Rugby League is in the greatest shape ever. (Discuss)

[titoelcolombiano]

I think the NRL is teetering on a precipice. The NRL has stumbled into a golden period where a domino effect of economic impacts has lead to the traditional broadcast industry pumping enough money into the NRL that it's papering over a lot of the cracks, but those circumstances can't last forever.

If the NRL uses this golden period as a time to address some of it's major underlying issues it could be remembered as the start of something huge, but it's just as likely that in 20 years time people will look back on this period a bit like RU does on the early 00s; as a time of wasteful excess and luxury.

On average the product on the pitch is the worst it's been for a long time. It's easily the most predictable the game has ever been, yet at the same time the rules are borderline unenforceable in practice, which leads to huge inconsistency in referring, both of which is generally being ignored by the majority for the time being.

Off the field the grassroots are literally dying in most of the country. It's the worst it's ever been, so bad in many areas that it's not unlikely that they'll simply stop regularly producing high standard male juniors in our lifetimes, and that will have long term implications for the sport.

The way the NRLW and women's footy in general has been handled has been abysmally short-sighted. They're literally repeating all the mistakes made with the men's league, mistakes that everybody that mattered claimed they wouldn't repeat if they were starting from scratch.

Rep footy has basically become a sideshow joke at this point. Most Internationals for example don't even deserve to carry the term international at this point. SOO is quickly getting to that point as well, and the other major rep game in the schedule is openly discriminatory.

The game has experienced a boost of positive publicity since PVL took over that's largely unexplainable. We can only speculate as to why it is, but blokes who've made careers out of sinking the boot in have lay off the NRL since PVL took over. I doubt it's safe to assume that those circumstances will continue once he moves on though.

There's also been zero notable growth outside 'the heartlands', specifically Qld and parts of NSW. Yes they've been able to better exploit existing customer bases in said heartland markets, but they've more or less totally failed to expand the NRL and sport's reach in any meaningful manner outside of them despite billions of dollars being pumped into the sport over the past decade, which should be concerning.

So yeah, things are going pretty good right now, but that can change very quickly, and it'd be a massive mistake for the NRL to allow the glitz and glamour of this period to overshadow some of the major issues facing the sport.

What a load of horseshit

Storm are averaging 20k with pathways full of Victorians, bush sport (not just RL) is going backwards in a big way and the onfield game is so "boring and predictable" that it is attracting record crowds and is the most watched sport on TV in Australia.

Nice one Union troll... I heard there was 4k at a Super Rugby game last week. It must sting you.

 

[LeagueXIII]

It is no coincidence the game is on the up over the last year or two because News Corp are now our partners/own us. After 20 years of crap and battling them we are in bed with them and they are assisting us no longer death riding the game. Have their administration in running the game for them. So it's no surprise really.

 

[PARRA_FAN]

Yes interesting thread this and I'm sure a lot people here will have different views but the most common answer is yes and I guess that has come down to the people in charge.

Last year was the most number of attendances and an average of over 20,000. TV ratings were quite and financially the game is a great position. This comes down the how the game is played and how many blockbusters are shown nearly every weekend. The draw isnt exactly perfect but putting certain games in certain time slots and at a certain time of the year has really boosted the crowd figures.

V'landys has been optimistic and has made many predictions, going as far as saying we'll have 20 teams by 2032 and become the number 1 code. Years ago many of us wouldve laughed at these suggestions but lately we will would believe this could actually happen.

We were introduced with some rule changes, some I dont like but others like the six again calls instead of the stop start penalties that slow the game down and players going for the two. The two point field goal, stopping the clock after a goal attempt in the last 5 minute, going back to one referee and awarding a try straight away instead of going to the bunker all the time.

The new stadiums in the past 5 years has helped. Allianz, Commbank, Townsville and now we're getting Penrith. While there is a great nostalgia with suburban grounds, times are changing and we have to improve the quality of the grounds but I like the fact that we can improve current grounds, instead of telling teams to move to Accor or Allianz. I remember the old NRL management suggested it and it was never going to work.

Making events like the Magic Weekend and also the most recent one Vegas Round. Who wouldve thought we'd be kicking off the season in the USA.

Playing games into country areas like Bathurst, Tamworth, Coffs Harbour, Mudgee, Sunshine Coast, Cairns.

The introduction of the NRLW and the game expanding to 12 next year, so who knows they could get to 16 in a few years.

I hope we keep it up. The fact there are bids for an 18th team, just after we introduced the Dolphins is quite amazing when you think the NRL years ago was too hesitant into expansion, feeling there wasnt enough talent or money/

 

[Vlad59]

This was a great thread and then the Dane came in. He really is a cure for euphoria.

The game is in rude health for all the reasons mentioned above so I won’t repeat them.

Vlandys has shifted the paradigm and even though he can be a crude operator, he’s basically shifted us from the shadows of our biggest competitor to at least even terms.

Three things in particular I like.

1. the raw fact is that playing contact footy isn’t everybody’s preference any more. Smith aligning with touch years ago was a great decision (his best). Aligning with league tag has been a great success increasing women’s participation and offering anybody at any age a playing role in club footy.
Participation can be maintained and increased by making a lower contact versions of the game available to all.

2. expansion. We have options in 4 countries currently something our major competitor will never have.

3. A vision to grow our brand base outside Australia via Vegas and a potential alignment with the ESL.

previous administrations were fearful lambs. We now have a powerhouse admin.

 

[docbrown]

I was overseas for a decade and came back home after the Covid lockdowns were lifted. Before I returned, I found myself only watching games sporadically.

Honestly, I have come back and I'm finally seeing the NRL live up to its potential. You might disagree with rule changes on an individual level but I think looking at audiences both in stadiums and on TV, overall they're appealing to fans. Smashing past 4,000,000 and 20,000 averages for the 213 game season shows you as much.

Have we hit the ceiling? No.

Brisbane Broncos with better marketing = 40k+ average
Canberra in a better stadium = 18-20k average
Canterbury in a new Liverpool stadium = 25k-30k+ average
Cronulla in a better stadium = 15k+ average
Dolphins with a better stadium allocation and some success = 25k-30k+ average
Titans with better community engagement and some success = 20k+ average
Manly in a better stadium = 18k+ average
Melbourne with better community engagement and marketing = 25k+ average
Warriors in a better stadium = 25-30k+ average
Newcastle with some success = 25k-29k average
Cowboys with some success = 22-25k average
Parramatta with some success = 25-29k average
Penrith in a better stadium = 22-25k average
Souths at the SFS with some success = 25k-30k average
Dragons with a better stadium allocation, improved Wollongong stadium and some success = 20-25k average
Roosters with more community engagement and marketing = 25k+ average
Tigers in a new Liverpool stadium, other big games at the SFS and some success = 25k-30k average

That there alone means that just with existing clubs, a few stadiums and a better draw, it's possible to go from a 20k average to a 25k average very quickly. After that, attendances will be dictated by existing stadium capacities.

Then on top of that there are a lot of expansion opportunities. Perth, Adelaide, a second Melbourne side, Central Coast, Sunshine Coast, a third Brisbane side, PNG, Wellington, Christchurch, Fiji. All of those expand the total fanbase.

And then on top of that, the international game is an untapped powerhouse. For instance, If you build it correctly and it becomes competitive, a three game Australia vs New Zealand series can be bigger than Origin. But it takes time, money and resources.

So yes, I agree with the statement that the NRL is in great shape. But to me, we're now at base camp below the summit and if we do a lot of these things I've mentioned, we're headed towards the peak of Mount Everest.

 

[BlueandGold]

All these results have to be credited to PVL/commission and clubs.

-Bring in the no fault stand down rule
-Players behavior has improved 10 fold.
-Commission making the RLPA and players genuine part of the game with the CBA
-Commission giving clubs approximately 5m over the caps to invest in the community/clubs/marketing
-6 Again rule, game flow better now
-Introduction of the NRLW
-Expansion of the NRL and NRLW
-Creating Magic round/Vegas Round
-Bring 10 games to regional Australia to engage the country
-New venues/stadium funding

We are seeing the effects of all these changes in TV ratings and crowds and general interest on social media.

 

[Vee]

Great thread.

 

[Chins get the wins]

You could make the same point about Melbourne 2006-2009 and also Roosters 2000-2004. Only difference is Penrith are able to convert dominance into consistent premierships.

The cap is slowly taking this panthers team apart. As it stands 7 players from the 2020 grand final 17 will be with the club in 2025. They’ve just managed to retain key players (Edwards, To’o, Cleary, JFH, Leota, Martin and Yeo).

Yeah don't compare the greatest ever side in the professional era to Melbourne who cheated and STILL couldn't win 2 in a row.

 

[Vic Mackey]

2021 was the worst season I’ve ever seen. However I’ve really enjoyed the last 2 years, even though my teams been horrible.

As someone who follows the juniors pretty closely I will also say there’s currently the best batch of 16-19 year olds coming through the games seen. When I say best batch I mean quantity wise, so many teams have really good players. Penrith started it 10 ago but now most teams have their pathways in order which is great to see.

So it’s exciting times ahead.

 

[Vic Mackey]

I'm watching neutral games more than ever before. I spend time following NRL news daily. PVL even has me gambling on the sport.

From a personal perspective it's better than ever.

this aspect is very easy when your teams doing well. I watch neutral games regardless however don’t tend to tune into any radio/tv media when my team sucks.

 

[T-Boon]

The game is definitely is good shape.
Vlandy’s single handed put sensible expansion back in place.
Unexpectedly (I would say) Women’s rugby league being such a good product in the field.
A league and Rugby totally falling off a cliff somewhere nobody knows about.
Some excellent new stadiums.
Some really good rule changes (particularly captains challenge, what ever has led to drop outs being less predictable, the NRL catching up with coaches dark arts and trying to get on top of them…).
Players seem to speak a little better. Not yet at Rugby player standards but they don’t all sound like total drop kicks any more.
The one thing that really needs addressing is the terrible standard of coaching especially attack coaches. The NRL needs a coaches academy. Maybe specifically an attack coach academy.
So improving coaching and a few more rule tweaks like around the 40-20 rule and charge downs and we a smoking.

 

[nko11]

I think the NRL is teetering on a precipice. The NRL has stumbled into a golden period where a domino effect of economic impacts has lead to the traditional broadcast industry pumping enough money into the NRL that it's papering over a lot of the cracks, but those circumstances can't last forever.

I think it's good that we don't get too circle jerky and we still look at things that can improve. So I appreciate your post. Next part isn't about tearing down what you said but to have a discussion about it.
I wouldn't say the NRL has stumbled into a golden period. I don't think it's a coincidence that we're now a generation away from the Super League War and we're seeing a pickup in the overall support of the game. Give it another 10-20 years and see where we're at. With broadcast revenue, we definitely should be using this time to diversify, same with poker machine money. We can't be reliant on these to keep increasing or even staying the same. That's what the asset base is for.

If the NRL uses this golden period as a time to address some of it's major underlying issues it could be remembered as the start of something huge, but it's just as likely that in 20 years time people will look back on this period a bit like RU does on the early 00s; as a time of wasteful excess and luxury.

The NRL is pretty well ingrained the culture of Australia. The interest is also based on the yearly competition. Unions early 00s was largely based around the 03 World Cup. Similar to the Matildas and their World Cup. Matildas have their own demographic of support, so they're more likely to maintain a good level of interest. Point I'm making is the NRL's growth is based on a greater depth of support than Union in the early 00's and more likely to be sustainable in the longterm, so they're not really comparable.

On average the product on the pitch is the worst it's been for a long time. It's easily the most predictable the game has ever been, yet at the same time the rules are borderline unenforceable in practice, which leads to huge inconsistency in referring, both of which is generally being ignored by the majority for the time being.

I disagree with this point. Whilst it's not perfect and likely never will be. I feel the product is much better than 5-10 years ago. The wrestle has been controlled and the games are faster and more entertaining. I think the Crowds and TV ratings back this point. I wouldn't say it's predictable - the first round having 6-7 upsets. You would never see that in the Premier League.

Off the field the grassroots are literally dying in most of the country. It's the worst it's ever been, so bad in many areas that it's not unlikely that they'll simply stop regularly producing high standard male juniors in our lifetimes, and that will have long term implications for the sport.

I agree, more definitely needs to be done here. Not going to pretend to know how to fix it, but a good investment would help. On the flipside, the touch/tag versions are going very well. This is a massive opportunity if done correctly. It's already increasing the involvement of women in the game.

The way the NRLW and women's footy in general has been handled has been abysmally short-sighted. They're literally repeating all the mistakes made with the men's league, mistakes that everybody that mattered claimed they wouldn't repeat if they were starting from scratch.

I'm really interested in what you view this as. Am I reading correctly, that you don't agree with the teams that have been added. As in you wouldn't have them linked with the exisiting NRL clubs. If so I disagree with this. The shared resources and existing infrastrucuture has allowed it to grow alot quicker and more efficently than if we were starting clubs from scratch or even linking them with QLD/NSW cup sides.

Rep footy has basically become a sideshow joke at this point. Most Internationals for example don't even deserve to carry the term international at this point. SOO is quickly getting to that point as well, and the other major rep game in the schedule is openly discriminatory.

There's also been zero notable growth outside 'the heartlands', specifically Qld and parts of NSW. Yes they've been able to better exploit existing customer bases in said heartland markets, but they've more or less totally failed to expand the NRL and sport's reach in any meaningful manner outside of them despite billions of dollars being pumped into the sport over the past decade, which should be concerning.

State of Origin remains Australia's largest annual sporting event and the pace of ticket sales this year have been the highest they've been in a long time. The international game is a massive untapped market and needs to be invested in.
We've been so focussed on survival and then consolidation of clubs for so long it's taking a bit of time to change our mindset to growth. I think we'll see a noticeable change with this in the next 5-10 years.

The game has experienced a boost of positive publicity since PVL took over that's largely unexplainable. We can only speculate as to why it is, but blokes who've made careers out of sinking the boot in have lay off the NRL since PVL took over. I doubt it's safe to assume that those circumstances will continue once he moves on though.

I'll make my mind up on this next TV Deal. If we get another below average deal we will know where this was coming from. If we get the figure we deserve then It's just good media relations. We did still see a $100 million revenue growth last year. So it's good in some way if it's pushing us to find non-broadcast revenue sources.

 

[Fangs]

this aspect is very easy when your teams doing well. I watch neutral games regardless however don’t tend to tune into any radio/tv media when my team sucks.

Perhaps perhaps. It's been a while since we sucked. 2019.

 

[mongoose]

2021 was the worst season I’ve ever seen. However I’ve really enjoyed the last 2 years, even though my teams been horrible.

As someone who follows the juniors pretty closely I will also say there’s currently the best batch of 16-19 year olds coming through the games seen. When I say best batch I mean quantity wise, so many teams have really good players. Penrith started it 10 ago but now most teams have their pathways in order which is great to see.

So it’s exciting times ahead.

yeah people are forgetting just 2 years ago we had one of the most unexciting, uncompetitive seasons ever... to argue that just 2 years later its the best its ever been on field? people are f**king delusional. I think the on field product could be a lot better.
Would like to see some better standards of commentators as well considering the broadcasters are an extremely important partner in selling the game. The Nine commentators are some of the worst in the world of professional sport. Fox are not much better, I like Warren Smith but Voss and Ginane are atrocious.

 

[The Man Shake]

We have expansion, crowds up, tv numbers up, the game has cash in the bank for the first time in a long time and is future proofing itself. The on field product is good, not as many off field dramas. Just need to sort out some of the media and commentators running the game down. You know who they are.

Nein has to go. They want NRL to go back to being devalued for their own commercial benefit. Their commentary is abysmal.

I’ve done a little bit of a comparison between the commentary on Fox and Nein over the first few rounds, the big difference in my opinion is the silence.

Matt Thompson or Joey will say something and then they’ll say nothing for about 10 or more seconds, it is very awkward and stilted I feel. They will also veer off the game with idle chatter about almost anything.

Whereas the Fox team is a lot more polished. The main commentator will keep calling the game almost constantly and then they’ll cross to one of the other analysts or sideline eyes. It flows a lot more.

I think if Seven gets within range of Nein’s bid at the next TV deal, even if it’s a little bit less, I think the NRL should go with them.

Not that it really matters to me though. I think Kayo is the future. Just need to dump Oinnis.

 

[T-Boon]

Nein has to go. They want NRL to go back to being devalued for their own commercial benefit. Their commentary is abysmal.

I’ve done a little bit of a comparison between the commentary on Fox and Nein over the first few rounds, the big difference in my opinion is the silence.

Matt Thompson or Joey will say something and then they’ll say nothing for about 10 or more seconds, it is very awkward and stilted I feel. They will also veer off the game with idle chatter about almost anything.

Whereas the Fox team is a lot more polished. The main commentator will keep calling the game almost constantly and then they’ll cross to one of the other analysts or sideline eyes. It flows a lot more.

I think if Seven gets within range of Nein’s bid at the next TV deal, even if it’s a little bit less, I think the NRL should go with them.

Not that it really matters to me though. I think Kayo is the future. Just need to dump Oinnis.

Maybe split it between nine and seven

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Probably got a lot to do with the timezone but I barely watch NRL these days and if I do it’s for the LU match threads and not the game itself - the product hasn’t been gripping me to be honest. Happy it’s healthy off the pitch though.

 

[Steel Saints]

Good thread. Have enjoyed some of the comments. PVL, Abdo and the commission are not perfect, but have done a good job. But there is still alot of work to do.

Expand the comp to 20 teams. Expand NRLW, and have the finals series either in October or November. Improve coaching from grassroots, all the way to the elite level.

Sort out the Sydney suburban grounds. Improve Accor, Suncorp, Newy, Win, Canberra and Auckland.

Be a step ahead around concussion issues. Respect the international game. That NZ test late last year was played on a Saturday afternoon, at a venue similar to Penrith. Not good enough.

Sort out the draw around the origin period. It's this period where the comp loses so much momentum.

And finally, PVL, Abdo and the commission need to get it right with the next broadcast deal.

 

[DIOGENES]

One point made is that off season behaviour, often a turn off for women in particular, has improved markedly.
is this due to better governance or has the Christian ethos among the islanders had an effect?
I suspect both.

 

[Babyface O'reilly]

I think we’re in a good place and I haven’t felt this good about the future since forever. Expansion and a proper national footprint is genuinely on the cards. As impatient as we all are on this, it’s good we’re taking our time, better to get it right and not repeat mistakes of the past.

I love we have a women’s comp up and running. Hope it brings in more female fans to improve crowds and ratings further down the line which will improve our chances of a better TV deal.

I’m liking clubs are finally seeing the light and diversifying their income and investments streams.

I like how the game has the ability to correct itself and improve whereas other sports are stuck in the ‘this is how we’ve always done it’ routine.

For all his faults, V’landys has been a godsend. He keeps us in the news year round . Led us through Covid ahead of the chasing pack. He’s had the guts to take us to Vegas. We look attractive to sponsors, he has the prime minister‘s ear, we have a presence in the corridors of power and in the f**king Whitehouse no less! As a measure of his performance, I think we have a leader where for the first time, the AFL have fear, loathing and a begrudging respect for him. I believe in an NRL presence in PNG but not in a PNG team in the NRL. I do love however that we’re seen as having geopolitical importance something the other game won’t ever have!

I think we need to up our game internationally and the NRL should take leadership of it. Appreciate the money it brings in and media’s appetite for it but Origin is holding international footy back imo. When Origin is stated as ‘best of the best’ (and it probably is) then how appealing is an international match? Plus Origin is hyped up in a manner in which the game is no longer allowed to be played at anymore leaving viewers feeling a little let down, probably why ratings have been on a steady decline. Don’t know what the answer is.

Lastly, we need to get Accor fixed. The GF - regardless who’s playing, is the greatest game of the year. It’s the jewel in the crown and should be played in a stadium deserving of its status.