Is this the greatest NRL season ever and possibly best season in 30-35 years?

[ELBOWSEYE]

8 minutes ago, Havenlad80 said:

Even more impressive then.

Ive heard it said that a lot of Aussie fans can be quite literally fair weather fans when the heavens open.

They should be so lucky to have so much fair weather.

[Pie tries]

2 hours ago, gingerjon said:

Most sports had a post Covid bounce. Rugby league in England is the outlier that didn't.

Looks like the NRL are having one.

Hmm Crowds on up this year in SL, very competitive season - even if the column inches remain sparse

[gingerjon]

15 minutes ago, Pie tries said:

Hmm Crowds on up this year in SL, very competitive season - even if the column inches remain sparse

Are they? (That’s a genuine Q as, like for like, I thought they were broadly the same)

[Anita Bath]

7 hours ago, Futtocks said:

A bit of a revival in interest from Queensland, due to the debut of the Dolphins, the Cowboys improving after a couple of rather ordinary seasons and the Broncos looking like potential champs after a few absolutely disastrous seasons.

You might add the Titans to that…awful on the field, turmoil off the field but very impressive crowds compared to recent seasons.

[bobbruce]

Is the headline to this thread the wrong way round

[ghost crayfish]

It's fantastic seeing the crowds that teams like the Knights and Warriors are getting now. It's a massive boost for the competition, and this wave of support will hopefully flow into the international season too. It feels like the early 90s again...

The Super League war put such a big hole in the game down here, I think it took 20 years for it to properly recover, and then COVID hit. We're back now bigger than ever, and with rugby union really slumping in this part of the world, we have massive potential to go forward. Very exciting times.

[Pulga]

9 hours ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Yes, but what has changed this year is what I’m getting at?

All that has been in place for a while.

I don't think this year is really out of the blue. They've been building basically since the Super League war. The rewards are being reaped for making good decisions for decades. The opposite of Super League really.

[Dunbar]

3 hours ago, bobbruce said:

Is the headline to this thread the wrong way round

Maybe.  And definitely. 

[Havenlad80]

6 hours ago, Anita Bath said:

You might add the Titans to that…awful on the field, turmoil off the field but very impressive crowds compared to recent seasons.

The Gold Coast titans are an enigma.

[Havenlad80]

4 hours ago, ghost crayfish said:

It's fantastic seeing the crowds that teams like the Knights and Warriors are getting now. It's a massive boost for the competition, and this wave of support will hopefully flow into the international season too. It feels like the early 90s again...

The Super League war put such a big hole in the game down here, I think it took 20 years for it to properly recover, and then COVID hit. We're back now bigger than ever, and with rugby union really slumping in this part of the world, we have massive potential to go forward. Very exciting times.

The slump in Super rugby in both Australia and New Zealand needs to be exploited more especially in New Zealand.

[The Rocket]

18 hours ago, Pulga said:

NRL has gone to another level this year. Really good to see. Let's not forget the NRLW too which is producing some fantastic quality.

There was a push to reintroduce reserve grade by V`landy`s to provide more game day content and hopefully boost crowds like we had in the past where you could watch your team`s 18`s, reserves, and first grade on the one day. I don`t think V`landy`s, or anyone for that matter, anticipated how entertaining the NRLW was going to be and it strikes me that the men`s, women`s double headers are the way to go.

I`d be interested to know whether clubs like Newcastle, who are getting up to 17 000 turning up early for the women`s, are sticking a few extra dollars on the ticket price. Seems like a good way to me to help the women`s game to start paying for itself. Saying that while acknowledging all the non-monetary positive externalities the NRLW is bringing to the code.

 

[Havenlad80]

44 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

There was a push to reintroduce reserve grade by V`landy`s to provide more game day content and hopefully boost crowds like we had in the past where you could watch your team`s 18`s, reserves, and first grade on the one day. I don`t think V`landy`s, or anyone for that matter, anticipated how entertaining the NRLW was going to be and it strikes me that the men`s, women`s double headers are the way to go.

I`d be interested to know whether clubs like Newcastle, who are getting up to 17 000 turning up early for the women`s, are sticking a few extra dollars on the ticket price. Seems like a good way to me to help the women`s game to start paying for itself. Saying that while acknowledging all the non-monetary positive externalities the NRLW is bringing to the code.

 

Reserve grade is complicated as this is basically the NSW cup and Queensland cup and not every NRL club has a reserve grade team in those competitions with some teams just having an affiliation with clubs especially when it comes to the Queensland clubs and Melbourne.

 

[Anita Bath]

In Queensland Cup they are all affiliations not reserve grade. However there is talk that Titans, having lost their affiliation with burleigh Bears  to the Broncos, are considering entering a team in the QRL.

[Havenlad80]

12 minutes ago, Anita Bath said:

In Queensland Cup they are all affiliations not reserve grade. However there is talk that Titans, having lost their affiliation with burleigh Bears  to the Broncos, are considering entering a team in the QRL.

Are all the other Queensland cup sides apart from the hunters affiliated?

Edit. I think the hunters have a loose link with the dolphins maybe?

Edited August 28, 2023 by Havenlad80

[Anita Bath]

Yes…you can find them by googling nrl affiliations…though they change frequently

I am not aware of a hunters affiliation with Dolphins. Dolphins have affiliations with Redcliffe Dolphins and Central Queensland Capras. Norths are switching affiliation from broncos to dolphins next season. As I mentioned, Broncos starting an affiliation with Burleigh next season to go alongside continuing affiliations with Wynnum Manly and Souths.

[Havenlad80]

19 minutes ago, Anita Bath said:

Yes…you can find them by googling nrl affiliations…though they change frequently

I am not aware of a hunters affiliation with Dolphins. Dolphins have affiliations with Redcliffe Dolphins and Central Queensland Capras. Norths are switching affiliation from broncos to dolphins next season. As I mentioned, Broncos starting an affiliation with Burleigh next season to go alongside continuing affiliations with Wynnum Manly and Souths.

I think the dolphins affiliation with the hunters is more of a train&trial pathways program.

https://www.qrl.com.au/news/2022/05/19/hunters-announce-strategic-pathways-partnership-with-nrl-club/

[DavidM]

At times i wonder if they get a winter in sydney . The weather seems like summer here ! It does make me laugh when the  sideline commentator says its a chilly 15 degrees 

[Havenlad80]

28 minutes ago, DavidM said:

At times i wonder if they get a winter in sydney . The weather seems like summer here ! It does make me laugh when the  sideline commentator says its a chilly 15 degrees 

Lucky sods.

[stookie]

Quote

Is this the greatest NRL season ever and possibly best season in 30-35 years?

No, actually it has been sub-par across the board, with many, many disappointing aspects to it.

I'm totally not a bulldogs fan.

[stookie]

On 27/08/2023 at 23:52, Gerrumonside ref said:

Yes, but what has changed this year is what I’m getting at?

All that has been in place for a while.

A lot of posters have pointed out some really good tangible reasons why, but another thing to consider, Australians are trend-following w##kers as far as sports go. Even established sports tend to have big peaks and troughs.

The smart ones (like AFL and sometimes RL) understand this and use the temporary strength to assist long term growth. The dumb ones (rugby union, soccer, basketball) think they are now the number 1 sport all of a sudden, act like it, and go bankrupt or nearly so 3 years later.

Edited September 1, 2023 by stookie
OK so that word is a swear then

[unapologetic pedant]

4 hours ago, stookie said:

A lot of posters have pointed out some really good tangible reasons why, but another thing to consider, Australians are trend-following w##kers as far as sports go. Even established sports tend to have big peaks and troughs.

The smart ones (like AFL and sometimes RL) understand this and use the temporary strength to assist long term growth. The dumb ones (rugby union, soccer, basketball) think they are now the number 1 sport all of a sudden, act like it, and go bankrupt or nearly so 3 years later.

Those 20km w##kers at the Olympics are a right bunch of walkers. Ridiculous event. Only marginally less absurd than the triple jump.

[Dirkgee]

On 28/08/2023 at 03:36, Futtocks said:

There have been a lot of matches played in absolute torrents. Thankfully, quite a lot of them have been very good games regardless.

Nowhere close to the last few years though. Last year was Sydney’s wettest year on record, this year so far it’s been one of the driest on record

[Sports Prophet]

On 28/08/2023 at 02:07, Havenlad80 said:

Even more impressive then.

Ive heard it said that a lot of Aussie fans can be quite literally fair weather fans when the heavens open.

I remember one match, Thursday night I think, or maybe Monday, there was near on hurricane status and about 2-3k sharks die hards still made it there.

[Damien]

The fans seem to think so:

More fans attended NRL games this season than ever before in a huge boost to the code ahead of the finals.

New aggregate and average crowd records have already been set in 2023, even though the regular season doesn’t conclude until Sunday. Figures collated before the start of round 27 show a total of 3,607,093 fans have gone through the turnstiles. That smashes the previous mark of 3,151,660 from 2012.

This year’s average crowd of 18,404 is also a record. Even if no one attended the final round of the season, 2023 would still surpass the next-highest average (16,468 in 2005). So far, the average attendance is up 22.6 per cent on the previous year.

...

And for some context:

Top 10 cumulative NRL crowd attendances

2023 (196 games) 3,607,093 fans

2012 (192 games) 3,151,660 fans

2010 (192 games) 3,149,927 fans

2011 (192 games) 3,130,669 fans

2009 (192 games) 3,085,281 fans

1995 (220 games) 3,061,893 fans

2018 (192 games) 3,045,440 fans

2007 (192 games) 3,024,040 fans

2008 (192 games) 2,993,469 fans

2005 (180 games) 2,964,288 fans

NRL 2023: Attendance records smashed as fans flock back to footy (smh.com.au)

[unapologetic pedant]

17 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

I remember one match, Thursday night I think, or maybe Monday, there was near on hurricane status and about 2-3k sharks die hards still made it there.

Somebody could have been killed at that game. Assorted objects swept Up! Up! Cronulla then Down! Down! Cronulla like ballistic missiles.