Top 3 issues facing the NRL

A

alex

New member
Reading through the thread on individual player numbers, there was a general feeling that talk of this is unnecessary at the moment given so many other things are going on at the moment that are more important.

So it's lead me to pose the question this bye week … what do you believe are the three most important issues facing the NRL/Rugby League at the moment?
It can be anything from a rule change to competition expansion to temperature of the meat pies at the grounds.
They don't have to be ranked, can be if you like.
Solutions to the issues are welcome.

I'll start off.

* Salary Cap / keeping marque players in the NRL
* Rep schedule
* Structure of second tier grades

My solutions to these are.

* Allowance for players who have been at the club for 5+ years, or a junior. Where this money comes from, at the moment, not sure. Maybe because these players have been at the club for a while they've developed a high profile and could therefore earn more through 3rd party opportunities. This extra money received from valuable 3rd party deals could then be exempt from the cap

* Each team receives 3 byes through the year which fall on Origin weeks, with Origin played on the Friday night.

* Toyota Cup raised to U22 or U23s. Time and time again I hear first grade players say how valuable it was to play with older fringe first graders / regular first graders returning from injury when they were coming through the ranks. By the huge scores in the 20s, it's just not up to first grade standard at the moment.
 
Good post Alex, good questions with solutions.

I agree with you about salary cap and raising the under 20s age. Not sure how the 3 byes would work tho.
 
aren't players already able to try secure third party payments though endorsement etc which isn't included under the salary cap. A player could receive 200k from the club and 300k from a company if they are willing to do a lot of endorsement like they have in america. obviously the player has to have some status to be up for endorsing but the players that we are talking about usually do. but i agree there needs to be change, if a player is good they should be able to be paid by the club the right amount rather than having to use third party deals.
 
It beats me why the nrl are so slow to look at a clear cut salary cap concessions for local juniors who stay at the club. Imo i'd have them discounted at 50% because the nrl's current policy barely cuts it. To offer just $50,000 a player who stays there for 8+ years doesn't do a lot really. I know it helps a little but on a $4.1mil salary cap over 25 players, it's peanuts.
 
I dont care about greed, Or players moving on.

I want The Under 20s to be 22 or 23s so that we arnt forcing young Tigers to fall on the scrapheap to early.
 
My only issue with your post, alex, is the moving Origin thing. Origin on a Wednesday night, in TV terms, competes with NOTHING. There's no AFL on, there's no 18th or 21st parties to attend, people are at home watching the game. It dominates that timeslot, and for that reason is highly profitable for the game.

My issues would be:

1\. Revenue Allocation

There is something wrong when a game has increased supporters at games, the highest level of merchandise sales in Australia and is the dominating sport in 2 of Australia's 3 richest states, seems to be without funds. Money isn't going to the clubs, and this is the reason the Sharks, Warriors and Raiders struggle. I don't see why there is this issue in RL.

2\. Salary Cap

I think the salary cap is a great thing, it's essential. The structure, for some reason, is wrong. An indication of this is the constant discourse on why its bad, when say the AFL, NBA, NFL, A-League etc. never have such debates. These codes seem to have a structure that functions, particularly the AFL. Whilst we are stubborn as a code to accept this, I think the AFL model needs to be used to a degree, we need to learn off other codes and recognize why it works for them and not for us. The size of the cap is directly related to revenue allocation

3\. Marketing

Our game has terrible advertising. We are one of the only sports I can think of when negativity is so closely associated with it. NFL commentators never openly suggest how bad referee's are, or how poorly the league is run, and this goes a long way in how the sport is recieved by viewers. Same with the AFL, whilst it is at times subject to "Australian" kind of commentary (i.e. hands in the back, off ball rulings, etc), I think the games are discussed with a positive outlook. Also, ANZAC day games are spoken with great respect in the AFL. We have yet to establish a system where we, as Tigers fans, WANT to see the Roosters vs Dragons, and I think this is a key marketing opportunity which could be beneficial to the game.

Sorry for the long post! Try not to "tl;dr" it.
 
@Squad's Tigers said:
My only issue with your post, alex, is the moving Origin thing. Origin on a Wednesday night, in TV terms, competes with NOTHING. There's no AFL on, there's no 18th or 21st parties to attend, people are at home watching the game. It dominates that timeslot, and for that reason is highly profitable for the game.
.
Click to expand...

Good point, I didn't even think of that.

@BRET said:
Good post Alex, good questions with solutions.

I agree with you about salary cap and raising the under 20s age. Not sure how the 3 byes would work tho.
Click to expand...

Start the season one week earlier. I doubt starting the first weekend in March would be much different to the second week? Still means we can have the GF first week of October.
 
Get rid of the Australia - New Zealand test match during mid-season. It doesn't count for anything as a one-off and having it before State of Origin makes no sense. Have all internationals played after the NRL season is over and give them some respect.
 
All very good points so far. Agree with majority of them.

Was having a think tonight about how penalties work. Gus Gould constantly says "if this was the last minute in a tied grand final, would the same call be made?"

I know it's probably been discussed before, but what do you think of a short-arm, long-arm penalty system like Rugby Union? Even at club level we see games decided by a penalty goal for stupid little things. So, here's my very rough proposal, and I'm the first to admit it's still very raw.

Short-arm penalties can ONLY tap.
Long-arm can kick for touch or kick for goal.

I was having some difficulty trying to distinguish between what could be classified under each. Some penalties are obviously more severe than others, eg a spear tackle compared to a strip. But just because a strip is less dangerous doesn't mean it doesn't give one team a big advantage and therefore needs to be penalised.

I've come up with these penalties

Offside
Head high
Tackling an opponent who is not in possession of the ball
Mid air tackle
Tacklers not getting off the play the ball
Double movement
Shepherd
Markers not square
Not playing the ball correctly at a play-the-ball
Kicking the ball into touch, touch-in-goal, or over the dead ball line on the full from the kick-off
Kick off/drop out not going 10m

Out of these, I reckon most of the kick off ones could be short arm.

Do you think there's any merit in the idea? If so, any suggestions on how you could distinguish between the two?
 
@alex said:
Time and time again I hear first grade players say how valuable it was to play with older fringe first graders / regular first graders returning from injury when they were coming through the ranks. By the huge scores in the 20s, it's just not up to first grade standard at the moment.
Click to expand...

That's what the NSW Cup is for.
 
@alex said:
All very good points so far. Agree with majority of them.

Was having a think tonight about how penalties work. Gus Gould constantly says "if this was the last minute in a tied grand final, would the same call be made?"

I know it's probably been discussed before, but what do you think of a short-arm, long-arm penalty system like Rugby Union? Even at club level we see games decided by a penalty goal for stupid little things. So, here's my very rough proposal, and I'm the first to admit it's still very raw.

Short-arm penalties can ONLY tap.
Long-arm can kick for touch or kick for goal.

I was having some difficulty trying to distinguish between what could be classified under each. Some penalties are obviously more severe than others, eg a spear tackle compared to a strip. But just because a strip is less dangerous doesn't mean it doesn't give one team a big advantage and therefore needs to be penalised.

I've come up with these penalties

Offside
Head high
Tackling an opponent who is not in possession of the ball
Mid air tackle
Tacklers not getting off the play the ball
Double movement
Shepherd
Markers not square
Not playing the ball correctly at a play-the-ball
Kicking the ball into touch, touch-in-goal, or over the dead ball line on the full from the kick-off
Kick off/drop out not going 10m

Out of these, I reckon most of the kick off ones could be short arm.

Do you think there's any merit in the idea? If so, any suggestions on how you could distinguish between the two?
Click to expand...

For me a penalty is a penalty. The NRL isn't like the Super 14 thank goodness and I'm comfortable with the amount of penalty goals in the game. I don't see a need to change things.
 
1\. Private Enterprise vs Out Dated Football Club Boards.
2\. Too many rules. Needs re-writing to get rid of "Interpretations"
3\. Ensuring the game is run by the administrators of the game, rather than the media
 
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