The Rocket

I was genuinely cheering on the Kiwis because I knew had they beaten the Aussies the door would have been open to a 3-Test series over here next year with revenge for the Australians being a brilliant hook to get the crowds in. But we have start to get beaten on a regular, not here and there, basis. And close results will only be viewed by the public as the Australians having done just enough to win, like it or not.

C) we call it Rugby League over here. D) unfortunately, no one is that shocked over here, we won again.

Yep, the Kangaroos have lost their aura.

I`ve been in the ` Aussies getting beat, for the good of the game ` camp for twenty, probably thirty years, but listening to the English commentary teams calling the English team`s games over the last couple of weeks, and the ridiculous hyperbole about how special they are I got to say that old " Geez I`d love the Aussies to give these blokes a hiding " feeling is coming back.

This. ^

" attractive to broadcasters and consumers..." do that and the sky`s the limit on many fronts.

@Dave T Been reading your other posts know that you`ve been doing it tough with some of the stuff surrounding the W.C. Here`s some good news which shows people are engaging we`re just going to have to tweek a few things next time. Rugby League World Cup: Box-office England stars selling World Cup to wider audience - BBC Sport A healthy 1.8 million viewers tuned in for the men's tournament opener between England and Samoa. And the figures for the other two group games have not been far behind. On a regular weekend of Super League fixtures, whether they be on satellite channels or free to air, a figure of 300,000 viewers would be considered good. But that number has been surpassed by many of these World Cup games. The England women's opener against Brazil on a Tuesday afternoon on BBC Two scored with half a million viewers. That's more than a match for the number of viewers who watched the men's Super League Grand Final live back in September. Australia v Scotland may have been a blow out, but a peak of 800,000 were watching late in the second half on BBC Two. And many of the matches on BBC Three have also been punching high, with regular audiences of 300,000 plus, more than that channel might have expected for its usual programming. And how about the 800 000 watching Oz vs. Scotland. And there`s plenty more.

I`ve been doing the same thing and beneath each result, clearly and chronologically arranged, a quick click will get you 4 - 5 minutes of highlights of each game of the men`s, women`s and wheelchair tournaments. Slightly off topic but it is a favourite accusation of V`landy`s bashers over here to say he gutted the NRL digital arm when he removed several reporters from NRL.com. at the behest of Foxtel and Channel Nine. I never went there anyway, it was like reading the People`s Daily looking for balanced coverage of the Chinese Government. Still with Pete being so proud of his Greek heritage I thought he may have at least made some attempt to remodel it as some sort of modern day NRL Greek chorus which may been interesting.

Worth noting that League has maintained its` average, even slightly up last year, whilst having at least half of our clubs playing out of dilapidated suburban dumps. There`s at least a 20 % + upside to NRL crowd figures if we can get our stadiums upgraded to be commensurate with the billion dollar sports competition that is NRL.

Yeah you`re right, I`d forgotten that but I still don`t think any names have been mentioned. I doubt it, but I may be wrong. I think one of them is involved with the W.A. A- League (soccer) team, that may be the third name that eludes me.

Not the corporate dollar there mate. It`s also a low socio-economic area but that is changing. Look the Central Coast is an interesting one, it`s probably further from Sydney than Penrith and at the end of the day they`d want their own team and with a congested N.S.W. market the last thing we need is another N.S.W. team. There`s much more to be gained from one-city teams elsewhere.

Being sceptical I`ve asked the same question and why are they so shy about making it public. The reason the W.A. poster I alluded to gave was that after the last debacle about when promises were made about admitting a W.A. team and nothing eventuated they aren`t in hurry to show their hand this time, publicly at least. He does keep mentioning three names though. One the bloke who owns Cash Converters, Brian Cummins, another bloke called Puddy, and the other name eludes me. Cumins sponsored Perth Reds and still sponsors W.A. Rugby League and some of their junior representative teams.

There`s a lot of people who`d like to see the Bears back and the feel-good factor would be huge and V`landy`s knows this. According to an Aussie poster living in Perth the majority of people associated with W.A. Rugby League have no problem with adopting the Bears branding, co-ordinating pathways, some North Sydney League`s club funding and maybe a trial game played at North Sydney oval, but that`d be it. They are very keen to get a team in the NRL. He also states that any perception of a Sydney team based out of Perth would be a disaster in the making. My take on the latest developments is that the W,A. Gov`t. are pretty keen to see if they can do it without North Sydney being involved at all. They`re going to see if having such a high-powered Government body involved will flush out an investor or a consortium to allow this. I`m positive V`landy`s won`t mind either way, he can then save the ace up his sleeve that is the Bears` readmission for another headline or for somewhere else.

IIRC didn`t I see a `buy now - pay later` facility offered for buying tickets, would this cloud the ability to discover this ####-up earlier.

Couldn`t find the interview but Jason Taumololo`s thank you to the support for Tonga coming in " from all over the world " was very heartening.

Look mate, think of it like a cult, it`s important to remember that. They have this siege mentality of us against the world, or certainly us against the non-fumbleball states. The fear that their geographically isolated game, only played in one small corner of the world will die out one day. And @Sports Prophet as far as 70 000 viewers/ views, who cares, a certain number of them will be unique viewers and many millions over the year. GF viewing audience difference - the advantage of having a truly national competition with minimum two teams in every capital city. And fumbleball crowds have been on a slow decline for about 15 years.

Criticise V`landy`s all you like but he pushed through the 17th team during the height of the pandemic when many would have said hold off. Some also argue that they chose the wrong new entrant but I suspect with so much uncertainty they`ve gone with the financially safe option this time. Redcliffe will be one of the richest clubs in the NRL, they are already only second behind the Broncos in terms of sponsorship, $10 m+ pledged. With regards W.A.. V`landy`s lit a fire underneath Perth with his " why bother with rusted on fumbleball states " and then throwing out the teaser " bring back the Bears in Western Oz. It`s important to remember we most likely wouldn`t be talking about Perth if we didn`t have Redcliffe. And I`d be very very surprised if the NRL aren`t in constant contact with the W.A. Gov`t. Communications something along the lines ` well show us how serious you are`. And now we got a working group, with Treasury, Venues West and the Premiers department involved. No doubt he`s made mistakes, but when you`re getting a lot done you`re bound to, the key is, keep moving forward. Fortune favours the brave.

Funny how NRL averaged about 70 000 + more viewers per game over the year than fumbleball. Cumulatively that comes in at over 25 million more viewers for the year. And all that with a 16 team competition. You wait till we go to 18 teams like them and get our international calendar sorted and a truly national competition when Perth comes in. Could easily be a 40 million viewer advantage. n.b. New Zealand viewers aren`t even counted in our figures.

Yes you`re obviously not going to make a lot of money out of ticket sales, corporates or local sponsors in the games being hosted by the PI nations. However if these games are being beamed back into Oz and NZ at a decent time they could still be good for Australian and NZ sponsors and audiences. I`d imagine that flexible starting times wouldn`t effect crowds so much in those countries. So packed grounds, great games and a local flavour would look great on Tv. It would probably build a bit of excitement around the tournament in Oz and N.Z. leading up to the knock-out stages, something which unfortunately has been a bit of a disappointment in the current tournament (although I`m confident they can recapture it). I reckon also any PI side playing even a second tier European nation at home would draw a big crowd in those countries, let alone playing another PI nation, Oz, N.Z. or England. You`d have your quarters then strategically placed around either NZ or Oz then depending on where you most likely think they would draw a crowd. So maybe mid-sized stadiums like Mt. Smart, Newcastle, Olympic Park, Townsville, Bankwest, Canberra, Perth (?) where they might get a crowd out of novelty, then step-up for the semi`s and Final for the games more likely to attract a bigger crowd. The whole point of the exercise would to ensure good crowds for the round-robin stages which would then help the tournament build momentum and would then make it a better sell on the mainlands as the tournament reached its` climax.

Don`t be surprised if we start to see some sort of feeder relationship for key young French players with Trent Robinson`s Sydney Roosters on this front.

I`m watching the Samoan/France game on replay as we speak and it`s 25 minutes in and 16 - 0 to Samoa. The only 6 - again so far has gone to France. I`d say there are a lot of other factors at play than just 6 - again that is determining this result. I think this maybe a case of where we should look at causation before we look at correlation. n.b. 32 minutes in France just got another one, still 16 - 0.

It`s been great to see the large number of new profile names and old posters reengaging that I`ve never heard contributing before on these pages over the last couple of weeks. Perhaps an interesting correlation with the power of internationals to attract new and reengage old fans.

Adelaide doesn`t have any where near the number of things Perth/Western Australia has going for it in regards to fielding their own NRL team but if reports coming out of W.A today are true I`m not sure they are going to want to be left alone on the shelf if Perth get their team. McGowan Government ups ante in new push for WA-based NRL team Joe Spagnolo The West Australian Sun, 30 October 2022 2:00AM The State Government has upped the ante in its efforts to get a WA-based National Rugby League team, forming a high-powered working group to make a Perth franchise a reality. The Sunday Times can reveal the Government has appointed Labor politician Peter Tinley as chair of a working group which will “help facilitate the development of a third-party bid” to be the competition’s 18th team. VenuesWest has also appointed consultants Freshwater Strategy to gauge “interest from potential third parties and determine the most appropriate bid structure”. “There is huge interest on the east coast in having a WA team in the NRL competition,” Tourism Minister Roger Cook told The Sunday Times. “It makes sense on so many levels. “We have the best stadium in Australia, a fan base that is growing quickly and the time difference works well for TV schedules.” Cook said if the NRL “wants to have a truly national competition,” then a Perth team was a must. “This is a great step to thoroughly investigate how a bid for the 18th team could work,” Cook said. The rugby league spotlight again fell on Perth earlier this year with a successful State or Origin game at Optus Stadium, more than 59,000 fans attending. In that game, the Blues squared the series with a 44-12 win over the Maroons. Nearly 7000 visitors from outside WA were at the game — spending an estimated $13.3 million while in Perth. “Two recent sell out State of Origin fixtures demonstrates that there is a strong and growing appetite for rugby league in Western Australia,” Sport and Recreation Minister David Templeman said. “A WA-based NRL team would bring long term community, tourism and economic benefits to the state and grow and grow local participation in grass root sport, particularly female participation.” Sport and Recreation Minister David Templeman has already spoken with NRL powerbrokers about WA joining the national league. Sport and Recreation Minister David Templeman has already spoken with NRL powerbrokers about WA joining the national league. Bears officials were in Perth for the State of Origin game. “Although the State Government won’t be leading the bid or responsible for a potential franchise, we are confident that there will be a strong and compelling case for a WA-based team,” Mr Templeman. “WA’s nation leading economy provides an enormous opportunity for the NRL to maximise corporate support and fan spending.” The government’s working group, aside from Mr Tinley as chair, will comprise VenuesWest, and Treasury representatives as well as representatives from Mr Templeman’s and Mr McGowan’s office. “There are so many West Australian rugby league fans who are looking forward to the day when they can support a WA based team,” Mr Tinley said. “WA has strong foundations to support an NRL franchise with participation in the sport behind only NSW and Queensland, and encouragingly, nearly a quarter of all registered players are female. “I look forward to seeing the development of a strong third-party bid and working with them in securing an NLR franchise for Western Australians.”

FLANAGAN OPENS DOOR FOR PNG TALENT Shane Flanagan has become heavily invested in the growth of PNG for future rugby league World Cup campaigns. The former Sharks premiership winning coach, an adviser for the Kumuls, is working behind the scenes with major sponsors on future development plans. Flanagan wants to set up a pathway for PNG players to get NRL experience by spending off-seasons in NRL programs over the summer months. “I’ve spoken to Cronulla and St George-Illawarra and they are keen,” Flanagan (pictured) said. “The aim is to get two players at each club for a few months to get them accustomed to the professionalism required to compete at the top level. “Who knows … the clubs might even pick up a player or two they want to keep. “There is so much talent but they just need experience in areas of high performance and skills.” PNG has shown at this World Cup they are not that far off the pace. Gee I hope they are serious about this stuff. The NRL and Super League should be awash with P.N.G. players, at least in similar proportions to P.I. representation.

I included the 8 million people that live in Victoria in the 20 million figure as Victoria is considered an eastern state. It`s on the east coast after all. However you may well point out that I conveniently didn`t include N.Z. But to your other point, I understand about including and excluding areas, my point was that EPL is unequivocally a nationwide competition, the NRL not. Another point worth mentioning is the huge geographical distances between many NRL teams, which means the benefits of travelling away fans is an alien concept in this part of the world, except perhaps in Sydney. I`m sure in your part of the world, EPL games are boosted by a large contingent of away fans. BTW, back on topic, great news about the viewing figures, the crowd stuff not such an issue now.