Martyn Sadler Posted February 29, 2020 Author Share Posted February 29, 2020 1 hour ago, The Great Dane said: The very same game that most of the Raiders players vocally protested playing in because they wanted a break after a hard season and the short turn around and schedule meant that they didn't even get a chance to get over the hangover from the partying after winning the GF, let alone the jet lag once they actually got to the UK. Replicating that silliness would be a great way to make sure that the Players Union murders the WCC where it stands. I think you're denigrating the professionalism of the Raiders players, as well as the status of the game itself. They played their part in a great event. Do you have any specific insights into the attitude of the players' union, or are you just making an unsupported assumption about what their attitude would be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great Dane Posted February 29, 2020 Share Posted February 29, 2020 18 minutes ago, Martyn Sadler said: I think you're denigrating the professionalism of the Raiders players, as well as the status of the game itself. They played their part in a great event. I think you should look up some of their quotes from the time, if you can find them on the internet, which I admit might be hard, but if you can get access to some old RL Weeks and Australian Newspapers from the time you'll find them pretty easy. There's one from Glenn Lazarus in Absolutely Bleeding Green, a book about the Raiders History that you can buy if you like. I'm paraphrasing but he basically said that the team was tired after a hard season and none of them wanted to travel to the other side of the world for a glorified exhibition match. 22 minutes ago, Martyn Sadler said: Do you have any specific insights into the attitude of the players' union, or are you just making an unsupported assumption about what their attitude would be? LOL. You don't know too much about the players union do you!? They have a bunch of standards and requirements, they protect a bunch of the players rights, they are easily annoyed, and they can destroy an event in seconds if they want to. If you are going to play the WCC a week or so after the grand final the NRL will have to run it by them, and maybe they will be cool with it, but given their track record on events like similar to the WCC (their response to the Denver test comes to mind as a good example that you can look up if you like) I doubt they will be happy about it being played a week or two after the grand final when the players expect to be partying and relaxing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Alchemist Posted February 29, 2020 Share Posted February 29, 2020 Market it properly and this is the result: 22/2/14 Sydney Roosters 36 Wigan 14 (Allianz Stadium, Sydney) Attendance: 31,515 I was there, it was a great occasion, other than Wigan didn't really turn up, and to be fair it wasn't marketed particularly well from what I saw in Sydney, but seeing as the Rooster average home crowds are about 10k, it shows the interest is there in Australia Even though our utter, unquestioned dominance in the sport has ended, all Wiganers believe that we are really just indulgently letting the other teams win for a while in order to make it more interesting. Stuart Maconie, Cider with Roadies "cause people often talk about being scared of change but for me I'm more afraid of things staying the same cause the game is never won by standing in any one place for too long" Nick Cave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyn Sadler Posted February 29, 2020 Author Share Posted February 29, 2020 4 hours ago, The Great Dane said: I think you should look up some of their quotes from the time, if you can find them on the internet, which I admit might be hard, but if you can get access to some old RL Weeks and Australian Newspapers from the time you'll find them pretty easy. There's one from Glenn Lazarus in Absolutely Bleeding Green, a book about the Raiders History that you can buy if you like. I'm paraphrasing but he basically said that the team was tired after a hard season and none of them wanted to travel to the other side of the world for a glorified exhibition match. LOL. You don't know too much about the players union do you!? They have a bunch of standards and requirements, they protect a bunch of the players rights, they are easily annoyed, and they can destroy an event in seconds if they want to. If you are going to play the WCC a week or so after the grand final the NRL will have to run it by them, and maybe they will be cool with it, but given their track record on events like similar to the WCC (their response to the Denver test comes to mind as a good example that you can look up if you like) I doubt they will be happy about it being played a week or two after the grand final when the players expect to be partying and relaxing. So we have to plan Rugby League around the desire of players to party and relax! In that case I don't think we have much of a future. Glenn Lazarus, incidentally, is known to be a quirky character with some eccentric views. As for the RLPA, if the WCC was marketed and promoted as it should be, I don't think there is a chance in hell that it wouldn't support it fully, if it genuinely believes in supporting the aspirations of its members. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great Dane Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 7 hours ago, Martyn Sadler said: So we have to plan Rugby League around the desire of players to party and relax! Yes we do have to take the players concern into account, and frankly not giving them time to party and relax would be a terrible thing. 7 hours ago, Martyn Sadler said: Glenn Lazarus, incidentally, is known to be a quirky character with some eccentric views. As a person who has met Glenn Lazarus, there's nothing particularly quirky or eccentric about him at all. He is just an honest man in a world full of liars, he says what he thinks and he does it without sugar-coating it. I love how you are trying to dismiss every point instead of actually engaging them though. It's funny. 7 hours ago, Martyn Sadler said: As for the RLPA, if the WCC was marketed and promoted as it should be, I don't think there is a chance in hell that it wouldn't support it fully, if it genuinely believes in supporting the aspirations of its members. So long as it's at a convenient time for them, doesn't mess with their main source of income, or if it makes stupid amounts of money (i.e. it's as big as SOO), they'll support it. But they are like the NRL clubs in that you'll have to prove to them that it is successful before they will support it, and they probably won't be cooperative in the process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerjon Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 13 hours ago, Martyn Sadler said: It really doesn't matter if it was 131 years ago, the game got roughly twice the crowd that we saw last weekend and got great coverage for Rugby League. I'm sure it did make money, but I'll leave you to check the details. It matters quite a bit when it was. What with the world having changed quite a bit. Unless you were concerned that in 1989 they weren't doing things that had been tried in 1958? It was a season when there was no domestic grand final for Widnes whose title was won some six months prior to this game. The crowd was smaller than for the NSWRL Grand Final. And you obviously don't know if it made money or else you'd have said. Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave T Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 Leeds got bigger crowds than that Old Trafford game when they played at Elland Road. We can get better crowds even with the current format. Saints playing a home game in a nearly full stadium is underwhelming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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