Ben Glover 3 hrs ago
Rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns has been railing against the NRL's obsession with expansion for some time.
Last year, when expansion was gathering momentum to give the game the best chance to increase its value for the next broadcast deal, Johns was one of the loudest dissenting voices.
He said it would be bad for a competition in which a divide was growing between the haves and the have-nots and advocated instead for the NRL to have the courage to shed some dead weight and forge a future with just 12 clubs.Rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns has been railing against the NRL's obsession with expansion for some time.
Last year, when expansion was gathering momentum to give the game the best chance to increase its value for the next broadcast deal, Johns was one of the loudest dissenting voices. He said it would be bad for a competition in which a divide was growing between the haves and the have-nots and advocated instead for the NRL to have the courage to shed some dead weight and forge a future with just 12 clubs.
Johns is no oracle and didn't have the first clue that the NRL was soon to be changed forever by a global pandemic.
However, speaking on Wide World of Sports' Freddy & The Eighth this week, he said COVID-19 might force that future on the game, which Johns believes will ultimately enhance the product.
"The worrying thing for me, I was thinking last night in bed, was this year I could see a bigger difference between the elite and the poor club, the clubs that were struggling," Johns said.
"And when we come back (from the COVID-19 forced suspension) the gap is only going to be bigger and bigger and bigger between the wealthy clubs, the strong clubs, the clubs with the best players, and the teams that are down here.
"The stronger will get stronger and the weak will get weaker. I've been saying for a while that I think the best number is 12 teams for the competition, I think if you look this year especially, I think the stronger teams, the teams up the top, look far superior to the teams down the bottom.
"How we do that? I've been saying for a while, only the strong survive, maybe this forces the hand.
"If you have a look at the juniors, there's less kids playing, for whatever reason, whatever you want to toss up. Not only rugby league but sport in general.
"So we'll always have the elite kids coming through but there's less numbers. So I think 12 is the best number, how it happens I don't know."
NSW coach Brad Fittler agreed that the NRL needed to seize the opportunity to reshape the game and solve some problems that had been exposed by the game's enforced suspension."Maybe some teams are going to be pushed into different areas, so a new Brisbane team. You look at the Titans and the way they've been going at the moment and you've got to think that's got to move up there."
Rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns has been railing against the NRL's obsession with expansion for some time.
Last year, when expansion was gathering momentum to give the game the best chance to increase its value for the next broadcast deal, Johns was one of the loudest dissenting voices.
He said it would be bad for a competition in which a divide was growing between the haves and the have-nots and advocated instead for the NRL to have the courage to shed some dead weight and forge a future with just 12 clubs.Rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns has been railing against the NRL's obsession with expansion for some time.
Last year, when expansion was gathering momentum to give the game the best chance to increase its value for the next broadcast deal, Johns was one of the loudest dissenting voices. He said it would be bad for a competition in which a divide was growing between the haves and the have-nots and advocated instead for the NRL to have the courage to shed some dead weight and forge a future with just 12 clubs.
Johns is no oracle and didn't have the first clue that the NRL was soon to be changed forever by a global pandemic.
However, speaking on Wide World of Sports' Freddy & The Eighth this week, he said COVID-19 might force that future on the game, which Johns believes will ultimately enhance the product.
"The worrying thing for me, I was thinking last night in bed, was this year I could see a bigger difference between the elite and the poor club, the clubs that were struggling," Johns said.
"And when we come back (from the COVID-19 forced suspension) the gap is only going to be bigger and bigger and bigger between the wealthy clubs, the strong clubs, the clubs with the best players, and the teams that are down here.
"The stronger will get stronger and the weak will get weaker. I've been saying for a while that I think the best number is 12 teams for the competition, I think if you look this year especially, I think the stronger teams, the teams up the top, look far superior to the teams down the bottom.
"How we do that? I've been saying for a while, only the strong survive, maybe this forces the hand.
"If you have a look at the juniors, there's less kids playing, for whatever reason, whatever you want to toss up. Not only rugby league but sport in general.
"So we'll always have the elite kids coming through but there's less numbers. So I think 12 is the best number, how it happens I don't know."
NSW coach Brad Fittler agreed that the NRL needed to seize the opportunity to reshape the game and solve some problems that had been exposed by the game's enforced suspension."Maybe some teams are going to be pushed into different areas, so a new Brisbane team. You look at the Titans and the way they've been going at the moment and you've got to think that's got to move up there."