International 9's

[Irish-bulldog]

I've seen its on the agenda, I personally think it's a great idea to help develop the smaller nations.

what's everyone's opinion on what the international 9's should look like ?. Talk anything 9's here.

 

[adamkungl]

Long term:
Annual circuit of 6 top level events, 1 in each continent.
Continental tournaments decide entry to top level.
Major 4 yearly tournaments of World Cup, Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games (very long term)

Short term:
Annual circuit of 2 events, 1 in Northern Hemisphere (not Northern England) and 1 in SH (not Sydney, Brisbane, or Auckland).
Regional tournaments decide entry to top level.
Major 4 yearly tournaments of World Cup, and Commonwealth Games exhibition.

National teams contract eligible players similarly and separately to professional clubs, to avoid conflicts of interest arising from clubs refusing to release players for rep duty.
Ie. it is not treated as selected rep teams, but as a separate sport that runs concurrently to professional RL.

 

[Irish-bulldog]

I think maybe to start with adding international teams to the current 9's comp with nrl clubs ? Or a stand alone international nations comp, only nations involved.

 

[roughyedspud]

Stand alone international 9s

 

[adamkungl]

Nations only for international competition.

Club 9s for exhibition or development

 

[jim_57]

Stand alone international 9s

This, I'd like to see the first 2 in whichever order in France and USA who have both expressed early interest. If this tournament ends if in Australia, NZ or England I'd be disappointed.

 

[Last Week]

I don't think it's a terrible idea to have it start off in heartland cities. It'll create some interest and get the heartland invested.

Circuits are a great idea. We should be able to take it all over the world eventually. Several times a year.

Two events a year to start with sounds good. Nations select players who are willing. If Cameron Smith, Kieran Foran or Sam Burgess don't want to play, that's fine. Just keep going down the grades until it happens. If Scotland end up rolling Australia, good, serves them right.

The main issue I can see is clubs not wanting to release players which could really hinder lower tiered nations. Having less of a pool to call from being why.

FYI, I can see PNG rolling this.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

Stand alone international 9s

Yeh, it might be good getting other locations involved in the NRL9s (PNG Hunters, Fiji team, etc), but "national" teams should be limited to an international comp...

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

I don't think it's a terrible idea to have it start off in heartland cities. It'll create some interest and get the heartland invested.

Circuits are a great idea. We should be able to take it all over the world eventually. Several times a year.

Two events a year to start with sounds good. Nations select players who are willing. If Cameron Smith, Kieran Foran or Sam Burgess don't want to play, that's fine. Just keep going down the grades until it happens. If Scotland end up rolling Australia, good, serves them right.

The main issue I can see is clubs not wanting to release players which could really hinder lower tiered nations. Having less of a pool to call from being why.

FYI, I can see PNG rolling this.

Only if its an annual thing...

If its once every 4 years, then take it to the weird places right away.

 

[Force]

They already have Cabramatta Nines which has been going on for some time. None of those tournaments feature NRL players and they seem to do alright. NRL Clubs are already questioning their players playing in the NRL Nines so I'd doubt they will release their players for an International comp. In Union they dont have their top 15's players playing Sevens so I cant see why it should be any different for league. Just grab the lower grade players or home grown players, nothing wrong with that. It will give the lower tier Nations a better chance anyway. Agree with an above comment, PNG will go good here and if we can entice more Fijian Sevens players over to league, they too will do well.

 

[Arucard]

They already have Cabramatta Nines which has been going on for some time. None of those tournaments feature NRL players and they seem to do alright. NRL Clubs are already questioning their players playing in the NRL Nines so I'd doubt they will release their players for an International comp. In Union they dont have their top 15's players playing Sevens so I cant see why it should be any different for league. Just grab the lower grade players or home grown players, nothing wrong with that. It will give the lower tier Nations a better chance anyway. Agree with an above comment, PNG will go good here and if we can entice more Fijian Sevens players over to league, they too will do well.

How do you market it, without the stars though?

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Keep the NRL club nines (I would rotate it between the major cities e.g. 5 years Auckland, 5 years Perth etc), introduce a SuperLeague club nines (rotated throughout cities in the UK in 5 year blocks) plus introduce at least one international nines event a year (to start with) and host it somewhere other than Australia, the UK or New Zealand. My initial thoughts for hosts would be Canada or France.

 

[adamkungl]

How do you market it, without the stars though?

In places where people don't know the stars

 

[Arucard]

In places where people don't know the stars

You do realize this is what we do with our game in these expansion markets now.......
Sponsors aren't going to get on board for a bush style amateur comp. Look at cabramatta. Who outside of rugby league fans know about this?

You gotta gotta give sponsors reasons and incentives to sign up.....

 

[Force]

In Rugby Sevens, they lack their star players and they do alright considering cos Sevens is seen as a party atmosphere, thats how you have to sell the Nines. Sell the concept of the Nines tournament, fast, action packed and a lot of fun not to mention their Countries are playing. Besides, star players are only known in the already established Countries like OZ,NZ,UK, P.Is etc...the lower tier Countries it wont matter so much cos they wont be as popular over there anyway.

 

[adamkungl]

You do realize this is what we do with our game in these expansion markets now.......
Sponsors aren't going to get on board for a bush style amateur comp. Look at cabramatta. Who outside of rugby league fans know about this?

You gotta gotta give sponsors reasons and incentives to sign up.....

This is the case for NRL 9s in an NRL town - not for a World 9s in a city that's never heard of NRL.

6000 people just showed up to a 3rd tier game in Canada where the biggest star name in established RL circles didn't even play.

It would unlikely be an instant smash hit, start with modest goals and modest investment.

 

[roughyedspud]

The world 9s,to start with, has to be in Sydney, Brisbane or at a push melbourne

 

[Knownothing]

This is the case for NRL 9s in an NRL town - not for a World 9s in a city that's never heard of NRL.

6000 people just showed up to a 3rd tier game in Canada where the biggest star name in established RL circles didn't even play.

It would unlikely be an instant smash hit, start with modest goals and modest investment.

From my observation of similar events, sometimes they do start with a lot of interest. The challenge is in maintaining that interest, and building on it. That's the hard part, frankly.

 

[adamkungl]

The world 9s,to start with, has to be in Sydney, Brisbane or at a push melbourne

Haha I'd go the total opposite.

 

[roughyedspud]

Haha I'd go the total opposite.

it needs big sponsors and big media coverage...as pointed out above look at cabramatta,its a fantastic little event...and only we know about it lol