New North American Competition?

[fighting irish]

1 hour ago, Pulga said:

This is a good signing. USA Hawks player and Brooklyn Kings premiership winner with a good amount of RL under his belt. He seems to be doing a lot behind the scenes in the Western Conference too.

He's not in great shape though is he?

They won't be able to attract very good athlete's will they?

Ha ha ha.

[GUBRATS]

9 hours ago, fighting irish said:

He's not in great shape though is he?

They won't be able to attract very good athlete's will they?

Ha ha ha.

He's a RU/RL player , not just an ' athlete ' 

[egm]

Who let the dyslexic lad run the social media ffs. Other releases have been riddled with spelling mistakes. i’ll do it for free if they’d like

[Whippet13]

21 minutes ago, egm said:

Who let the dyslexic lad run the social media ffs. Other releases have been riddled with spelling mistakes. i’ll do it for free if they’d like

How will that help?

[fighting irish]

1 hour ago, GUBRATS said:

He's a RU/RL player , not just an ' athlete ' 

And?

[GUBRATS]

17 minutes ago, fighting irish said:

And?

Nobody has suggested they won't be able to attract decent athletes , it's skill and game knowledge that players like this one should have , and that's what they'll need 

Not trying to start an argument 

[Oldbear]

17 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Nobody has suggested they won't be able to attract decent athletes , it's skill and game knowledge that players like this one should have , and that's what they'll need 

Not trying to start an argument 

Game knowledge is a major issue often overlooked. I know at the high school level in BC the RU coach (who was also a huge RL fan) of my sons team used to tear his hair out because he had these very athletic kids, who were also pretty skilled (I guess when it comes to RU they were very skilled), but once in a game their complete lack of game knowledge really showed up. I’m guessing it’s going to be the same for most of these guys, just because they are fit enough, and have worked on their skills, won’t mean much if they don’t really get the basics of the game, and that’s where coaching is going to be key. What standard of coaching is going to be the norm in this comp, guys with a coaching background, or just an enthusiastic volunteer?

[fighting irish]

1 hour ago, GUBRATS said:

Nobody has suggested they won't be able to attract decent athletes , it's skill and game knowledge that players like this one should have , and that's what they'll need 

Not trying to start an argument 

I wasn't implying you were looking for an argument, I just didn't understand your point.

I agree wholeheartedly that they will lack, even basic skills (like passing backwards, RL style) and game knowledge.

I have faith, that a good deal of that lack, can be made up for by quality coaching. 

[Damien]

Great strides will be made relatively quickly on the skills and experience front if this league sticks around for a few years. The initial players will improve and as time goes on new players will be coming into a continually improving competition. The amount of new players needed will get less and less as time goes on and players will naturally be replaced by better ones.

I don't think anyone is under any illusions that it will take some years to catch up with a lifetime of RL skills and experience but this skills gap can certainly be lessened to some extent with a sprinkling of decent imports, which would also accelerate learning for those new to the sport. 

[GUBRATS]

20 minutes ago, fighting irish said:

I wasn't implying you were looking for an argument, I just didn't understand your point.

I agree wholeheartedly that they will lack, even basic skills (like passing backwards, RL style) and game knowledge.

I have faith, that a good deal of that lack, can be made up for by quality coaching. 

In truth it should make for some ' interesting ' games , hopefully most are competitive , but that would be the biggest worry , that the teams that can get the experience could heavily beat those with mostly ' athletes ' 

[Copa]

1 hour ago, fighting irish said:

I wasn't implying you were looking for an argument, I just didn't understand your point.

I agree wholeheartedly that they will lack, even basic skills (like passing backwards, RL style) and game knowledge.

I have faith, that a good deal of that lack, can be made up for by quality coaching. 

I suspect quite a few players won’t even know all the rules.

I guess we all start at the beginning when we do something new and they’ll learn eventually.

[fighting irish]

6 minutes ago, Copa said:

I suspect quite a few players won’t even know all the rules.

I guess we all start at the beginning when we do something new and they’ll learn eventually.

Good coaching will have a huge impact. Can they get good coaches? Can they afford them?

[Yakstorm]

At least the Conference setup will go some way to minimising the interaction between those clubs with experienced players and those who don't initially.

I wouldn't want to unleash Brooklyn on any of the new clubs for the first few rounds.

That said, even if there are plenty of mismatches and even if a few clubs churn / drop out along the way, it's not that big of a deal so long as the competition establishes some decent foundations.

[Gooleboy]

53 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

In truth it should make for some ' interesting ' games , hopefully most are competitive , but that would be the biggest worry , that the teams that can get the experience could heavily beat those with mostly ' athletes ' 

As happened a few years ago with Conference teams all over the UK. Sadly a lot of teams fell away when losing all the time by big margins. 

[Oldbear]

1 hour ago, Gooleboy said:

As happened a few years ago with Conference teams all over the UK. Sadly a lot of teams fell away when losing all the time by big margins. 

This could be a big issue in the US, where the travel commitment could be pretty onerous. It’s one thing to travel a long way and lose out in a close encounter but it must be pretty soul destroying to put in the travel and lose by 70-80 points, which could easily happen if a couple of teams have experience in the key positions plus some experience on the coaching side. As I said earlier, I recall some interesting games at high school RU level where teams are predominantly made of of gridiron or basketball players playing in their off season. A lot of these guys were extremely athletic, and skill wise were able to pick up a lot of skills pretty quickly. However when they came up against teams who had a sprinkling of players for whom RU was their first sport their lack of game knowledge and inability to think at game speed (and we are talking RU, so heaven help what RL game speed could have resulted in) usually resulted in some pretty catastrophic mistakes, and resulting blow outs. As a result some schools struggled to fulfill some games when they involved travel over a couple of hours. The organizers of this comp are going to have to tread a very fine line in providing a game schedule, without resulting in every other game being a 80-90 point blow out, as that could be the death knell of fledgling clubs.

[Oldbear]

2 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

In truth it should make for some ' interesting ' games , hopefully most are competitive , but that would be the biggest worry , that the teams that can get the experience could heavily beat those with mostly ' athletes ' 

Sadly that will almost certainly happen, unless these guys can absorb some game knowledge very quickly, which coaching will play a huge part in. Where are the coaches coming from?

[Adelaide Tiger]

Are the games going to be 40 minutes each way?  If so, there could be some blow out scores.

But seeing that the first season is focussed on establishing a foundation is there the possibility of 4x20 minutes then it would give teams of lesser ability/stamina the opportunity to have more rest and be more competitive.

[Eddie]

4 minutes ago, Adelaide Tiger said:

Are the games going to be 40 minutes each way?  If so, there could be some blow out scores.

But seeing that the first season is focussed on establishing a foundation is there the possibility of 4x20 minutes then it would give teams of lesser ability/stamina the opportunity to have more rest and be more competitive.

I doubt fitness will be a key issue here, in terms of blow outs. If anything the new players, chosen for their athletic ability, may be fitter than their more experienced counterparts from the existing US clubs (I’m not talking about people imported to play in this competition). 

[Gomersall]

 

[Damien]

19 minutes ago, Eddie said:

I doubt fitness will be a key issue here, in terms of blow outs. If anything the new players, chosen for their athletic ability, may be fitter than their more experienced counterparts from the existing US clubs (I’m not talking about people imported to play in this competition). 

RL is a completely different type of fitness but the great thing is that this is a new competition and everyone is starting from much the same place. I think this makes it much easier for everyone to build together rather than 2 or 3 new teams being plonked into an existing, established semi-professional competition. Lets face it the goal of this competition initially should be to get up to a strong amateur then L1 standard in a few years and that shouldn't be unfeasible with decent athletes and a smattering of ex-professional imports.

[Whippet13]

36 minutes ago, Gomersall said:

 

Ankle Breaker? I'll be charitable and assume he is injury prone.

[Tommygilf]

9 hours ago, Damien said:

Great strides will be made relatively quickly on the skills and experience front if this league sticks around for a few years. The initial players will improve and as time goes on new players will be coming into a continually improving competition. The amount of new players needed will get less and less as time goes on and players will naturally be replaced by better ones.

I don't think anyone is under any illusions that it will take some years to catch up with a lifetime of RL skills and experience but this skills gap can certainly be lessened to some extent with a sprinkling of decent imports, which would also accelerate learning for those new to the sport. 

Some will make sure they are under that illusion.

[Tommygilf]

I expect to see a fair few more signings of players with MLR experience - hopefully will prove fruitful!

[Kayakman]

11 hours ago, fighting irish said:

Good coaching will have a huge impact. Can they get good coaches? Can they afford them?

Coaching will be key...as will reffing...everybody forgets about the refs until they want to complain about them.....they need certified refs with some experience....will be somewhat difficult but can be overcome.

[Eddie]

5 minutes ago, Kayakman said:

Coaching will be key...as will reffing...everybody forgets about the refs until they want to complain about them.....they need certified refs with some experience....will be somewhat difficult but can be overcome.

Maybe all the Albanian refs that the RLEF are training but who don’t have a domestic competition to referee in can do it?