The root of all that's wrong with our game

[Smack]

Yeah the EPL is a joke, I mean all that TV money and worldwide demand for their product. they should ask the NFL how to run a sport.
As for boring it depends what measure you use, do Barca and Real play better football? Probably but the EPL has 20 teams that are able to win against each other even if the number who can win the title is limited. Its not very often in Spain you see the lower teams beating the bigger ones.
f**ks sake this isn't even in the cave.

off topic, but Newcastle going up and Sunderland going down, how happy are you lol

 

[Amin Yashed]

The root?
Our game is rooted, turdberg has shit for brains. That is all.

 

[Pommy]

off topic, but Newcastle going up and Sunderland going down, how happy are you lol

Very happy they don't have £70m worth of players to fund a squad capable of bouncing back either.
Things are looking pretty grim on Wearside for the forceable future.

 

[Glenn]

Leadership, or more precisely lack there of.

 

[Perth Red]

Game has more money than ever by a long shot yet it isn't translating to growth of interest in the sport. I hope we aren't doing a WA liberal govt and blowing all the riches with little to show for the future.

 

[Wests is Best]

You could go on many tangents to answer this question.
problems with the playing of the game - stripping rule, bunker, etc etc. but I'm going the crowds issue.

I go to maybe 4 or 5 games a year and the reason I dont go to more is that
a) the atmosphere at the game is not that great - especially at the big grounds
b) its expensive
c) if I go to watch 1 game i will miss at least 1 other match. If i stay at home I can watch them all and eat $5 dominos pizza and drink beer for $1.50
d) its a major hassle to get across sydney

I dont know if many of you were around or remember when the roosters were giving away free tickets at Maccas to monday night games in the 90's (or was it friday nights?). Mate, the SFS was packed for every single one. I even went to a cpl of those games. I didnt even sit down. It didnt matter - as I didnt pay. The atmosphere was unreal.

 

[Perth Red]

Better fixtures this week with three games on Sunday, nz Friday at 6pm, ifyou move the Thursday night to the Saturday spot it would be near perfect. Shows what could be done if we had a Perth and nz2 club in the comp.

 

[PARRA_FAN]

The scheduling is better this round but should be better every week and not the odd occasion.

Our game has changed over the years, crowds aren't growing much and the people in charge focus too much on other things.

Last Thursday's game was a joke to even have it at ANZ Stadium in the first place.

Whilst we cant predict weeks ahead of how teams perform and whether they would have their full squad, it was obvious Bulldogs Vs Cowboys wasn't going to get a good crowd at ANZ. Its a game which has never drawn a big crowd in the past. Play at Belmore, Gosford, Rockhampton, Lismore, it would look a lot better.

Seems like there isn't enough to get people to the game. Unless you're a member of the club and get in with a pass, where's the adverts or messages that say "GET TO THE GAME ITS GOING TO BE A GOOD ONE"

Also game day experiences aren't great. I mean you spend a sh1tload on food and mid strength beer, a lot of people rather stay at home or go to the local. Especially at ANZ. You'd ask most League fans who go to games nearly every week and wouldn't even rate ANZ as the best ground.

And I miss the days of reserve grade finishing 20 minutes before kick off.

 

[Cumberland Throw]

Gosford has 1 game this year,,, crazy,,

Roosters would have sold it out last Sunday

 

[Captain Apollo]

Player signing speculation is the root cause of problems in the game and will be solved by introducing a signing window eh? Really?!

Explain to me why then there are oodles and oodles of news about rumoured player signings/transfers in sports that have such signing/transfer windows, such as the EPL and other major soccer leagues, all year round that are covered by major news papers, tv, radio and websites?

 

[Paullyboy]

Player signing speculation is the root cause of problems in the game and will be solved by introducing a signing window eh? Really?!

Explain to me why then there are oodles and oodles of news about rumoured player signings/transfers in sports that have such signing/transfer windows, such as the EPL and other major soccer leagues, all year round that are covered by major news papers, tv, radio and websites?

There are multiple differences.

The first is that they only talk about this rubbish during the transfer windows. In our sport, it's the only thing that journalists acknowledge during every day of the regular season. To the point that I'm convinced you could be a rugby league reporter and not ever actually watch a single game. They sure as sh*t don't ever reference what's happening on the field. In your example, they talk about it during the transfer window, but not the rest of the year.

Secondly, our sport has this rubbish about players signing for a club in 9 months time. If you're so desperate to sign elsewhere, move now. No one wants to cheer for a player once he's signed elsewhere. In some occasions you'd have a fringe player who is being offered a place elsewhere on much more money and the fans don't resent them, but they still don't have any desire to see them running around for their club - and more to the point, those scenarios are well and truly the minority. If you are leaving, you are dead to the club.

I always used to think the 5 months of "who will get picked for NSW" was detrimental to our game, but even that is at least relevant (to a very slim extent).

Future contracts are killing the NRL.

 

[Captain Apollo]

There are multiple differences.

The first is that they only talk about this rubbish during the transfer windows. In our sport, it's the only thing that journalists acknowledge during every day of the regular season. To the point that I'm convinced you could be a rugby league reporter and not ever actually watch a single game. They sure as sh*t don't ever reference what's happening on the field. In your example, they talk about it during the transfer window, but not the rest of the year.

Secondly, our sport has this rubbish about players signing for a club in 9 months time. If you're so desperate to sign elsewhere, move now. No one wants to cheer for a player once he's signed elsewhere. In some occasions you'd have a fringe player who is being offered a place elsewhere on much more money and the fans don't resent them, but they still don't have any desire to see them running around for their club - and more to the point, those scenarios are well and truly the minority. If you are leaving, you are dead to the club.

I always used to think the 5 months of "who will get picked for NSW" was detrimental to our game, but even that is at least relevant (to a very slim extent).

Future contracts are killing the NRL.

"They only talk about this rubbish during the transfer windows". Bullshit they do! It may get ramped up in the actual window, but they talk about potential transfers and signings all year round.

Exhibit One - http://www.espnfc.com/transfers/news

That site alone you will find transfer speculation stories posted nigh on all year round.

Go and look at the websites for the UK newspapers, same there. Don't tell me they don't happen pal as I have 2 eyes which sees stories about them all year round. Doesn't seem to kill those sports at all.

 

[betcats]

There's a heap of reasons why crowds are shit and games are boring. But if you wanted to talk about "the root of the game's problems" it's begins and ends with administration in general. We all know the sport, at its core, is brilliant.

This. Leadership from the NRL is non-existent. The ARLC is a joke imo.

 

[Paullyboy]

"They only talk about this rubbish during the transfer windows". Bullshit they do! It may get ramped up in the actual window, but they talk about potential transfers and signings all year round.

Exhibit One - http://www.espnfc.com/transfers/news

That site alone you will find transfer speculation stories posted nigh on all year round.

Go and look at the websites for the UK newspapers, same there. Don't tell me they don't happen pal as I have 2 eyes which sees stories about them all year round. Doesn't seem to kill those sports at all.

I'm the first to admit, I don't follow soccer, but I lived in the UK for a couple of years so I have a fair understanding of what is in the newspapers. They may have some speculation about signings year round, but it sure isn't the lead 5 sports stories every single day. I'd be surprised if the rugby league journo's even knew there was a game on last night.

And your exhibit shows a potential solution if we persist with this idiocy. Confine transfer whispers and rumours to a separate section away from the real footy news. Similar to the Troll thread concept here really.

 

[RufusRex]

I disagree .. the 10m rule is the root cause of all that sucks ...

The time required for a defensive line to set is directly responsible for the wrestle.

I think that both teams shoudl be 10m apart BUT you do it by going old school - attack and defence both back 5 ... do that and the following all happen

1. The wrestle goes because teams need less time to get back on side. And the longer you take to get off the more time the attack has to set.
2. Legs tackles become more appealing again as the pressure to slow the play the ball down is not as great
3. Dummy half running dissappears as the defence is closer.
4. Teams are forced to set deeper in attack so the bullshit of forward passes from dummy half not being called starts to dissappear
5. Drop goal walls - offside penalties straight away ...
6. Ball play - the return of the 5/8 ... the game starts to get further away from the ruck, two passes become more normal and we see the return of greater ball skills.
7. The game actually speeds up


The 5m rule failed because the attacking side were allowed to creep up closing the gap to 5m between teams. You need to retain 10m but do this by having both teams back. With 2 refs it is simpler as one can control the 5 in attack and the other in defence. The game is easier then to officiate.