Mediocre Teams.

[inside_pass]

Just wondering if there are enough quality players in the NRL to even think of bringing in more teams in the future.
To me there are a lot of mediocre teams that just haven't got the player talent to compete on a consistent basis.
The Roosters,Eels,Bulldogs,Titans are pretty pathetic as NRL teams go and then you have Souths who massively under achieve every year even with a decent roster which might show that maybe there aren't even enough topline coaches to go around.
The Sharks are starting to show some form but over the years have generally struggled and the Raiders usually seem to scrape into the finals but always seem to get knocked out after the first week.
The Knights have usually struggled in recent times and the Tigers have made the finals once since 2005.
To me if we bring in more teams in the future I can see the standard of play dropping in a big way.

We need quality not quantity in our footy comp!

 

[Loudstrat]

An old argument and a stupid one. More opportunities = less players going to ESL/Union, more development of juniors (expansion gave us Bett Kimmorley for instance), and more opportunities for Pommy players.

There are mines of talent that are under utilised. PNG for instance. NZ is another.

 

[juanfarkall]

Personally I blame the lack of a genuine reserve grade comp between the NRL and NYC for the percieved lack of depth

 

[CC_Roosters]

Rubbish. Look at both rosters, stacks of young talent and experienced pro's. Both having a bad season and like every sports league somebody has to fill out the bottom rung of the ladder at seasons end. To expect there to be 16 teams of top 4 quality is wishful thinking. I maintain there are enough ex-NRL players in SL + youngsters coming through to easily have 2 more teams.

 

[inside_pass]

Personally I blame the lack of a genuine reserve grade comp between the NRL and NYC for the percieved lack of depth

Agree with you there.

 

[aussies1st]

We have a few players not in the start 17 that would be handy for any new sides and that would be the same for all the sides.

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

Personally I blame the lack of a genuine reserve grade comp between the NRL and NYC for the percieved lack of depth

Agreed. And the NRL seriously needs to get its claws into the Pacific Islands and PNG.

 

[carlosthedwarf]

Personally I blame the lack of a genuine reserve grade comp between the NRL and NYC for the percieved lack of depth

The biggest problem with no competition between NRL and NYC is that way too many young players are brought up to first grade before they're ready.

 

[RHCP]

Yep, such horrible depth that Sam Williams, Josh Papalii, Nathan Massey and Josh McCrone can go from not being in the strongest Canberra 17 at the beginning of the year to playing great football and being standouts for the Raiders. Same goes for Tyrone Roberts and Ryan Stig at the Knights. They've both been exceptional this year but at the beginning of the season were stuck behind four other players for a halves berth.

You also conveniently forget that the Roosters and Raiders are bottom four teams, have massive injury wards which are only compounded by the loss of their Origin players.

The Dragons have the biggest Origin drain, yet still put up a great fight against the Knights on Sunday. The Broncos were minus 5-6, still got a win.

There is an overload of talent in the NRL, so much that many (ie. Keith Lulia, in good form here in Newcastle) are forced to the ESL. If there were more sides, no players under 30 would be leaving the competition.

 

[Herzog]

Catch the Exiles game over in England? There's an NRL team right there.

 

[franklin2323]

Personally I blame the lack of a genuine reserve grade comp between the NRL and NYC for the percieved lack of depth

^^
This. A very small number of players get called up from feeder teams. Most get called from NYC. Those dropped never get seen again. Hell atleast 4 times I haven't been able to watch Windsor as it was the same time as the NRL team played. Making it impossible for the coach to look at players. So the go overseas open up 34 more places weekly maybe they stay

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

Personally I blame the lack of a genuine reserve grade comp between the NRL and NYC for the percieved lack of depth

Making the NYC the "default second grade comp" was the dumbest move the NRL could have made.

 

[jonno_knights]

More money for the second teir cap is probably a big thing too. Im not sure what the numbers are, but with the minimum wage in NRL being 55k, and it being easy to earn twice that working in the mines and other proffessions some guys might take that route. I know there are many guys who still manage to work FT and also play week in week out in NSW Cup, and even the NRL in some cases, but when they are going up against guys who are training FT, and getting the best coaching too, it creates a fair gap.

As said before, coaching seems to have a big influence too. Some coaches know how to involve all their players, and get the best out of them. In other teams there seems to be coaches who just use players to fill a spot in the side, and don't use them effectively.

 

[Edwahu]

The season will pick up once Origin is over. It always does.

 

[Pedge1971]

Agree with you there.

Yep, such horrible depth that Sam Williams, Josh Papalii, Nathan Massey and Josh McCrone can go from not being in the strongest Canberra 17 at the beginning of the year to playing great football and being standouts for the Raiders. Same goes for Tyrone Roberts and Ryan Stig at the Knights. They've both been exceptional this year but at the beginning of the season were stuck behind four other players for a halves berth.

You also conveniently forget that the Roosters and Raiders are bottom four teams, have massive injury wards which are only compounded by the loss of their Origin players.

The Dragons have the biggest Origin drain, yet still put up a great fight against the Knights on Sunday. The Broncos were minus 5-6, still got a win.

There is an overload of talent in the NRL, so much that many (ie. Keith Lulia, in good form here in Newcastle) are forced to the ESL. If there were more sides, no players under 30 would be leaving the competition.

Not disagreeing but think there is a much bigger step up to FG than there used to be. Your example on the Knights is a good one. Both kids have done well but think Stig looks more at home than Roberts because he has had a season or two in Qld Cup & Centurions. NYC is great, but still very much kids on thye cusp of geting an adult body and some experience against old heads.

Bring back Reserves and put it on game day! OK, I know it isn't prob realistic in terms of budget but your day at the footy and the end product was better for it.

 

[HowHigh]

If Reece Simmonds isn't a regular starter for an NRL team we have nothing to worry about. Plenty of depth if blokes like him aren't getting a fair go.

 

[Billythekid]

This has nothing to do with the amount of teams. There is plenty of talent around and plenty that is going unused (as mentioned PNG, NZ and expats in union and ESL).

I also think one of the main problems is the lack of a quality comp between the NRL and NYC. That plus there seems to be alot of clueless coaches running around.

 

[betcats]

We need a better reserve grade comp.

 

[broncos2010]

what can I say not all teams can be as good as the broncos.

 

[Frailty]

As many have noted here, the lack of a reserve grade competition is appalling. There needs to be a national reserve grade competition, where game days see the Toyota Cup, Reserve Grade, and then Telstra Premiership - value for money.

This should be a key focus of the Independent Commission in light of the new TV Deal.