NRL2 Second Division

[siv]

and who pays for it? There’s certainly not enough revenue in that comp to sustainably put a team there. And how do you compete when every decent jnr is going to move to a club with direct nrl pathway.

As I mentioned previously there should be two pathways

Professional RL pathway ie the NRL pathway

For those players who dont make the cut there is the

Part-time RL pathway - this is where NRL2 or Qld/NSW Cup will sit

Then by aligning this part-time pathway to non NRL districts/regions it fills the expansion void

Clubs that reside for than 5hr from the central base would need a travel allowance grant

And there would be no issue for these clubs to still be aligned to NRL clubs. But there would be multiple but I recommend only 2 alignments

 

[siv]

You don't have a great knowledge of Greater Sydney and Surrounds

Wests are not in Southern Sydney for starters.- Wests Tigers are inner city and Liverpool Macarthur/Group 6

South Sydney are inner city located and have no connection whatsoever with Southern Sydney

https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Southern_Sydney

It's St George Illawarra which includes the South Coast right down to the Victorian Border

Cronulla own their own ground and are financially secure

NRL Clubs received 10 mill or so grants each year so no Sydney Club is going anywhere

Isnt South Sydney

Everything south of the Parramatta River

To the Royal National Park

 

[siv]

These people must think that money grows on trees who are advocating for a second division - where is the money coming from including sponsors let alone the players and fans

These are same fans who attend Qld & NSW Cup games who are not NRL club fans

 

[T-Boon]

There is a 2nd tier comps run now in QLD and NSW.

Why would adding a Perth and Wellington team suddenly mean people would flock to see this level? Why don't those clubs just join those comps now?

NSW CUP and QLD cup are reserve grade and even the clubs themselves don’t care about them except to develop first graders. There is rightly no interest in those lower grades.
An independent lower tier could work if it wasn’t linked to the existing NRL clubs.
It would help create coaching depth at least.

 

[Canard]

NSW CUP and QLD cup are reserve grade and even the clubs themselves don’t care about them except to develop first graders. There is rightly no interest in those lower grades.
An independent lower tier could work if it wasn’t linked to the existing NRL clubs.
It would help create coaching depth at least.

A completely new competition that has no links to the NRL would create interest and revenue from sponsors, TV etc?

This has been a constant claim on LU for decades now.

It's just not realistic, I'm not sure why a lower tier of a sport being a pathway to the top tier is a problem

 

[Pippen94]

NSW CUP and QLD cup are reserve grade and even the clubs themselves don’t care about them except to develop first graders. There is rightly no interest in those lower grades.
An independent lower tier could work if it wasn’t linked to the existing NRL clubs.
It would help create coaching depth at least.

No

 

[T-Boon]

University of PNG
PNG 2
North Sydney Bears
Ipswich
Toowoomba
Brisbane Tigers
Sydney University
Western Sydney University
Wollongong University
Melbourne
Univeristy of Melbourne
ANU
Perth
Adelaide
Wellington
Auckland
Christchurch
Newtown Jets
...

2 groups of ten.
9 round competition.
Each group plays a final
Then a super bowl.

 

[Pippen94]

University of PNG
PNG 2
North Sydney Bears
Ipswich
Toowoomba
Brisbane Tigers
Sydney University
Western Sydney University
Wollongong University
Melbourne
Univeristy of Melbourne
ANU
Perth
Adelaide
Wellington
Auckland
Christchurch
Newtown Jets
...

2 groups of ten.
9 round competition.
Each group plays a final
Then a super bowl.

Kingswood tafe would destroy any uni

 

[T-Boon]

No

Well as an example as someone who lives in Newcastle I can tell you there is a lot more interest in the Real NRL (the local Newcastle comp) than there is in the Knights reserve grade or lower grade teams.
Reserve grade does not even get written about in the Herald or reported on NBN news.
There are also several other lower tier sports comps that get good crowds such as GPS rugby. Even some of the NRL Schoolboys cup games get good crowds compared to reserve grade.

 

[T-Boon]

Kingswood tafe would destroy any uni

That is probably true and a tragedy for the game if it cares about its image.

 

[T-Boon]

A good expansion topic would be how does rugby league expand into Sydney University?
The mission statement could be:
1. within 3 years Sydney Uni Rugby League team is bigger than the Sydney Uni AFL team (they actually get televised), then
2. within 10 years the Sydney Uni RL team is bigger than Sydney Uni Rugby team.

I am sure most kids at sydney uni who are sports fans have an NRL team that they support to some extent. They should all support the Sydney University RL team.

 

[Canard]

Well as an example as someone who lives in Newcastle I can tell you there is a lot more interest in the Real NRL (the local Newcastle comp) than there is in the Knights reserve grade or lower grade teams.
Reserve grade does not even get written about in the Herald or reported on NBN news.
There are also several other lower tier sports comps that get good crowds such as GPS rugby. Even some of the NRL Schoolboys cup games get good crowds compared to reserve grade.

So lets create a whole new competition that will get zero coverage then?

What crowds to GPS Rugby and Schoolboys get? Any data on that one mate?

 

[T-Boon]

So lets create a whole new competition that will get zero coverage then?

What crowds to GPS Rugby and Schoolboys get? Any data on that one mate?

You can look that up on youtube, Joeys for example get 10k at least once a year.
I read a report a few weeks ago that NRL schoolboys game (maybe St Gregs) got over 1000.

 

[T-Boon]

So lets create a whole new competition that will get zero coverage then?

What crowds to GPS Rugby and Schoolboys get? Any data on that one mate?

That is a problem for the growth of the game.
The NRL clubs dont want to share the $ with anyone even if it would be great for the growth of the game long term.
RL could fund and give coverage on Fox to a meaningful NSW university comp that would expand the game massively.
Sydney Uni
WSU
UTS
University of NSW
Newcastle
Wollongong
Canberra
University of Melbourne

Have a men's and women's team.

 

[siv]

The NRL clubs dont want to share the $ with anyone even if it would be great for the growth of the game long term.

The only way to do this is to remive the 30+6 players by creating NRL Reserve Grade

Then QRL and NSWRL remaining clubs are on level footing

You then run your 20-25 man squad for $1 mil with $500k grants. With remote clubs getting $150k to cover additional travel costs

And it starts with comps Qld Cup & revamped NSW Cup being subscription livestreamed with match of the round on NITV

That would be around $20mil per year to run

I would have all teams running a U21 comp and playing in state based junior U19 U17 U15 comps

 

[TheGrifter]

The only way to do this is to remive the 30+6 players by creating NRL Reserve Grade

A full NRL reserve grade would cost the same or more than a national second division, but would have a lot a drawbacks.

It would bring in no new revenue or supporters to the game. It doesn't really grow the game in any way.

Around half the NRL clubs have no interest in fielding reserve grade sides. Melbourne and the Roosters have been the most successful clubs over the last 10 years and they haven't had reserve grade teams for this periodel, so it demonstrates you don't need them to be a strong club.

 

[TheGrifter]

It's just not realistic, I'm not sure why a lower tier of a sport being a pathway to the top tier is a problem

The lower tiers should be a pathway to the NRL but it shouldn't be the only reason for them to exist.

If we did have a second division you would still want the fringe NRL players involved in some way. You could have a loan system where NRL clubs could loan their development players to NRL2 clubs with say minimum 3 month contracts. You could also have dual registration / feeder arrangements but with a limit on the number of dual registered players allowed each match.

So you could still have the pathways aspect, but just get away from the pure reggies / feeder club model.

 

[Perth Red]

An alternative way could be
NRL 34 contracted FT players
NRL reserve grade (NRL contracted players plus some talent from NRL2)
NRL2 comp with linkage between clubs meaning that players with talent could be pulled up into NRL reserve grade sides. At least goives NRL2 some legit and keeps pathways open so clubs dont whinge about costs to the ARLC

Having it as a reserve grade kills the interest in NSW cup and Qlnd cup. Hence why crowds are terrible and clubs are unsustainable without pokies or NRL club funds, and why new areas cant join.

 

[marshall stalin]

Isnt South Sydney

Everything south of the Parramatta River

To the Royal National Park

I assume South Sydney are called this as there wasn't much past this area in the old days i.e south of the CBD - how many of the current suburbs in what is known as Southern Sydney actually existed back then.

Southern Sydney - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Pippen94]

An alternative way could be
NRL 34 contracted FT players
NRL reserve grade (NRL contracted players plus some talent from NRL2)
NRL2 comp with linkage between clubs meaning that players with talent could be pulled up into NRL reserve grade sides. At least goives NRL2 some legit and keeps pathways open so clubs dont whinge about costs to the ARLC

Having it as a reserve grade kills the interest in NSW cup and Qlnd cup. Hence why crowds are terrible and clubs are unsustainable without pokies or NRL club funds, and why new areas cant join.

Being 2nd division kills interest. Just stop