@OzLuke said in [2019 NRL Grand Finals \*Spoilers](/post/1069946) said:
Could you imagine the NRL rubbing their hands together at the thought of a rabbits/roosters gf? I personally thought a lot of the bunnies calls were suss, and were given every opportunity to win from officials they just muffed it…same against Manly manly were dudded big time against the rabbits…
They'd be rubbing their hands together less than for a Broncos-Warriors GF.
Rabbits v Roosters does not grow the game at all - Rabbits already have high membership and Roosters fans won't turn up even if they won every premiership for a decade. Roosters don't draw crowds at games or on TV.
Basically everyone in the nation was rooting for Canberra on Sunday night and it would have made for great media coverage if they won, a huge boost for the game in Canberra (which is under siege from AFL and a large Melbourne ex-pat community) rather than disgusted hordes turning off and not even watching the trophy presentation to the Roosters (I turned it off straight after Wighton got the CCM).
What really stinks is that everyone thinks the Roosters are some how cheating to get such an awesome roster, and in that way it's not fun to watch. Forget NRL cheating or perceived favouritism - what leaves a bad taste in the mouth is a side stacked with internationals gradually choking out their opposition over two seasons. Aussies and Kiwis love an underdog, not a fancy team of cashed-up show ponies. Roosters winning is terrible for the game - I saw it stated that the TV audience was low?
The 2018-2019 Roosters side is the first time I have legitimately questioned how a team can have such a good roster under the salary cap. There have been some teams with awesome footballers and nuffies, or juniors that came good, but Roosters are fundamentally a bought side.
It's made worse that they bought Tedesco, which hurts on a personal note, but to sign both Cronk and Tedesco for 2018 and then use those players as the crux of their campaigns, easily $2M of talent just between them, in a $9.6M cap (21%). Plus Luke Keary the year prior, who had already proven himself with Souths.
re bad decisions - every bad decision is potentially suss, but you've got a huge problem on your hands if you start thinking "who benefits here?" after every bad call, because you'll never finish. Someone always benefits. Oh penalty Broncos, they want Broncos to win. No, wait, they want Storm in the GF. No wait, Cameron Smith runs the game. No, it's a Roosters-Rabbit grand final that's favoured. Etc. etc.