2018 Draw announced - full season dates

[Still Nutty]

 

[Jono078]

That’s a brutal first 2 months, let alone only 2 Home games in that time.

If we jag 3 wins in that time I would say that’s a positive for us.

 

[macavity]

We couldn't have been any more shafted. Friday 6pm games are the worst, even worse than Monday night.

 

[macavity]

And TWO FTA games all year. Sponsors will love that.

 

[Still Nutty]

Did I miss the memo somewhere - are we only having 25 rounds this year and 1 bye per team?

 

[Burns]

Season may potentially be over before we get our third home game, sweet.

 

[Hardcore_Fan]

Good to see we get no favours at all from the NRL whilst the broncos still get 16 FTA games.

Nothing has changed even though the nrl now have control of the draw

 

[Haffa]

No real change for us.

7 of the Friday 6pm fixtures including two runs of 3 in a row. That will help with the corporate sponsors.

 

[Still Nutty]

I know it might be wishful thinking but we can only hope that we embarrass the NRL scheduling this year and make our run at the back end of the season for the 8 a stand out opportunity gone begging, with big crowds at home games and absolutely no free to air coverage in sight.

 

[Gravy]

Wow, that's a terrible draw for us. The NRL clearly have no regard for us whatsoever.

I'm predicting 9 wins for the season

 

[Jono078]

Wow, that's a terrible draw for us. The NRL clearly have no regard for us whatsoever.

I'm predicting 9 wins for the season

Yeah that's what I probably see too. 9 wins could be a spoon as well if it's a crazy enough season.

 

[slotmachine]

If you take out 2016 the recent average is about 6 wins for the spoon.

 

[Knightmare]

NRL gives Knights a tough draw for home crowd figures and potential wins >>> Knights struggle for crowd numbers and wins >>> Knights complain to NRL >>> NRL says 'We'll give you an easier run and better time slots when you win more games and draw bigger crowds >>> 2019 draw comes out with no change to scheduling because "Knights need to win more games and draw bigger crowds before we give them the kind of draw we give teams like the Broncos and Bulldogs"...

Etc etc etc...

 

[Caped Crusader]

Shit teams will always get shafted in the draw

Cannot use that as an excuse though.

 

[slotmachine]

Us, the warriors and Canberra and never going to get the prime slots because we're irrelevant to ratings.

 

[Still Nutty]

Forgetting about the days/timeslots we've been allocated and looking at the positives from a playing perspective, with 9 home games between rounds 9 and 21 we have the capacity to really build some home town/fortress style confidence and belief with that amount of continuity and minimal travel.

By round 9, some of the combinations and structures should be starting to bed down and getting a chance to build on that with a stable playing environment could be a real positive for us.

I think the challenge of being competitive and developing those combinations without getting flogged early on whilst on the road will be Brownie and the team's biggest challenge.

Hopefully we have a really strong and injury free pre-season and can get some traction and stability (and even some confidence boosting early wins) so that we can start with a decent run into this mid-season home game window and progressively build through 2018.

 

[Still Nutty]

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...or-crowds-todd-greenberg-20171019-gz48sm.html

NRL boss Todd Greenberg claims the 2018 draw provides the game with an opportunity to arrest a decline in crowd numbers after head office finally took control of the schedule from broadcasters.

The biggest bugbears of the clubs – five-day turnarounds, skewed free-to-air distributions and Brisbane's monopoly of the Thursday and Friday night timeslots – have been, at least in part, addressed. As ever, there are anomalies, such as Penrith playing away to Melbourne for the third consecutive season without getting the premiers in their own backyard. However, the response from clubland has been overwhelmingly positive after the NRL nutted out a schedule without the influence of broadcasters.

Average crowds dipped below the 15,000 mark in 2017 for the first time in 13 years, down to 14,919. While the NSW government's investment in stadia infrastructure is expected to boost numbers in the long term, the schedule was the NRL's most immediate opportunity to address the issue.

"Every time we put a draw out we have a lens of trying to drive crowds in different ways," NRL CEO Todd Greenberg said.

"I'm very confident the draw gives clubs the opportunity to work really hard to improve their own membership and crowds.

"I'm very conscious that's a big deliverable and we're in this together. The NRL and the clubs need to drive that hard."

There will be more clashes between traditional rivals, five-day turnarounds have been slashed from 43 two years ago to 24 and there is a more even spread of teams being shown on free-to-air television. Brisbane will again dominate with 16 appearances on the Nine Network, although the number of matches they enjoy on Thursday or Friday nights will drop from 18 to 13. Next season will give 11 teams at least 10 matches on Nine, up from five clubs last year.

The toughest timeslot for drawing crowds will be the Friday 6pm game, which was introduced for the first time last year as a replacement for Monday night football. Greenberg said the slot was here to stay for the remainder of the new broadcast deal, which begins next year.

"It has worked, absolutely. When you compare it to Monday night football, it's had great progress," Greenberg said.

"It's only the first year we've done it, so we have to keep at it to evolve it to improve for people watching on television and those at the games.

"It is difficult to attract the right crowds, albeit the markets like Penrith, Newcastle and New Zealand has a very popular following in that spot.

"We've got to play those games at the right areas and the right stadiums, with the right match-ups. We've made some good progress to do that."

Other features of the draw include 28 Sunday matches in Sydney, four double-headers, a stand-alone State of Origin match and five matches in regional NSW. The sprinkling of byes means each team will only lose their Origin stars for just one interstate game.

The Panthers believed the draw would have been better still had the clubs been able to provide feedback before it was finalised. The mountain men have again been forced to make the game's toughest road trip, to AAMI Park, without getting the opportunity to host.

"I can't believe we are playing Melbourne for the last three years in Melbourne," said Panthers CEO Brian Fletcher.

"We played Melbourne in '16 and '17 in Melbourne. Then you come to a draw in '18 and you think if you're only going to play them once, you'd look at it and say it's a no-brainer to play it in Penrith.

"They're just simple things. You'd think they could send out a draft and if there are any glaring errors you could point them out to them. Now you can't change it.

"You talk about putting out a cap on football club spending to make everything equal and then we have to play away to Melbourne three years in a row."

Highlights of the opening round include Dragons signing Ben Hunt taking on the Broncos for the first time and Roosters recruit James Tedesco taking on former team Wests Tigers.
_____________________________________________________________________________

As supporters, it seems we have been screwed by our loyalty to turn up and watch a team that have been cellar dwellers for the past 3 seasons, no matter what days and timeslots we get allocated....Greenberg doesn't have a hard argument to push when we make it that easy for him

 

[Mr_Knightside]

Wow we really got shafted, this is arguably the worst draw we could possibly have had both for the team and the fans.

Here are some of my grievances:

- Only 2 Sunday arvo games at home
- 8 Friday 6pm games
- Only 2 home games in the opening 8 rounds
- We play 6 of last year's top 8 twice including 3 of the top 4 twice
- We get a run of 5 straight home games mid year but 3 of those are v top 4 sides from last year which sort of rules out any advantage we might get
- 3 from our last 4 games away from home

The only upside that I can see is that from my count we get 15 x 7+ day turn arounds between games which will help with injuiry recovery and player management, and I can't see any 5 day turnarounds at all unless I've missed something