BD. There seems to be a bit of both going on. While there has been an amatuer womens comp in some form for a long time the NRLW does have a ‘manufactured’ feel by way of new clubs and bringing in cross-code talent. In principle, it makes commercial sense to have the best talent/athletes possible for a TV product so they limit the teams and cherry pick the talent. In theory it’s no different to any pro club/code buying the best talent for the team but this is learning on the run.

Conversely, the amatuer girls/womens league is the fastest growing demographic in the game and those numbers have boosted significantly since the NRLW became a thing. As you said in your original post, most of the girls who have played league came it from their family members (traditionally), now there’s talent from every where having a go. NRLW is now a real career option.

And I wouldn’t downplay the hits either. Just quietly, there’s a few guys might not get up from some collisions I’ve seen from the girls.

QRL has launched the BHP premiership for 2021. 8 teams from the Coast to Cairns. My local clu Valleys has a team involved and they say the interest from the girls has been huge.

Fundamentally you are right but ideally I’m not so sure I agree HY. Park footy, schoolboys or NRLW is not supposed to be put up beside NRL for quality. It is what it is and the contest can be enjoyed just for that reason. There are very few international comps that can be held up beside the NRL and there’s about 100yrs of history and $1b worth of investment that established the NRL up to that level.

NRLW is a commercial product with the exposure designed to attract more and more female participants and comps. QRL is about to launch an 8-team womens comp (BHP Premiership) in 2021 and along with the other (NSWRL) womens comps means it is attracting decent participating numbers. My point: we are not the NRLW target market. The NRLW is attracting enough participants, fans and commercial support it will stand on it’s own

In principle I agree that Smith would be huge for the Titans (and it’s still possible) but Smith, like most true greats, don’t do things at half measure. If he commits at either Storm or Titans he’ll train and play like it’s day 1. That’s why retiring would be such a huge call because it’s a massive undertaking either way.

Yeah, I agree and you can’t say that lightly as Cam would walk into and Capt every other team tomorrow. By my count this would be the 3rd preseason for Grant, further, even when he was playing with the Falcons, he was part of a group that go down and train with the squad quite regularly during the week. Harry would be quite comfortable with all their systems by now.

I get Siafiti, Barnett and Ponga but Green is new and Brayley is a rookie (essentially). No Friz or Klemmer either. You have to wonder if Freddies assessment of Klemm’s attitude isn’t far from the mark? I say let Ponga earn his chq and take more personal responsibility in the outcome of the team.

He is a GC boy but knowing that’s not far enough away for Freddy to leave him alone he moved to Mackay then Townsville. 😛

I tend to agree but then the amount of turnover India had may have hurt their cause. Aside from G1, India had a few different stars perform in G2-4 to secure the famous series win but Cummins was consistently good for the whole series. So I agree India had better individuals stand up, Cummins was good the whole series so probably deerves the acolaide.

You get the feeling Hess may be spending some quality time in the QCup this seaosn with the quality of young forward stocks behind him. TBH it might be the best thing for him. Although Wright and Dunn and both above Gilbert for edge spots so he might be battling Jensen, Hola, Burr and Molo for middle rotation.

It is getting a tired question “how will Melbourne go without …?” We all know why they should slip backward but we’re yet to see it. Smith leaves and so their spine is only 2x internationals, a Clive Churchill medalist and Rookie OTY & SOO rep. Same same but different.

I think the Titans will pip both the Dogs and Warriors for biggest improver. Dogs have recruited well but they are young and may need a season or two to find the balance. I’ll hold judgement on the Warriors but it feels like shuffling deck chairs atm. The Titans have added power and skill but the players who were driving improvement last season are still there.

Can the Panthers go one better? Highly possible if they can maintain their standards from last season. Looks like they’ve been given a few warm-up games to start the season but the following 4 will be a test of their metal.

We got both you … covered!! 😁

Allan had a few runs on the wing with Wayne, not his best spot. He was always behind Mitchell but showed plenty at Souths and Qld at FB when he got his chance. I reckon he’ll be a good buy for the Dogs. I’m liking their pack as well.

It’s wishful thinking mate. Paine isn’t going to step aside and CA are not going to drop him, mainly because they have no other Capt.

Based on the recent series I do think we need to create more depth in our test squad and I think BBL has it’s place for the players and the fans. Most of the next gen Aust players are playing red ball cricket, Puc and Green made their case undeniable for Aust selection against India. In fact, wasn’t Puc’s last head knock only a matter of days before the Aust team was selected? It’s not like we don’t have depth with both Bat and Ball, it’s just a matter of giving them a shot. And TBF, evolution is occuring with Puc, Green and Harris (to lesser extent) coming into what was widely regarded and ranked the No 1 Test team in the world.

I do agree that BBL is no good for the test psyche but it is a different game aimed at a different target market. Our next, next gen of shield and test players are wearing buckets on their heads today and enjoying the fireworks. It is important that these kids see their heros in this format as well. I think good, mentally strong players should be able to adapt between the two. Heck, Aust just got beaten by (essentially) IPL players.

So, IMO, I don’t think the player development by wedging another red ball comp justifies the deterioration of the BBL and the benefits it brings.

I’m very sorry to hear that mate, my very best wishes to you and yours.

In no way do I want to diminish your hurt nor make excuses for the Govt (I’ve been quite harsh on the politicising of the issue for the sake of an election). I’ve done 1x 14 day stint for similar reasons but I haven’t lost anyone so I can only empathise.

Thank you for sharing, it provides a better insight to your perspective. As for Sam’s biggest issue – his brother, surely with your community work you know that acceptance is a stage of grief. He wants for his brother what he cannot have for himself.

Anyway, I can see this is raw for you so I’ll leave it alone. We’ve agreed and disagreed on 100 topics in the past and this can be another.

Respectfully Ronan, this is a hindsight article as you said as much yourself. Flip that around, if CA bring in another bowler, leading into the Gabba test and we still lose, the fallout from not having him would be larger than him not performing in the first place. Especially the way the game played out. Day 5 and we need to rattle through the middle to tail enders I, for one, would have been screaming for Starc. Further, I believe the Indians would have been far more comfortable (mentally) facing Nesser/Patto than Starc. If we take this position with every team member who didn’y live up to expectation in this game/series we would be looking for 6 or more new players for SA.

I’m starting to think the praise we gave the Indians is lip service only. All of them were very good. They made the Aussies play the way they did. Surely we can acknowledge we were beaten by a better team, not that we lost it due to our own inept performances.

Any relation to the Redcliffe Leis? His profile says he’s from Tamworth and only played NSWRL.

I think we’ve read the same thing and taken polar views on what is in there. I see the article as a concept to be bult upon not a plan. I’ll leave production and distribution alone for fear of repeating our comments above. The author did state the economics of it is crude at best and I agree with you on that.

Sport as a reward – not the best term to use but sport as a mental release is a real thing and formed part of the reasoning as to why they allowed sport to start back up at all. Yes we have sport last year but we cannot expect that scenario the players agreed to to be the norm. I read what the author wrote about his sanity (multiple times) and I’m a little concerned for him. I don’t know Sam at all but I know he’s in England and in a very dark place. You talk of those facing homelessness and employment issues facing millions and to me Sam sounds like he’s right in the middle of that. Your reply borders on ‘get some perspective’. Unless you were in Melbourne for their hard lock down (or you’ve been to jail) you can’t possibly know his home situation or mental state. His perspective is completely different to what we have here in Aus so he floats a concept.

Well no, it’s a constraint as we speak and I’m not referring to right now and I took it from the article that the author isn’t either. In a matter of months there will be multiple vaccine options and transport systems in place. This -70* transport requirement is just one of the vaccines and the others won’t require such specialised transport, therefore, opening distribution up significantly.

That’s my big caveat, if supply exceeds the roll out (keep in mind there will be quite a few options in the near future) than surely another avenue for free inoculation isn’t a bad thing.

Call me a cynic but there’s already avenues to move up the list that the wealthy are trying to exploit. On the same premise as above, if some rich buggar is willing to provide shots for his 1000 staff for the sake of their own jab (might sneak some family in there too no doubt), I’m comfortable with the 1000 others getting the jab. Individual shots – not so much.

Yeah, 5 or 6. Green defo stays but just depending on how many and who comes in as to which order. I doubt Paine gets dropped, he just didn’t have a great series in leadership IMO.

If not Puc and Warner, who would have open Geoff?

Fair points Albo and I hope I didn’t come across as shunting all the blame on Paine. With the team we had, if our batters played their best we score 1000 runs and the same with the bowling attack in limiting nearly any current international team. My concern around Paine was how he was positioning his team to support his bowlers. It’s only “unlucky” once or twice if a potential catch hits the turf. Any more than that is tactical. Gifting singles when they had less than run-a-ball to win. Plus when/how to use his bowling attack (which I think we agree on). It was like he had a plan but no 2nd option when it wasn’t working. Like all games though, one or two of those catches go to hand and we can cover up the cracks with success.