NRL Nines - Everything you need to know

[T-Boon]

I find it funny when people get angry that the clubs aren't taking the Nines seriously. It's a novelty event, it's not meant to be taken seriously!

It is more how it is a sign the clubs are anti growing the game. This weekend was supposed to be or could have been used to grow the sport in Perth. Then they send garbage teams to slap Perth in the face again. The clubs are anti growth of the code because it will threaten their existence.

They should have just had this weekend in Newcastle.

Try to grow the sport in Perth with state of origin and others, maybe the English super league teams.

 

[Western_Eel]

It is more how it is a sign the clubs are anti growing the game. This weekend was supposed to be or could have been used to grow the sport in Perth. Then they send garbage teams to slap Perth in the face again. The clubs are anti growth of the code because it will threaten their existence.

They should have just had this weekend in Newcastle.

Try to grow the sport in Perth with state of origin and others, maybe the English super league teams.

It has nothing to do with anti growth clubs, Its plain and simple, the nines means nothing to the clubs and they dont want to risk their players on something other then the NRL comp.
No one player, coach or CEO gets the sack for coming last in the nines but they sure as hell do in the NRL comp

 

[Quicksilver]

They need to give the winner a million bucks or something to make it worthwhile.

Otherwise it's stupid to take your A Team.

 

[Burns]

There seems to be way less interest, media and hype on this. Shame.

 

[Perth Red]

Other than a couple of small ads in The West I haven’t seen or heard any promotion or hype for it. Been on at the same time as the Fringe means it is battling to get much coverage I’d suggest.

 

[Version 6]

It's so NRL to half arse this the way that they have.

 

[Timmah]

I don't understand what they're half arsing?

Like it just seems like a bunch of people on a forum getting in a tizz for.... why?

 

[Perth Red]

I don't understand what they're half arsing?

Like it just seems like a bunch of people on a forum getting in a tizz for.... why?

you don’t? Really? Or are you just been an nrl suck again?

playing it on a Friday, on Valentine’s Night of all things, instead of Saturday and Sunday
Charging $40-70 a ticket
Hardly marketing it
The draw not having each club playing each other in their group
The lack of any fan engagement strategies
I’m sure there’s more they could have done better but that’ll do for now.

 

[Timmah]

you don’t? Really? Or are you just been an nrl suck again?

playing it on a Friday, on Valentine’s Night of all things, instead of Saturday and Sunday
Charging $40-70 a ticket
Hardly marketing it
The draw not having each club playing each other in their group
The lack of any fan engagement strategies
I’m sure there’s more they could have done better but that’ll do for now.

Imagine arguing like a human being instead of throwing bullshit like "being an NRL suck"? It's f**king tiresome, grow up.

To address your points:

- timing: as suggested, it's likely because there's a packed trials schedule the following week featuring All Stars camp, WCC and almost all clubs playing. Travel Perth to east coast effectively removes a day so holding it Fri-Sat makes more sense for the players and clubs.
- this looks like a bad faith argument, and it's not really reasonable anyway. Entry level Friday tickets are $25, Saturday $40, and two-day tickets are $60. Even then, when you consider how much time and how many games are involved (particularly compared to a normal NRL game), the prices are quite reasonable.
- I'm seeing a lot of online ads, but I can't speak to whether the marketing's been adequate or not. Having said that, the primary sales period for tickets is probably the next few weeks so it's a bit early to judge, no?
- agreed. the fixturing / pool arrangement is poor for the men's tournament.
- what do you mean by fan engagement strategies, how is that different to marketing?

If we were post event and the stadium was less than half empty for the entire weekend, I'd probably be more critical, but a lot of the concern here seems either premature, or just for the sake of it.

 

[King hit]

you don’t? Really? Or are you just been an nrl suck again?

playing it on a Friday, on Valentine’s Night of all things, instead of Saturday and Sunday
Charging $40-70 a ticket
Hardly marketing it
The draw not having each club playing each other in their group
The lack of any fan engagement strategies
I’m sure there’s more they could have done better but that’ll do for now.

More anti league bullshit

 

[Perth Red]

Imagine arguing like a human being instead of throwing bullshit like "being an NRL suck"? It's f**king tiresome, grow up.

To address your points:

- timing: as suggested, it's likely because there's a packed trials schedule the following week featuring All Stars camp, WCC and almost all clubs playing. Travel Perth to east coast effectively removes a day so holding it Fri-Sat makes more sense for the players and clubs.
- this looks like a bad faith argument, and it's not really reasonable anyway. Entry level Friday tickets are $25, Saturday $40, and two-day tickets are $60. Even then, when you consider how much time and how many games are involved (particularly compared to a normal NRL game), the prices are quite reasonable.
- I'm seeing a lot of online ads, but I can't speak to whether the marketing's been adequate or not. Having said that, the primary sales period for tickets is probably the next few weeks so it's a bit early to judge, no?
- agreed. the fixturing / pool arrangement is poor for the men's tournament.
- what do you mean by fan engagement strategies, how is that different to marketing?

If we were post event and the stadium was less than half empty for the entire weekend, I'd probably be more critical, but a lot of the concern here seems either premature, or just for the sake of it.

the timing excuse is bs. If they saw this as a marquee event they would schedule it so it didnt impact their other marquee pre season events. Many clubs fly out of perth same day so if they flew out Sunday night instead of Saturday night it isn’t a big deal. As you said it’s for the clubs not the fans, yet the event is supposed to be for the fans ain’t it?
There reasonable of you’ve got plenty of disposable income. Work and valentines night Friday means they could be free and I wont be there. I’d like to sit in main stand to have some covers but I’m not paying $70 on Saturday to see mostly reserve graders in a “fun” tournament so still haven’t decided if I’ll bother taking the family. if there’s some deal comes out and I can get in for around $40 I’ll go.
Re fan engagement just thinking of other things that might make someone go, that looks fun let’s go to that. Beer village, bands between games, fancy dress comps, kids give aways, anything to get the casual sports fan to try something new.

well it’s a discussion not a review. It might be fullboth days which would be great, loved to be proved a negative nelly, but seat availability at the moment would suggest otherwise, but yeh let’s hold off all discussion on anything until after its over!

apologies if I’ve hurt your feelings, I’ll try to be more sensitive in future

 

[Tigers1986]

I may be 'negative' but again, I question why they're hosting this tournament so far away from actual league fans. Auckland didn't care unless it was the Warriors (look back at how the crowds emptied when they lost). Perth will not care.

For the 9s to actually be worth a damn, they should be held at BankWest Stadium over a weekend (like the 7s will be). Makes perfect sense when there are 9 teams from Sydney, then you have Newcastle/Canberra that are 3 hours away, and then the other 5 teams who can fly in. Could be a huge carnival of footy that builds as a pre-season hype machine facilitated by HQ.

I wouldn't run it in the Brisbane market as they have the All Stars game. Melbourne have just hosted the Australian Open and will be fully in AFL mode. Adelaide, lol.

 

[Perth Red]

I may be 'negative' but again, I question why they're hosting this tournament so far away from actual league fans. Auckland didn't care unless it was the Warriors (look back at how the crowds emptied when they lost). Perth will not care.

For the 9s to actually be worth a damn, they should be held at BankWest Stadium over a weekend (like the 7s will be). Makes perfect sense when there are 9 teams from Sydney, then you have Newcastle/Canberra that are 3 hours away, and then the other 5 teams who can fly in. Could be a huge carnival of footy that builds as a pre-season hype machine facilitated by HQ.

I wouldn't run it in the Brisbane market as they have the All Stars game. Melbourne have just hosted the Australian Open and will be fully in AFL mode. Adelaide, lol.

May come as a surprise but there are league fans in perth! We’ve sold out nib a number times over the last few years.

Sydney has failed to support the internationals held there and club games are rarely well attended so not sure there is much claim to a guaranteed large crowd showing up.

 

[Tigers1986]

Not hard to sell a 15k stadium out for a once a season attraction. You'd nominate Tamworth or Mudgee for the 9s next?

The core of the fanbase is in Sydney/NSW. Would definitely entice more fans to attend in arguably one of the best stadiums in the world.

 

[Timmah]

the timing excuse is bs. If they saw this as a marquee event they would schedule it so it didnt impact their other marquee pre season events. Many clubs fly out of perth same day so if they flew out Sunday night instead of Saturday night it isn’t a big deal. As you said it’s for the clubs not the fans, yet the event is supposed to be for the fans ain’t it?
There reasonable of you’ve got plenty of disposable income. Work and valentines night Friday means they could be free and I wont be there. I’d like to sit in main stand to have some covers but I’m not paying $70 on Saturday to see mostly reserve graders in a “fun” tournament so still haven’t decided if I’ll bother taking the family. if there’s some deal comes out and I can get in for around $40 I’ll go.
Re fan engagement just thinking of other things that might make someone go, that looks fun let’s go to that. Beer village, bands between games, fancy dress comps, kids give aways, anything to get the casual sports fan to try something new.

well it’s a discussion not a review. It might be fullboth days which would be great, loved to be proved a negative nelly, but seat availability at the moment would suggest otherwise, but yeh let’s hold off all discussion on anything until after its over!

apologies if I’ve hurt your feelings, I’ll try to be more sensitive in future

You don't just get to dismiss something because you think it's BS.

The timing theory makes a lot of sense. The pre-season schedule is already fairly limited - WCC, All Stars and teams having 1-2 trials all need to be squeezed in, as well as the availability of HBF Park given it hosts Perth Glory matches as well (like they are on 7 Feb). "Many clubs fly out of Perth same day" is normally for a single club. This is about getting 20 teams out of the joint (not to mention NRL staff, referees, media), all of which have to take 5-odd hour flights back to the East Coast - add more for Broncos, Cowboys, Warriors. Sure, a handful could probably catch the red-eye back that night, but they will still likely lose most of the following day regardless, and most of the clubs will still need to go the next morning. Better that it's Sunday than Monday when there's All Stars camp for 80-odd players as well, not to mention the Roosters heading to the UK. I think player welfare should come before fans, yes.

NRL attendance, going to the footy - is for people with disposable income. That's always been the case since gate admission was a thing. If you can't acknowledge this sits slightly above a normal NRL game in terms of value, then I can't help you. Day 1 has 10 games for $20, Day 2 has 20 games for $45, and you can get all 30 games for $60.

Agree re: fan engagement - I think there's a party area at each end or something, but it would be good to see more. I haven't been to HBF Park before - is there ample space around like there is at Optus?

 

[Timmah]

I may be 'negative' but again, I question why they're hosting this tournament so far away from actual league fans. Auckland didn't care unless it was the Warriors (look back at how the crowds emptied when they lost). Perth will not care.

For the 9s to actually be worth a damn, they should be held at BankWest Stadium over a weekend (like the 7s will be). Makes perfect sense when there are 9 teams from Sydney, then you have Newcastle/Canberra that are 3 hours away, and then the other 5 teams who can fly in. Could be a huge carnival of footy that builds as a pre-season hype machine facilitated by HQ.

I wouldn't run it in the Brisbane market as they have the All Stars game. Melbourne have just hosted the Australian Open and will be fully in AFL mode. Adelaide, lol.

Bankwest just hosted the World Cup 9's. It was good but that and the Grand Final are plenty for Sydney.

'Perth will not care' seems like a stretch IMO given Origin II set a ground record just 6-7 months ago. I think it'll be reasonably successful. Whether that's enough to keep it there more than a year I don't know, but I don't think it's worth dragging another event to Sydney.

 

[Perth Red]

You don't just get to dismiss something because you think it's BS.

The timing theory makes a lot of sense. The pre-season schedule is already fairly limited - WCC, All Stars and teams having 1-2 trials all need to be squeezed in, as well as the availability of HBF Park given it hosts Perth Glory matches as well (like they are on 7 Feb). "Many clubs fly out of Perth same day" is normally for a single club. This is about getting 20 teams out of the joint (not to mention NRL staff, referees, media), all of which have to take 5-odd hour flights back to the East Coast - add more for Broncos, Cowboys, Warriors. Sure, a handful could probably catch the red-eye back that night, but they will still likely lose most of the following day regardless, and most of the clubs will still need to go the next morning. Better that it's Sunday than Monday when there's All Stars camp for 80-odd players as well, not to mention the Roosters heading to the UK. I think player welfare should come before fans, yes.

NRL attendance, going to the footy - is for people with disposable income. That's always been the case since gate admission was a thing. If you can't acknowledge this sits slightly above a normal NRL game in terms of value, then I can't help you. Day 1 has 10 games for $20, Day 2 has 20 games for $45, and you can get all 30 games for $60.

Agree re: fan engagement - I think there's a party area at each end or something, but it would be good to see more. I haven't been to HBF Park before - is there ample space around like there is at Optus?

it’s more limited than Optus but there is a big grassed area behind the north Stand and a large grass oval next door.

I get that there’s competing priorities for players but I still think if your going to put a marquee event on then put it on at a time that is most likely to attract fans to go otherwise what’s the point? Like you said previously proof of the pudding and all that, if 15k plus turn up on Friday all good, if it’s empty it’s a dumb mistake.

 

[Zadar]

To make it worthwhile and make the clubs want to put a team in,


1- play it during an origin bye weekend, the players not picked for origin or the international games, play in the nines.

2- offer the winning prize as an exemption to the cap, $200k towards the cap, is much more valuable than any monetary prize that can’t be used towards a player.

I don’t see the push to have so many events pre season, where players are not even close to match fit, and injuries can come a lot easier because of that. There is absolutely no incentive to the clubs to put their star players at risk, for no reward.

 

[no name]

The timing argument is a weird one.
If it has to be played on Fri-Sat because of other trials, WCC etc, why even bother playing it at all?
If you’re not going to do it properly, f**k it off altogether.

 

[Timmah]

The timing argument is a weird one.
If it has to be played on Fri-Sat because of other trials, WCC etc, why even bother playing it at all?
If you’re not going to do it properly, f**k it off altogether.

Why is Friday night/Saturday "not properly"?

Sport is played (and watched) most frequently on those days as it is. Sure, Sunday would be great too, but the circumstances don't allow for it.

The way some are reacting here, it's as though it's been scheduled for 3am on Wednesday...