World's best brains won't fix NRL draw

[Philip_Smith007]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...ont-fix-nrl-draw/story-fni3fh9n-1226664439426

Basically have to agree with the ideas behind this article, NRL is an extremely unfair competition, yet we have a Salary cap to make it fair?
Some include:
Playing teams without Origin Stars.
Playing teams with Origin Stars backing up.
Flying to NZ or North Qld and having to play away the next week.
NZ teams playing at 7.30pm AEST (Past their bedtime of 9.30pm NZT)
Playing Monday night then backing up on or before Sat.
Some teams getting same time slot each week (not looking at you at all Broncos)
Playing only some teams twice, so some face top 4 sides twice and other face bottom 4 sides twice.
The list could go on.

Now lets put some logic aside like sustaining teams and how the TV deal seams to make the rules.

We need at least a 20 team competition and play each other ONCE.
Giving around 22 round with a couple of byes thrown in.
4 weeks finals.

Now put Origin in a stand alone competition at the end of the NRL over 3 weeks. At the same time run a NZ and Pom equivalent.
During that same 3 weeks have a 4 teams(2 northern and 2 southern) international pool eg, Fiji, PNG, Wale and France play off. Hopefully 3 pools could be put together.

Then we move into top flight international, Four Nations, winner of best pool can be the 4th team in the Australia, NZ, England.

If Russell Crow had his way, some form of top 4 ESL vs top 4 NRL after this.

Do I see this happening? not anytime soon.
NRL clubs would claim some lose of revenue.
TV deal would get in the way, even though the get the same amount of product.
Hard to argue to change origin when it can get 80k people through the gates on a Wednesday night.
It would greatly boost international, which is where the growth market is.

But its not Rocket Science, let alone String Theory or M Theory.

 

[Walt Flanigan]

News Ltd tell me I have to upgrade to a News+ subscription to read that article. Bugger that.

I agree that the draw needs to be addressed though. There's nothing even about it.

 

[beave]

Someone cut and paste the article FFS, f**k giving news extra traffic that they dont deserve.

 

[beave]

Here merkins


http://m.dailytelegraph.com.au/spor...ont-fix-nrl-draw/story-fni3fh9n-1226664439426
AS ALWAYS, this year's Origin series is a time of great excitement, discussion and examples of rugby league at its finest.

As always, it is also a time of great bewilderment, disquiet and examples of rugby league at its silliest.

I speak here not of anything that happens on the field, or even in the commentary box, but rather in that mysterious room in a secret location somewhere in the world where they work out the NRL draw.

Year after year the scheduling of Origin matches and the effect this has on the running of the regular club competition makes about as much sense to me as Hubble's Law of Cosmic Expansion.

Still, that's probably not surprising.

Edwin Hubble was only dealing with recessional velocity of the galaxy.

We're trying to work out the split round.

To paraphrase philosopher George Berkeley who asked: "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" I would like to know: "If the NRL holds a round and only some of the teams are playing, is it really a round?"


More to the point, if one of the teams that is playing is missing its best players and its opponent is virtually the entire New Zealand Test team, is it a contest?

Now before I'm accused of being a "typical Broncos whinger" let me state that I use the Brisbane-Warriors match only as the most recent example of the insanity of the current system.

This year the team offered up as cannon fodder to the Kiwis in the week of Origin l was the Broncos, but it could have been anyone.

Surely if you are going to give a bye to a team prior to Origin it should be the Warriors, the side that is guaranteed to be least affected by the series.

I'm told it all evens out over time but I'm pretty sure Edwin Hubble would be able to come up with a mathematical equation to prove that any team beaten 56-18 is going to suffer a lot more than a team that wins 56-18.

But enough of the Warriors.

If they want to live in New Zealand, that's their problem.

In terms of the big picture, could someone explain to me why we have to have split rounds anyway?

If it is so the clubs that provide the most players to Origin aren't disadvantaged, I would suggest it's not working.

Maybe when Brisbane and Melbourne players made up the entire Queensland side and Canberra and Parramatta lost five or six players each to the Blues it had some merit, but those days are gone.

In Game One, the Broncos, Cowboys and Storm each contributed four players. South Sydney, the Titans, Sharks and Roosters three each, while the Bulldogs, Raiders and Dragons had two and the Eels, Sea Eagles, Knights and Tigers provided one each.

That's 14 out of 16 clubs affected in some way, the only two unscathed being the Warriors and Panthers.

Other than re-doing the draw after the Origin teams are announced so that clubs are evenly matched in terms of players lost, it would appear the NRL is left with four options: suspend the competition the weekend before the Wednesday Origin is played, suspend the comp and play Origin on Sunday night, play a full round and let the chips fall where they may or stick with the split round.

Personally, I'd accept any of the three options. Anything but giving teams a bye. Why do they need one?

There is an even number of clubs, play eight matches every week.

And while we're at it, if they do insist on giving every team a bye, why bother giving them two points? All it does is make a joke of the premiership table until all teams have had their bye.

Either don't give points or start the competition with every club on two.

Stupid you say?

About as stupid as playing a match on the Monday night after the Origin teams are announced, meaning players are either robbed of the chance of impressing selectors or run around trying not to get injured before the big game.

I tell you, there are things going on in this comp that would need the combined brainpower of Edwin Hubble, George Berkeley and Stephen Hawking to explain.

 

[Philip_Smith007]

Sorry, I don't have upgrade, so thought all free to see.

 

[Dragon_Taylor6]

News Ltd tell me I have to upgrade to a News+ subscription to read that article. Bugger that.

I agree that the draw needs to be addressed though. There's nothing even about it.

Try 'in private browsing', should work.

 

[Hollywood Jesus]

22 rounds plus 4 stand alone weekends = 26 weeks, just like we have now.

Stand alones would be:
ANZAC Test + Round 1 of Pacific Cup
SoO + 2 Rounds of PC and Final

No more byes, no teams missing rep stars.

 

[TheDalek079]

f**k the daily telegraph. no matter what we have they'll whinge

 

[the1]

I agree with the sentiment of this article but this guy who wrote it is another gronk just like Timmah. Who cares about the 4 points you get from the bye.

 

[BuffaloRules]

The only truly even draw is to play all the other teams home and away, and we know that is never going to happen.

Every other idea, including playing each other only once, is far from perfect and people are going to whinge.

Is the draw really that big of a deal at the end if the day?

The best teams normally make it through in the end.

 

[rabbitohs95]

30 round matches with no byes but instead 3 stand alone weekends to split origins and the season up;

Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Round 8
Round 9
Round 10

Stand alone weekend; Origin

Round 11
Round 12
Round 13
Round 14
Round 15
Round 16
Round 17
Round 18
Round 19
Round 20

Stand alone weekend; Origin

Round 21
Round 22
Round 23
Round 24
Round 25
Round 26
Round 27
Round 28
Round 29
Round 30

Stand alone weekend; Origin

Week off for all teams

Finals

Tri Nations at the end of the year

 

[VictorTheViking]

Its pandering to the teams that provide the most origin players, nothing more.

 

[ek999]

30 round matches with no byes but instead 3 stand alone weekends to split origins and the season up;

Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Round 8
Round 9
Round 10

Stand alone weekend; Origin

Round 11
Round 12
Round 13
Round 14
Round 15
Round 16
Round 17
Round 18
Round 19
Round 20

Stand alone weekend; Origin

Round 21
Round 22
Round 23
Round 24
Round 25
Round 26
Round 27
Round 28
Round 29
Round 30

Stand alone weekend; Origin

Week off for all teams

Finals

Tri Nations at the end of the year

Not going to give the players any time off at the end of the year?

 

[eozsmiles]

Here merkins


http://m.dailytelegraph.com.au/spor...ont-fix-nrl-draw/story-fni3fh9n-1226664439426
AS ALWAYS, this year's Origin series is a time of great excitement, discussion and examples of rugby league at its finest.

As always, it is also a time of great bewilderment, disquiet and examples of rugby league at its silliest.

I speak here not of anything that happens on the field, or even in the commentary box, but rather in that mysterious room in a secret location somewhere in the world where they work out the NRL draw.

Year after year the scheduling of Origin matches and the effect this has on the running of the regular club competition makes about as much sense to me as Hubble's Law of Cosmic Expansion.

Still, that's probably not surprising.

Edwin Hubble was only dealing with recessional velocity of the galaxy.

We're trying to work out the split round.

To paraphrase philosopher George Berkeley who asked: "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" I would like to know: "If the NRL holds a round and only some of the teams are playing, is it really a round?"


More to the point, if one of the teams that is playing is missing its best players and its opponent is virtually the entire New Zealand Test team, is it a contest?

Now before I'm accused of being a "typical Broncos whinger" let me state that I use the Brisbane-Warriors match only as the most recent example of the insanity of the current system.

This year the team offered up as cannon fodder to the Kiwis in the week of Origin l was the Broncos, but it could have been anyone.

Surely if you are going to give a bye to a team prior to Origin it should be the Warriors, the side that is guaranteed to be least affected by the series.

I'm told it all evens out over time but I'm pretty sure Edwin Hubble would be able to come up with a mathematical equation to prove that any team beaten 56-18 is going to suffer a lot more than a team that wins 56-18.

But enough of the Warriors.

If they want to live in New Zealand, that's their problem.

In terms of the big picture, could someone explain to me why we have to have split rounds anyway?

If it is so the clubs that provide the most players to Origin aren't disadvantaged, I would suggest it's not working.

Maybe when Brisbane and Melbourne players made up the entire Queensland side and Canberra and Parramatta lost five or six players each to the Blues it had some merit, but those days are gone.

In Game One, the Broncos, Cowboys and Storm each contributed four players. South Sydney, the Titans, Sharks and Roosters three each, while the Bulldogs, Raiders and Dragons had two and the Eels, Sea Eagles, Knights and Tigers provided one each.

That's 14 out of 16 clubs affected in some way, the only two unscathed being the Warriors and Panthers.

Other than re-doing the draw after the Origin teams are announced so that clubs are evenly matched in terms of players lost, it would appear the NRL is left with four options: suspend the competition the weekend before the Wednesday Origin is played, suspend the comp and play Origin on Sunday night, play a full round and let the chips fall where they may or stick with the split round.

Personally, I'd accept any of the three options. Anything but giving teams a bye. Why do they need one?

There is an even number of clubs, play eight matches every week.

And while we're at it, if they do insist on giving every team a bye, why bother giving them two points? All it does is make a joke of the premiership table until all teams have had their bye.

Either don't give points or start the competition with every club on two.

Stupid you say?

About as stupid as playing a match on the Monday night after the Origin teams are announced, meaning players are either robbed of the chance of impressing selectors or run around trying not to get injured before the big game.

I tell you, there are things going on in this comp that would need the combined brainpower of Edwin Hubble, George Berkeley and Stephen Hawking to explain.

The quality of the comp is not high enough to have all 16 teams play when the rep stars are out. The games we see during a split round are weak, so they basically play as few as possible (or near to it) during the SOO weeks. The only way to maintain the standard of the comp is to play zero games during origin week. But fans don't like the break down in continuity. That is subject to change of course. It was only a few weeks ago that fans liked a stink during origin matches and they changed their tune there, so other changes around that time of the season aren't off the table. I personally don't see stand alone origin happening for a while. Those Wednesday night ratings are gold.

I remember in the past they would say a split round is meant to shelter the sides affected by rep games. It's BS. The truth is that games without stars suck, but it is bad PR for the NRL to say that out loud. Fact is the NRL and the networks have a finite amount of product to sell and a limited space to sell it - they don't want to be wasting it when they haven't got all the players available. I'm guessing there is some fine print in the tv rights deal about split rounds etc. You don't pay a billion dollars for footy games without some sort of guarantee over the quality.

Why do the teams need a bye? Because of the attrition rate. Some clubs are at breaking point and a bye can't come soon enough. Every time a player is missing from a game, the quality of that game drops. Stand alone origin would benefit the second rung of players but not the stars. The stars already complain that their workload is borderline too much. We want the best players on the field as much as possible and while the current system is flawed, it is difficult to find one that satisfies all the requirements. Our game can't afford squads large enough to rotate, fans are unwilling to see a "softening" of the game that would lead to less injuries, we don't want a beak from the comp, and we don't want low quality games..........makes it hard.

 

[rabbitohs95]

Not going to give the players any time off at the end of the year?

They'll have enough during November, December and January

 

[Jason Simmons]

22 rounds plus 4 stand alone weekends = 26 weeks, just like we have now.

Stand alones would be:
ANZAC Test + Round 1 of Pacific Cup
SoO + 2 Rounds of PC and Final

No more byes, no teams missing rep stars.

THIS.

PC on the Friday night.

With a Qld Residents v NSW Residents promoted fully by the NRL in the same manner as the All Stars game and broadcast live on the main free to air league broadcasters (TV, radio and internet) as a major game and played on the Saturday night. The game should also be played in a regional area.

SOO on Sunday nights along with the grand final, so the 4 biggest games of the year - 3x Origin and NRL GF have the same, special night.

 

[adamkungl]

The only truly even draw is to play all the other teams home and away, and we know that is never going to happen.

Every other idea, including playing each other only once, is far from perfect and people are going to whinge.

Is the draw really that big of a deal at the end if the day?

The best teams normally make it through in the end.

/thread

This sook comes up every year.

If your team doesn't make the finals, it's because they're shithouse, not because of the draw. The best teams finish at the top, nothing unfair about it. Come finals time it's anyone's game.

 

[carlosthedwarf]

Isn't this the same shite they were going on about two weeks ago?

 

[Bring it home Knights]

30 round matches with no byes but instead 3 stand alone weekends to split origins and the season up;

Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Round 8
Round 9
Round 10

Stand alone weekend; Origin

Round 11
Round 12
Round 13
Round 14
Round 15
Round 16
Round 17
Round 18
Round 19
Round 20

Stand alone weekend; Origin

Round 21
Round 22
Round 23
Round 24
Round 25
Round 26
Round 27
Round 28
Round 29
Round 30

Stand alone weekend; Origin

Week off for all teams

Finals

Tri Nations at the end of the year

Unless the season kicks off with nothing but night games, the season can't go longer than it already is. Australia is far to hot of a country to lengthen the season to have it end in late October or start in February. For some reason, this is a concept that a lot of people find hard to grasp.. :crazy:

 

[oldmancraigy]

The author is an idiot.
He gives us 3 options - but neglects a fourth:

Play Origin on Monday night (OR the Sunday night, but at the end of the round, so no Monday night game following), and schedule just one game for the following Friday (and put the Warriors on Friday?)

Effectively this way the Origin plays only miss one week (the weekend before Origin is played), and should all be fine to back up on the weekend following.
It has the double benefit of taking 3 normal round Monday night games out of the 'pool' of games, making it easier to schedule games for the future.


He's also an idiot for talking about 'split rounds'. There are no split rounds - there is simply a round, where a bunch of teams have a bye. It's different.


But he makes a good point about the timing of the Origin teams announcement. Why on earth it isn't Monday night, following the game, is beyond me? Or better yet, have no Monday night game that round??