NRL season structure

[Billythekid]

An important part of the series is the build up. A week between games will not do the series justice. The mid-week game gives it special significance.

Perhaps go back to 2 weeks between games & play on a Tuesday to lesson the impact on the following weekend.

I would hate no club games for 3 weekends in a row.

The series is built up for 6 months FFS. They start advertising origin before the start of the NRL season. If all that hype and money spent on advertising and a 3 week period all to itself isn't enough to hype it up then maybe the concept isn't as popular as we thought.

Personally i think it may well add to the hype as there will be nothing but origin for those 3 weeks (instead of splitting the attention between club and rep games). You can just forget about the NRL for 3 weeks and focus almost entirely on origin.

Then when it's finished people will be dying to get back to the regular comp and the teams will be rested and hopefully at full strength to go into the back end of the season.

We don't need to f*ck over the club game to have a succesful origin series. Just because we're used to one way doesn't mean another won't work.

Edit: And just on losing the club games for 3 weeks it basically feels that way now. Basically you have 8-9 weeks where the standard of club footy is negatively impacted by the drain of origin. You can just feel the hype around the comp dying.

I'd much rather have those 3 weeks off completely and then come back when the clubs don't have to worry about losing origin players to injury, suspension or rep duties that come with origin.

It makes the games we do get better instead of having this lull in the middle.

 

[bondy064]

replace city vs country with country round like we have women round etc

Like this idea

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

Shiit.

Ok, i just read in one of the tv rights articles that 9 had it put into the contract that Origin has to be on wednesdays. I doubt it says anything about having games in between origin matches but anyone have any idea how could they structure a season break if origin is still midweek?

The series is built up for 6 months FFS. They start advertising origin before the start of the NRL season. If all that hype and money spent on advertising and a 3 week period all to itself isn't enough to hype it up then maybe the concept isn't as popular as we thought.

Personally i think it may well add to the hype as there will be nothing but origin for those 3 weeks (instead of splitting the attention between club and rep games). You can just forget about the NRL for 3 weeks and focus almost entirely on origin.

Then when it's finished people will be dying to get back to the regular comp and the teams will be rested and hopefully at full strength to go into the back end of the season.

We don't need to f*ck over the club game to have a succesful origin series. Just because we're used to one way doesn't mean another won't work.

Edit: And just on losing the club games for 3 weeks it basically feels that way now. Basically you have 8-9 weeks where the standard of club footy is negatively impacted by the drain of origin. You can just feel the hype around the comp dying.

I'd much rather have those 3 weeks off completely and then come back when the clubs don't have to worry about losing origin players to injury, suspension or rep duties that come with origin.

It makes the games we do get better instead of having this lull in the middle.

Also, yeah, what he said^.

But instead of doing 3 straight weeks, i really think they should do a 5 week break with Origin on the 1st, 3rd and 5th weeks. If they just have they regular week preparation for each game then the team will do the whole lockdown to focus on the game. But if they had a 2 week preparation, can you imagine the hype they could produce just with team promotional work.

 

[High Flyers]

3 week rep rounds

Australian State of Origin (NSW v Qld)

Under-20s State of Origin

Fiji v PNG

Tonga v Samoa

England v NZ

Dont take this personally but the suggestion that we stop the NRL season games and replace them with other meaningless games is stupid. So people arnt going to the football in the middle of the bye rounds in winter... do you think that replacing NRL season games with other meaningless games people will suddenly start attending.

People with short memories are already calling for the All stars game to be removed.. Imagine the crowds at fiji vs PNG after three years and the subsequent request to revert to the old format as its known today.

Just leave it alone FFS.

 

[High Flyers]

I believe the NRL season schedule needs a overhaul.

My ideal season would be as follows,

#All Stars (stays as a good season starter)
#Season Starts
#City / Country. (change in format needed, open to new ideas)
#State of Origin ( 1 week break in between)
#Nines Tournament ( similar to Challenge Cup Super League)
#Finals
#Tests

Test matches between the Pacific Islands in the weekend of City / Country

More Rep Games and reduce the club games so only play each other once.

No changes won't be able to happen till after the current TV rights contract expires.

I cant wait to see what the crowds will be like after three years of Pacific Island games. FFS why would I want to go to see some meaningless test match?

Whats everyones obsession with Nines?

 

[CC_Roosters]

Agreed it needs revamped. Take away the current rep round and no byes and there is the 3 weeks saved straight away, with a 3 week break at the midway point the players won't need the bye for a rest. Play internationals (pacific cup!), if the RFL could be persuaded to have a similar window in the season then England could do a 3 week tour of NZ and vice versa in alternate years. Say a warm up game against the Maori then 2 tests or for the kiwis touring a warm up game against Wales/france/Italy then the two tests.

I really don't want to see a knockout or nines tournament involving only the clubs to fill the gap- boring.com

 

[flippikat]

Dont take this personally but the suggestion that we stop the NRL season games and replace them with other meaningless games is stupid. So people arnt going to the football in the middle of the bye rounds in winter... do you think that replacing NRL season games with other meaningless games people will suddenly start attending.

People with short memories are already calling for the All stars game to be removed.. Imagine the crowds at fiji vs PNG after three years and the subsequent request to revert to the old format as its known today.

Just leave it alone FFS.

Ah, but what if some of these games go to places that don't currently get NRL games? Places that could value these games as their only taste of top-level footy each year.

For example, NZ Origin would likely be played in venues around NZ - rotate the games around NZ each year, and you're getting the game out to the provinces.

 

[Big Sam]

An important part of the series is the build up. A week between games will not do the series justice.

No, it will hype it even more. Can you imagine if Origin II had been 7 days after the biff of Origin I? The build-up nationwide would've been focused on Myles/QLD getting revenge.

You make it 3 weeks in a row and all the press will talk about is Origin. Then we get on with the club focus after that.

 

[Dogs Of War]

Even better at the end of this period have Australia v nz. Pi cup final and I'm sure some other games could be organised. So a 4 week gap all up.

 

[High Flyers]

Ah, but what if some of these games go to places that don't currently get NRL games? Places that could value these games as their only taste of top-level footy each year.

For example, NZ Origin would likely be played in venues around NZ - rotate the games around NZ each year, and you're getting the game out to the provinces.

Those games taken to regional areas should take place anyway. Have the regional games in addition to the current games as opposed to scraping all the NRL games.

 

[franklin2323]

:lol: People just don't get it. The exposure RL gets over the 9 weeks of SOO is priceless. Compress the games. You lose that. As for crowds Bulldogs v Newcastle play in Sydney it pulls 20k rather then 9k. In this period Broncos have 2 Monday games. Any other night they get 30k each game instead of 20k. Suddenly the crowds aren't as bad.

 

[Card Shark]

:lol: People just don't get it. The exposure RL gets over the 9 weeks of SOO is priceless. Compress the games. You lose that..

That's what I've been trying to say. It's not just the game it's all the hysteria in between.

Play them a week apart & there is little time to reflect on the first game before the next is underway. Too much exposure will be lost.

 

[POPEYE]

Depends if you're an exhibitionist or a purist

 

[franklin2323]

That's what I've been trying to say. It's not just the game it's all the hysteria in between.

Play them a week apart & there is little time to reflect on the first game before the next is underway. Too much exposure will be lost.

Yep that's right.

As for the crowds. Every round has 1 or 2 big crowds. The top teams don't play each other also having 4 games rather then 8 gives less chance to have that blockbuster crowd that pulls the round average up.

 

[Loudstrat]

Leave origin the way it is for f**k sake.

It will not be successful on a weekend, compressed over 3 consecutive weekends or at end of season.

It's a Rothfield story - who cares.

Good luck . . . no trials, every team plays each other twice, best 2 gf, 1 Origin with alternate venues

No finals and 1 Origin. Great. Get rid of 10 of our top 12 games. F*ck me you are dumber than Bunniesman!!!!!

Depends if you're an exhibitionist or a purist

The thought of you in a trenchcoat is not appealing in any way.

FFS all this because a couple of rich clubs miss a few stars. Each club gets one bye, so the worst case scenario is a club chock full of rep players drops 4 points. Boo f*cking hoo.

The schedule is great. While Origin and byes are on, players get a rest. That weeks has gotta help injuries heal, and therefore we keep players on the field for longer.

 

[Card Shark]

The game thrives on TV money. SOO as it is creates plenty of $ directly (tickets, merchandise) & indirectly (thru part of TV rights).

No good complaining about it because if it gets moved, Ch 9 might reduce their TV rights bill. Players have to suck it up too if they want more & more % of what the game's income is, which is predominantly TV rights as we all know.

A week off here & there for byes is good for most players anyway i would think, not 3 weeks off in a row & no other breaks.

 

[Timmah]

Yeah, Origin has to be fixed.

I mean, after 30 years it has grown into the countries most treasured rep sporting event. Meanwhile the comp has expanded into a billion dollar business across 2 countries.

It only makes sense that we change a successful formula because some pisshead in a Cronulla pub and a handful of Gen Y geniuss on an internet forum are on a crusade :roll:

BTW How terrible is it to contribute to a low ranked club like NZ finding form. I mean, wasnt it a sh*t game in Perth? No - it was a f*cking corker. And Brisbane are shIt with or without Thirdman, Grampa Parker and f*cking Hodges!!!

Nobody's suggesting we need to fix Origin - we have a flailing club competition during the period in which Origin is played to attend to.

Clubs are the lifeblood of the game and if they're not able to make some cash from fans during the Origin period due to shit crowds and low interest - that is something that needs looking at.

 

[Valheru]

I don’t think a 3 week window would lessen the build up at all. In reality there is only 10 real days of build up anyways and that is from when the players go into camp and when the game is played.

At the risk of upsetting the lynch mob, have a look at the rugby, there was no lessening of build up between games, in fact it was heightened due to the events of each game.

Origin would be tenfold to that.

 

[franklin2323]

Nobody's suggesting we need to fix Origin - we have a flailing club competition during the period in which Origin is played to attend to.

Clubs are the lifeblood of the game and if they're not able to make some cash from fans during the Origin period due to shit crowds and low interest - that is something that needs looking at.

Flailing from what exactly? Top teams are sheltered from the Origin window as much as possible. Crowds aren't the best due to high prices and TV schedule that wont change even if we have stand alone Origin

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

Flailing from what exactly? Top teams are sheltered from the Origin window as much as possible. Crowds aren't the best due to high prices and TV schedule that wont change even if we have stand alone Origin

Its not just prices and schedule. With this 8 week origin buildup, people just care less about the club games.

Not only would a break stop these lower crowds, after the break people would be so excited to have their teams back you would see a good boost in attendance.