Sports Prophet

As opposed to an accidental deliberate knock on of course, which I don’t even think should be penalised.

Ow ow ooooowwwwww

A professional foul is for purposely and deliberately committing penalty offences. So a “deliberate knock on” could only be a professional foul if it was done deliberately.

I don’t see how hosting the GF away from a central location like Manchester can be a good idea. Happy to see the CC moved from city to city to stadium’s with a minimum of 50k. In GB/I there appear to be 16 stadiums fitting that capacity requirement.

I read an article on Total RL and got to wondering if anyone has any ideas to improve the standing of the Challenge Cup in the public consciousness.

See my point above. It is far less useful a time zone than say NZ.

I’ve always said that Perth doesn’t fit favourably with the eastern centric broadcasters. The main consistently missing KO slot for broadcasters is Sunday 6pm (if the ambition is to continue with stand alone fixtures). I think Perth home games could easily fulfil the following AET slots: Friday 8pm Saturday 4.30pm and 7pm Sunday 4pm and 6pm Perhaps there is room for a Saturday 9pm slot as well.

Frankly most the clubs competing in League 1 are not suitably resourced or funded to participate in a national competition. The league is not fit for the requirements of it’s clubs. Promote the clubs which can compete nationally to Championship (even if it means 18 clubs) and do away with a third national professional tier. That’s got to be the plan.

Sure, a few stars aligned, no dispute. It’s not like Sydney NRL clubs pack them in for non-Sydney derby’s though either. Fact remains. SR in NZ is on the up. It would be great if the Warriors could get their season back on track to keep their position in the public consciousness. Especially when the SR team they share a city with are top of the table.

That would take a lot of luck/manipulation of the draw. in 2024, how many games each team play in Sydney: Cows: 6 Broncos: 4 Titans: 5 Knights: 5 Raiders: 6 Storm: 6 Warriors: 5 even the Dragons only get 12

After all the comments, I was expecting to at some stage come across a “the title has been changed to ‘Stupidest idea ever - GF related’”

I’m not so sure. I would like some figures on that actually before I agree with you because my inclination is that it’s working well under 50% of the time. More-so, receiving teams are getting better at structured defence of this tactic.

I think they mainly played out of the Adelaide Oval. It’s where the A-League side ply their games. It’s right on the edge of the city. Great spot.

West Coast Eagles and Fremantle are not blessed with the same intercity rivalry that the Melbourne clubs have and it does have an effect on those numbers. As does a very underperforming WCE over the past two/three seasons. The residents of Perth and Adelaide alike are both just as passionate about their Australian Rules as the people of Melbourne. Yeah I would think that to be a pass as well. West Australians are renowned as being parochial and most West Australians I have come across are not disparaging about RL at all and I think they would really back a team of their own. In very good numbers if they were successful.

Crowds and viewing figures of Super Rugby in NZ are on the up. Auckland’s change of fortune at the top of the table saw them pull in 26,000 last weekend. Viewing figures across all NZ are said to be experiencing double digit growth. All the while, Warriors experiencing a slump in form after last ear’s heroics. Can the Warriors sustain their mantle as the biggest sports club in NZ?

I’d go with the Adelaide Brewers

Most AFL players can kick with both feet on the fly but will obviously have a favoured foot. It is coached and practiced into kids on performance pathways. There has been more of a tendency these days for shots at goal, either on the run or snapped, to be kicked with the favoured foot only which has led to some extraordinary banana/check side kicks which bend both in the air and on the ground. My left foot is reasonably good enough to put it in the right place while on the run, albeit I would probably lob it more than drill it like I can on my right.

I was in Adelaide today and drove past Hindmarsh Stadium. Holding 16k, it is a tidy and accessible stadium which would be great to see an Adelaide franchise playing there every fortnight. Won’t be a priority for 20 years I feel.

I don’t think AFL fans think that much about RL as much as AFL bashing RL fans think they do. In my experience, AFL fans generally are not even derogatory about RL and open to the game. Especially those AFL fans outside of Melbourne. I am not sure you are correct there. I think the biggest attendance for a sports fixture at Optus Stadium is the State of Origin fixture. The double header last year had over 40k attending and crowds for the annual Sth Sydney matches at Perth Oval from ‘09-‘15 (no match in ‘10) were all 15k+ and increased every year up to over 20k in ‘13, ‘14 and ‘15. If Perth can regularly draw 12k+ for basketball, I think it would be pretty damning for the NRL if a Perth club couldn’t regularly get crowds of 15k+.

This is astonishing and I am pretty pleased to see the Roosters miss out on another.

I am in an obvious minority who thinks Harry Grant made late contact with the kicking leg intentionally. I think his actions were a deliberate attempt to niggle Atkinson who was having a good game. I am actually supportive with the penalty and comfortable with the decision to sin bin a player for such a deliberate foul, no matter the force.

It should be the only strategy the Bears consider. Every other bid/partnership idea of theirs is a distraction from putting together a very strong bid in Gosford.

I don’t understand

Let alone the many with hindsight.

There is a lot of talk about affordability and cost of living. Whilst I cannot argue the limits of affordability, nor can I ignore the ever diminishing salary cap in relative speak, but, furthermore, if the RFL and the sport of RL want’s to expand, then money and strategy needs to be put where it’s mouth is. Especially in relation to semi pro as some have referenced other non-heartland regions, where the ambition must surely be to produce local players for local teams. The likes of Cornwall, Midlands, Skolars, Crusaders and all others which have gone before them should not be relying on paying imports, be they domestic or international. The sport cannot financially afford to supplement a London SL side in the same manner that Melbourne Storm have been, let alone development areas. The way I see it is the RFL would be far better off financing a national U/18s and U/16s competition, funded by the professional game where players are sourced locally, who do not have cost of living pressures similar to adults. Where there are signs of viability, then let’s push with semi pro footy and winning that, move to FT SL. For now, without a benefactor 10 times the wealth and affection of David Hughes, London Broncos or any other pro RL club of any guise is simply not viable. Need to go back to the drawing board.