Copa

I’m not sure either. The WA Premier did say something unexpected during the press conference though. He said tradesmen from the east coast should find WA a more attractive place to move to now that WA is getting an NRL team. So I did some googling and found this: https://www.jobsandskills.wa.gov.au/build-a-life

To paraphrase PVL during his press conference in Perth regarding the expansion - “The TV here has the AFL and doesn’t want the NRL here. We’re going to take some of AFL’s lunch and we eat a lot” ”Why would we consult with the AFL? MacDonalds doesn’t consult with KFC when establishing new restaurants” He also said he’d seriously consider allowing Western Force and the Bears to share players and it’s something the NRL and Western Force will have to consider. Additionally he also said some very big companies have approached the NRL regarding sponsorship opportunities for the Bears. Edit: the more the press conference goes on it’s clear a few, but not all, of the journalists are really aggressive and adversarial with their line of questioning. Trying their hardest to manufacture negative publicity.

In an Australian context, calling it “rugby” is a good indicator that the front page is managed by a diehard AFL fan.

Now sold out

Around 1000 tickets left for Raiders v Doggies.

BYDs are increasingly popular on Canberra’s streets. I hear great things about them but EVs aren’t yet suitable for my lifestyle. I enjoy going into regional Australia where distances are great and infrastructure less developed.

PVL and Abdo are seasoned professionals. PVL plays the politics while Abdo applies the hard numbers and his corporate finance background to PVL’s plans. I suspect PVL is making Richardson feel listened to while they check everything out for themselves. Here’s an article about how PVL has increased Racing NSW’s annual revenue from $28 million to over $400 million. He’s seemingly made a lot of enemies while doing this due to his willingness to totally destroy the status quo. https://www.afr.com/companies/sport/inside-the-plot-to-get-rid-of-peter-v-landys-20250422-p5ltej

The Sydney Swans AFL team were originally South Melbourne Football Club (they had a swan emblem). They struggled significantly in the early days in Sydney before becoming sustainable. So it has happened before in Australian sport.

North Sydney oval is entirely unsuited to NRL in Sydney when there are proper stadiums available. It’s from an era when many teams played in dilapidated grounds. The NRL world has moved on since the Bears left. I suspect it’s going to be ridiculous in the Sydney media (the main NRL media) as the time approaches for the Bears return. For some it will be about North Sydney Bears returning instead of Perth getting a team. Players, administrators, training grounds, training camps etc should all be based in Perth.

Watched Kneecap last night in a cinema run by Canberra’s largest film group. It was also hosted by the Irish Embassy. I thought it was a thoroughly enjoyable film and it was also the first time in decades I’d heard a round of applause at the end of a movie.

I finally watched Casablanca the other night. It’s a very good movie but I struggle to understand why some consider it one of the best movies ever. I also rewatched Romancing the Stone. It’s aged considerably but not in a bad way. It’s become significantly cheesier.

I’ve never seen a golden point like that before either. Not a single tackle, pass or even run with the ball involved.

I saw a fan get knocked unconscious and break his neck doing this as part of halftime entertainment at a raiders match. He eventually got around a $1 million payout after taking the Raiders to court. Since then halftime entertainment involving fans doing something active has been limited to things like goal kicking competitions. A few weeks ago we did have a spicy food eating competition though. Fan sues Raiders Fan breaks neck

It’s being played in a huge AFL/cricket stadium. I have it on the TV now and it looks like a horrible place to watch a game live. There is a reasonable rectangular field stadium in Perth that would have been exciting, vibrant and appealing if the match was there.

The Raiders started investing outside of match day sport because it’s a small club that can’t rely on match day income to survive against the bigger clubs. Fortunately the NRL has also become significantly wealthier and more generous with club handouts while the Raiders were developing other income streams. So they are really secure these days. The Raiders still are the only inland team for a major sport in Australia (I don’t include the Brumbies in that.. minor sport and all).

Some sure do. The Raiders have social clubs all around the region ( https://raidersgroup.com.au/ ). The Raiders have also been known to make money through commercial property such as this https://www.afr.com/property/commercial/raiders-boot-property-goal-with-56m-bunnings-sale-20201211-p56msb which doubled their money. Another old article about the Raiders property investments which includes large office blocks in Brisbane and property developments in Canberra ( https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/when-it-comes-to-money-not-all-clubs-are-equal-20130405-2hc9f.html ) From that old article: “Raiders' Group general manager Simon Hawkins says, ''One of the selling points we have when recruiting players is explaining to them about the financial strength of our group and the stability of our corporate structure. We have around 660 employees across ACT, NSW and Queensland, and all of these people either work for the Raiders and rugby league, or for one of the companies which support rugby league.”

If they do that they should make it look like Gringotts Wizarding Bank in Harry Potter again to bring some real gravitas to the proceedings. They could also wear Harry Potter costumes. I think this could be a great way to make our sport stand out.

Probably not as it’s not on a mainstream sports platform in Australia. I have, however, watched cornhole on Kayo in Australia. I see it’s now in DAZN.

In a world where cornhole is streamed internationally as a sport anything is possible.

The NRL wants “rugby” sold on TV screens around the world and may consider having French teams adds value. They’d definitely also think developing French players will add to the international scene over the long term and make that part of rugby league more valuable.

Don’t be surprised if the NRL reduce the number of games teams play each season.

We see PVL firsthand here in Australia. He’s an absolute machine and Abdo performs miracles too. PVL isn’t just a crash or crash through man. He genuinely tries to get everyone onside and trust it will be ok. He leads really well. There’s no way they want the same old same old for SL. He won’t tolerate white anting by the old guard who give lip service to positive change. PVL will demand positive change and drive through those changes. PVL will never die wondering “what if?”. It wouldn’t surprise me if the $ offered was quite substantial and i suspect he already has an idea how much TV rights could be if SL and NRL are offered as a package deal to some international streamers/broadcasters. He’d also have a wagering angle. He’s quite the personality and has dominated the murky NSW horse racing scene for a long time too. It will be very interesting to see how he’d manage disgruntled characters within SL.

Wow! What a read! Thanks for the tip https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/apr/08/why-john-amaechi-backs-change-british-basketball

Interesting: “The NRL has made it clear that it will not approach the Super League to buy a stake in the competition, but would be open to striking a deal if the clubs are keen for the NRL to take over the running of the game. The NRL’s willingness to listen isn’t motivated by a financial windfall, but rather a desire to grow the game in both England and internationally on the back of a decade of growth in the Pacific region. That’s why the NRL has indicated it would be willing to sell back its share in the competition once it is set up and financially viable.” …. ”At least two NRL clubs, including South Sydney, are considering buying into a team as owners if the NRL was to take complete administrative control of the game.”

Yes, it’s looking really good. I suspect any larger groups of tickets that could be released will be tickets initially put aside for sponsors and other high value targets but don’t end up being used.