David Smith...is footy better off?

[Matthew Corner]

Starting to not rate David Smith.

1) has spent a truckload more than Gallop on staff.

2) the game is becoming soft with him trying to clean up its image. What attracted punters to league is the big hits....GONE. The punch ups....GONE. The masterful attack.....GONE. It's 4 hit ups then backline then kick. Yawn.

3) the asada thing is a white elephant and he over reacted. Seems like he was more interested in protecting his own image than looking after the players and his staffs best interests.

4) he is a pom.

5) he doesn't have a clue about footy.

What do you all reckon?

pass. Pass conceded. Fail?

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

1) He's had a truckload more money than Gallop. Can't improve/grow the game by hiring less people can he?

2) Oh no, it's going soft. Over a decade ago people were complaining the game was soft because it wasn't like the 80's. You may not like it now but too bad, it's required for the game to grow.

3) Please explain David Smith's involvement with ASADA. As far as I know aside from him running the NRL which has a club ASADA is investigating he doesn't really have much power over what ASADA does other than telling them to hurry up.

4) And?

5) Good, he's business man, the NRL is a business.

As for pass/fail, this thread definitely failed.

 

[pHyR3]

Starting to not rate David Smith.

1) has spent a truckload more than Gallop on staff.

2) the game is becoming soft with him trying to clean up its image. What attracted punters to league is the big hits....GONE. The punch ups....GONE. The masterful attack.....GONE. It's 4 hit ups then backline then kick. Yawn.

3) the asada thing is a white elephant and he over reacted. Seems like he was more interested in protecting his own image than looking after the players and his staffs best interests.

4) he is a pom.

5) he doesn't have a clue about footy.

What do you all reckon?

pass. Pass conceded. Fail?

mate you've clearly got no clue. so a fail for you.

A Credit for Dave Smith.

1) And yet he's turned a several million $ loss to a $50 million profit, with which he's constructing a $200-250 million future fund within a few years.

2) It's about appealing to more people than just your average bogan. The diehard will be here regardless of punchons and shoulder charges both of which probably leave us in a legal pickle down the line. But MOTHERS (who control whether the kid plays RL or AFL) will have a far better perception of the game if we clean it up. This will only occur after decades or improving our image, not a year.

3) What would you have done if the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (a gvmt organisation) comes knocking on your door with ridiculously strong accusations? not comply with them and piss them off further? His actions were appropriate given the information available. Hindsight is bliss, and im sure you could critique every manager all day like that if you like.

4) Strong point.

5) He's got advisers there to help him, the NRL is not a few teams playing each other every week anymore. It's a multi-billion dollar BUSINESS. which means you need businessmen running it like most other professional agencies. It's fine to have ex-players helping out as long as they actually have some skills and expertise to offer. e.g. Robbie Farah who is a strong part of RLPA negotiations with the NRL. (he has a B. Economics from the University of Sydney)

 

[betcats]

Still to reactive to the media but hes doing ok.

 

[T.S Quint]

He's not a pom.
He's bloody Welsh.

 

[El Diablo]

nice of Phil Rothfield to join the forum

 

[Brutus]

Starting to not rate David Smith.

1) has spent a truckload more than Gallop on staff.

2) the game is becoming soft with him trying to clean up its image. What attracted punters to league is the big hits....GONE. The punch ups....GONE. The masterful attack.....GONE. It's 4 hit ups then backline then kick. Yawn.

3) the asada thing is a white elephant and he over reacted. Seems like he was more interested in protecting his own image than looking after the players and his staffs best interests.

4) he is a pom.

5) he doesn't have a clue about footy.

What do you all reckon?

pass. Pass conceded. Fail?

He's still 1000 times better than Gallop but that's not saying much.

 

[_snafu_]

What did Gallop do?

 

[seaeagle sam]

nice of Phil Rothfield to join the forum

+1

Hi Phil,

It's 10.30, so you must be on your third schooey by now.

 

[seaeagle sam]

Starting to not rate David Smith.

1) has spent a truckload more than Gallop on staff.

2) the game is becoming soft with him trying to clean up its image. What attracted punters to league is the big hits....GONE. The punch ups....GONE. The masterful attack.....GONE. It's 4 hit ups then backline then kick. Yawn.

3) the asada thing is a white elephant and he over reacted. Seems like he was more interested in protecting his own image than looking after the players and his staffs best interests.

4) he is a pom.

5) he doesn't have a clue about footy.

What do you all reckon?

pass. Pass conceded. Fail?

In know right.

The game is in CRISIS!

 

[East Coast Tiger]

The fact his sychofantic fans have to compare him to Gallop to make him look good says it all.

The NRL is just as reactionary and directionless as ever.
It just has more cash to spend (or waste) now.

 

[DJShaksta]

Has he gotten attendance figures up? No
Has he fixed the refereeing? No
Is he all about the $$$? Yes

Fail for mine.

 

[insert.pause]

OP is a dedicated telegraph reader by the sound of it.

The football on the field is not better but the ruck and wrestling is to blame for that, a problem that existed well before Smith.

I don't think the average punter appreciates the massive restructuring effort the NRL is undertaking under Smith and the ARLC, the way the game was run was appalling and its that legacy that Smith is trying to fix. Hes trying to win back corporate's and government that were ignored for so long that they went to other sports. It's a hell of a lot of work and hes achieved quite a bit in two years.

The salary cap review is probably the only major black mark against him, it was a joke with little to no significant changes adopted despite a year of talking it up as revolutionary. The discretionary powers of the CEO that enables him to centrally contract players has the appearance of an afterthought and policy on the run after they realised the review came up with shit all.

 

[T.S Quint]

He's supposed to be all about the $$$.

Greenberg is supposed to be on top of the other stuff.

 

[DJShaksta]

He's supposed to be all about the $$$.

Greenberg is supposed to be on top of the other stuff.

I disagree - he's supposed to be all about growing the game, which means growing the fanbase.
He doesn't give two shits about the fans.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

I disagree - he's supposed to be all about growing the game, which means growing the fanbase.
He doesn't give two shits about the fans.

Anything to back this up or is it just a gut feeling?? (because that could just be diarrhoea....)

 

[AlwaysGreen]

Rome wasn't built in a day you pessimistic dinosaurf**kers.

 

[Dogs Of War]

I disagree - he's supposed to be all about growing the game, which means growing the fanbase.
He doesn't give two shits about the fans.

Given all the cheap tickets that are on offer week to week, I can't believe you think he isn't trying to grow the attendances. He can't help it if people don't take advantage of it. It's hard to change people's mindset that they would rather sit at home and watch it on TV.

Thus why most of the cheap tickets target families, because it's a long term view that if you get the youngsters used to going to the footy, as they get older they may feel that going to the footy is how you support your club. This takes time, and a whole generation to make that leap, it's not like the AFL when they focused on memberships suddenly had 50K members for clubs, it took 30 years for that to happen and they were starting off on a better base.

 

[chrisD]

Under Smith the football has been less entertaining.

 

[taipan]

Let's see the previous Gallop admins efforts.
1) No proper insurance scheme in place,now finally being rectified.
2) A sh*thouse Tv deal which left the code with no money in which to grow the game and provide better infrastructure
3) No strategic plan in place,there is one now.
4)Player misbehaviour under Gallop,had no final line in the sand drawn.It does now.
5) Gallop spent SFA time in regionals and outback areas of the code.Smith has made an effort to do so.
6) No integrity unit in place to investigate rorts etc.In place now.
7) Gallop paid little heed to International rl,Smith considers it vital.
8) Gallop had no idea about looking at alternate revenue sources to TV,the new admin is exploring that now.
9) The Gallop admin had no effective Govt lobbying group'to secure better facilities for its fans>it does now.
10) Many NRL clubs were run by well intentioned former players and look at the mess.Smith is trying to drag the clubs into the 21st Century.
11) The removal of the biff and shoulder charge by Smith was to achieve two things.Protection of the players welfare and to try and portray a better image for many of the mums who decides where little Fonteroy is to play.
12) refs under Gallop and Smith yes at times are under the pump.They are human that is up to Archer.
13) Crowds Well thanks to the last TV deal under Gallop and the current one we have Monday night football.IF that draws crowds,then so does breaking wind in a lift.Plenty of family deals for kids of late to encourage crowds.
14) The code has money in the Bank for a future fund $40m ,under Gallop a future fund was a savings account planned for a grandchild.
15)Under Smith the code has Touch Football under its wing.The advantage buying(insurance) and lobbying power and another potential audience and players for the code.
16 ) At press interviews Gallop comes across as a staid lawyer,Smith a passionate businessman.'
17) Gallop kept expansion bids guessing ,at times giving false hope.Smith has stated we will discuss end of this year.No promises,no BS.
18) We lost Folau because of an outmoded Salary Cap in place under Gallop and were unable to compete with fumbleball or rah ball.We can now as the cap is well lifted, if it comes to the crunch.

Work out the scores from that little lot,and tell me who is ahead by a country mile.