AFL VS NRL

[Crush]

AFL sucks

Rugby league is the highest rating sport in Oz. Safe to presume the audience expands well beyond the "Triple M listener". Macklemore has had number 1 hits, he topped the triple J hottest 100. He's popular. NRL is popular. Makes sense to me.

I thought he was great

I watched the game with my daughters and parents. My 9 year old loved the entertainment and sang along with all the songs. My wife enjoyed it. I thought it was a good performance but missed the mark for an nrl fire up. My parents had not heard of one song and flat put hated it. So I guess they got the tweenies but missed the oldies.
I would prefer Foo Fighters or someone like that to fire me up but hey thats just me. Can't please everyone.

 

[Willow]

For $400K he would say that...

Yep. Don't you just hate it when these entertainment types say the right thing?

Are you sure about the $400K? It sounds pretty cheap to me. If true, the NRL got a good deal.

With respect to the AFL and their choice of The Killers, I'm guessing that Mackelmore is actually a larger draw-card on the world scale.

FTR, I'm not fan of Macklemore and I'll criticise the NRL with the best of them, but I'm not yet cynical enough to criticise a good move when it's staring me in the face. It's a shame that some chose to hijack it (eg Tony Abbott) by pushing their own political agenda.

 

[Willow]

For $400K he would say that...

And to add...

Macklemore pledges to donate Same Love earnings to same-sex marriage Yes campaign

"...I want to donate my portion of the proceeds from Same Love that I get off that record here in Australia to voting yes," he said.

www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-30/macklemore-will-donate-aus-earnings-of-same-love-to-yes-campaign/9004420

Macklemore's Same Love hits number 1 on iTunes amid NRL same-sex marriage controversy

The track, which was written with Ryan Lewis and Mary Lambert, hit number one on iTunes in Australia after former prime minister Tony Abbott argued that "footy fans shouldn't be subjected to a politicised grand final".

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-...e-hits-itunes-number-one-amid-outrage/8999934

lol. Way to go Tony. This is up there with Corey Bernardi's attempt to smear the schoolkids' fundraiser at Craigburn.

 

[j0nesy]

Macklemore far more popular that the Killers. Actually, never heard of The Killers. But, bring back Tina Turner I say.

Seriously though, who cares about which performer is better? It's all about the big game. Both venues full and the atmosphere electric at both games. The NRL does a lot of things poorly but the grand final is not one of them.

 

[Lovemedragons]

Politics and sport have always shared the same bus.This thread isn't big enough to list all the examples.Plus music is often political, and rugby league has had music for longer then I can remember.

But in this case, I think the accusation of politicising is being used by the No campaign to score, dare I say, political points. Presumably the same people would be OK with a military marching band providing the entertainment

prefer the rugby league forum sticks to rugby league but no it seems not, yet another refuge away from politics and political correctness is lost.

 

[Old Timer]

Macklemore far more popular that the Killers. Actually, never heard of The Killers. But, bring back Tina Turner I say.

Seriously though, who cares about which performer is better? It's all about the big game. Both venues full and the atmosphere electric at both games. The NRL does a lot of things poorly but the grand final is not one of them.

7:30pm kick off is ridiculous, very long day for families and hard to keep the hype up.
The AFL have got it 100% correct having an afternoon game and maximising the families involvement.
Can't remember when w had a full NRL GF plus any of the participating teams getting another 20,000 people into their home ground like they did at Punt Rd.
I agree with you re Tina Turner because that entire campaign was "Simply The Best".
The NRL can still learn a lot from the AFL and for the record the professionalism of the AFL commentators and old players who do the interviews etc absolutely kill our illiterate, ego inflated, self opinionated tossers.

 

[ALSGI]

7:30pm kick off is ridiculous, very long day for families and hard to keep the hype up.
The AFL have got it 100% correct having an afternoon game and maximising the families involvement.
Can't remember when w had a full NRL GF plus any of the participating teams getting another 20,000 people into their home ground like they did at Punt Rd.
I agree with you re Tina Turner because that entire campaign was "Simply The Best".
The NRL can still learn a lot from the AFL and for the record the professionalism of the AFL commentators and old players who do the interviews etc absolutely kill our illiterate, ego inflated, self opinionated tossers.

Totally agree re the 7.30 time slot, absolute joke. What a perfect afternoon yesterday was to showcase our great game at the ground or at a BBQ with family.
It’s not about the fans anymore. As long as the media knobs get their way.

 

[Willow]

prefer the rugby league forum sticks to rugby league but no it seems not, yet another refuge away from politics and political correctness is lost.

I appreciate your input, and for your benefit l'll play this with a straight bat.

This forum has had politics in it for over 15 years.

Maybe you should have read the opening post in this thread, there's your clue.

Oh, and anti-political correctness is so political correct nowadays.

 

[Willow]

7:30pm kick off is ridiculous, very long day for families and hard to keep the hype up.
The AFL have got it 100% correct having an afternoon game and maximising the families involvement.
Can't remember when w had a full NRL GF plus any of the participating teams getting another 20,000 people into their home ground like they did at Punt Rd.

Here you've highlighted one the greatest management errors from the NRL in recent years.

As we all know, the push to play a night grand final came from the broadcasters. To be fair, it should rate well on TV and make loads of advertising money for Channel Nine and the NRL. In past years this has been the case, so much so that some AFL commentators have been known to openly support playing a night grand final at the MCG.

But of course, there is a cost - ie the long term damage to the game. Smaller crowds = the game is worth less.

The NRL are totally at fault here. They started moving the game away from the suburbs almost immediately following their inception in 1998. They introduced a policy of lowering the value of suburban grounds while spruiking the opportunities that lay in playing our game at these cavernous neutral venues.

They got it wrong. And now we are seeing the results.

Giving away free tickets to the NRL grand final shows the depth to which they have sunk.Some media reports are calling it a "scandal", but the truth is that most of us have known about this figure fudging at the neutral venues for some years.

There's a pretty simple solution at hand. Take the game back to the suburban and country venues during the season. And ffs give us back the afternoon grand final.

Make it look good for TV and the advertising dollars will follow.

 

[T-Boon]

There is something that just works in afl. You go for over two hours and splitting the game into quarters just builds a bit more hope. League games are over quickly

RL needs to consider playing in quarters and also stopping the clock when the ball goes out of play (such as prior to scrums, line drop outs and conversions).
Such a move (4 or 5 minute quarter time breaks) would add a lot more TV and sponsorship money. The night games would need to kick off earlier. The longer game would most likely increase crowds as you are getting up to an extra 20 minutes worth of value for your dollar. The quarter time breaks add more entertainment in terms of watching the coach make adjustments and address players on the ground maybe give a quick interview for the crowd. The match day entertainment (cheer squad, marching band, T-shirt cannon) also gets out in the middle more often.

 

[grouch]

I watched the game with my daughters and parents. My 9 year old loved the entertainment and sang along with all the songs. My wife enjoyed it. I thought it was a good performance but missed the mark for an nrl fire up. My parents had not heard of one song and flat put hated it. So I guess they got the tweenies but missed the oldies.
I would prefer Foo Fighters or someone like that to fire me up but hey thats just me. Can't please everyone.

So you admit that some people did like the entertainment. Perhaps the "rugby league demographic" isn't as easy to define as you and others think. And, perhaps, the NRL should be lauded for trying to expand to new audiences?

Your prediction about the crowd was wrong

You admit the game of AFL itself is shit

So what is the point of this thread? To highlight something your brother says about the respective organisations? Thanks.

 

[Old Timer]

RL needs to consider playing in quarters and also stopping the clock when the ball goes out of play (such as prior to scrums, line drop outs and conversions).
Such a move (4 or 5 minute quarter time breaks) would add a lot more TV and sponsorship money. The night games would need to kick off earlier. The longer game would most likely increase crowds as you are getting up to an extra 20 minutes worth of value for your dollar. The quarter time breaks add more entertainment in terms of watching the coach make adjustments and address players on the ground maybe give a quick interview for the crowd. The match day entertainment (cheer squad, marching band, T-shirt cannon) also gets out in the middle more often.

Why do you want to be another " me too" product offering?
Nothing original in your thought process simply a case of an amalgam from other codes.
We just need people running our sport to tell the media to piss off in respect of them telling us how to run our sport.
Soccer has stuck to its roots and is truly the international game with a huge following at club and international level
It has resisted being Americanised and so should we after all RL is the working mans game and they are the ones being disenfranchised so back to our roots IMO
3pm games on the weekends

 

[T-Boon]

Why do you want to be another " me too" product offering?
Nothing original in your thought process simply a case of an amalgam from other codes.

It is not really about wanting to copy someone. Because either the option of playing in halves as the English like to, or playing in quarters as the Americans like to...is essentially copying someone. We didn't invent playing in halves and it is not a core RL concept. I will not deny that I do like the idea of Rugby League evolving further away from Rugby Union and creating its own independent identity.

For me it is more about moving to quarters because that makes a heck of a lot of sense for Rugby League. We would get a lot more TV money and sponsorship money. It would increase crowds. We could use that money to buy things back like the integrity of football jerseys and better time slots - which again would increase crowds.

In addition, the game is always a little bit more exciting just before and just after the half time break in play. But the thing I would like most is forcing coaches into making adjustments on the field in front of the fans during the breaks. It would add to the drama to see the coach laying down the law.

I would ban trainers from the field (that is an ugly look) - no relaying messages that way. The only way the coach can communicate is from the side line (like in soccer) or at quarter time breaks in front of the fans.

 

[giboz71]

Problem is, most of us on here are looking at League from a Sydney/NSW prism. Over the last 5 years or so, the success of the Qld teams and Melbourne has diluted the interest of the average Sydney fan. That's why crowds are terrible. And the well supported teams like the Dogs, Tigers, Parra and the Dragons have been poor overall the last 5 years. And 2 grand finals in 3 years with non Sydney teams doesn't help.

Every now and then, you see some evidence of life of NRL in Sydney. Like the final round game at Brookvale Oval when Manly beat the Panthers. Or the Leichardt game when the Tigers beat Manly. The prelim finals in 2009 (Dogs/Parra) and 2010 (Dragons/Tigers) which got 70k shows that under the right circumstances, Sydney crowds will come to games. But when you have teams like us with RGRV instead of trying to draw high rating games to traditional home grounds, we just shoot ourselves in the foot.

AFL have had the benefit of the success of Victorian teams during the same period. Hawthorn and Geelong are perennial finalists and then you have Cinderella teams like the Western Bulldogs and Richmond.

I guarantee if Sydney, West Coast and Adelaide won every year, the AFL in Victoria would face similar problems.

 

[BringTheNoise]

On the nrl entertainment, politics aside, why are we booking American rap musicians to play the entertainment? If I may generalise here, I would have thought that NRL is more of a Triple M listener sport than Triple J? I listen to both stations and triple M is all about Rock music and NRL. Triple J is all about alternative music and left wing politics. Yet this american rapper is played on Triple J not Triple M.
Its a mismatch IMO. Give the NRL fans what they want! Rock artists that will fire us up like the killers did the AFL.

Mate that is a bizzarre generalisation to say the least...

First of all, yes triple J is largely alternative, however Macklemore is about as mainstream as it gets these days.

Second of all, to confine the entire (or majority) supporter base of Rugby League to one genre, or radio station of music makes zero sense. I can't even begin to comprehend how you would even come to this conclusion!?

Personally, Macklemore isn't my cup of tea but I know plenty of people who were excited and genuinely enjoyed his performance.

With reference to the bands I assume you are referring to, just remember that there are thousands of young rugby league supporters that have never even heard of them.

 

[Redhoopz]

I wish the NRL GF would return to a 3pm KO...

If the NRL is serious about growing the crowd numbers, they need to ensure that the draw is built to get the best possible crowd (taking into account Sydney's sh!t roads and infrastructure) NRL should be looking at the following:

• All suburban ground matches to only be played on Saturday Afternoon/Evening, or Sunday afternoon. Worst example in 2017 was having the Dragons vs Sharks on 6pm on a Friday night - that was a joke.

• If they persist with the 6pm Friday night slot, give it to the Warriors/Storm/QLD team. It shouldn't be given to a Sydney team.

• All big Sydney derby matches to be played on Saturday or Sunday.

The NRL should stop comparing itself to the AFL. Playing most games at the MCG or Etihad works so well, because the grounds are so easy to get to. Melbourne is an easy place to get around compared to Sydney.

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

The NRL didn't book him for political reasons It only became political when the No campaigners and their parrots starting whinging about it.

Parrot?

It's ok to say no.

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

The genesis of the AFL's superiority is easy to pinpoint.

Two points: Super League in the mid 90s.

From this juncture, the AFL became a national competition (excluding Tasmania), and the NRL looked like doing the same but News Limited (including John Ribot) killed off that idea.

Don't try to tell me that the ramifications of that period aren't still being felt today.

Another point other than the time slot that isn't really considered a part of league's downfall is the choice of venue for the grand final....ANZ Stadium.

It's fair to say this venue isn't liked by thousands of fans.

 

[Crush]

So you admit that some people did like the entertainment. Perhaps the "rugby league demographic" isn't as easy to define as you and others think. And, perhaps, the NRL should be lauded for trying to expand to new audiences?

Your prediction about the crowd was wrong

You admit the game of AFL itself is shit

So what is the point of this thread? To highlight something your brother says about the respective organisations? Thanks.

My prediction for the crowd was off. I did hear however that the nrl gave away thousands of free tickets to fill the stadium, a smart move too.
I never admitted that AFL was shit, just that I didn't enjoy watching it.
Whats the point of this thread? To discuss the AFL vs NRL in how they do things, namely the grand final, but also how they run their respective games in general. And guess what? This thread has generated quite a few responses from people and been something a little different from the usual thread about player signings etc.
How about you start a thread.

 

[Disinterested third party]

The AFL international scene is just wonderful. Should be riveting stuff over the next 2 months...