NRL two conferences

[Dark Corner]

If this then I see the Queensland clubs breaking away and former a Queensland comp with a few extra Brisbane teams and Newcastle will just form a breakaway comp and add teams Kurri Kurri, Maitland and Mayfield.

 

[Steel Saints]

Two conferences. It feels so American. Have a look at the current ladder, divide it into two conferences and leave an asterisk for the new teams.

Sydney conference

Penrith 14
Parramatta 12
Souths 12
Easts 10
St.George Illawarra 8
Manly 6
Cronulla 4
Wests Tigers 2
Canterbury 2

Non Sydney conference

Melbourne 10
Gold Coast 6
Canberra 6
NZ Warriors 6
Newcastle 6
Nth Qld 6
Brisbane 2
*
*

A disadvantage is you would potentially have one conference stronger than the other one. So you would a grand final spot to a team from a weaker conference. Yeah, not a great idea. Abdo and PVL should have plans in place on grassroots and development of the next generation of players and finding new revenue streams, rather than copying some concept from overseas.

 

[Game_Breaker]

Don't they already manipulate the fixtures to ensure most rivals play each other twice in a season?

Yes
Forget the conference idea. Just make sure the rivalries get played twice a season

Not all Sydney teams have a rivalry with eachother

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

I like the conference idea, but 2 groups just doesnt make sense. If we do go with conferences, I would rather see 3 or 4 division groups (maybe name each division for the shield that they win; JJ Giltinan Shield, etc.)....

You would absolutely guarantee these big, end-of-season rivalry games early in the finals and the conference rivalries would just get bigger and bigger every year (imagine souths getting knocked out of the finals by the Dragons who then get knocked out by the Roosters. This would happen EVERY year, in EVERY one of the divisions. It would be brilliant!!)

The big downside is that the GF would never have these old local rivalries. Having said that, the GF is always gonna be big regardless of who is playing. It might actually be better guarenteeing random combinations to develop new rivalries (Cowboys-Tiger, Raiders-Roosters, Panthers-storm; combos you would never think of)

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

Seriously though, forget this dumb regular season "play everyone in your own conference twice" shit....

It just dumb to limit in what the NRL is able to do with the draw. Do it secretly if you want, but dont get tie your hands with a dumb, pointless rule.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

"The alternative system could see the top four teams in each conference ranked 1-8 (based on competition points) in a combined finals series identical to the current playoff structure."

So it would be exactly the same as now???

The only good reason for the conferences would be the weird finals system we would get.

If it is just a way go get more sydneyVsydney games, just talk to the dickhead who writes the schedule and do it secretly....

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

Leaving aside Vlandys desire to go back to a nswrl comp circa 1988, if we ever got to twenty clubs it would make some sense. Would need a more equal split but with some focus on big crowds rivalries it could look something like


Arthur Summons Conference

Panthers
Eels
Bulldogs
Wests
Knights
Broncos
Titans
Cowboys
Brisbane2
Qlnd5 or Png

Norm Provan conference

Dragons
Rabbits
Sharks
Roosters
Sea-Eagles
Raiders
Warriors
Storm
Pirates
Adelaide or NZ2

That actually a solid idea.

C1 - East Sydney + some foreigners
C2 - West Sydney+ some foreigner

 

[_snafu_]

Lol “good refs”

Just got to get some.

 

[Dark Corner]

Sod the Sydney conference BUT have 2 conferences but change both of them every year as for Penrith is in conference 1 this year but could be in conference 2 the next and 20 teams including Perth, Brisbane 2 , NZ 2 and 2 full time Sydney teams moved to CC and Illawarra plus be nice to have a 1 team promoted from the winner of the play off between NSW Cup v QLD cup winner but better minds on this forum could work that out ?

 

[Foreign Legion]

if it was me I would have a annual event, live on tv in where by the all clubs get pooled into the 2 conferences so every year it could be random just like how they do the World cups naturally some clubs will always be pooled togther for local derbies...

 

[Coparugby]

I don’t mind the idea. It makes travel easier for the Raiders because of less time sitting on a bus seat.

They need to tweak the finals system though to make it possible for two teams from the same conference to meet in the GF.

 

[NK Arsenal]

What about 3 Conferences of 6 instead?

Conference 1
Brisbane
Brisbane 2
Gold Coast
North Queensland
Auckland
NZ 2

Conference 2

Newcastle
Manly
Sydney City
South Sydney
St George
Cronulla

Conference 3

Penrith
Parramatta
Canterbury
Wests
Melbourne
Canberra


Play everyone in your conference twice (10 games) and everyone else once (12 games). 22 rounds each.

Top 2 from each conference go in to a top 8 finals series with the last 2 spots determined on overall league ranking or a wildcard play off.

Thoughts?

 

[Dark Corner]

if it was me I would have a annual event, live on tv in where by the all clubs get pooled into the 2 conferences so every year it could be random just like how they do the World cups naturally some clubs will always be pooled togther for local derbies...

Thats what I said

 

[Wizardman]

For our country and situation, it is a TERRIBLE f**king idea!

 

[Danish]

What better way to promote the rivalry between Sydney teams than to ensure they can never meet in a Grand Final again... sigh.

hey look on the bright side. We’d be guaranteed never to endure the heart attack inducing stress of a Souths roosters GF.

but yep, a f**king horrible, terrible idea. It would basically guarantee the storm are in every GF in perpetuity

 

[Wizardman]

To be honest, the conference system does not even work that well in the USA as it is often a very unfair situation. Last season in the NFL, Im pretty sure that a team with a losing record made the playoffs. Quite a few clubs with winning records missed the cut purely due to the conference they were in.

USA copit because they don't know any other way.....but the culture of our game would (and should) absolutely reject the idea. For our faults, at least our competition at least is fair in that the best eight teams always make the playoffs.....unlike in a conference system.

 

[siv]

Finals system: Top four teams from each conference play in separate finals series. Winners of each conference square off in grand final for premiership.

Everything us good except for this statement

Comp table should not be split

Just have a simple Top 8 as we do today

I would also like to see Regional v Sydney games played home & away over 2 years

 

[AnonymousLurker]

This is going to kill clubs off
You will have one conference be stronger - virtue due to the larger areas they have , better sponsorship options along with TPA ‘s the interstate conference will be stronger and only the real strong Sydney clubs survive ... aka super league

Even by virtue of TV they will promote one conference over the other
- Friday night slot who gets it ?
A broncos team with entire city or Brisbane backing it or a tigers v sharks game which will only appeal to certain subset of Sydney market

The whole idea of the nrl being top of the food chain is that we get to watch the best competition of the code .. once you break up into conferences one set of conference supporters are following an inferior product

 

[Glenn]

Oh FFS no.
Nowhere near enough teams for conferences even adding two new teams by 2026 , plus you wouldn't necessarily have the the Two best teams playing for the Premiership.

 

[Russell Crowe's Band]

this is just superleague again