The game is bigger than it has ever been

[Billythekid]

What has made the media less negative? Is it PVL being closer to News Limited?

He was slammed for being close to News a few years back, but I daresay its paid dividends

Probably the fact that the game is clearly flying high. It’s harder to sell negative bullshit on this environment and I’m guessing more positive stories started doing better. I dont think that’s the cause of the growth so much as a result of it.

Also I think their iron grip on media in this country has weakened. More and more people are moving to social media and more independent platforms. Their negativity isn’t as all encompassing as it once was.

 

[soc123_au]

So salty

Penrith leagues club were hours away from going broke till Gus got an emergency loan from packer

Dogs are on the up even if he did sabotage then this year

Dogs are now one of the biggest clubs in Sydney and they haven’t even won anything yet

Most of us will always have love for Gus for what he did at Penrith. Without him we would be worse case gone, best case the same as we always were.

But his first 5 years were a shitload better than his last 5. He falls in and out of love like a 15 year old boy that has just spouted hair on his cags. And he has to tinker. If he had put his feet up on his desk in 2014 and left it to those he put in place to do what he hired them for he could still be there basking in the glory and rolling himself out for the odd pep talk and getting a tricky signing over the line. He would die of boredom though, so it will never happen.

 

[Mother Nature's Son]

What has made the media less negative? Is it PVL being closer to News Limited?

He was slammed for being close to News a few years back, but I daresay its paid dividends

Maybe the game is just more compellingly entertaining and the media appreciate that. Even the union hacks openly confess to how much they enjoy it these days and often admit to watching it.

 

[Wb1234]

Most of us will always have love for Gus for what he did at Penrith. Without him we would be worse case gone, best case the same as we always were.

But his first 5 years were a shitload better than his last 5. He falls in and out of love like a 15 year old boy that has just spouted hair on his cags. And he has to tinker. If he had put his feet up on his desk in 2014 and left it to those he put in place to do what he hired them for he could still be there basking in the glory and rolling himself out for the odd pep talk and getting a tricky signing over the line. He would die of boredom though, so it will never happen.

Probably has adhd

But he had Wayne Bennett agreed to come and coach and with the team you have probably still win a comp for two

Ivan wasn’t doing much for the tigers at the time

Dogs would be loving what Gus has done for them

Their juniors were a mess, on field was awful and crowds and membership are up massively

Shame he never stayed at the warriors they could’ve been a powerhouse

 

[Maximus]

What has made the media less negative? Is it PVL being closer to News Limited?

He was slammed for being close to News a few years back, but I daresay its paid dividends

In this thread we've got people praising PVL for being so close to News Ltd and underselling rights to them, while also bagging Gallop for the same.

It's no surprise that the attitude towards the game is different when the entire narrative has changed.

 

[dogslife]

I can't help but think that the record growth in the game is probably down to the introduction of Lachlan Galvin.

 

[wests1]

One thing that I think is always overlooked is that we’ve now had 10+ years for a genuinely independent commission to build the game. Prior to 2012 the game was half owned by news corp and effectively governed by a bunch of hack journos.
I’m sure people won’t like me saying it, but Dave Smith was exactly the ceo we needed when we had him. He wanted crowd growth and the game cleaned up and the results are showing now. He was the last victim of news corp assassinations in the game. They just don’t wield the power they once did.

 

[Desert Qlder]

There are no wrong answers so far in this thread, but I think it runs deeper than what’s been touched on. I wrote about this in the TV rights thread but it applies here also.

Yes, standard of play and rule changes, and the athletes are fitter and stronger. But the uplift in interest in rugby league speaks to something more cultural.

We live in a fractured landscape now. There’s not many shared TV shows or movies everyone watches, or bands that define the generation. The algorithms and streaming and endless choice have pulled culture into a thousand niches. Meaning we have far fewer shared experiences that cut across the spectrum of society.

Sport has become one of the last great shared spaces. You can’t binge it later, it’s all about that live, communal moment that can be talked about at school and the workplace. That’s why I think the surge in interest is aligned less with ‘better athletes’ or ‘rule changes’ and more with our hunger for something collective.

Maybe I’m overthinking this but it’s only an observation from what I’ve witnessed across family and friends over recent times.

 

[Perth Red]

What has made the media less negative? Is it PVL being closer to News Limited?

He was slammed for being close to News a few years back, but I daresay its paid dividends

A very sweet tv deal. Amazing what giving the tv rights away will do! Not to mention the Vegas junkets the NRl pays for for journos. We finally learned from AFL and now sweeten the media to the point they play nice.

 

[Gobsmacked]

There are no wrong answers so far in this thread, but I think it runs deeper than what’s been touched on. I wrote about this in the TV rights thread but it applies here also.

Yes, standard of play and rule changes, and the athletes are fitter and stronger. But the uplift in interest in rugby league speaks to something more cultural.

We live in a fractured landscape now. There’s not many shared TV shows or movies everyone watches, or bands that define the generation. The algorithms and streaming and endless choice have pulled culture into a thousand niches. Meaning we have far fewer shared experiences that cut across the spectrum of society.

Sport has become one of the last great shared spaces. You can’t binge it later, it’s all about that live, communal moment that can be talked about at school and the workplace. That’s why I think the surge in interest is aligned less with ‘better athletes’ or ‘rule changes’ and more with our hunger for something collective.

Maybe I’m overthinking this but it’s only an observation from what I’ve witnessed across family and friends over recent times.

Very true. Great take.

 

[BuffaloRules]

A very sweet tv deal. Amazing what giving the tv rights away will do! Not to mention the Vegas junkets the NRl pays for for journos. We finally learned from AFL and now sweeten the media to the point they play nice.

If he pulls off the 3 Billion this go around … he might have been playing the long game the whole time ….its interesting that News Ltd won’t be a player in the broadcast rights anymore … the cynic in me might question their previous motives …

News Ltd might have also finally learnt that you don’t need to be pushing the negative news continually to get clicks…

 

[Dogs Of War]

News Ltd might have also finally learnt that you don’t need to be pushing the negative news continually to get clicks…

Explain NRL360 then. And why hasn't buzz been put out to pasture?

 

[Nealo 12]

Explain NRL360 then. And why hasn't buzz been put out to pasture?

Because we love seeing Gus practice his golf swing at bulldogs training !

 

[Fangs]

I can't help but think that the record growth in the game is probably down to the introduction of Lachlan Galvin.

Counterbalanced by the insidious drug fuelled dealings of the notorious nostril endowed anglophile Victor Radley.

We need more Lachlan's and less Victor's in our sport.

 

[Fangs]

We finally learned from AFL and now sweeten the media to the point they play nice.

Its prelim final day...

Can we have an AFL time out please? We don't pay attention to them for a reason.

 

[Wb1234]

On the media since super league news ltd has been bashing the sport cause that’s how their masters wanted it during super league

Frilingos was a great jounro pre super league. We used to rush home from school to read his articles

There’s a new generation coming through that actually like the sport so just need the older guys to retire or die off and the coverage will change

This applies to most program shows as well as print

 

[chrisD]

Player's personalities and having social media to showcase it, mainly Penrith players (but maybe I'm only exposed to Penrith's). Type of cringey shit I hate as an old cynical merkin but which the younguns lap up, it makes for a broad church.

 

[Dogs Of War]

On the media since super league news ltd has been bashing the sport cause that’s how their masters wanted it during super league

Frilingos was a great jounro pre super league. We used to rush home from school to read his articles

There’s a new generation coming through that actually like the sport so just need the older guys to retire or die off and the coverage will change

This applies to most program shows as well as print

There are the reporters who just took after Buzz and his stylings. Unfortunately that still remains as the majority of them. Just hit pieces with zero talent and takes that age so quickly. The AI they use to write articles is just lazy as well.

 

[flippikat]

7. long overdue brisbane 2 club has added a % increase to the stats

While the Dolphins have had a great start for an expansion team, they're not quite at the level of the Broncos - especially on-field.

In fact, we're yet to see a SEQ rival for the Broncos that can really consistently compete with them - and we haven't had a SEQ club that's had a decent period of DOMINANCE over the Broncos.

We've seen it in touches with the Cowboys, but a "Derby" when both teams are at opposite ends of the state is different to a close-quarters cross-city stoush.

When that happens, look out!

I imagine the coaching staff at the Dolphins will be drilling defense really hard over the off-season, and if they can add tough-as-nails defense to their attack, we might just see them take the Broncos down a peg or two.

 

[BuffaloRules]

Explain NRL360 then. And why hasn't buzz been put out to pasture?

buzz and Gus are never seeing eye to eye again