What's new
The Front Row Forums

Register a free account today to become a member of the world's largest Rugby League discussion forum! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Wild Card Weekend - reports NRL looking to expand finals to ten teams

Are you in favour of the proposed Wildcard Weekend?


  • Total voters
    66

adamkungl

Immortal
Messages
42,971
For those supporting this insane scheme, here's another way to phrase it.

By making it easier to make the finals, you make each game of the premiership worth less. Winning matters less, losing matters less. There's always another bite of the cherry.
So in reducing the amount of "dead" games and throwing out hope to a few more teams, you're simultaneously creating a whole heap more games that simply don't matter. This is what it means when people say it "devalues" the competition.
The worst part is, those games will fall in the top half of the ladder. You're making top 6 blockbuster clashes have less worth.
And fans will know it.
 

big hit!

Bench
Messages
3,452
For those supporting this insane scheme, here's another way to phrase it.

By making it easier to make the finals, you make each game of the premiership worth less. Winning matters less, losing matters less. There's always another bite of the cherry.
So in reducing the amount of "dead" games and throwing out hope to a few more teams, you're simultaneously creating a whole heap more games that simply don't matter. This is what it means when people say it "devalues" the competition.
The worst part is, those games will fall in the top half of the ladder. You're making top 6 blockbuster clashes have less worth.
And fans will know it.

This is why the NFL is so f**king successful. 16 games to accumulate enough wins to be 1 of 6 teams in your 16 team conference, to progress to playoffs.

NRL season is too long at 26 rounds and 24 matches per club. After the first month of the season after an off season, the comp becomes ho-hum until Aug when teams are fighting for spots. It comes down to 4 weeks in Sept/Oct
 

shiznit

Coach
Messages
14,797
So ignore your core stakeholders?

It's not having a sook, there are logical reasons to be against the idea. Presumably one reason to have it would be to give the fans more hope and/or a greater chance of seeing their teams in finals footy yet the fans are vehemently against it.

May as well have all 16 teams make it because ratings!
What stakeholders?? A bunch of internet dorks having a sook??

What about the other stakeholders... the broadcasters who get an extra week of finals football and an extra 2 games.

What about the sponsors who get an extra week of football and and a couple of extra games to slap the signage on...

The players... who would likely see an increase in the cap due to the extra games adding more to the broadcast rights...

And what about the fans... you talk about the stakeholders I’m sure your referring to the fans... are we sure if we put the wildcard weekend on the fans will hate it??

I’m pretty confident it will rate big numbers and will probably have big crowds...

But of course the internet crybaby’s will win an nrl.com.net.au.org.nz poll and claim it as some sort of mandate.
 

Dogs Of War

Coach
Messages
12,721
What stakeholders?? A bunch of internet dorks having a sook??

What about the other stakeholders... the broadcasters who get an extra week of finals football and an extra 2 games.

What about the sponsors who get an extra week of football and and a couple of extra games to slap the signage on...

The players... who would likely see an increase in the cap due to the extra games adding more to the broadcast rights...

And what about the fans... you talk about the stakeholders I’m sure your referring to the fans... are we sure if we put the wildcard weekend on the fans will hate it??

I’m pretty confident it will rate big numbers and will probably have big crowds...

But of course the internet crybaby’s will win an nrl.com.net.au.org.nz poll and claim it as some sort of mandate.

Wouldn't it just be better to promote the International side of the game more. Look at alternating the world club challenge 1 week after the grand final if you want a game that will mean something club wise.

Plenty of other ways to make the game better. This isn't one of them unless you expanding how many teams are in the comp.
 

Hello, I'm The Doctor

First Grade
Messages
9,124
For everyone having a meltdown over this, chill the f*ck out and realise that the finals series is already kind of rigged for the shitty teams....

The fact that a team could go 24-0 through the season then be knocked out in W2 by a team that went 12-12 shows that we arent interested in finding the most consistent team. Our season is already about the dramatic end and thats fine. Those are the best games.

I would rather have a finals series rigged to produce the most entertaining match-ups (and i think everyone else would agree once it was put in place and they saw how exciting it could be). RL purists can stop watching after the regular season (youve got you Minor Premier) and piss of so the rest of us can watch some decent football...
 

adamkungl

Immortal
Messages
42,971
For everyone having a meltdown over this, chill the f*ck out and realise that the finals series is already kind of rigged for the shitty teams....

So maybe rigging it to fit in even more shitty teams isnt the direction we should be heading in?

What kind of bent logic is "it's already a bit shit, so it doesnt matter if its shitter"
 

Hello, I'm The Doctor

First Grade
Messages
9,124
For those supporting this insane scheme, here's another way to phrase it.

By making it easier to make the finals, you make each game of the premiership worth less. Winning matters less, losing matters less. There's always another bite of the cherry.
So in reducing the amount of "dead" games and throwing out hope to a few more teams, you're simultaneously creating a whole heap more games that simply don't matter. This is what it means when people say it "devalues" the competition.
The worst part is, those games will fall in the top half of the ladder. You're making top 6 blockbuster clashes have less worth.
And fans will know it.

The regular season ALREADY doesnt matter that much....

We all agree about this already too. The Round 10-20 grind gets pretty dull and meaningless. And scraping into 8th (maybe losing more than you have won) still gets you a chance at knocking off the better teams.

Maybe ACTUAL solution is shortening the regular season....
 

shiznit

Coach
Messages
14,797
Wouldn't it just be better to promote the International side of the game more. Look at alternating the world club challenge 1 week after the grand final if you want a game that will mean something club wise.

Plenty of other ways to make the game better. This isn't one of them unless you expanding how many teams are in the comp.
I get your point... but each of those things take organisation from a number of parties not just the NRL.

In the case of expansion it also carries financial risk...

What we are talking about here is adding 2 games to the competition... it’s almost a guaranteed financial reward for the NRL with little or no risk.

Other than pissing off a portion of football fans who I’m pretty sure will f**king watch it anyway if their team end up in that wildcard game... and more likely than not be interested in it even if they have nothing to do with it.
 

shiznit

Coach
Messages
14,797
For those supporting this insane scheme, here's another way to phrase it.

By making it easier to make the finals, you make each game of the premiership worth less. Winning matters less, losing matters less. There's always another bite of the cherry.
So in reducing the amount of "dead" games and throwing out hope to a few more teams, you're simultaneously creating a whole heap more games that simply don't matter. This is what it means when people say it "devalues" the competition.
The worst part is, those games will fall in the top half of the ladder. You're making top 6 blockbuster clashes have less worth.
And fans will know it.
Lmfao.... the regular season has already been devalued far worse from teams being severely weakened by origin or even backing up from origin than adding 2 f**king games to the finals.
 
Messages
15,515
What stakeholders?? A bunch of internet dorks having a sook??

What about the other stakeholders... the broadcasters who get an extra week of finals football and an extra 2 games.

What about the sponsors who get an extra week of football and and a couple of extra games to slap the signage on...

The players... who would likely see an increase in the cap due to the extra games adding more to the broadcast rights...

And what about the fans... you talk about the stakeholders I’m sure your referring to the fans... are we sure if we put the wildcard weekend on the fans will hate it??

I’m pretty confident it will rate big numbers and will probably have big crowds...

But of course the internet crybaby’s will win an nrl.com.net.au.org.nz poll and claim it as some sort of mandate.

Sorry Shiznit, but us "internet dorks" as you put it are fans. Many of us are also season ticket holders and/or members of the clubs we support. As such we are entitled to express our like or dislike if we choose. There is no need for you to be so condescending.

TV has driven a lot of change in our game. Yet has all of it been beneficial to the game? Has the 6pm Friday game been beneficial? Has the 4pm kick-off on Sundays been beneficial?

Also do you really think the TV networks, who have been talking for over the last 12 months about how hard they are doing it financially going to be in a position to offer an increase in their offer for the TV rights?

You reckon it will "rate big numbers". Well, sorry, but I don't. If it involves clubs which don't have big supporter bases it won't, or if it involves teams who play stodgy football it won't. This is a cash grab and people will see it for what it is, especially in places like Sydney where the viewing public, be it on TV or at the ground, are notoriously fickle.

As to the players, you only look at it from a $ view point. When you consider the talk from the players over the last 1-2 years has been about player burn out, especially for the elite players, ask them what adding an extra week to the season will mean. Even if they are not playing, for those in the top 10, it will mean an extra week of training. It will mean 1 week shortened from the off season. That means 1 week less to physically recover from the physical and mental demands of playing.
 

lockyno1

Post Whore
Messages
53,348
Don't see what the big deal is, the more time the NRL is in the papers the better. Gives the top 6 sides a huge advantage which is the way it should be anyway.
 

Valheru

Coach
Messages
19,238
What stakeholders?? A bunch of internet dorks having a sook??

What about the other stakeholders... the broadcasters who get an extra week of finals football and an extra 2 games.

What about the sponsors who get an extra week of football and and a couple of extra games to slap the signage on...

The players... who would likely see an increase in the cap due to the extra games adding more to the broadcast rights...

And what about the fans... you talk about the stakeholders I’m sure your referring to the fans... are we sure if we put the wildcard weekend on the fans will hate it??

I’m pretty confident it will rate big numbers and will probably have big crowds...

But of course the internet crybaby’s will win an nrl.com.net.au.org.nz poll and claim it as some sort of mandate.

Not sure why you are being so hostile but anyways...

There are other ways to increase content without adding 2 contrived 'wildcard matches'.

Your attitude surprises me given you are such a big fan of the NFL and College football which is the ultimate example of restraint in terms of amount of games and finals/playoffs participants. In both cases it increases the importance of the regular season matches which increases attendance and ratings.
 

Valheru

Coach
Messages
19,238
Don't see what the big deal is, the more time the NRL is in the papers the better. Gives the top 6 sides a huge advantage which is the way it should be anyway.

Does it?

2 games in 4 weeks doesn't sound ideal for the winners of the qualifying finals.

Why should 5th and 6th get any advantage anyways? They are hardly the elite teams of the comp.
 

Valheru

Coach
Messages
19,238
For everyone having a meltdown over this, chill the f*ck out and realise that the finals series is already kind of rigged for the shitty teams....

The fact that a team could go 24-0 through the season then be knocked out in W2 by a team that went 12-12 shows that we arent interested in finding the most consistent team. Our season is already about the dramatic end and thats fine. Those are the best games.

I would rather have a finals series rigged to produce the most entertaining match-ups (and i think everyone else would agree once it was put in place and they saw how exciting it could be). RL purists can stop watching after the regular season (youve got you Minor Premier) and piss of so the rest of us can watch some decent football...

I don't think anyone is saying to go to a first past the post competition, finals will always be a fixture in Australian sport.

What we are saying is that those finals should be at least somewhat challenging to get to. Some may argue that a top 8 of 16 teams isn't particularly hard to qualify for and there is some validity there but the boat has sailed on that one and the broadcasters will never settle for anything less than 4 weeks of finals and 9 games.

The 8 team format we have now makes sense and is a good mix of rewarding teams who are consistent as well as meeting broadcasters demands etc. The top 8 is split in to two with the top 4 by far having abetter chance to win the whole thing with the next 4 having some chance. There is no need to add teams who couldn't even win half their games to the mix.
 

lockyno1

Post Whore
Messages
53,348
Does it?

2 games in 4 weeks doesn't sound ideal for the winners of the qualifying finals.

Why should 5th and 6th get any advantage anyways? They are hardly the elite teams of the comp.

The week off is the advantage for the top 2 sides. Meh it’s a good idea don’t have an issue there
 

Latest posts

Top