Good question i have never thought about that! Does anyone know what officially would happen?

How are they going to get rewarded? It’s easier said than done. Reducing the interchanges to 6 will fix the problem. With player fatigue will come opportunities for backs like RTS to run around forwards. In the 80’s and 90’s players weren’t as athletic as they are today so fatigue played a fairly big factor.

I am still not sold on the doggies. Yes they beat Souths but they were playing without their hooker or five-eigth. They are a finals team and i am sure they will step up but based on that win against souths i am still not convinced. In saying that though, there is not one team that stands out which will make the finals more interesting. Every time i tip a team to make a run they screw me over. For example, melbourne, loosing to the knights in melbourne, they had all the motivation to sneak into the top four and they only put one try on the knights. The roosters will be hard pressed to get the job done without JWH. Pearce is a loss but JWH is more of a loss. The cowboys will revewrt back to their old ways of relying on thurston too much with Morgan out and Souths have not been great all year.

It’s going to be an interesting final none the less. My tip for the GF is Cowboys vs Roosters with Cowboys as premiers.

I don’t think the Australian network connection could handle live streaming of sport at the moment. NBN is a long way off at the moment.

I quite like the idea of only having 4 games on FTA. With the government set to regulate that main channels can broadcast in HD it’s not such a bad thing (besides the pre game coverage and SOME commentators). If there’s less games on TV will that mean people will attend the games more often to watch their team play?

In regards to the digital rights 1b is a drop in the ocean for google and if they broadcast the remaining 4 games via live streaming this would be good for fans who have a good internet connection. However, with the NBN not due to be fully operational Australia wide until sometime in the very very very distant future not everyone will be happy.

Jay C you’re 100% right mate. I have been to an AFL game and it was a fantastic DAY out. I stress the word day there because as a broncos fan i am sure you never see your Team run out during the day. I’m a roosters fan and i have the same issue. We had one daytime home game this year and it was on the central coast. I think a big part of the reason that the AFL pull crowds is because your pretty much guaranteed that your team will have at least 4 day games a season. This time is friendly for families and young adults.

Here Here Bulldog! If it wasn’t for the funny video’s and photos on my FB wall i would have deactivated it a long time ago lol.

Regardless of what’s on the list, the point was to show that the NRL has a lower average crowd than the AFL. I used the other popular sports around the world to show a comparison, EPL already surpasses the AFL, but you’re right, if the stadiums were bigger in the EPL they’re crowds would be much bigger. Maybe the “world” comment was a little bit of an exaggeration but that’s besides the point.

If your referring to 2015 then yes origin attracted more. However, in 2013 the AFL grand final (at the same venue) had a crowd of 100,007 so that surpasses it and any crowds in NRL.

Overall AFL has the fourth best crowd supporters in the world…

1. NFL

Average crowd of 68,776 in 2014-15

68,401 in 2013-14

2. Bundesliga

43,500 in 2103-14

41,914 in 2012-13

3. English Premier League

36,695 in 2013-14

35,931 in 2012-13

4. AFL

32,436 in 2014

32,163 in 2013

5. Major League Baseball

30,436 in 2014

30,514 in 2013

If you are referring to one origin match played there every 3 years then yes it does pull a crowd, but on average AFL smashed the NRL in crowd numbers… In the past three years the NRL crowd figures were ranging from 16,000 to 18,000.

Not sure what you mean @ No Idea Sunshine?

New $2b AFL broadcast deal set to be announced

Seems the AFL is getting a nice piece of the pie of TV rights.

And yet the NRL is envy with the crowd numbers that the AFL get.

I feel the same. Too much negativity, not just in rugby league but in society in general. Gone are the days of the happy go lucky laid back aussies, we have now become a nation of whingers (which is fine and sometimes i don’t blame people). Social media has opened that door a while ago.

As many people have said on this thread, reactionary rule changes are leaving people with a sour taste in their mouth. The NRL make a change “no more shoulder chargers”, but they do not stipulate what an actual shoulder charge is and now i hear this morning they are holding an “emergency meeting” to sort out the teething problems around the rule after 6 players get charged over the weekend? Come on, seriously?

They seem to react rather than thoroughly plan and looks like to me, they are more concerned about what money they can get for a TV contract 2-3 years away and less about whats happening in the game right now. If indeed the shoulder charge is dangerous to the players then that’s fine but you can’t change a rule overnight and expect people to embrace it, they produced no scientific research on the matter and no solution, just telling players not to do it anymore and say that there has been “studies” done to prove that it is dangerous. No doubt that the tackle on Ackerman was terrible but has there been any other fatality from a shoulder charge in recent memory? And if “studies” have been done can we see some results?

What’s the point of securing a TV deal for the future when they can’t find a solution for the present? If they sort the game out for the better now then they wont have to work as hard to get a network deal down the track. Right now, crowd figures are dropping, junior participation is dropping and the love of the game from some fans is dwindling.

Not to mention the promotion for their programs throughout the game. (voice, hotplate, reno shows e.t.c) The cost of getting eyeballs on these sort of promotions are priceless.

I have heard that Foxsports are looking at doing something similar to what they do with the AFL. They want to show all games live and have a dedicated NRL channel (like fox footy). However, if they do this than Nine under the agreement will pay less for their live games so Fox Sports would make up the shortfall. I really hope they do, i have been hugely disappointed with Nine’s coverage over the years.

On another note, if expansion is truly are viable option in the future than the NRL and Nine should team up to ensure that the 4 live games each week are broadcast live into Adelaide, Perth, Tasmania & Darwin at a minimum; not to mention the regional areas. Based on this they can ascertain a true weekly interest in the NRL. The highest ratings should get a team in the expansion.

Interesting… Good cash for the game but what about attracting the fans to the games? Can the NRL take a bit of a hit money wise (they can make it up in ticket sales) and have more day games? Schedule for fans…

Friday Night (7:30pm)
Saturday (1pm)
Saturday (3pm)
Saturday (5pm)
Saturday (7pm)
Sunday (12pm)
Sunday (2pm)
Sunday (4pm)

Who decides what points to allocate to what player?

It’s called bad management as opposed to good management.

I feel for the parramatta members and fans. The club has turned into a joke and it needs to be cleaned up, a broom needs to go right through the club, not at the playing level but at the management level. When will the NRL step in to fix this?

The reason Parra is over the cap is the fact that they have numerous players not playing for them that they are still paying. On top of that, they pay players well above their market value. Sandow $550K a season, Hoppa $850K a season e.t.c. Poor management and desperation caused this.

The Roosters on the other hand, are a better run club and don’t pay their players above market value, majority of their squad came there young and the roosters built them up as stars. The salary cap restraints mean that they are now losing players like Maloney and Tuivasa-Shek.

You can’t just increase the cap otherwise clubs will overspend and run themselves bankrupt. The cap is there not just to make the competition more even but also, to stem the spending of financially struggling clubs.

Its not cheating just poor management.

Actually we average over 15,000, 7th in the league. A little bit of research helps 😉

Jay C

I’m certainly not saying that about players values at all. But it works both ways, people see that he signs for 850K with the warriors and they assume that’s what the roosters are paying him and then scream that the roosters are over the cap.

Yes, you’re 100% right we have one of the smallest junior bases in the league (700 junoirs compared to say penrith’s 10,000) so it is hard to draw from that pool which is why O’Sullivan gets these sort of players young.

Mind you, if the NRL wold give us our territory back that they gave to Souths in the 50’s it might actually even things up a bit, but that’s another story. So its not the century more like half a century.

Jay C

Im not suggesting that at all all i am suggesting is that he is not being paid his current market value, like all the other players that have improved under the roosters. RTS is now worth $850K per season but i’d be surprised if the roosters are paying him anymore than $200K.

You are 100% correct to suggest that contracts are complex and that they are not still on minimum wage but there are certainly not getting their current market value. Hence, the argument of “the roosters’ roster is so good they must be over the cap” is just plain wrong.

Jay C i agree mate.

The accused player should be stepped down pending the court case. The players head wont be in the game anyway and it is not a good look from the NRL standards if that player is found guilty. However, he should still be paid as he has the right to earn a living and has the presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law.

No-one knows the full facts except the accused and alleged victim and the main concern should be both of them rather than whether the player will play or not. If he is found guilty then the NRL can impose sanctions and punishments. However, if he is innocent then he can play again, simple as that.

Although, this won’t happen, especially based on last year when a certain souths player was allowed to play in the GF and then was found guilty of domestic violence, that is a bad look for the game.

You know they are on upgrades how? They were nobodies coming the roosters. Based on your theory we are signing nobodies who may or may not crack it in the big time but offering them upgrades anyway? Come on man. They were signed young for a minimal contract and now they have made it are valued higher in the market so the roosters cannot hold onto them. RTS is a prime example of that.

JWH was unwanted in the sense that manly did not offer him his market value so you are right in saying that the roosters paid him more, yes they did, we payed him what he was worth.

However i will apologise about the SBW “cap restraint” comment as that was incorrect as he did leave on his own accord. And what is your point about RTS, Maloney and Toupou running out this weekend? They are still contracted with us until their contracts expire at the end of the season?

My point to the last paragraph was to state that people always say “the roosters have a star studded line up so how can they be under the cap” and the answer simply being that these players were not stars when they came to the chooks and we turned them into stars and now can’t keep them all because their market value went up.

No of course we aren’t successful we are one of the only few clubs that can actually turn a profit. We are 7th average home crowd attendances this year and just over 16,000 members so far. Your obviously going to different pubs cause in the east the pubs that i visit has the NRL on.