20 teams. 26 rounds. 260 games. 28 cities.

[docbrown]

Well this was a thrilling discussion.

Apart from the "city sharing" suggestions, I like it.

Perth, NZ2 and Adelaide.

Competition split into 4 divisions of 5. Play everyone in division twice (8 matches) and everyone else once (15 games), making 23 rounds in total. Work out the finals later.

Each team gets 11 home games, and 11 away games, with magic round being considered as a neutral venue.

As for the Pacific, I'm of the view that the ARLC should assist in supporting and growing local domestic competitions. Clubs from PNG, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Cook Islands, etc etc, should be looking at their own club competition/club championship. An NRL team, particularly based in Australia, representing numerous countries, is not going to assist anyone.

Imagine if the NFL wanted to add a "Europe" team to the NFL based in Berlin and London, and expecting people from France to follow it. Ridiculous.

The NRL will probably have to bring in division with 20 teams just to keep interest alive in the final rounds of the home and away season. I’m not in support of the Pacifika concept simply because I did a bunch of community work in PNG and it’s a security nightmare.

As for the NFL team in Europe there’s no firm plans to expand there so it’s entirely moot. But the whole point of those matches is to both make a shitload of money and expand the NFL’s global viewership. That said I went to Giants at Twickenham several years ago and there were plenty of continental fans there.

 

[The Great Dane]

No it’s not shifting the goalposts (which is obviously a phrase you like to repeat ad nauseum) because having a team spread across multiple geographical and cultural areas is something that, again, you brought up initially, not me, and I have agreed is a key component to a twin-city team scenario. But that scenario is exactly what we already have with the St George Illawarra Dragons and to some degree with the Wests Tigers. And again so far the deepest criticism you can offer is that such teams are ‘janky’. It’s truly insightful stuff.

I find it funny that you think the Warriors or a second New Zealand side playing one or two games away from their main stadium is fine but more than that it become some major impossibility for… reasons…?

How many home games are the Dolphins playing at Lang Park this year? 7? They’re taking games to Redcliffe, Sunshine Coast and even Perth. But they’ll also end up having one of the highest crowd averages. But apparently if those five home games were in just one other location instead of three they’d be ‘janky’. Dolphins are the models that NRL clubs should actually be aspiring to.

You really are just a dishonest person aren't you.

BTW, when I said 'maybe even plays the odd game in the other city every now and again (like the Warriors do BTW)', I meant once every few seasons at most.

The Dolphins split identity and home grounds is absolutely janky as well. The novelty effect is papering over the cracks for the moment, but pretty much all the complaints and concerns about the Dolphins have been about their name and not really representing anything. They're trying to something to everyone, and that never works in the long term.

 

[Perth Red]

As said there is only one true club in the model proposed,
fijian drua. and they're new. You’d think in a hundred plus years of professional sport globally there’d be more if it’s a good model?

dolphins don’t count, they’re just playing games wherever will pay them to go.

 

[Last Week]

The NRL will probably have to bring in division with 20 teams just to keep interest alive in the final rounds of the home and away season.

As for the NFL team in Europe there’s no firm plans to expand there so it’s entirely moot. But the whole point of those matches is to both make a shitload of money and expand the NFL’s global viewership. That said I went to Giants at Twickenham several years ago and there were plenty of continental fans there.

1. I don't think divisions are useful for the purpose of determining qualifiers for a finals series if teams are still able to play everyone in the competition at least once. It would be a very tough sell in Rugby League. I'm all for divisions for the purpose of determining the draw however.

2. There absolutely is plans for the NFL to expand there. They've been pushing Jacksonville to move to London for years now. If that were to occur, I somehow doubt the NFL, Jags, or anyone involved would think they could represent the people of Paris, Berlin or Bruge.

 

[docbrown]

Reading the article about Newtown linking with Perth, one of the comments they made was about having reciprocal memberships for away games in Sydney. So basically, if you're a Perth Jets fan living in Sydney, you could buy a 9 game membership against the Panthers, Eels, Bulldogs, Tigers, Dragons, Sea Eagles, Rabbitohs, Sharks and Roosters. Regardless, of what you think of the Perth Jets concept, I would like to argue one point:

Reciprocal away memberships are the solution to the NRL's national/international expansion problem.

For example:
In a 27 round season with 2 byes and 20 teams, you have 250 regular season games.






The point isn't to argue about this expansion team or that. The point is that by using reciprocal memberships and strategic planning the NRL can cover pretty much every major city in Australia, NZ and PNG with a team.