I always get behind ideas like this.
We need to start thinking about what actually gets people excited about rugby, and I honestly think that most people are over hoping that maybe this year we will be more competitive against the kiwi teams. At this point I just don’t think we will ever catch up to them.

While I think this idea would be exciting and engaging to Australian rugby fans, I think that it would also make rugby much more accessible to new viewers.

While I’m still a firm believer that overall the Wallabies will do better if we go to three teams, stay in super rugby and have third tier, I just don’t think RA has the funds or ability to set something like that up. So we may as well try something new.

Brett is there some way you guys at The Roar can organize a poll with all the options for a third tier so we can vote?
Maybe it would get back to RA and show them what we all think.

Hey Brett, interesting to know about the ratings/crowd at the SRAU final and semi-final.

However I will say this, that was after 2 years of Super Rugby AU, and I would like to know the difference in crowds between 2020 and 2021 (whether or not it had grown).

Surely if the marketing pigeon really got behind the National Rugby Comp and pushed the idea we would see a growth in crowds.

This also raises the question of ‘development vs growth’ for the third tier. If the aim is for development then big crowds are a plus however the main focus is on getting non-Wallaby players as well as up-and-coming players as much quality game time as possible.

If the aim is for growth then I would say it’s more about improving marketing and community connection, getting the players into schools and local clubs, making the games as accessible as possible (more on free to air).

Either way, basing the third tier on the existing Super Rugby sides without the Wallaby players is still a better answer to both of those questions rather than a confusing, complicated mess that would be a third tier based on SS and HC.

Drafts ruin any form of cohesion in a team/any clear pathways.

We don’t have to create 10 new franchises.
5 Franchises already exist with players contracted and facilities built, just create a rugby competition around the 5 Aus teams and maybe a Fiji team, this could maybe be expanded upon in the future depending on how well it does.

Using the existing SS and HC teams to create a strange, hybrid competition would be incredibly complicated, wouldn’t create cohesion between the up-and-coming players and probably wouldn’t provide the level of competition that players need to improve anyway.

Also, far out dude leave the blokes country out of it, totally unnecessary.

*SIGH*
IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS COMPLICATED!
Just have a National Rugby Competition played after Super Rugby Pacific (all Australian teams and Fiji).
Promote the crap out of it, push it as THE rugby competition in Australia (like the NRL), maybe even change each team’s jersey a bit to differentiate it from SRP.
Phil keeps banging on about ‘connection to community’ LIKE DID HE NOT SEE THE 45K AT THE 2021 GRAND FINAL??
Pros:
All the players are already contracted.
The teams are established.
It’s proven to be engaging (see 2021).
Has room to even expand it in future to include 2 sides from NSW and QLD.
Gives people something to watch other than 2am Wallabies hidings.
Cons:
Doesn’t let the good ol’ boys direct funds into their favorite Sydney clubs and create a weird, hybrid, over complicated club competition that does nothing for anyone except the Mosman Mafia.

I know right! Everyone complained that the NRC/ARC didn’t have tribalism/as supporter base but didn’t let the teams stick around long enough to develop any?

I do believe that it could have been done better in the first place, for example make certain Shute Shield/Hospital Cup teams be more heavily linked to the NRC teams (like feeder clubs) to help move the fans over.

I just feel like with this ‘Golden Decade’ we are about to have, we have one shot to get the third tier right, and instead of doing what makes sense, RA are just catering to their friends in the SS/HC.

It really makes me think that the ones in charge are happy to see the game wallow in mediocrity as long as their mates in the north shore are looked after, even if that means the game will completely die out in the next 20 years. Maybe when they talk about the ‘Golden Decade’ they really mean just a windfall for them and their friends.

It’s embarrassing.

WHAT A JOKE.
The idea of the 3rd tier just being Shute Shield and Hospital Cup clubs with some Wallabies/SR players injected is absurd.
I have zero connection to any Sydney club team as I grew up outside of Sydney, really why would ANYONE suddenly start to support Sydney Uni for example unless they studied there or played for them???
RA has a GOLDEN opportunity here to create something special and long lasting that not only supports up and coming players and coaches but could also help grow the game and give all Australian fans more to be excited for.
What Phill Waugh is proposing is outdated and only serves a small minority of Australian rugby supporters. This is so narrow-minded and disappointing.

Hey Aaron,

Thanks for an entertaining and thought provoking article, I couldn’t agree more with the points you made.
I think a lot about how the NRL and AFL build their codes and it revolves around tribalism and fan engagement. At this point, even if the Reds and Brumbies knock off a few Kiwi teams it won’t bring back the passion that we saw from fans at the Super Rugby AU final.

I believe that modern Australian audiences are engaged by tribal warfare in sport. Both the NRL and AFL have harnessed this incredibly well, why is State of Origin so successful? I’ve seen some shocking Origin games but come back each year because the passion, legacy and STORY behind the teams in so compelling, if the marketing and engagement is there, fans will watch paint dry if its in their colour 😂 .

How can rugby do this? Forget the Kiwis, bring in a Western Sydney team, a regional NSW team and another team from Queensland. Build the hype, connect the teams to the grassroots clubs. This will bring new fans and more engagement.

How much longer can we sit by and watch Australian teams be beaten over and over by Kiwi sides, maybe hoping for a scrape by upset win? All this does is sadden the rusted on Australian fans and alienate new viewers.

Will the standard fall? Maybe for a couple of years, but if there is adequate engagement and kids want to start playing rugby again then it will come through eventually. Will this effect the Wallabies? Yes, for a little while, but lets turn our gaze away from the global game for a while, focus on getting our backyard in order. At the moment, a lot of casual viewers relationship with rugby is purely through the Wallabies, and watching them get thumped turns people away. But what if those viewers had something else to engage with as well, like their new Western Sydney team?

Also, while I think private schools offer a lot for rugby, can we PLEASE start to push it more in public schools? Is that so much to ask for? I know too many people who dismiss rugby as a private boys club and not for the working class in Australia, this has to change.

If we don’t change things soon we will just be kicking the can down the road and rugby in Australia will shrivel up and die.

I love this concept and would get behind the Western Rangers 100%.
Whenever people talk about reducing our super rugby teams to ‘stay competitive’ I always ask myself ‘is this going to grow the game?’ and the answer is always no, reduced teams combined with getting beaten again and again by NZ sides will do nothing to inspire young rugby players. Providing a competitive domestic comp that shows clear pathways from grassroots to professionalism with more Australian teams (like this one) is the way to go.
My only gripe is the ‘Northern Mariners’ haha 😂
The more I think about a domestic competition and the more I read articles like this one the more I am convinced that it is the only way forward for Australian rugby. Great article mate

Closed shop like the NBA in America? Or the NRL here is Aus?
I know both aren’t known as ‘global sports’ but I do think sports can be successful/have high standards in countries without constantly playing other countries.

Hi Tman,
Thanks for reading the article and thanks for your kind words.
Yeah the next five years will determine the future of rugby in this country and RA do have a habit of moving very very slowly haha but like you I cant stand the idea of being the Kiwis whipping boys in the future, it doesnt build confidence in our game or grow our game.

Hey no one in particular,
I get where you’re coming from, but I’m worried that our obsession with being more competitive can sometimes come at the detriment to really looking at the future.
I’m worried that if we drop to three teams we will eventually drop to two and then maybe even one.
Lets forget being competitive with the Kiwis and focus on building a competitive competition here that people feel a real connection to

Hi Deadfish, thanks for taking the time to reply,
While I agree there are too many super rugby games, I also think there are too many played at strange times, who is going to wake up at 3 in the morning to watch the Rebels get beaten by the Sharks? Also, if we were 5 teams against 5 NZ teams we would get very bored of watching our teams get beaten every week.
However, while there would be lots of games in my proposed model, I do believe people would make the effort to at least watch their team play if the tribalism was strong enough, and also other games, think about all the people who watched the Roosters play the Raiders the other night simply because it was the grand final rematch?
Also, in my proposal, there is a state of union series where the Tahs play the Reds, three game once a year, now I’m sure people would be drawn to that.

Hi Waxhead,
It would be a very big shake up of how the game is played here, and I get your concerns, however, I am worried that we will drop out of top ten and into oblivion if we keep doing what we are doing!

Thanks mate!
Yeah its one hell of a spectacle! And the reason why is people are so passionate, the players openly talk about the absolute hatred between the sides. Even when Queensland won 8 in a row, now NSW supporters turned their backs because they knew there was always next year, cant say the same for Wallabies supporters after 20 years!

I think there are ways of improving things. Two that come to mind are 1. Bring union into public schools and 2. pump money into the grassroots.
It might be a rough couple of years but if nothing changes then rugby will disappear forever!

Thanks! Yeah I just think the state teams are too broad at this point.

Thanks for taking the time to read and respond to my article!
I feel like for the past ten or fifteen years, RA have been fiddling while Rome burns, ‘how can we tweak this little thing and help the Wallabies?’ or ‘if the Wallabies win things will get better’ all the while forgetting grassroots. I would prefer an average Wallabies side but with a huge focus on the emerging grassroots than a pretty good Wallabies side with dead grassroots, no future.

Exactly, although people do care about rugby in the cities, its just the teams don’t seem to have much of a connection to the community and grassroots. Forget SA and NZ, lets start playing good rugby here, build some passion and then look outwards

That sounds far too complicated to be honest, I just want a rugby competition that people can be drawn to rugby through. Simple, straight forward, good rugby and good tribalism.

Thanks for the kind words, and there is always hope!
I don’t think rugby will ever die in this country, just professional rugby perhaps. Schools and armature clubs will always play rugby and then it might build up again, start fresh, it might just take a lot of pulling down before we can put something good back up.

Thanks for reading!
It is heavily based on the NRC but it should have more of a connection with armature clubs, this would build tribalism as an extension of those clubs.

I think they need to go to Bunnings (or Mitre 10), buy some wood, nails and a hammer, build a bridge and get over it.
But I actually get where they are coming from in terms of the competition though, they’re just doing what they think is best, and I think we need to do the same and ditch them!

That’s a great point, and if the connections were built strong enough then it would really take off. I would go crazy for a South Sydney team and a NSW country team