Auckland Nines

[POPEYE]

Yes, need time to prep the pitch.

Bit early IMO. Will be more injuries & possibly heat stress.

Add more teams, play it at night only, during the week plus finals on the weekend

 

[Timbo]

Why not just play it at Mt. Smart next year?

Playing it that early is silly.

 

[ek999]

Yes, need time to prep the pitch.

Bit early IMO. Will be more injuries & possibly heat stress.

Average maximum in Auckland is only 23 in January and 24 in February so I don't think heat stress will be a problem

http://www.worldweatheronline.com/Auckland-weather-averages/NZ.aspx

 

[Card Shark]

Why not just play it at Mt. Smart next year?

Playing it that early is silly.

This makes sense except for stadium capacity. They need to cover team expenses & prizemoney.

How many can they get into Mt Smart?


Weather / heat won't be a problem then, thanks 999.

 

[hitman82]

Mt Smart is pretty much a dump and an event like this would be a total flop there. Eden Park is the only home for the Auckland Nines

 

[firechild]

Good enough reason for me.

Let's scrap it.

I didn't suggest it should be scrapped. I think being in the middle of the olympics probably had an effect for me but I also think it could be improved for future years. I'm just saying it didn't live up to my expectations (which weren't particularly high).

 

[RWB]

I like Ryan Hoffman's suggestion of increased squads.

Clubs may be more inclined to take over some star players and pick and choose which games they want to play them in.

It is quite a lot of games in 2 days, rotation of players in a larger squad may put the coach and medical staffs worries of injury slightly more at ease...

 

[Pierced Soul]

I've think its in poor taste to wish ill on someone (which I usually do) but if Daryl Halligan contracted incurable laryngitis I wouldn't be too shattered.

:lol::lol::lol:

Needs to have invitational sides from Pacific nations, Canada, USA etc and up the prize money. Tight arses!

i do think a few international teams would add a bit of interest. whether they be SL clubs or national sides

- Gear the prize money more highly towards the winners and more successful teams in the tournament
- Get more teams to commit properly to it and take it more seriously

I don't think the event should be opened to other teams just yet. Keep it exclusive for a while longer, it'll increase its importance/prestige. Hell I'd keep it exclusive to NRL teams until the deal with playing the tournament solely in Auckland runs out, after that move it around to different areas or the highest bidders.

perhaps had the prize money been higher for the winners teams like canberra and canterbury might have sent over decent squads. i think most teams took it seriously in terms of sending over quality players (even though some teams just ran around like headless chooks) but i think the nrl might have to step in and ask for 3 of the top 5 to be picked instead of the 1/5 this year

several players would have been held back due to the WC (and of course the roosters have the WCC), i read recently Isaac Luke kept asking every day whether he could go, but there were a few teams who probably only sent a squad so they didnt get fined by the nrl

i dont think it can be kept just to the NRL if it's to grow. maybe for another year it could be NRL only but after that it'll get stale.

i wonder whether it'd work if they added an extra day to it? if there a long weekend in NZ in the right time period which could see it be a 3 day event? that way it'd stretch out the recovery times for the players, and maybe even allow another pool to be added.

 

[TheDalek079]

If we include international or super league sides, do we increase the length of the tournament, or cut some NRL teams from it?

 

[pHyR3]

They should do this in late January, increase squads to 20 and give more prize money to all of the top 4 teams by reducing money for teams for just competing. 50k each should cover costs for all clubs leaving 1.5-1.8 million. Say, 200k for 3rd and 4th, 300k for 2nd and 500k for winner. And an extra 50k for making the quarters.

 

[I Bleed Maroon]

Excellent ratings figures!

Begs the question : How on earth did a free to air channel in Australia not take this tournament on for coverage!?

It reeks of incompetence from free to air providers/programmers as the many digital channels are there to be used!

I hope they(free to air broadcasters) have to pay a much higher price to secure the TV rights next season if they have woken up to this great product!

I think it is more to do with the amount of clout Foxtel still have with the NRL, more than anything else. Their HD coverage is all they had to hang their hat on but now Channel 9 are HD.

Foxtel are snake oil salesman and scum.

 

[Pierced Soul]

If we include international or super league sides, do we increase the length of the tournament, or cut some NRL teams from it?

given it's an nrl thing you cant cut teams (though certain teams could be cut given their lack of interest in it), but perhaps you have 4 pools of 5 teams, you play 1 extra game in the pool rounds which also gives you a chance to get through if you stuff up a game

so i guess you'd need to add 4 extra teams. maybe you invite the SL grand finalists to come down, and add 2 other teams, maybe a team from PNG and Fiji?

 

[RWB]

Get an indigenous team in there and scrap the All Stars concept.

Sure it takes away some indigenous players from their club sides but so be it.

I think there's potential to hold 1 round worth of games on a Friday night. Start at 7, finish at 10.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

I think it is more to do with the amount of clout Foxtel still have with the NRL, more than anything else. Their HD coverage is all they had to hang their hat on but now Channel 9 are HD.

Foxtel are snake oil salesman and scum.

I would actually guess that it is 9s fault.

I would imagine that they have exclusive right to the NRL regarding free to air coverage, but they just didnt want to show it.

Obviously there is interest within the other channels; 7 showed the whole WC tournament. id venture a guess that they and 10 werent even given the opportunity.

 

[ek999]

Fox were given it to broadcast it under the existing rights deal, Sky paid extra. No idea how much Sky Sports pad, however I really don't think it would be much. There were limited opportunities for ads and I doubt it would have drawn in many new subscribers - the two key ways for them to make money

Under the NRL’s television rights deal, Fox Sports were also awarded the rights to broadcast the tournament live, while Sky Sports have paid a rights fee to televise the tournament live in New Zealand

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...new-concept-20140207-327ct.html#ixzz2teQa9fu6
​

 

[Hollywood Jesus]

If we're accepting ESL teams, maybe we could run an exchange program and send some teams to England, keeping it at 16 teams?

If those slots are rotated there'd always be something different to see.

 

[Perth Red]

SL couldn't take part unless it was moved to January. Their season started last week.

I'd just add another pool and include 4 international teams. Png, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. Run each day to a later time, say finishing at 9:30pm.

I'd schedule the half arsed clubs who don't send decent teams for early in the day.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

SL couldn't take part unless it was moved to January. Their season started last week.

I'd just add another pool and include 4 international teams. Png, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. Run each day to a later time, say finishing at 9:30pm.

I'd schedule the half arsed clubs who don't send decent teams for early in the day.

12 hour days might be a bit too much for a 9s tournament.

If they were tho add teams and increase the number of games played, id rather see them star on the Friday at like 5.30ish (just like any weekend-long music festival, start off with a friday night)

 

[bileduct]

They should stick with the current format. It worked well, so why change it?

Make it part of the NRL pre season, just for NRL teams. Having representative teams would be unnecessarily disruptive to pre season training for the clubs of the individual players picked to represent whatever other team, imo.

Let SL have their own nines tournament and grow the concept in the northern hemisphere.

Maybe every few years have a Nines World Cup just involving national teams. That would be a great way to expose the lesser nations to playing against Australia and New Zealand without the score lines blowing out.

As far as the new rules go, I really liked the bonus point zone for tries. It would be interesting to see drop goal conversions removed altogether and the bonus zone used instead. That way you'd get more out of 18 minute games.

 

[LJC]

Fox were given it to broadcast it under the existing rights deal, Sky paid extra. No idea how much Sky Sports pad, however I really don't think it would be much. There were limited opportunities for ads and I doubt it would have drawn in many new subscribers - the two key ways for them to make money

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...new-concept-20140207-327ct.html#ixzz2teQa9fu6
​

Another reason to think that the much mooted broadcast deal is not what it is trumped up to be!

This should have been on free to air television as I know many people (casual sports fans)whom still are not aware of it happening.

Just as T-20 cricket moved to free to air coverage so should the Auckland Nines! The audience will quadruple which make a lot of marketing sense! And great for the games exposure in the big scheme of things.