Neville Smith pushing for a Champions League involving 8 teams from the NRL and SL

[RL1908]

RL's problem is the on-field game itself - all these opportunities to make extra $ & grow the game, but can't, as playing the game exacts too big a toll on the players.

Over the past 15 years the game has continued on a path toward being the NRL and nothing else. All gone due to concerns over injury potential - pre season cup, 7s tournament, 9s tournament, City-Country, a mid week cup, 3 Tests in-season, post season Kangaroos tour (even if RL in UK was a winter sport, no way these tours would be going on now). In return all that is new is the All Stars game.

All that is left to kill off is post season internationals (which clubs sending players for operations is curtailing already) and Origin - if NSW enjoy a period dominating the way the Maroons currently are, who doesn't reckon Origin wouldn't be under the pump too.

The priority should be to re-work the rules of the game to lessen the physical toll - then more of these great ideas for dollar-generating extras can be played.

 

[juro]

I'd be happier to shorten the regular season to 20 or so rounds, and add those extra events which give greater variety. Bring back the 7s. More rep football. And the Champions League too.

Kick off the year with a bit of fun with the 7s. Have the regular season of the NRL and SL finish in July, with finals at the end of August. Have a week off after the grand finals, then 4 weeks of Champions League, finishing in early October. Then the internationals to follow that.

At the moment people don't respect the World Club Challenge because it is just a glorified preseason match. Move it to the end of the season, build on it, make it mean something, and it would be just as big as the grand final.

 

[Von]

Good post RL1908 aka Sean.

But the reason for RL's success is because of the rules...the gladitorial nature of the game. What rules could be changed to maintain that and yet reduce the physical toll on the players?

P.S. Reminds me to buy your RL history book. I am doing that this week and encourage everyone else to buy one too. Sean does good work on the history of our game and a little support from us is not too much to ask.

 

[adamkungl]

iirc Sean advocates a change back to the 5m rule? Personally I disagree

 

[Frances the Mute]

I'd be happier to shorten the regular season to 20 or so rounds, and add those extra events which give greater variety. Bring back the 7s. More rep football. And the Champions League too.

Kick off the year with a bit of fun with the 7s. Have the regular season of the NRL and SL finish in July, with finals at the end of August. Have a week off after the grand finals, then 4 weeks of Champions League, finishing in early October. Then the internationals to follow that.

At the moment people don't respect the World Club Challenge because it is just a glorified preseason match. Move it to the end of the season, build on it, make it mean something, and it would be just as big as the grand final.

I f**ken wouldn't love seeing the Sharkies run around as much as possible.

 

[sretsoor]

Rather than reduced the rounds - how about increasing squad sizes and cap. This way clubs can better manage their squads and rest players etc

 

[East Coast Tiger]

In the future the comp should be 20 teams. 23 games each. Four divisions of five teams. Play each team in your division home and away and every other team once. Add World Sevens/Nines at the start, couple more Tests in the middle and bosh, sorted.

 

[adamkungl]

Rather than reduced the rounds - how about increasing squad sizes and cap. This way clubs can better manage their squads and rest players etc

Resting players will never be a popular idea in Australian sport. It simply doesn't happen. The public doesn't care about anything but the best.

Look at the crowds drop during Origin.

Look at the crowds for minnow international matches.

Look at the crowds for 2nd grade competitions.

Look at the crowds for sports like basketball and soccer which have far better overseas competitions.

The Australian public has a culture of demanding the pinnacle of sport, or it won't respect it.

 

[Perth Red]

Even in a soccer mad country like England (and a bit of Wales) those viewing figures are a lot more mediocre than I expected (an average of 250K?). For a combined population of 50+ Million or so.

That's on pay TV, on FTA the Challenge Cup draws 1million viewers. Sadly the SL is not on FTA in UK.

This would come at the expense of the International calendar so would be a big no no for me. I'd rather see a decent 6 nations every year.

 

[Brutus]

So we need to focus on "quality" by removing arguably the highest quality game on the calendar?

At the ridiculous time of the year it is played...yeah!!!

I'd much prefer to see a bi-annual 3 test series (IN SEASON) with the Kiwis. Play it after Origin like the good old days.

 

[Perth Red]

I agree drop the Anzac test, pointless thrashing of the Kiwis every year.

I'd go

World 7's Feb
SL/NRL season 22 games
WCC two weeks after GF's

Main Int calendar:
Yr 1 6 nations in Europe
Yr 2 Ashes Test match GB v Oz and Pacific Series NZ v PNG alternating hosts
Yr 3 6 Nations in Australasia
Yr 4 World Cup

 

[RL1908]

iirc Sean advocates a change back to the 5m rule? Personally I disagree

Sort of - I was advocating both teams be set back 5m. That would take some of the collion force out of the game, some of fitness demands generated by 10m rule, and hopefully more expansive/specualtive play to advance the ball upfield.

What is obvious is that RL in its present form is beyond the affordability of the game - they really need NRL squads of 35-40 players to cope with the wear and tear, and not leave teams a basket case when they lose one key player.

The alternative is to have a form of RL that doesn't exact such a dire toll on the players.

 

[Eels Dude]

So we need to focus on "quality" by removing arguably the highest quality game on the calendar?

More like most predictable on the calendar. Souths have made the finals more times in the past 10 years than the Kiwis have won the ANZAC test. In other words once vs zilch.

 

[RL1908]

Good post RL1908 aka Sean.

But the reason for RL's success is because of the rules...the gladitorial nature of the game. What rules could be changed to maintain that and yet reduce the physical toll on the players?

P.S. Reminds me to buy your RL history book. I am doing that this week and encourage everyone else to buy one too. Sean does good work on the history of our game and a little support from us is not too much to ask.

Thanks Von.

The game in the late 1980s & early 1990s appeared to me to strike a good balance. Of course, the other factor is that players of that era were not training fulltime, so even if the playing rules were today those of c.1990, some issues of player burnout would arguably still be present.

But, players always say they'd rather play than train - we should be looking to make that the goal, as it would bring in $ (such as this Champions League suggestion) whereas training takes $ out.

I'm not saying RL should become as non-violent on the body as soccer or cricket, but at the moment it does RL no good to be working its greatest and yet finite asset into the ground (elite players) by the way the game is trained and played.

In any event, the greatest game of all was a tag given to RL as played in the 1950s-60s, not today's. We shouldn't be so conceit as to think RL in 2012 is the beau ideal of how the game could be played, and how it can be best played for our players, and for the ability to maximise $ from these extra tournaments etc.

All can sit around smugly lauding RL in 2012 as the greatest game of all, but unless that game is pulling in $ to sustain it, than it can't be justified if the only way for RL to move forward is to play more games to get more $.

 

[Darren Britt]

I agree with Neville Smith.

Reduce the regular season to only 15 (17 after expansion) rounds and allow teams play each other once. Furthermore, shorten the finals series by 1 week and only let the top 6 play for the premiership.
To compensate for the reduced domestic competition - play a Super League style mini-competition as proposed by Neville.

I still remember watching Canterbury VS Wigan - quality match. It was probably the most competitive match out of the World Cup Challenge.

 

[joshreading]

Even in a soccer mad country like England (and a bit of Wales) those viewing figures are a lot more mediocre than I expected (an average of 250K?). For a combined population of 50+ Million or so.

Whilst I agree from an Aussie perspective it is small, RL in england is much smaller than RL in Australia or even NZ proportionately. Super League also generally outrates the Rugby Union Club competition there as well.

 

[dangerousdave]

I like the idea. As long as the financial incentives are right for the clubs and they filter down to the players, I cant see why anyone would be against it

 

[docbrown]

Agreed. We just need to start treating the existing WCC like a sort of Superbowl. Schedule it 2 weeks after the GF in alternating countries and give it the respect it deserves.

This. Sure, it's less games but players are complaining about overload.

Also if the grandfinalists don't make this 8 team Champions League final, what does that say about them? Those other 6 teams were already eliminated by the natural process of the regular season and finals.

Just make the WCC the pinacle.

I've suggested that we bring back the World 7's every four years (with regional 7's formats filling the international gap in the inbetween years and the World 7's being played every 4 years 2 years after the World Cup - bit like the Winter Olympics etc).

But I've also said that the pool rounds should be divided so that there are 3 seperate strands - Special Rep Teams (like NSW Country, QLD Country etc), International Teams & Club Teams - only mixing together once they reach the finals.

Now obviously it would switch between hemispheres but if you want greater interclub play, then invite the other league when you host it by allowing a number of spots for their sides.

If the WORLD 7's was hosted down under, you could see one or two PNG & New Zealand clubs and a couple of travelling Super League clubs playing against NRL clubs in the 7's.

Likewise in the UK, they could invite Australian, New Zealand and French local clubs plus maybe some lower tier clubs from Wales and England to play again Super League clubs.

 

[S.S.T.I.D]

Rugby league players are whingers. They are asked to play one game of sport per week.

I'd be fine with a 20, or even 18 round season, if we had a proper pre-season competition and if we had something like this Champions League concept really take off. I think 4 teams from each league is perfect and it is something that I'd love to see. It would make the top 4 something to really aim for and provide even more incentive to make it, aside from the home-field advantage in the finals.

But in reality I think the game has enough things to sort through before we started looking at stuff like this in the short-term.

 

[newman]

I really think that essentially ignoring the Super League for 11 and 1/2 months of the year we lose a huge promotional opportunity for the code. If you are able to grow international interest and prestige within the code, you grow internal (both in ANZ and Europe) interest vicariously.

Who would care about AFL playing in Western Sydney when you have a meaningful international game both at club and test level? It would make the AFL look like the tiny but loud disaster it is and give a hell of a lot more interest intothe overall investment in following your club (Imagine seeing your club get to play from a possible 14 or whatever it is other teams and venues, rather than the usual suspects!)

The SL is a credible, fully professional league played under an almost identical system with identical rules and a reasonably numerous core of dedicated, fanatical supporters. Its almost laughable that the NRL and SL don't pool their resources and that there isnt some kind of regular, meaningful tournament between the NRL and SL heavyweights. Now that the quality of the English game has seemingly risen in the last 10 years, the more teams in this tournament the better. And there seems to be a rising interest from within too. St Merge were the first team to trumpet the "world champs" tag with some genuine pride. Warrington are out here to play Souffs and Souffs played Leeds in the states a couple of years ago.

It wont get off the ground because as Sean says, we have become so NRL centric it is astonishing, but I'm just glad that its being mooted. I would be very happy to see my boys run around early against some different opposition than the same old year in year out.