would a conference system work in the nrl?

[brooksy19]

I would probably suggest groups of 4 for conferences. The top team in each conference could then qualify for the finals, and the next best 4 ranked teams by record.

Each conference could play home and away internally (6 games), and also all the other conferences once (12 games), with a rotating system that sees them play one of the other twice in a season (for 4 more games). Which means clubs will have 22 matches a season.

If more clubs are added, you could probably just make 2 groups have 5 teams (for 8 games), and then play everybody else twice (13 games), and also similar to the other scheme, rotating around the conferences to play them a second time (4 games, the conference with 5 teams you would only play 4 of the teams, that could alternate which team you missed each year).

I think it could really build rivalries in a much bigger manner than we already have, as that Parra vs Dogs match has so much more riding on it.

As far as conferences go, I would suggest something like this.

Northen Conf
Nth Qld
Broncos
Titans
Manly

Western Conf
West Tigers
Penrith
Parramatta
Bulldogs

Southern Conf
Canberra
St George
Melbourne
Sharks

Eastern Conf
Roosters
Knights
Souths
Warriors


I could imagine the conference matches would get huge crowds. If Perth and another QLD team were to join the comp. You could just add Perth to the Western Conf, and QLD team to the Northern Conf. Also it is possible that they could realign the conferences if further teams were added to maximise local rivarlies.

As far as the finals would go, I see something like this.

Week 1
Game A : Best Record conf winner vs Worst Record Conf winner (winner gets week off)
Game B : 2nd Best Record conf winner vs 3rd Best record Conf winner (winner gets week off)
Game C : Best wildcard team vs Worst wildcard team (Loser eliminated)
Game D : 2nd Best record wildcard team vs 3rd Best record wildcard team (Loser eliminated)

Week 2
Game E: Loser Game A vs Winner Game C (Loser eliminated)
Game F : Loser Game B vs Winner Game D (Loser eliminated)

Week 3
Game G: Winner Game A vs Winner Game E (Loser eliminated)
Game H : Winner Game B vs Winner Game F (Loser eliminated)

Week 4
Grand Final : Winner Game G vs Winner Game H

Winner.

Love this idea.

 

[dallymessenger]

you miss my point. the only "weak" clubs in the "rest" conference are arguably Penrith and Canberra. and they are hardly weak.

we need a draw where every team plays every other twice.

as it is, the draw has a huge influence on ladder position. some teams (ie Dragons) get a really easy run - and others (ie Knights) have just about everything against them draw wise.

these proposals will only make that worse.

fair call.

the solution would be 20 team comp with 19 rounds.

and as long as the saints are benefitting from the draw, im not complaining

 

[macavity]

I think the ideal setup is:

18 team comp, 17 rounds,
clear weeks for origins (x3) and C/C & Test (x1)
pre-season competition (perhaps even knock out challenge-cup style, NRL clubs enter in round 3 or whatever)
end of season WCC and international competition

plenty of footy.

 

[dallymessenger]

I think the ideal setup is:

18 team comp, 17 rounds,
clear weeks for origins (x3) and C/C & Test (x1)
pre-season competition (perhaps even knock out challenge-cup style, NRL clubs enter in round 3 or whatever)
end of season WCC and international competition

plenty of footy.

yes on the idea for clear weekends for tests and origins.

i like the idea of a pre season ko comp too.

and also end of season internationals

20 is a better number for the nrl, there are too many good areas to leave out

 

[griff]

you don't need to have "conferences", just divide the 16 teams into two groups of 8, based on traditionally rivalries, and have them play everyone in their group twice, and everyone in the other group once. Crowds would be better.

 

[Lockyer4President!]

I say we adopt Major League Baseballs system. 162 games or so.

How many games do they play per year? I know they play a lot but surely it's not 162 games...

 

[Lockyer4President!]

I would probably suggest groups of 4 for conferences. The top team in each conference could then qualify for the finals, and the next best 4 ranked teams by record.

Each conference could play home and away internally (6 games), and also all the other conferences once (12 games), with a rotating system that sees them play one of the other twice in a season (for 4 more games). Which means clubs will have 22 matches a season.

If more clubs are added, you could probably just make 2 groups have 5 teams (for 8 games), and then play everybody else twice (13 games), and also similar to the other scheme, rotating around the conferences to play them a second time (4 games, the conference with 5 teams you would only play 4 of the teams, that could alternate which team you missed each year).

I think it could really build rivalries in a much bigger manner than we already have, as that Parra vs Dogs match has so much more riding on it.

As far as conferences go, I would suggest something like this.

Northen Conf
Nth Qld
Broncos
Titans
Manly

Western Conf
West Tigers
Penrith
Parramatta
Bulldogs

Southern Conf
Canberra
St George
Melbourne
Sharks

Eastern Conf
Roosters
Knights
Souths
Warriors


I could imagine the conference matches would get huge crowds. If Perth and another QLD team were to join the comp. You could just add Perth to the Western Conf, and QLD team to the Northern Conf. Also it is possible that they could realign the conferences if further teams were added to maximise local rivarlies.

As far as the finals would go, I see something like this.

Week 1
Game A : Best Record conf winner vs Worst Record Conf winner (winner gets week off)
Game B : 2nd Best Record conf winner vs 3rd Best record Conf winner (winner gets week off)
Game C : Best wildcard team vs Worst wildcard team (Loser eliminated)
Game D : 2nd Best record wildcard team vs 3rd Best record wildcard team (Loser eliminated)

Week 2
Game E: Loser Game A vs Winner Game C (Loser eliminated)
Game F : Loser Game B vs Winner Game D (Loser eliminated)

Week 3
Game G: Winner Game A vs Winner Game E (Loser eliminated)
Game H : Winner Game B vs Winner Game F (Loser eliminated)

Week 4
Grand Final : Winner Game G vs Winner Game H

The other bonus, is that like NFL. Clubs would then be able to call themselves champ of the local rivalries via the division championships. As well you have a team from each region represented, which nearly guarantees a team from QLD is involved in the finals, one from West Sydney etc...

As others have already said, love your work.

 

[Brimmer]

should go one step further

Brisbane
Gold Coast
NZWarriors
Cowboys
Newcastle
Melbourne
Canberra
Sydney Country
Manly
Sydney City
Central Coast
Perth
Adelaide
Sunshine Coast

should play in one comp, lets call that one the NRL

and
Parramatta
Bulldogs
magpies
Sharks
Newtown
Norths
Rabbits
tigers
Steelers
Dragons
ect could play in another comp, lets call that one the NSWRL

I like it.

Perhaps without Sydney Country and couple more Sydney slots. It's hard to see how our game is going to grow without serious changes like this happening. It's a bitter pill but everything is pointing at this to be the solution. Either that.. or players keep leaving for England and viewers keep switching to AFL.

 

[Lockyer4President!]

and viewers keep switching to AFL.

lol what

 

[Brimmer]

lol what

LOL I was waiting for that but it's true. Not you or I because anybody reading a forum would have an element of diehard in them. But the crowd numbers go up and up in the AFL and we are rubbing our hands together at getting 15,000 to a game. That's shocking. Those crowd figures are competeely unsustainable and something drastic needs to be done about it.

 

[Dogs Of War]

But you know that isn't going to happen mate (Getting rid of all the Sydney clubs and creating a few mega clubs, super league style). The game would die in Sydney instantly.

What needs to happen is make these games worth more, thus why the 4 team conferences will work, just build's up those local rivalries to another level, and I think the crowds would respond accordingly.

 

[Lockyer4President!]

LOL I was waiting for that but it's true. Not you or I because anybody reading a forum would have an element of diehard in them. But the crowd numbers go up and up in the AFL and we are rubbing our hands together at getting 15,000 to a game. That's shocking. Those crowd figures are competeely unsustainable and something drastic needs to be done about it.

I can see where you're coming from but from what I've seen the long term trends are quite positive. We're in a very interesting/controversial period in the game's history atm but in a few years time I believe we'll be in a much stronger position (particularly wrt crowds, memberships, stadiums and club revenue) because of the work that we're starting now. Some of the other codes are full of hot air at the moment but I'd take most of what they say with a grain of salt. Stick to the facts and you'll see that RL is doing pretty well.

 

[Ron Jeremy]

I would probably suggest groups of 4 for conferences. The top team in each conference could then qualify for the finals, and the next best 4 ranked teams by record.

Each conference could play home and away internally (6 games), and also all the other conferences once (12 games), with a rotating system that sees them play one of the other twice in a season (for 4 more games). Which means clubs will have 22 matches a season.

If more clubs are added, you could probably just make 2 groups have 5 teams (for 8 games), and then play everybody else twice (13 games), and also similar to the other scheme, rotating around the conferences to play them a second time (4 games, the conference with 5 teams you would only play 4 of the teams, that could alternate which team you missed each year).

I think it could really build rivalries in a much bigger manner than we already have, as that Parra vs Dogs match has so much more riding on it.

As far as conferences go, I would suggest something like this.

Northen Conf
Nth Qld
Broncos
Titans
Manly

Western Conf
West Tigers
Penrith
Parramatta
Bulldogs

Southern Conf
Canberra
St George
Melbourne
Sharks

Eastern Conf
Roosters
Knights
Souths
Warriors


I could imagine the conference matches would get huge crowds. If Perth and another QLD team were to join the comp. You could just add Perth to the Western Conf, and QLD team to the Northern Conf. Also it is possible that they could realign the conferences if further teams were added to maximise local rivarlies.

As far as the finals would go, I see something like this.

Week 1
Game A : Best Record conf winner vs Worst Record Conf winner (winner gets week off)
Game B : 2nd Best Record conf winner vs 3rd Best record Conf winner (winner gets week off)
Game C : Best wildcard team vs Worst wildcard team (Loser eliminated)
Game D : 2nd Best record wildcard team vs 3rd Best record wildcard team (Loser eliminated)

Week 2
Game E: Loser Game A vs Winner Game C (Loser eliminated)
Game F : Loser Game B vs Winner Game D (Loser eliminated)

Week 3
Game G: Winner Game A vs Winner Game E (Loser eliminated)
Game H : Winner Game B vs Winner Game F (Loser eliminated)

Week 4
Grand Final : Winner Game G vs Winner Game H

The other bonus, is that like NFL. Clubs would then be able to call themselves champ of the local rivalries via the division championships. As well you have a team from each region represented, which nearly guarantees a team from QLD is involved in the finals, one from West Sydney etc...

Terrific idea, playing more local derbys could only benefit league in general.

I think the NFL has the perfect system, we should adopt something close to it and i think you've nailed it!

 

[humpy]

We currently have a defacto conference system, it is just that it changes every year as it is based on the finishing position from the previous year. I have always wondered why they don't just set these groups in stone to maximise crowds and minimise travelling where possible.

Roosters v Souths
Broncos v Titans & Cowboys
St Merge v Cronulla
Parra v Penrith

These are just some of the games that we should double up on every year. Not doing this is just dumb business, and cheating ourselves out of extra $$$$ and short changing fans.

 

[simmo1]

Won't work. This isn't America where there are several massive cities throughout the country most of which have a franchise. There is lots of competition over there to have a team in the NFL, which wouldn't happen here.

 

[VictoryFC]

How many games do they play per year? I know they play a lot but surely it's not 162 games...

Yes, there are something like 2000+ games in one baseball season. Cumulative attendance is somewhere are 72 million people at an average of around 30,000k

 

[Dogs Of War]

We currently have a defacto conference system, it is just that it changes every year as it is based on the finishing position from the previous year. I have always wondered why they don't just set these groups in stone to maximise crowds and minimise travelling where possible.

Roosters v Souths
Broncos v Titans & Cowboys
St Merge v Cronulla
Parra v Penrith

These are just some of the games that we should double up on every year. Not doing this is just dumb business, and cheating ourselves out of extra $$$$ and short changing fans.

Exactly! Thus we should just get this happening on a official basis. Maximise our crowds and rivalries within regions. Also gives teams like Melbourne official rivals as they are within a division. Which will help build the support for those games.


Not to mention that you could make the intra division games near the start of the season (so within the first 6 rounds), and towards the end of the season (last 6 games), so that these clashes draw huge crowds as the contenders and pretenders are sorted out, and it guarantees that these games at the end of season are teams playing off for a finals position, something that isn't guaranteed at the moment.

 

[Eels Dude]

We currently have a defacto conference system, it is just that it changes every year as it is based on the finishing position from the previous year. I have always wondered why they don't just set these groups in stone to maximise crowds and minimise travelling where possible.

Roosters v Souths
Broncos v Titans & Cowboys
St Merge v Cronulla
Parra v Penrith

These are just some of the games that we should double up on every year. Not doing this is just dumb business, and cheating ourselves out of extra $$$$ and short changing fans.

That was already put in place for this year, or was supposed to be.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,22521852-23214,00.html


I think a conference system would cause more problems then it solves. I really don't see any problems with the current system as it is at the moment.

 

[Dogs Of War]

That was already put in place for this year, or was supposed to be.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,22521852-23214,00.html


I think a conference system would cause more problems then it solves. I really don't see any problems with the current system as it is at the moment.

I am very interested to see what problems a transparent conference system would cause?

Pro's for me are :

- Divisions are organised by region, thus placing more importance on regional rivalries. Plus guarantees that these matches occur home and away every single year.

- Draw can be better manipulated to make sure these divisional games occur at the end of season, to maximise crowds, and make sure end of season matches are between sides trying to grab a finals spot as each conference is entitled to one at least.

- Possible options for TV channels to bid for different conferences to Televise, depending on which market they are after. I would believe that more dollars could be gained this way.

- Each region is guaranteed representation at the end of season, thus creating interest in all areas of Australia in the finals.

 

[adamkungl]

how many times have i seen this crappy idea discussed on LU