South Sydney director’s international blueprint

[Jim from Oz]

A 22-round NRL season is a MUST 

[Number 16]

The 9s circuit is a MUST. I know that nothing is a gimme, but I'd be very surprised if it failed to get TV deals that went a good way towards covering costs for half a dozen events. Equally, with TV in place, I'm sure that potential hosts would come forward. The potential in Asia could be huge.

Much like union 7s and futsal, League 9s wouldn't have many, if any, recognised players, but over time it would create its own specialists and stars. 

Each year, six qualifying events around the globe and a final. Not impossible, surely?

[Oliver Clothesoff]

That’s a good idea in principle if you’re a profitable competition, like the NRL. 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

5 hours ago, DoubleD said:

The man speaks a lot of sense. The difficulty will be getting others on board and the media are the worst culprits

Good to have someone in the Aussie system saying this stuff

Also even hinting that growing the game comes above getting the most money is fantastic

He should have added that the short term loss of money will pale into significance if the international game takes off even close to what union has

[Lowdesert]

14 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

Souths’ director of football Shane Richardson puts forward a host of good ideas to grow the international game.

https://www.nrl.com/news/2019/11/11/richos-vision-22-rounds-standalone-origins-more-tests-and-world-9s-circuit/

Worth a read. 

Good bloke Richardson.

[Tex Evans Thigh]

I've spoken to Shane on this before. He's a big supporter of international RL and a smart man. I pointedly asked him whether he thought State of Origin was holding back the growth of the international game and should we place more emphasis on the international game.

He was adamant this was the case and had some good ideas on how to improve things. Getting the NRL to support international football would be a great start. Keep Origin, obviously, but it needs a more appropriate place so it doesn't dilute the international game. 

[Bert1]

NZ, Tonga, Fra, Fiji, Samoa, PNG should all play each other if Origin has stand alone games.

[Manfred Mann]

11 hours ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

This could work in the international games favour. If we can get State of Origin to be played on 3 stand alone weekends, Tonga, New Zealand, Samoa, Fiji, PNG, Cook Islands, Lebanon, England could all potentially play 3 mid season internationals. 

I agree except that I would substitute France for the Cook Islands. France is a big wealthy nation which has a serious domestic competition, while Cook Islands is a very tiny poor nation that doesn't have a domestic competition and probably never will.

 

[nadera78]

If the NRL moved to 22 rounds then the gap between England the teams who pick almost exclusively from the NRL would grow larger still. They already enjoy a longer recovery period post-season and a longer preparation period pre-season, and that shows in the physical performance of the players. Enhance both of those, whilst reducing the wear and tear from playing, and the NRL players would be even more physically advantaged. 

But SL will continue to treat our players like pit ponies rather than thoroughbreds.

[MatthewWoody]

14 hours ago, Tex Evans Thigh said:

I've spoken to Shane on this before. He's a big supporter of international RL and a smart man. I pointedly asked him whether he thought State of Origin was holding back the growth of the international game and should we place more emphasis on the international game.

He was adamant this was the case and had some good ideas on how to improve things. Getting the NRL to support international football would be a great start. Keep Origin, obviously, but it needs a more appropriate place so it doesn't dilute the international game. 

Origin is still the pinnacle and deservedly so. See crowds, etc.

But yes, pushing both Origin and tests is the best way to go.

[iffleyox]

18 minutes ago, MatthewWoody said:

Origin is still the pinnacle and deservedly so. See crowds, etc.

But yes, pushing both Origin and tests is the best way to go.

But origin is basically the pinnacle because the best league in the world wasn't getting a decent challenge because the international game wasn't good enough. At the moment it would be madness to kill it off or weaken it much but there will logically come a time when what's best for the Australian domestic game will be even more out of step with the rest of the world than it is now. 

I'm absolutely not a dreamer, but given the size of the Australian population and economy a sensible international governing body would have a long term plan for it not to be the dominant part of the sport. Australia and the M62 (with due respect to Catalans/Toulouse and Toronto) is a straitjacket that ideally we'd get beyond in the next 20-30 years. I've got no idea how to do it, but at some point it's going to result in Origin becoming a reasonably important internal Australian comp rather than the be all and end all.... The NRL needs Origin's money and status, the rest of the world needs the NRL to slowly move away from Origin. Square that circle...

[MatthewWoody]

I really find no issues in Origin, as it's seriously the best competition.

If one day a test manages to sell out big stadia, well I'll be happy.

What we need is to give non Australian players something similar.

[Smudger06]

I think it's important for solid ideas like this that SL and NRL mirror each other. 

1st 11 Rounds NRL & SL; 

Window for state of origin x 3 & 9s series (x3) ; 

2nd 11 Rounds NRL & SL; 

NRL Finals & SL Playoffs. (3 wks)

SL Grand Final 1st Saturday of October followed by NRL GF next day; 

8 weeks International season.

8 Weeks players annual leave. 

7 Weeks preseason 

 

[RP London]

44 minutes ago, Smudger06 said:

I think it's important for solid ideas like this that SL and NRL mirror each other. 

1st 11 Rounds NRL & SL; 

Window for state of origin x 3 & 9s series (x3) ; 

2nd 11 Rounds NRL & SL; 

NRL Finals & SL Playoffs. (3 wks)

SL Grand Final 1st Saturday of October followed by NRL GF next day; 

8 weeks International season.

8 Weeks players annual leave. 

7 Weeks preseason 

 

can we try and get the world club challenge at the end of the season too.. it may mean something alittle more then

[rlno1]

12 hours ago, Manfred Mann said:

I agree except that I would substitute France for the Cook Islands. France is a big wealthy nation which has a serious domestic competition, while Cook Islands is a very tiny poor nation that doesn't have a domestic competition and probably never will.

 

The Cook Islands has had a very stable domestic competition for years with 7 clubs running down to juniors.

Some clubs carry Fijian and PNG imports in their ranks.

 

 

 

 

[Copa]

12 minutes ago, rlno1 said:

The Cook Islands has had a very stable domestic competition for years with 7 clubs running down to juniors.

Some clubs carry Fijian and PNG imports in their ranks.

 

 

 

 

The Cook Islands PM visited the Canberra Raiders HQ either today or yesterday. He’s a big RL fan.

[kiwis 13 6]

Pinnacle of the game the best players from the Australian state of Origin just lost to Tonga and last year they lost to NZ.

[MatthewWoody]

5 minutes ago, kiwis 13 6 said:

Pinnacle of the game the best players from the Australian state of Origin just lost to Tonga and last year they lost to NZ.

And still England haven't beaten them in ... How many years? 

[Tex Evans Thigh]

4 hours ago, MatthewWoody said:

Origin is still the pinnacle and deservedly so. See crowds, etc.

But yes, pushing both Origin and tests is the best way to go.

Origin shouldn't be the pinnacle. It's a regional game that has been pushed hard by the NRL and Australian media, fueled by this weird rivalry the two states have. A combination of the best Origin players just got beaten by Tonga.

There needs to be some work done in Australia to get out of the mindset that Origin is the pinnacle or international football will never reach its potential.

[Sports Prophet]

On 12/11/2019 at 14:24, kiwis 13 6 said:

ER no way in hell can the NZRL be run by the NRL as NZRL are the authorized administrative body of the sport in NZ and have been since 1907 and they are partly funded as a result by NZ government sports funding. Im all for the NRL collaborating with NZRL on how a grant would be spent, for example referee recruitment and training, Coaching clinics, National age grade rep sides, NZ resident side funding, national competition... that type of thing

I see no reason at all why the NRL cannot expand to be come the governors of the sport across all nations in the pacific. Branded as NZRL in New Zealand for example. NZRL are still the governors of the sport in NZ, but effectively managed by an international governing body.

[MatthewWoody]

49 minutes ago, Tex Evans Thigh said:

Origin shouldn't be the pinnacle. It's a regional game that has been pushed hard by the NRL and Australian media, fueled by this weird rivalry the two states have. A combination of the best Origin players just got beaten by Tonga.

There needs to be some work done in Australia to get out of the mindset that Origin is the pinnacle or international football will never reach its potential.

It is the Pinnacle, in terms of rivalry, intensity, etc.

It's not Australia's fault GB/England haven't won an Ashes series in....how many years? 

 

[Cdd]

International RL is the final piece in the jigsaw for Rugby league to trump AFL in Australia. It’s good that anyone high up in the game recognised that.

Regular internationals between more nations are ESSENTIAL. More test series, more four nations, more mid season tests during origin and more pacific nations playing each other. Put in place a 10 year plan that doesn’t rely on each test series turning a profit individually. 
 

On the subject of nines I’d like to see an international circuit of 5 events to start with.

- Perth

- Melbourne

- London

- New Zealand

- Toronto

- France

 

Then expand from there. Our events should be sellable in the areas where we already have a little bit of the market. 

[Tex Evans Thigh]

14 minutes ago, MatthewWoody said:

It is the Pinnacle, in terms of rivalry, intensity, etc.

It's not Australia's fault GB/England haven't won an Ashes series in....how many years? 

 

Read my post again. It shouldn't be the pinnacle, it's the wrong strategy.

Before 2018, NZ had won more tournaments than NSW in the preceding 8 years or so but Origin is constantly pushed by the Australian media and NRL. That needs to be broken for international RL to succeed.

[thirteenthman]

31 minutes ago, Tex Evans Thigh said:

Read my post again. It shouldn't be the pinnacle, it's the wrong strategy.

Before 2018, NZ had won more tournaments than NSW in the preceding 8 years or so but Origin is constantly pushed by the Australian media and NRL. That needs to be broken for international RL to succeed.

I don't think it's part of any great strategy that Origin is so important to the Aussies, it's just the way things have turned out. You only have to go back to 1992 when the 3 match Aus v GB series pulled in full houses and huge TV audiences alongside the Origin series (the Brisbane test drew a bigger gate than the Brisbane Origin). We then switched to summer, which meant we only toured at the end of year meaning Origin had the mid year spot to itself. And the Origin monster grew while internationals for a multitude of reasons slipped back. 

As for the Aussies pushing Origin, well it generates a lot of money and gives RL in Aus huge exposure. The 3 Origin matches usually pull in 3 of the 5 biggest TV audiences of the year in Aus. International RL needs to run alongside that, not be seen as some sort of competitor. 

The real problem is club RL. The Richardson plan recognises that to make room for internationals you need to cut back on the club games. The problem is, it's the league matches that generate the big money deals and clubs are reluctant to give ground, despite the fact that fewer games could give better quality matches, bigger gates, and bigger TV audiences. It's the same problem in both the NRL and SL.  You could cut Origin from the calendar tomorrow, but the NRL would probably still only have the one weekend for Internationals, and we'd still have a programme of league and cup matches that stretch from January to October without a break. 

[MatthewWoody]

1 hour ago, Tex Evans Thigh said:

Read my post again. It shouldn't be the pinnacle, it's the wrong strategy.

Before 2018, NZ had won more tournaments than NSW in the preceding 8 years or so but Origin is constantly pushed by the Australian media and NRL. That needs to be broken for international RL to succeed.

Who needs?

The game in Australia is hugely popular and Origin works.

It's up to the other tier 1 nations to develop in order to bring 80k people to see a tests and beat the Kangaroos more often.