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http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/2010-a-league-odyssey-20100305-posl.html
2010: A league odyssey
ROY MASTERS
March 6, 2010
The "where the hell did they come from?" feeling that followed the Eels all the way to last year's grand final still lingers, despite their disappointing trial form this season.
Parramatta's success has inspired the most exciting and anticipated start to a season ever, although the dull summer of cricket might have played a role in the expectation building to next week's season kick-off.
The Storm, chasing a fifth successive grand final, announced their 2010 theme "high-voltage entertainment" at a breakfast launch yesterday, while Newcastle, devastated by the loss of two key players on drug charges, have increased ticket sales by 25 per cent.
But it is Sydney's west, where 75,000 people attended last year's finals match between the Bulldogs and the Eels, that has generated the surge of optimism and confidence in the game's future. The NRL's promotional activities in the region largely in response to the threat of AFL has given fans cause to believe they are no longer league's forgotten people.
The hope and the hype should translate into a better broadcasting deal for the code, which is grossly underpaid compared with AFL, leading to higher payments for players and arresting the talent drain to England and rugby union. High-definition and 3D TV will make the game even more attractive on bigger screens.
An independent commission will finally give rugby league a place in the boardrooms of the top end of town, although it might still be a way off, with the ARL voting unanimously at its last meeting to demand the same voting rights as NRL clubs.
On the field, the antiquated "play-out-the-back" strategy of block runners will gradually disappear, and those clubs that persist with plays well behind the advantage line will slip down the ladder.
Referees, with new interpretations to give greater force to the code's best attacking weapons fullbacks and growing ease with the dual officiating system, will speed the evolution of an even faster game.
Players, drawing their inspiration from bigger crowds, will showcase an increasing array of dazzling skills and finally come to the realisation that whether you're wearing the jumper of St George Illawarra or Australia, off the field, you'd better behave like a nice little 10-year-old at Sunday school.
THE CLUB ESCALATOR
Wests Tigers have clever players in key decision-making positions, strong forwards and six new back-line recruits who have scored a combined 138 tries. The Tigers hold the record over the past five seasons for most tries (82) and linebreaks (61) from within their own half, meaning they have added to their pace and anticipation to score length-of-the-field tries. This is the Year of the Tiger, and no club since the Dragons in 1964 has won a premiership in the corresponding Chinese year. The Tigers, led by Stephen Humphreys, a second-generation administrator with the game in his DNA, should step quite a few places up the escalator.
So should the Roosters, the only club in the league that does not have a player on its roster who appeared in the competition last century. How many steps they climb depends on injuries and the success Todd Carney makes of the "pants on fire" position of fullback.
The Titans will join the down escalator, a disappointment considering the NRL will want them to be strong to counter the AFL's new team on the Gold Coast next season. Five-eighth Greg Bird, the sixth former Sharks player to join the Titans, will need to supplement coach John Cartwright's reliance on predictable behind-the-advantage-line play, a style Manly exposed last year. But the Sea Eagles, with no halfback and no natural kicking game, will join them on the down escalator along with the Broncos, who have lost two strike backs in Justin Hodges and Karmichael Hunt. Players wearing jumper numbers 1, 6, 7 and 9 are still the most important players on the field.
STARS RISING, FADING, RETURNING
Parramatta's Jarryd Hayne enjoyed the best back end of a season in memory last year, and he will start this year with soaring confidence and greater consistency. The Storm demonstrated how to nullify him in last year's grand final, but not all NRL teams can position their kicks and their chasers like Melbourne.
The Storm's Greg Inglis is, however, the best player in both rugby codes. Commentators accused him of being quiet in his team's win over Leeds in the World Club Challenge this week but he is, above all, a team player. It was Inglis's precise, perfect pass to left winger Anthony Quinn that delivered Melbourne the trophy. OK, there are occasions when he could do more and spend less time with the physiotherapist, but I've seen him spend 80 minutes simply devastating opposition ball-carriers with bone-jarring defence. In summary, "Greggy" does what he wants to do out there on the greensward.
Inglis's teammate, prop Aiden Tolman the hard hat from Hat Head demonstrates everything a coach looks for in a player. He is one of the smallest props in the NRL but forces tacklers to miss with outstanding footwork and a torso that is difficult to wrap up in a tackle. I rated him so highly I encouraged Storm coach Craig Bellamy to use him as hooker in the 2008 grand final when Cameron Smith was suspended. Tolman later told me: "My passing game wouldn't have been up to it." It is such self-effacing commitments to self-improvement that makes him such a popular rising star.
Raiders fullback Josh Dugan has vision, class and toughness and, significantly, is a Canberra local junior. Winner of the 2008 Jack Gibson medal for best player in the Toyota Cup grand final, he is evidence the NRL does not need a draft that could have meant him ending up in the NRL equivalent of Fremantle.
Bulldogs half Brett Kimmorley, who guided the club from worst to almost first last season, is another year older and close togratifying to know rugby league has recognised the deep threat their fullbacks offer in the battle for crowds with rugby union and AFL.
INDEPENDENT COMMISSION
News Ltd newspapers are running a campaign to fast-forward the establishment of a single body to rule the code. The media conglomerate wants out of the game to remove accusations of a conflict of interest ethical and commercial. There is a problem owning both a game and media interests that undermine its popularity by focusing on player atrocities. Should Telstra sell its half share in Foxtel, News Ltd has first option to increase its 25 per cent stake, meaning selling out of the NRL would remove one of the big conflict-of-interest concerns of the federal government. News Ltd wants to take the ARL out with it. The new body would be called the Australian Rugby League Commission but current office-bearers would be relegated to a second-tier responsibility, charged with junior development and representative fixtures. This is OK, providing the commissioners resource this tier. With nearly half the NRL clubs privately owned, there is a fear a club-elected commission could vote to cut funds to development to improve the clubs bottom line. For example, the Eric Watson-owned New Zealand Warriors, forever concerned about costs, spend less than the salary cap. If the ARL-News Ltd impasse continues, there is a growing feeling they should put the cart before the horse: choose the best possible eight commissioners and then worry about the power structure of the body that appoints them.
BROADCASTING DEAL
News Ltd has already extracted two significant concessions from its negotiations with representatives of the clubs and the ARL: first and last TV rights until 2022 and the appointment of David Gallop as inaugural chief executive of the new commission for four years. First and last rights tend to depress prices because rivals are reluctant to bid against a powerful opponent, knowing they will be beaten. This didnt apply when Kerry Packer tried to bankrupt Sevens Kerry Stokes, but Packer wasnt competing against one of the worlds biggest corporations. Gallop, a former lawyer with Super League, is close to senior News Ltd executives, and its a reality most boards accept the recommendation of their CEO on key financial and policy matters. However, Gallop, anxious to distance himself from any conflict of interest accusations, intends to negotiate the media rights with a select team representative of the stakeholders. Furthermore, he is personally chagrinned by the fact the AFL got 50 per cent more than NRL at the last broadcasting deal, and is desperate to deliver a price commensurate with a game which, last year, eclipsed AFL TV ratings for the first time. The biggest fear is that the existing Foxtel consortium of Telstra, News Ltd, James Packers Consolidated Media Holdings and Stokes will combine for a single bid, frightening off Channel Nine and Ten.
EXPANSION, STADIUMS, SPONSORS
No new teams will be added until after the expiration of the next broadcasting deal, although the Sharks continued survival is a miracle. Papua New Guinea is well advanced with its bid for a team in the NRL, with four big corporations backing them. PNGs strategy will be to assist in the resurrection of a North Sydney team playing at Bluetongue stadium in Gosford, mindful that two new teams entering the competition creates an extra game and bids up TV rights. The Storm, forced to play four of their first five games on the road, will welcome their April move to their new $300m rectangular stadium and become an even more formidable force. The NRL announced the renewal of sponsorship deals this week but it is the TV advertisers that are the concern. Companies like to use rugby league to market their products in Sydneys blue collar west but panic at the first atrocity of the season. Players must accept they are role models, even though their fickle paymasters would have no place on a rugby league field.
