2018 Draw

[Souths Till I Die]

I can’t watch those videos at work. The news links I found all said Souths were the ones behind it.

Yeah I wouldn't trust news reporters with stuff like that. Richo may be fat but he's not stupid.

 

[Pommy]

Yeah I wouldn't trust news reporters with stuff like that. Richo may be fat but he's not stupid.

I wouldn’t trust a businessman to make money by selling a game out and then say it’s out of his hands.
I’m certain this is a club issue not an NRL one.

 

[rabbitohs95]

I'm really liking the Draw for 2018! There's no doubt it's one of the best we've had in years and is ten times better than last year.

I'm just going to do a little analysis on it.

Toughness

In terms of toughness, we are much better off in 2018. The NRL has ranked us ninth for this. That is a huge improvement on last year as I think we were ranked to have the toughest Draw. Rankings are below.

1. Warriors (234 points)
2. Titans (226)
=3. Sharks (218)
=3. Bulldogs (218)
=3. Wests Tigers (218)
=6. Sea Eagles (216)
=6. Knights (216)
8. Cowboys (208)
9. Rabbitohs (207)
10. Broncos (205)
11. Dragons (202)
12. Eels (191)
13. Panthers (190)
14. Raiders (189)
15. Storm (180)
16. Roosters (170)

Days

The number of games allocated to certain days are as follows:

Thursday night games: 5
Friday night games: 7
Saturday games: 10
Sunday games: 2

Teams we play

Teams we play twice: Broncos, Raiders, Bulldogs, Warriors, Cowboys, Eels, Dragons, Roosters, Wests Tigers.

Teams we play once: Sharks, Titans, Sea Eagles, Storm, Knights, Panthers.

Five day turnarounds

A huge positive for 2018's Draw is that we only have two Five day turnarounds which occur between Rounds 7 and 8 aswell as between Rounds 24 and 25. That is a huge positive.

Starting point (from NRL.com)

We have been given the honour of hosting the Warriors in Round 1 in the double-header to open the new Perth Stadium and then take on three Sydney rivals starting with the Panthers at Penrith in Round 2. Two home games against arch enemies Manly and Canterbury follow at ANZ Stadium, before a clash with the Bulldogs in the traditional Good Friday blockbuster.

Tough run (from NRL.com)

An eight-week stretch in the middle of the season where we play only three games at ANZ Stadium will be an excellent test of new coach Anthony Seibold's credentials. In Round 9 we head north of Sydney to take on the Knights and after a clash with the Dragons back on home soil there are back-to-back away trips to Townsville and Auckland that should provide a stark contrast in terms of playing conditions. A visit to the Gold Coast and then a home game in Cairns against the Cowboys in Round 16 rounds out a hectic two-month period.

Show-stoppers (from NRL.com)

An expected sell-out crowd of 60,000 at the unveiling of Perth Stadium is an inspiring way to begin a long campaign and the Good Friday blockbuster against the Bulldogs in Round 4 should ensure South Sydney's average home crowds are very healthy over the first month of the season. It will be just shy of six years since South Sydney last played at UOW Jubilee Oval when they face the Dragons in Round 5 and with a meeting against fierce local rivals the Roosters a week later there will be no lack of atmosphere at Rabbitohs games early in 2018.

Origin impact (from NRL.com)

Queensland reps Greg Inglis and Dane Gagai will miss the Round 13 local derby against the Sharks if they are in camp with the Maroons for Origin I as expected, but that is the only game for which they will be unavailable. Any Souths Origin reps could be forced to back up just two days after the series opener in Melbourne to play the Titans on the Gold Coast and they're looking at another short turnaround after Origin III in Brisbane, a date with the Bulldogs on Saturday night awaiting them in Round 18.

Positives (I will probably miss some)

Some other positives I have not mentioned:

• There are four Reciprical Rights games
• Draw is a lot more crowd friendly as we now have plenty of day games, this is great news
• This next one is a BIG one for me, I almost fell out of my chair when I saw it. We have a game in NZ!!!!!!!!!!!! That means I'll be able to see the boys live this year!!!! So stoked with that.
• We don't play the Storm at AAMI Park in 2018
• Obviously all the games we're taking to different places like Perth, Mudgee, Cairns, NZ, Central Coast. We're everywhere next year
• Our huge clashes with the Roosters will not be impacted by Origin
• Large turnarounds after our big away trips

Negatives (again, I will probably miss some)

• We are still playing the Cowboys in Cairns
• One of our massive games with the Roosters is on a Thursday

I know I've probably missed some things but overall, we have a good Draw and I am now really excited for 2018!!

Very good analysis my dude.

I'm pretty happy with the schedule and I think the benefits certainly outweigh the negatives.

Looking forward to attend plenty of games this year, particularly Kogarah and Central Coast, plus its good to see we play in NZ and the Gold Coast for all the fans there.

I think another big positive is our run from Round 18-22, that's 5 games at ANZ in a row. How good is that?!

 

[Pommy]

Just tried to get my membership but they won’t accept my card as it runs out in March. Guess I’m not getting my coin as I can’t afford to pay it outright before Xmas.

 

[Souths Till I Die]

I wouldn’t trust a businessman to make money by selling a game out and then say it’s out of his hands.
I’m certain this is a club issue not an NRL one.

Trust me when I say Souths don't choose who they play at venues otherwise everyone would want the easiest draw. It's the NRL's decision who plays who and they obviously felt bad putting another team other than NQ at Cairns.

 

[rabbitohs95]

Trust me when I say Souths don't choose who they play at venues otherwise everyone would want the easiest draw. It's the NRL's decision who plays who and they obviously felt bad putting another team other than NQ at Cairns.

Exactly. There's a reason why we took the Titans Knights and Raiders for the first three clashes. Plus the Cows would have kicked up a stink with us playing in their backyard, even though they have done SFA for their Cairns fans.

 

[Souths Till I Die]

Exactly. There's a reason why we took the Titans Knights and Raiders for the first three clashes. Plus the Cows would have kicked up a stink with us playing in their backyard, even though they have done SFA for their Cairns fans.

I've come to hate the NRL the past few years. I don't know if they're purposely showing favouritism but it's becoming pretty obvious. Seriously whoever decided the warriors and tigers draws must hate both teams.

 

[Pommy]

Trust me when I say Souths don't choose who they play at venues otherwise everyone would want the easiest draw. It's the NRL's decision who plays who and they obviously felt bad putting another team other than NQ at Cairns.

You get preferences, the Nrl down sheet o grant them but you do get an input.

 

[Souths Till I Die]

You get preferences, the Nrl down sheet o grant them but you do get an input.

Nah I don't think so. Especially not with the Cairns game. That's completely out of our power whether or not we play the cowboys there. NRL just loves to bend us over.

 

[callmack1]

I've come to hate the NRL the past few years. I don't know if they're purposely showing favouritism but it's becoming pretty obvious. Seriously whoever decided the warriors and tigers draws must hate both teams.

Exactly. If it was me, I'd be giving teams like the Storm and Roosters tougher draws in order to make the comp a wee bit more even.

 

[Curns13]

One reason the Storm might have an easier draw is they can't play themselves.

 

[Rabbits20]

I been very busy and will catch up on Saturday but I'd just like to throw in a short positive:

No Storm at AAMI
No Sharks at SCGS

Only play them once in home games at ANZ......

Oh and another quick one is that seeing as I have 3 out of 4 Sunday's off and we only have one Sunday game against St George but I'd have liked another 1-2 Sunday games...

Overall can't complain and am happier compared to the last couple of years...

Our bye after Cairns is good too....


I know we are trying to get out of our Cairns Cowboys match for 2019 onwards too....

Glory Glory guys.....

 

[Rabbits20]

I've come to hate the NRL the past few years. I don't know if they're purposely showing favouritism but it's becoming pretty obvious. Seriously whoever decided the warriors and tigers draws must hate both teams.

Well we were targets as you know but we don't stand for that shit....

We fight and we rally hard in that South Sydney way.............

 

[Pommy]

Trust me when I say Souths don't choose who they play at venues otherwise everyone would want the easiest draw. It's the NRL's decision who plays who and they obviously felt bad putting another team other than NQ at Cairns.

NRL's mission to bring Sydney fans back

NRL CEO Todd Greenberg has dismissed talk the code was forced to wake up and react following a slump in crowd figures across Sydney in 2017.

"Putting a draw together is a complex exercise with a multitude of layers – venue capacities and availabilities, club requests and player milestone games, welfare considerations and traditional derbies," Greenberg said at the launch of the 2018 Telstra Premiership draw on Thursday

http://m.nrl.com/nrls-mission-to-bring-sydney-fans-back/tabid/10874/newsid/113930/default.aspx

 

[Souths Till I Die]

NRL's mission to bring Sydney fans back

NRL CEO Todd Greenberg has dismissed talk the code was forced to wake up and react following a slump in crowd figures across Sydney in 2017.

"Putting a draw together is a complex exercise with a multitude of layers – venue capacities and availabilities, club requests and player milestone games, welfare considerations and traditional derbies," Greenberg said at the launch of the 2018 Telstra Premiership draw on Thursday

http://m.nrl.com/nrls-mission-to-bring-sydney-fans-back/tabid/10874/newsid/113930/default.aspx

That still doesn't confirm Souths signed off on North Queensland at Cairns. That just says that clubs have requests. Doesn't even mean the NRL has to follow them. Ultimately, the NRL do whatever they want.

 

[Pommy]

That still doesn't confirm Souths signed off on North Queensland at Cairns. That just says that clubs have requests. Doesn't even mean the NRL has to follow them. Ultimately, the NRL do whatever they want.

Which is what i said and you said it wasn’t so. Hoenstly I haven’t been able to find anything from the club saying they didn’t request it. The only articles I found hinted very strongly that the club wanted cows there.

 

[callmack1]

Which is what i said and you said it wasn’t so. Hoenstly I haven’t been able to find anything from the club saying they didn’t request it. The only articles I found hinted very strongly that the club wanted cows there.

I can back STID up on this, Richo did say we are trying to get out of playing the Cowboys there in Ask The Bosses.

 

[Pommy]

I can back STID up on this, Richo did say we are trying to get out of playing the Cowboys there in Ask The Bosses.

That doesn’t mean we didn’t agree to it isn’t he first place though. When was the deal done? Richo might have been withy the NRL at the time.

 

[callmack1]

That doesn’t mean we didn’t agree to it isn’t he first place though. When was the deal done? Richo might have been withy the NRL at the time.

Yeah you could be right actually. Deal would've been done in 2015 as the first time we played the Cowboys there was 2016. Richo was with the NRL at that time wasn't he?

 

[Pommy]

Yeah you could be right actually. Deal would've been done in 2015 as the first time we played the Cowboys there was 2016. Richo was with the NRL at that time wasn't he?

He was and people seem to forget all this lol

The NRL do a lot of funny things I honestly don't believe they would rob a side of home advantage without their agreement. It bring the credibility of the entire competition in to question.