18th club, whose next?

[Nutz]

Vlandys latest comments:
“I would like to expand to a 20-team comp in the coming years.
“Because the game has never been in such a good position financially, we can look at more expansion and take a few risks.
“I absolutely think we can expand our national footprint beyond the eastern seaboard and that’s what we are looking at.
“Expansion in 2026 or 2027 is absolutely on the agenda.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=DTWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailytelegraph.com.au%2Fsport%2Fnrl%2Fnrls-record-revenue-result-declared-as-code-dethrones-afl-as-biggest-game-in-australia%2Fnews-story%2Ff569e66b12795854a3ee4f61fb026efe&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=GROUPA-Segment-1-NOSCORE

Would 20 teams mean more byes, longer season or not playing everyone twice?
I'm all for a longer season, play every team twice with no byes and still have top 8 finals format.....and yes, I've not put much thought into this. I'm a league Nut and nothing else matters

 

[Perth Red]

Would 20 teams mean more byes, longer season or not playing everyone twice?
I'm all for a longer season, play every team twice with no byes and still have top 8 finals format.....and yes, I've not put much thought into this. I'm a league Nut and nothing else matters

its unlikely that we would go to more rounds or games than we have now. Clubs play 24 games a regular season over 27 rounds and that wont change. What the NRL needs to do is make sure the draw has rivals playing each other twice every year regardless. Will mean some time wont play each other very often.

9 games likely to see Sunday 6pm

10 games will be interesting, you'd think max value for tv would be in bringing the monday night game back. But playing Thur-Mon is a turn around scheduling nightmare, and may be overkill for fans?

 

[SpaceMonkey]

If 4pm Sunday is a good time for drawing crowds in Perth then that fits pretty neatly - having home games at a consistent time is probably conducive to building a brand and following.

 

[Vlad59]

If 4pm Sunday is a good time for drawing crowds in Perth then that fits pretty neatly - having home games at a consistent time is probably conducive to building a brand and following.

At least this conversation makes sense.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

its unlikely that we would go to more rounds or games than we have now. Clubs play 24 games a regular season over 27 rounds and that wont change. What the NRL needs to do is make sure the draw has rivals playing each other twice every year regardless. Will mean some time wont play each other very often.

9 games likely to see Sunday 6pm

10 games will be interesting, you'd think max value for tv would be in bringing the monday night game back. But playing Thur-Mon is a turn around scheduling nightmare, and may be overkill for fans?

Probably need to move to some sort of conference system with teams playing their own conference twice and the other conference once, or something like that. With 20 teams that’d give you 28 regular season games which is probably still too many, but obviously more manageable than the 38 you’d have playing everyone twice.
If you had four pools of teams and played your own pool twice and the others once that would work out to 23 regular season games. If you played your own pool once and one of the other pools twice you’d get 24 games, the same as now. The question is whether it’s possible to organise the pools so all the big rivalries get two games per season, or whether you just seed the pools each year based on the previous year’s table to make the competition as even as possible.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

At least this conversation makes sense.

I’m a warriors fan so I’m pretty keenly aware of the ups and downs of different time zones. I’m legit interested in how it’ll work from the opposite side of the equation, 2 hours behind instead of ahead.

 

[Perth Red]

If 4pm Sunday is a good time for drawing crowds in Perth then that fits pretty neatly - having home games at a consistent time is probably conducive to building a brand and following.

In winter its perfect for families! Though a 7.30pm Friday or sat night game (9.30pm AEST) works just as well as for us grown ups then into Northbridge for some bevvies to celebrate the win!

 

[Perth Red]

Probably need to move to some sort of conference system with teams playing their own conference twice and the other conference once, or something like that. With 20 teams that’d give you 28 regular season games which is probably still too many, but obviously more manageable than the 38 you’d have playing everyone twice.
If you had four pools of teams and played your own pool twice and the others once that would work out to 23 regular season games. If you played your own pool once and one of the other pools twice you’d get 24 games, the same as now. The question is whether it’s possible to organise the pools so all the big rivalries get two games per season, or whether you just seed the pools each year based on the previous year’s table to make the competition as even as possible.

I can only see them doing that if they go to 22 clubs tbh. I think they will set aside a number of must have hiome and away games then just fill the rest based on previous years finishing positions.

Id love to see Perth build a rivalry with Storm given the traditional Perth v Melbourne AFL rivalry, the Reds going to the Storm and the games only 2 genuine new city expansion clubs. Might need a big blue in game 1 or for us to sign Munster or someone big from them lol

 

[flippikat]

In winter its perfect for families! Though a 7.30pm Friday or sat night game (9.30pm AEST) works just as well as for us grown ups then into Northbridge for some bevvies to celebrate the win!

7.30 pm Perth Friday or Saturday nights (9.30 pm Eastern) means 11.30 pm NZ, so any late slot that's already restricted to Perth home games is further restricted by being unappealing to Kiwi audiences.

Also, networks like certainty of scheduling - and we just wouldn’t have the teams to reliably provide late Friday or late Saturday games like that.

That's going to be more of an issue if NZ 2 is part of the push to 20 teams - that's a new cohort of fans to consider.

I imagine Perth would reliably fill quarter-to-third of the 6pm Sunday (eastern) slots as it's 4pm there, with East Coast teams taking the rest.

With a decent spread-out, each eastern team would only need to play one or two of their home games in that unenviable slot.

 

[Perth Red]

7.30 pm Perth Friday or Saturday nights (9.30 pm Eastern) means 11.30 pm NZ, so any late slot that's already restricted to Perth home games is further restricted by being unappealing to Kiwi audiences.

That's going to be more of an issue if NZ 2 is part of the push to 20 teams - that's a new cohort of fans to consider.

I imagine Perth would reliably fill quarter-to-third of the 6pm Sunday (eastern) slots as it's 4pm there, with East Coast teams taking the rest. With a decent spread-out, each eastern team would only need to play one or two of their home games in that unenviable slot.

Given NRLs general attitude to NZ I dont think they'd care of it brought in more Tv $'s tbh.

Put Perth in the Sunday 6pm slot for 10 games then you'd only need to fill 14 of them amongst the other 17 clubs.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I can only see them doing that if they go to 22 clubs tbh. I think they will set aside a number of must have hiome and away games then just fill the rest based on previous years finishing positions.

I’m fine with that long as EVERY club gets its big rivalry games serviced properly - not just the big Sydney derbies and Brisbane vs NQ. But I’d also be fine if it was done 100% based on previous season rankings- would add some extra spice if rivals only occasionally get two opportunities to go at each other in a season.

 

[Perth Red]

I’m fine with that long as EVERY club gets its big rivalry games serviced properly - not just the big Sydney derbies and Brisbane vs NQ.

Ideally the NRL and clubs should sit down and work out the 10-14 must have games. Then the rest can be based on finishing positions year before.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Ideally the NRL and clubs should sit down and work out the 10-14 must have games. Then the rest can be based on finishing positions year before.

Ideally… but those games have to encompass all clubs, and we know in reality it’ll be 10-14 games between the same clubs that tend to monopolise FTA games.

 

[Perth Red]

Ideally… but those games have to encompass all clubs, and we know in reality it’ll be 10-14 games between the same clubs that tend to monopolise FTA games.

Not much we can do about who FTA chooses. As long as each club, and the game, gets the must have match ups through the season then thats all that matters really.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Given NRLs general attitude to NZ I dont think they'd care of it brought in more Tv $'s tbh.

I don’t really thank it’d be that much of a deal if there’s one 9:30pm EST game a week and it gets hardly any NZ viewers- that still leaves 9 other games each weekend. But that game should NEVER include an NZ side, if they play in Perth they get a 4pm kick off or earlier. Similarly if Perth sides play in NZ it should always be a night game to make it more friendly for Perth audiences.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Not much we can do about who FTA chooses. As long as each club, and the game, gets the must have match ups through the season then thats all that matters really.

Then that means the broadcasters should not be part of the conversation in choosing those rivalry games, that should be between the clubs and the NRL.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

TBH though rivalries are a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy- they develop because they’re given the opportunity to by constantly scheduling them.

 

[Perth Red]

Then that means the broadcasters should not be part of the conversation in choosing those rivalry games, that should be between the clubs and the NRL.

As happens now, the clubs and NRL set the round schedule then Fta and PTV decide who plays when and on what channel. Youd think the 9 sydney clubs would want to play their 8 sydney rivals twice, the Qlnd clubs would all want to play their qlnd rivals twice etc. I guess for clubs like NZ, Melb, Perth and Canberra with less obvious geographical rivals then it probably is more open and can be looked at for travel impact etc

 

[SpaceMonkey]

As happens now, the clubs and NRL set the round schedule then Fta and PTV decide who plays when and on what channel. Youd think the 9 sydney clubs would want to play their 8 sydney rivals twice, the Qlnd clubs would all want to play their qlnd rivals twice etc. I guess for clubs like NZ, Melb, Perth and Canberra with less obvious geographical rivals then it probably is more open and can be looked at for travel impact etc

It’s more open but I’m sure they all still want certain picks. Pretty sure the Warriors would want Brisbane and Melbourne twice, and the feeling is probably mutual as we’re probably close to the biggest away draw in both markets (definitely in Melbourne).

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

So since profits don't count when a team is going well, why did you like this post?

Who said profits don't count when a team is doing well, Maxipad?