Its early days yet. Too early to really tell until they tackle the 3 big questions over the game: 1) The next TV rights deal, 2) Expansion and 3) Consolidating our marketplace and limiting the intrusion of competitors (esp bush footy and juniors).
To me, the IC was sold on two lines: 1) Get rid of News Ltd, and 2) Bring to the game commissioners with political and corporate links to the top end of town. A third - unifying the games leadership under a single umbrella with the good of the game paramount to all decision making - was an unstated assumption. So was a fourth ideal - transparency in decision making. Lets judge them on those points.
There's 7 things to judge them on, plus how they have managed the game thus far.
1) The next TV rights deal. The revelation that the stupid f*cking networks have supposedly overspent on AFL is a "D'oh" moment. Stiff f*cking sh*t. Our game is more valuable. Our season is longer. More people watch it. We are in the nations growth areas. Therefore, it is up to the IC to get a better deal anyway. Sure, the pool is small, but Kerry Packer paid a record for it once, and Rupert splurged on it too.
The main problem is timing - we fall a year after AFL's deal. Therefore, if the IC gets less than 1 billion deal without signing up for 3 years - to get in front of the AFL, then they should be lined up outside Henson Park and shot. Then resurrect the ARL and get John Quayle to run it.
VERDICT - too early to judge
2) Expansion. They havent done anything obvious. The clubs and expansion areas are still driving this. Early days yet. However, when David Gyngel threw his weight behind the Brisbane Clone bid, just because of the ratings, Grant or someone should have been in the media reclaiming the agenda.
VERDICT - Not encouraging. 4/10
3) Consolidating our marketplace. Same as above. Gus Gould seems to be manning the fort on his own, with the 4 WS clubs lugging the ammo boxes to his dugout. On the Gold Coast, the Titans faced extinction, and it was Gallop, not the IC, that stated the code's position. As far as using corporate clout to help out - none.
VERDICT - Poor 3/10
4) Get rid of News Ltd. This has been an abject failure. As soon as Quayle was torpedoed for the News Ltd stooge the whole IC process suddenly looked like a once hot fiancee putting on 25kgs and becoming frigid. Meanwhile Melbourne's handouts continue - with no incentive to become self sufficient - and no end game planned.
VERDICT - Fail 1/10
5) Bring to the game commissioners with political and corporate links to the top end of town. Sucess in this area will take time to emerge. That said, I was surprised at some great League corporate/political names that are not on the IC - blokes like Ron Coote, John Fahey. et al. Gerry Harvey's missus is there which is positive. I havent seen any evidence yet of influence.
VERDICT - to early to call.
6) Unifying the games leadership under a single umbrella with the good of the game. The News infiltration aside, it has to be regarded as a sucess.
VERDICT - Good 7/10
7) Transparency in decision making. I dont mind the bloke, but the day they signed up David Gallop without even advertising the vacancy of CEO is about as transparent as as Wendel Sailors butt cheeks. A golden opportunity to show a cynical League world that the dark days were finally over - was lost
VERDICT - poor - 2/10
8) Managing the game. About the only thing they did was rush into the stupid change in the finals format without any discussion. They obviously did this in the same way that a new boss always moves the fridge - taking ownership of the job. F*cking useless way to start.
VERDICT - too early to tell. We can only judge this after the TV rights deal is finalised, and other problems are dealt with.
OVERALL - a rather insipid start. The big issues are only just being tackled, and the big picture has not been presented yet. I'm not convinced that the IC is the way to go at all, but we have one so it better bloody work!
