Has richardson been neutured?

[CC_Roosters]

I gotta agree with you mate.

Firstly the TV deal and then Richo's report ( particularly the silence about expansion) has left me in a funk about our game.

I can't reconcile this depression that is coinciding with a period when an unbelievable amount of money is flowing into the NRL.

Someone needs to do something but I can't imagine who will be the person to step up.

I think a lot will hinge on the next CEO, he or she may drive expansion back on the agenda rapidly if they have the fortitude to combat the competing interests of clubs or it could get buried permanently.

Was looking back at the late nineties teams and its hard to believe the games elite footprint has detracted to the extent it has. And as someone who has only been involved for a decade its farcical to see the likes of the bears gone when they were super competitive on the field but not off it, all for the sake of pursuing this perfectly even utopia league the administrators dream of from time to time.

The expansion to 18 teams should be really the easiest and safest sell the NRL could have for its stakeholders. A ninth game grows the pie and new teams in SEQ and potentially NZ creates a larger professional pool of players as it embraces areas with the talent but no local NRL pathway

 

[johnny plath]

Just wondering if anyone knows how to get a copy of richos plan. There seems a lot of negativity for something im not sure if any one here has actually read or seen.

 

[Perth Red]

It's not been released but has been leaked, I very much doubt there is any more to it otherwise I am sure more would have hit the media by now

It's déjà vu, they commissioned a whole of gane review 3 years ago and all that came out if it was a take over of the state bodies, a change of logo for them, more money for new and qlnd cup and a end of season gf between them.

 

[Last Week]

I think a lot will hinge on the next CEO, he or she may drive expansion back on the agenda rapidly if they have the fortitude to combat the competing interests of clubs or it could get buried permanently.

I'd hope so, but the CEO carries out the wishes for the commission. And I fear that our commission is influenced by certain stakeholders. (not through the threat of being sacked as they have fixed terms)

Through the commissions existence, the clubs have been demanding more money. They've had to be pacified with one off payments time and time again. Their greed knows no bounds.

If I wasn't raised watching and playing this game my entire life, I'd probably have given it up by now looking at the politics involved in it all.

 

[Last Week]

It's not been released but has been leaked, I very much doubt there is any more to it otherwise I am sure more would have hit the media by now

Not necessarily.

It's a shame it hasn't been released publically. The RLIF released their strategic plan, which in my opinion is a bit unrealistic, but it shows that the RLIF have enough faith in their product that they're willing to tell everyone they want to spread it.

 

[Perth Red]

Coupled with richo's comments during the "leak" certainly any NRL expansion component is not in it and any hope for a more prominent international scene isn't there. Why wouldn't they release any other positive things such as increased funding to affiliated states or country RL strategy?

 

[BuffaloRules]

Interesting thought. How did Arko and Quale sell the mass expansion of the game to the clubs back then? They were more dinosaurs than the current club execs, so there must have been some sell.

The original plan for 1995 was to expand by only 2. They called for bids and were supposedly impressed with the quality of all 4 candidates to accept them all.

Don't think much consultation was occurring with the clubs about this - they just did it.

Of course yearly TV rights were in the low single digit millions back then ( from memory)and I'm not sure if the League were providing any grants to the clubs at that time-( it couldn't have been much if they were )so the existing clubs didn't have to worry about "dividing up the pie" between new clubs because there wasn't one.

 

[siv]

We were also on the back of a steady expansion period

1947 two teams added
1967 two teams added
1982 two teams added

(They wanted Illawarra & Newcastle but Newcastle refused so they went with Canberra )

1988 three teams added after the loss of Newtown in 1983

(Newcastle finally agreed and Brisbane wanted in. After failing to kick out Wests, Tweed Heads was added late)

And RL was huge TV product and clearly #1 when 4 teams were added in 1995

There was a push for Brisbane #2 ie Crushers run by the QRL after all of the trouble the Broncos were stering up and the ARL struggling to deal with this monster privatised club. Which of course contributed to the start of the SL War

But your right only 2 clubs were mooted for 1995

But I beleive in 1993 the tender process started

 

[johnny plath]

Not necessarily.

It's a shame it hasn't been released publically. The RLIF released their strategic plan, which in my opinion is a bit unrealistic, but it shows that the RLIF have enough faith in their product that they're willing to tell everyone they want to spread it.

True, but I'm sure that the RLIF would't have just written their plan and then released it. It would have been circulated as a draft, recieved feedback, amended and then released. I'm sure that I read that Richo's paper is out for discussion, and won't be finalised until March this year, which seems like a normal process. The difference between the RLIF and ARLC would be the vulture media scrutiny, the RLIF just left to get on with business, while the ARLC is scrutinised and critisised over something that isn't even finished. If the clubs are so powerful, as most think, then they will get their way, the paper will be rewritten to suit them, and they'll be happy (but still whingeing) again. Or should the ARLC also just grow a pair, like most seem to say or want when it suits their interest, and just get on with whats best for the game and don't bother consulting because their is too much vested interest in most stakeholders. So which is it...consult and be damned, or just make decisions in the best interest of the game and be damned?

 

[Frank Discussion]

You are taking an awful lot from a report that hasn't been released yet.

 

[Perth Red]

From the horses mouth

“My work has made no recommendation for expansion at the NRL level,’’ he told The Courier-Mail.
“The information we gathered is that we would be stretching going to 17 or 18 teams.
“It would have a dramatic effect on the quality of the games. Our games are so close when compared to the AFL’s and my personal opinion from the research we’ve done is no, we wouldn’t be expanding.

When the British agitate for more Test football over an eight-year cycle, Richardson’s response is that in a sense Australians “already play 24 Tests in eight years, if you count Origins’’.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...l/news-story/b176653e00348c6cb5f2cce9248e452f

He did say that he would like to see ashes tours returned though which was the only positive statement he made in regards the bigger picture of the game.

 

[siv]

Its interesting reading that compared to when he first joined the NRL

Gloating about all of his ideas he will implement

 

[Perth Red]

Hence the thread lol. Was he full of bluster or did he genuinely have a vision that has been neutered by the Commission ? Other possibility is he didn't realise how screwed the existing clubs really are and being on the inside their dire condition means he has had to change his mind on expansion.

 

[Quidgybo]

Making no recommendation is not the same as saying nothing about when and how to expand. The report may set out a series of expansion options, including no expansion, for the commission to consider without taking a position on which of those options they should choose. Likewise, saying 17 or 18 teams would be stretching it could mean stretching it with the present 2nd tier support structure (i.e. 16 age restricted NYC sides as a 2nd tier leading straight to first grade). It might not be stretching it after a new pathways structure (with 28 multi-grade teams including an open age 2nd tier competition) has been in place a few years and for all we know, the report says exactly that. You're assuming an awful lot without the context of the report itself to understand what short throw away statements like that really mean. And you're assuming the worst possible interpretation.

Leigh.

 

[Quidgybo]

And another thought while I'm at it. Saying no expansion is not the same as saying no 2nd team in Brisbane, no team in Perth etc etc. The report may say the competition shouldn't move beyond 16 teams but the locations encompassed by those 16 licenses should be substantially different from what it is today. But we all know what a hornets nest it would set off if he had publicly said something like that...

Leigh.

 

[Perth Red]

And you're assuming the worst possible interpretation.

Leigh.

After 35 years following RL you tend to hope for the best but expect the worse!

 

[siv]

Lets not forget NRL originally only wanted 14 teams before Souths took them to court

 

[Last Week]

Lets not forget NRL originally only wanted 14 teams before Souths took them to court

Well, no, that was part of the peace treaty for the SL war. News wanted that, not so much the ARL.

 

[Perth Red]

And another thought while I'm at it. Saying no expansion is not the same as saying no 2nd team in Brisbane, no team in Perth etc etc. The report may say the competition shouldn't move beyond 16 teams but the locations encompassed by those 16 licenses should be substantially different from what it is today. But we all know what a hornets nest it would set off if he had publicly said something like that...

Leigh.

Well considering the NRL has just agreed to all 16 clubs having permenant licenses it is not likely anyone is being removed or relocate.

 

[Ourimbah Magpies]

Well considering the NRL has just agreed to all 16 clubs having permenant licenses it is not likely anyone is being removed or relocate.

When was this announced, how can any side be guaranteed permanent licenses ?.