The big NRL divide

[franklin2323]

But we expect there to be bad teams. There are bad teams every year. Its the nature of the beast and yes "squad management" is normally the cause. An aging star player is on too much money, a team ends up with too much dead cap money through trying to rebuild too quickly, a team over spends on bringing a player in and he under performs. There are millions of reasons why a team ends up crappy.

But, its not very compelling viewing to watch teams just get the shit beat out of them. Even watching Brisbane get wrecked is losing its appeal

In a perfect world it shouldn't happen but how can you fix it?

Ideally get in time machine and make Cows keep Ponga, Kikau and co

In Reality just need to deal with it the next season or so. Cause the 4 ordinary teams will be ordinary regardless of the rules

 

[Pete Cash]

In a perfect world it shouldn't happen but how can you fix it?

Ideally get in time machine and make Cows keep Ponga, Kikau and co

In Reality just need to deal with it the next season or so. Cause the 4 ordinary teams will be ordinary regardless of the rules

I mean this is correct there will be a handful of bad teams but if you look at the last ten years or so of NRL the worst teams in that period I think most fans would agree were the 2013 Eels, the 2016 Knights and the 2020 Broncos

If we look at the average scoreline for those teams

2013 Eels 15 to 31
2016 Knights 13 to 33
2020 Broncos 13 to 31

So every 3 to 4 years you get a real shithouse side. The bottom 3 this year

Manly 9 to 39
Dogs 4 to 31
Cowboys 9 to 35

This is directly following a year with a really bad team in Brisbane. Maybe Manly will turn it around when Tom T gets back, Maybe the cowboys will get some momentum as Payton gets his message across, maybe the bulldogs will ??? when ??? happens

But there are 3 pretty rank teams in the comp right now

 

[Valheru]

After all the talk of blowouts thought I’d look at how the seasons compared for opening rounds. This year is slightly ahead for “blow out” games


Avg points difference per game (games won by 12 points or more)
Rd 1
2020 10.5 (3)
2021 17.8 (6)

Rd2
2020 11.3 (3)
2021 13.1 (4)

Rd 3
2020 18.2 (7)
2021 14.8 (4)

Rd4
2020 19.1 (5)
2021 26.1 (7)

You need to look at pre-2020

Some of these rules came in for 2020 season.

 

[betcats]

This whole haves and have nots conversation is made ridiculous by the broncos being talked about as a have not. They are a rich powerful club, the richest in fact. Its not about the rules, or the salary cap, or about how rich or poor a club is, Its about proper management. Dogs, Broncos, Cows, Manly have been making very questionable management decisions for a long time now their fans want to blame the rules or whatever instead of admitting their clubs are a shit show in office.

 

[The_Frog]

The Broncos game you mentioned. Papenhuyzen scoring those 4 tries in 10 mins was the difference.

Fatigue was the reason for all these tries. Broncos had competed for 25 minutes but suddenly there were holes everywhere and the Storm will always march through them. Pap is a good fullback and was just repeatedly in position to take the pass to exploit a beaten defence.

Manly wasn't fatigue, they were exposed in the first 15 minutes. Their right side defence could not contain the opposition. During the middle 40 they had a fairly substantial possession advantage and the Panthers had to do some work in defence but it was still just 1 try all in this period. The three tries they conceded in the last 20 might well have been fatigue.

 

[Knight76]

The Broncos show that no matter the club, if they get recruitment and management wrong, they can win the spoon.

The only two powerhouse clubs right now are Roosters and Melbourne. They have the pick of talent and don't need to pay overs for anybody. Players want to go there as they know they are a great chance of a premiership ring. So the salary cap stretches much further to the point they have depth players that would be first graders elsewhere.

Look at the Roosters, lose Keary and bring in the next NRL star in waiting, ready to go halfback. How many NRL clubs have that sort of quality waiting in the wings in spine positions?

The rest rise and fall based on juniors coming through before they are taken, and good recruitment, but it's a whole different game competing with the two above. At least for now.

 

[franklin2323]

I mean this is correct there will be a handful of bad teams but if you look at the last ten years or so of NRL the worst teams in that period I think most fans would agree were the 2013 Eels, the 2016 Knights and the 2020 Broncos

If we look at the average scoreline for those teams

2013 Eels 15 to 31
2016 Knights 13 to 33
2020 Broncos 13 to 31

So every 3 to 4 years you get a real shithouse side. The bottom 3 this year

Manly 9 to 39
Dogs 4 to 31
Cowboys 9 to 35

This is directly following a year with a really bad team in Brisbane. Maybe Manly will turn it around when Tom T gets back, Maybe the cowboys will get some momentum as Payton gets his message across, maybe the bulldogs will ??? when ??? happens

But there are 3 pretty rank teams in the comp right now

Lets ignore the poor recruitment of those sides as it is something that can't change over the season

Broncos had plenty of guys on overs but it will take a bit to get the halves sorted.

Dogs have had years of little to no development under Dean Pay for the past few years. Short pre season played some good teams and will take time for Barrett to get things going.

If the Cows get Michael Morgan retired and can some cash in they could improve over the season

throw in the young guys that would come in having no games last year. Then it is a bit early to make a decision one way or the other just yet.

NRL haven't sold FTA rights yet, So no doubt want a strong, close SOO and finals so if it continues then it will be changed I have no doubt

 

[Bazal]

Just to drive home the point about mismanagement being rampant you only have to look at today's article on Fox about Brisbane f**king up the player swap with the Warriors...

They've gone and agreed to a swap thinking Paul Turner was a development player, never checked and now find out he's top 30 and they would need to give him a spot on the roster.

NRL management is disgraceful at the moment.

 

[shear_joy9]

Just to drive home the point about mismanagement being rampant you only have to look at today's article on Fox about Brisbane f**king up the player swap with the Warriors...

They've gone and agreed to a swap thinking Paul Turner was a development player, never checked and now find out he's top 30 and they would need to give him a spot on the roster.

NRL management is disgraceful at the moment.

and people want to simply blame the rule changes...

I wonder how many of the people that are running these clubs actually have the skills and experience to be in their positions. Seems like there is a lot of jobs for the boys to people that couldn't manage a lemonade stand.

But lets be honest, the actual rugby league side of the business is just a side gig from the leagues clubs pokie operations.

 

[Pete Cash]

The Broncos mismanagement goes back to years. They have struggled since Melbourne got introduced as a defacto Queensland side. This current era is just the culmination of them sucking in talent identification and retention relatively speaking. Errors like the above are just small frys compared to how they f**ked up in other areas.

Look at Milford there has been so much mismanagement surrounding him.

Firstly he gets signed by the Raiders from SE Queensland so a Broncos miss

He ends up at the Raiders where he is developed into a pretty good player and attracts Brisbanes attention because they missed him the first time they have to create this massive song and dance over his sick dad and probably pay him more than they would have liked.

Stuart comes in to the raiders and then offers Milford who is pretty unproven one million dollars a season. Thankfully Milford saves us from ourselves and signs with the Bronx.

Milford initially performs pretty well for the Broncos and takes them to a GF where he is the Broncos best and arguably the best player on the field.

From that point on he f**king stinks with flashes of brilliance mixed in.

What happened with Anthony Milford. Is he just no good ? because when he played for Canberra and early in his Brisbane stint he was a dynamic attacking player and was ok defensively. When did he become busted and why

 

[MugaB]

The Broncos show that no matter the club, if they get recruitment and management wrong, they can win the spoon.

The only two powerhouse clubs right now are Roosters and Melbourne. They have the pick of talent and don't need to pay overs for anybody. Players want to go there as they know they are a great chance of a premiership ring. So the salary cap stretches much further to the point they have depth players that would be first graders elsewhere.

Look at the Roosters, lose Keary and bring in the next NRL star in waiting, ready to go halfback. How many NRL clubs have that sort of quality waiting in the wings in spine positions?

The rest rise and fall based on juniors coming through before they are taken, and good recruitment, but it's a whole different game competing with the two above. At least for now.

I would say the knights and panthers are there abouts in regards to raw junior talent, only issue with the knights is the injury toll that has been accumulating over the past 2 seasons, if they could just have half a season without major key injuries, theyd be close to top4, but the consistent injuries and junior depth replacement is good, but not helping the overall season to keep up with the top of the ladder

 

[Sphagnum]

The Broncos mismanagement goes back to years. They have struggled since Melbourne got introduced as a defacto Queensland side. This current era is just the culmination of them sucking in talent identification and retention relatively speaking. Errors like the above are just small frys compared to how they f**ked up in other areas.

Look at Milford there has been so much mismanagement surrounding him.

Firstly he gets signed by the Raiders from SE Queensland so a Broncos miss

He ends up at the Raiders where he is developed into a pretty good player and attracts Brisbanes attention because they missed him the first time they have to create this massive song and dance over his sick dad and probably pay him more than they would have liked.

Stuart comes in to the raiders and then offers Milford who is pretty unproven one million dollars a season. Thankfully Milford saves us from ourselves and signs with the Bronx.

Milford initially performs pretty well for the Broncos and takes them to a GF where he is the Broncos best and arguably the best player on the field.

From that point on he f**king stinks with flashes of brilliance mixed in.

What happened with Anthony Milford. Is he just no good ? because when he played for Canberra and early in his Brisbane stint he was a dynamic attacking player and was ok defensively. When did he become busted and why

He has zero leadership qualities and the broncos expect him to lead them around the park. It’s hilarious to think they still haven’t found someone to do that so he can go back to what he is good at.

massive problem for the broncos is on field leadership. They have nobody these days where in the past they had plenty.

Need some experienced first graders to stop the rot up there. All their players are kids or toilers

 

[firechild]

Dogs, Broncos, Cows, Manly have been making very questionable management decisions for a long time now their fans want to blame the rules or whatever instead of admitting their clubs are a shit show in office.

I think you'll find that the fans of those clubs have been expressing frustration regarding management decisions for quite some time. You're making shit up just because you want to throw stones at a group of fans because your club isn't rubbish for the first time in many years.

 

[davi]

In a perfect world it shouldn't happen but how can you fix it?

Ideally get in time machine and make Cows keep Ponga, Kikau and co

In Reality just need to deal with it the next season or so. Cause the 4 ordinary teams will be ordinary regardless of the rules

Cowboys also lost Brandon Smith to the Storm.

 

[betcats]

I think you'll find that the fans of those clubs have been expressing frustration regarding management decisions for quite some time. You're making shit up just because you want to throw stones at a group of fans because your club isn't rubbish for the first time in many years.

FMD Sensitive much?? Are you speaking for every manly fan are you? And the fans of the other 3 clubs I mentioned? f**k off sook. The main point stands, its piss poor management hurting clubs not the rules or anything else.

 

[franklin2323]

Cowboys also lost Brandon Smith to the Storm.

Yep. You can go back to all the sides struggling and find various reasons why they are now where they are

 

[Bazal]

FMD Sensitive much?? Are you speaking for every manly fan are you? And the fans of the other 3 clubs I mentioned? f**k off sook. The main point stands, its piss poor management hurting clubs not the rules or anything else.

You really only have to look at the game day threads on any given week to see fans of those clubs really do give it to their back office or squad management. It doesn't apply to every one of them obviously but I'd say a majority of them definitely aren't looking outside their own club for too many excuses.

Parra fans were actually one of the worst for looking for excuses tbh. Deathriding coach after coach and whinging about being victimised by the NRL, but the second you mentioned the basket case we were off the field, or that we needed stability, you were crucified. Even now that's come true and we're angling for possibly a third top four or five finish in a row, they death ride the coach and you can't bring up off field stability without being hounded down.

The current basket cases at least seem to have fans who acknowledge the issues, particularly Cows and Manly fans.

I also do think the rules exacerbate the gap between good and bad squads, but I also think those squads would lose pretty much the same amount of games with old rules. They just might lose by 10 rather than 24. I don't see the point getting rid of the rules just to coddle four to six clubs who need desperate rebuilds.

 

[Canard]

6 again does mean teams in a whole can get big scores racked up on them.

But that's a good thing, you don't want to reward shit spoiling tactics just for the sake of "parity".

I'm a Cowboys fan and the reason we have been bad since 2017 (GF was a fluke) is purely because we are shit.

 

[betcats]

You really only have to look at the game day threads on any given week to see fans of those clubs really do give it to their back office or squad management. It doesn't apply to every one of them obviously but I'd say a majority of them definitely aren't looking outside their own club for too many excuses.

Parra fans were actually one of the worst for looking for excuses tbh. Deathriding coach after coach and whinging about being victimised by the NRL, but the second you mentioned the basket case we were off the field, or that we needed stability, you were crucified. Even now that's come true and we're angling for possibly a third top four or five finish in a row, they death ride the coach and you can't bring up off field stability without being hounded down.

The current basket cases at least seem to have fans who acknowledge the issues, particularly Cows and Manly fans.

I also do think the rules exacerbate the gap between good and bad squads, but I also think those squads would lose pretty much the same amount of games with old rules. They just might lose by 10 rather than 24. I don't see the point getting rid of the rules just to coddle four to six clubs who need desperate rebuilds.

Every club has fans that are realistic and fans that are excuse makers. I listen to a lot of sports radio talk back and there are plenty of fans who just want to blame the rules. Ive heard plenty of fans from the bottom sides whinging about the rules. Not saying all do or that it is only them but they are definitely a large part of them.

 

[big hit!]

This whole haves and have nots conversation is made ridiculous by the broncos being talked about as a have not. They are a rich powerful club, the richest in fact. Its not about the rules, or the salary cap, or about how rich or poor a club is, Its about proper management. Dogs, Broncos, Cows, Manly have been making very questionable management decisions for a long time now their fans want to blame the rules or whatever instead of admitting their clubs are a shit show in office.

Amen. Folks blaming the rules or 'fitness'. What a joke!

Cattle. Plain and simple. And those clubs mentioned have made poor decisions. Let's list them.

Broncos - Paid big $ for unproven youngsters in the fear they'd be poached to other clubs, and kept middle of the road established players to tutor them.

Canterbury - board at each others throats for years with a focus on empire-building and self-survival rather than the performance of the football club. The Andersons, a couple wth intentions only for the club, have been driven out and the old guard that turned the joint to shit are coming back in.

Manly - run by the Fultons, a bit like when Souths was run by Piggins.

Cowboys - are being burned by long-term deals so their front admin should be sacked, and if already have, should be brought back and publicly tortured as a warning to any other administrator in the game who thinks about operating the way they have for the last 3-4 years.