Home finals?

[LeagueNut]

Sorry if this has been covered elsewhere ... but will the Top 4 in the Toyota Cup earn a home final, or will they all be curtain-raisers to the first grade matches?

 

[Bulldogs_4_Life]

Good question. Someone get onto Roddy.

 

[Pumba]

Just sent a email should have a reply tomorrow.

Great question BTW.

 

[roopy]

With the following the NYC is getting it is possible a home final for a team like the Warriors could get a very decent crowd - if the senior side was finished for the year.

 

[Bulldogs_4_Life]

Can you also ask about the schedule for televised matches of the finals series? I would assume and expect all games in the finals are shown.

 

[Pumba]

Can you also ask about the schedule for televised matches of the finals series? I would assume and expect all games in the finals are shown.

You would probably be better off asking Foxsports about that.

 

[Bulldogs_4_Life]

Fox Sports are hopeless. Never reply to any of my e-mails.

 

[Pumba]

Fox Sports are hopeless. Never reply to any of my e-mails.

Send off a email to the NRL. Michael Buettner normally replies to the emails.

http://nrl.com/ContactUS/tabid/10628/Default.aspx

 

[Bulldogs_4_Life]

Cheers, e-mail sent.

 

[LeagueNut]

Thanks for the responses guys, be good to get an answer to this.

Good question. Someone get onto Roddy.

Forgive my ignorance, but who? I presume it's not Rowdy Roddy Piper??

 

[Pumba]

E-Mail from Michael Buettner

Hi


Thanks again for your enquiry about the Toyota Cup.

It’s great to see you taking such a big interest in the competition.

As you can appreciate the Toyota Cup certainly created a lot of interest within Rugby League circles and as such we are trying to replicate the Telstra Premiership wherever possible.

Having said that, the finals series has provided us with a definite challenge in how we were going to deliver the product to the fans. Unfortunately due to the nature of the competition, where teams in the Toyota Cup Final Series play there games will be determined by how and when teams finish in the Telstra Premiership.

Obviously we will still be using the McEntrye System, however the games won’t necessarily be in the same order ie. 4v5 Friday Night, 3v6 and 2v7 Saturday Night with 1v8 on Sunday. Wherever possible if a clubs NRL and TC teams are in the Finals then we will endeavour to play them at the same venue.

Toyota Cup placings will not necessarily guarantee a team a home final.

If I was to provide an example of the two tables at the end of Round 15 (see below) the following would more then likely be where teams would be playing.


ROUND 15 NRL LADDER - CLICK TO SEE IMAGE


ROUND 15 TOYOTA CUP LADDER - CLICK TO SEE IMAGE


Telstra Premiership Final Series - Week One
Sharks V Titans @ Toyota Stadium - Friday
Roosters V Dragons @ SFS - Saturday
Storm V Broncos @ Olympic Park - Saturday
Manly V Knights @ Brookvale - Sunday

Toyota Cup Final Series - Week One
Eels V Warriors @ Toyota Stadium - Friday
Dragons V Broncos @ SFS - Saturday
Raiders V Bulldogs @ Olympic Park - Saturday
Panthers V Titans @ Brookvale - Sunday

So basically if the competition ended at the end of the Last Round that's where the teams would be playing.


I hope everyone understands that.

 

[Timmah]

Gee that's pretty bloody ordinary. Surely it would follow in the footsteps of the Premier League comp and where the two teams are going to be completely out of area (i.e. Canberra v Bulldogs) they'd play it alone...

Raiders v Bulldogs @ Olympic Park (hypothetically I know) will go down like a lead balloon in terms of club support... particularly if both teams miss the finals and want to watch their young blokes run around.

 

[Bulldogs_4_Life]

That's strange but nevertheless it's great to know exactly how it will go down.

Thanks

 

[girvie]

I think that the top 4 NYC sides deserve to have home finals.

If the Panthers, Raiders and Eels don't have an Nrl side in the finals then they should just play them as stand alone games. The fans going to watch the Manly, Melbourne or Cronulla home finals won't really care that much about two other Nyc teams playing before hand.

If it matches up like the Dragons does and the Dragons Nrl side is playing at the SFS then it would be good for the Dragons NYC team to play there as well.

 

[Timmah]

Absolutely girv, don't doubt that for one moment. I'd go one step further and say if Manly's finals match up that they should try to hold NSW Cup there too.

 

[Timmah]

Just browsing the NSW Cup draw... judging by the timeline set out for it, unless the finals is shortened to three weeks, the GF will take place on the same weekend as the NRL... so it is certainly interesting. I've emailed the NSWRL to see if I can garner a response.

 

[girvie]

Absolutely girv, don't doubt that for one moment. I'd go one step further and say if Manly's finals match up that they should try to hold NSW Cup there too.

Yeah as it stands Manly would get a home final for the NSW Cup. It would be silly to play a Manly NSW Cup final before a Panther/Titans NYC game, and also silly to play the NYC game before NSW Cup when there will be no one turning up that early unless their own team is playing.

 

[Bay53]

I think your missing the point of Beuttner's email.

The Toyota Cup has been designed so that every game has a curtain raiser. Therefore this is the reason that they wouldn't be played as stand alone matches.

I have a feeling Fox Sports said at the start of the year they were going to cover all of the finals of the Toyota Cup including a simulcast with Channel 9 for the grand final.

Therefore if that is the case, they will certainly all be curtain raisers as they have the television infrastructure already there.

 

[eastsrule]

It would make broadcasting games far more difficult and expensive if they were stand alone games.

It is the right way (commercially) to go about it.

I doubt a home ground (crowd) advantage would not be that huge anyway.

 

[The Gambler]

I dont think making them stand-alone games would necessarily result in a larger crowd. The difference would be minute in my opinion.