Strong rumours NRL #18 team will be PNG

[R L Winger]

BRING BACK THE NORTH SYDNEY BEARS

[DACS]

I'll believe the PNG thing when I see it.

An uncompetitive team featuring PNG players with a smattering of reserve grade Aussies/Kiwis that will draw no crowds once the novelty wears off as the PNG team gets thumped every week, and requires a long trip to NQ or PNG? This new club would bring zero to existing clubs unless they also got a big chunk of money. There's no value to sponsors from extra coverage in PNG. 

Compare to Perth/Adealaide and its quickly apparent that even a team bankrolled entirely by the Govt would be far less attractive to existing clubs than another Australian one, which would potentially add value to sponsors who operate nationally. 

People who suggest Aussies would be willing to live in PNG if the team were located there are kidding themselves and have no idea what the place is like. They'd need to be paid a lot of extras, including significant security which would have to be paid for centrally. Its almost the last place on earth most Aussies would want to live. The alternative would be FIFO players, which would add to costs and make a PNG side a team in name only.

[Copa]

3 hours ago, EggFace said:

I thought Tasmaina was a 3rd world country.

Almost… 48.8% of Tasmanians are functionally illiterate. It’s absolutely appalling. 

 

 

[George Watt]

21 hours ago, Copa said:

China would be annoyed. It’s a very affordable way to counter their increasing influence just to the north. It locks PNG very securely into Australian cultural influence.

Do not think China will be bothered at all as PNG is already in China's Belt and Road Initiative.

[George Watt]

7 hours ago, 17 stone giant said:

We have to press the correct button to answer your questions, right?

Red button: None at all

Yellow button: Nothing to worry about

Green button: A little bit of a nuisance

Blue button: The most significant threat to Aussie national security.

I'm pressing blue.

 

 It's Green button for me.

[Sports Prophet]

7 hours ago, EggFace said:

Tasmania are getting a AFL team so why not PNG for NRL.

Yeah I couldn’t agree more. If this is a real strategy, then there should be a grassroots funding section as well to develop multiple performance centres and ensure satisfactory pitch and facilities of all Digicel Cup teams to have them as hubs for further grassroots activities feeding up the pyramid.

[Sports Prophet]

Reports of PNG being a certainty of NRL club 18 are true according to a colleague who is a senior official of an alternate party which were vying for that 18th spot.

Wasn't even a bid process this time round, the ARLC Commission have simply bowed to severe pressure from Albanese and the Federal Government and the decision is done.

[The Future is League]

5 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

Reports of PNG being a certainty of NRL club 18 are true according to a colleague who is a senior official of an alternate party which were vying for that 18th spot.

Wasn't even a bid process this time round, the ARLC Commission have simply bowed to severe pressure from Albanese and the Federal Government and the decision is done.

The money on offer was too good to turn down for the NRL i would say and will cost the NRL nothing and will improve the next TV deal.

[Sports Prophet]

1 minute ago, The Future is League said:

The money on offer was too good to turn down for the NRL i would say and will cost the NRL nothing and will improve the next TV deal.

It won’t improve the TV deal more than Perth or NZ or Brisbane or Central Coast or North Sydney or Adelaide or Cairns or even Darwin would. Heck, Melbourne II would probably improve the TV deal more.

[The Future is League]

Just now, Sports Prophet said:

It won’t improve the TV deal more than Perth or NZ or Brisbane or Central Coast or North Sydney or Adelaide or Cairns or even Darwin would. Heck, Melbourne II would probably improve the TV deal more.

It won't agreed, but will still improve the next TV deal

[Sports Prophet]

3 minutes ago, The Future is League said:

It won't agreed, but will still improve the next TV deal

Newtown Jets would improve it more. Improving the TV deal is by now way a feather in the cap of the PNG “bid”, nor should it be used as a measure of the “bid’s” success.

[Eddie]

16 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

It won’t improve the TV deal more than Perth or NZ or Brisbane or Central Coast or North Sydney or Adelaide or Cairns or even Darwin would. Heck, Melbourne II would probably improve the TV deal more.

Are there many PNG expats in Australia who’ll now watch? More than people from Darwin? 

[Sports Prophet]

2 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Are there many PNG expats in Australia who’ll now watch? More than people from Darwin? 

Haha

aaahahaha

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aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[The Future is League]

19 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

Newtown Jets would improve it more. Improving the TV deal is by now way a feather in the cap of the PNG “bid”, nor should it be used as a measure of the “bid’s” success.

I'm not denying that, but it will improve the TV deal, and a PNG NRL club will cost the NRL nothing, and give teams an extra home game, which means more revenue for the clubs

[Damien]

Surely there is more money to be made by the NRL in PNG in terms of TV and streaming with the addition of a PNG team. Other teams can't offer that.

I think it's fair that any team improve the value of the Australian TV deal and that a Perth, another Queensland team or NZ2 would improve it more than PNG. However similarly any team add an extra game each week and improves the TV deal regardless. I don't think it should be either or anyway and we should still look to add these ASAP.

I do think too that the variety that a PNG team offers cannot be underestimated both for viewers wanting to watch in Australia, and elsewhere, and for the NRL competition as a whole in terms of sponsors and perception. 

[Sports Prophet]

1 hour ago, Damien said:

Surely there is more money to be made by the NRL in PNG in terms of TV and streaming with the addition of a PNG team. Other teams can't offer that.

I think it's fair that any team improve the value of the Australian TV deal and that a Perth, another Queensland team or NZ2 would improve it more than PNG. However similarly any team add an extra game each week and improves the TV deal regardless. I don't think it should be either or anyway and we should still look to add these ASAP.

I do think too that the variety that a PNG team offers cannot be underestimated both for viewers wanting to watch in Australia, and elsewhere, and for the NRL competition as a whole in terms of sponsors and perception. 

Im not sure an increase on the current PNG media deal would be any more valuable than a SL style Papa John’s Pizza deal.

I just don’t see the team being competitive if based out of PNG and I think it would be a travesty to name a team PNG and base them anywhere else.

The only criteria I see PNG offering more value than its competitors is if there was a fast track of at least two centres of excellence which were financed and staffed to the hilt and targeted with bringing 45 new home grown NRL players in the next 5 years. Only NZII would have a chance of delivering that, but it would be much more expensive. 

Off the top of my head, they are probably behind all other valuable metrics of at least four other potential locations.

Edited October 20, 2023 by Sports Prophet

[unapologetic pedant]

8 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

Yeah I couldn’t agree more. If this is a real strategy, then there should be a grassroots funding section as well to develop multiple performance centres and ensure satisfactory pitch and facilities of all Digicel Cup teams to have them as hubs for further grassroots activities feeding up the pyramid.

None of which requires a PNG NRL franchise at the apex of the pyramid to be worthwhile.

What does an NRL team deliver, in terms of the stated objective of countering Chinese influence in the region, that the above strategy does not?

[unapologetic pedant]

15 hours ago, EggFace said:

I thought Tasmaina was a 3rd world country.

Tough call.

[Sports Prophet]

8 minutes ago, unapologetic pedant said:

None of which requires a PNG NRL franchise at the apex of the pyramid to be worthwhile.

What does an NRL team deliver, in terms of the stated objective of countering Chinese influence in the region, that the above strategy does not?

Nothing, nada, zip, zero!

This is my very point. For a lot less money than it costs to underwrite an NRL club, the government could improve the wellbeing of many Pacific neighbours and setup fantastic performance centres in PNG, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga and gain a diplomacy benefit stretching throughout the Pacific, not just in PNG.

Frustrating from many angles this one.

[Damien]

3 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

Nothing, nada, zip, zero!

This is my very point. For a lot less money than it costs to underwrite an NRL club, the government could improve the wellbeing of many Pacific neighbours and setup fantastic performance centres in PNG, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga and gain a diplomacy benefit stretching throughout the Pacific, not just in PNG.

Frustrating from many angles this one.

This is what has been done already with the Kaiviti Silktails and their high performance centre and network of training hubs around Fiji. 

[Sports Prophet]

4 minutes ago, Damien said:

This is what has been done already with the Kaiviti Silktails and their high performance centre and network of training hubs around Fiji. 

The Federal Government have backed the Fijian Super Rugby team as well which is a bigger project than the Silktails.

Would have been ideal to see the NRL deliver a high performance pacific island series involving 8 teams from PNG, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, NZ and maybe even NC with performance centres delivering high quality training and playing opportunities, all for a fraction of the cost of an NRL club in just one of those countries (if even based in that country at all).

Instead, I expect we will look back at millions squandered on unsustainably propping up a club in the NRL for five or ten years.

 

[Anita Bath]

17 hours ago, EggFace said:

Tasmania are getting a AFL team so why not PNG for NRL.

Not necessarily….conditional on a very poor state government footing the bill for a spanking new stadium. Currently a hot potato in Tasmanian politics and an election on the horizon. Some politicians at great risk of losing their seats if they support prioritising the tax payer funded stadium over education, health etc. Watch this space as they say.

[The Future is League]

38 minutes ago, Anita Bath said:

Not necessarily….conditional on a very poor state government footing the bill for a spanking new stadium. Currently a hot potato in Tasmanian politics and an election on the horizon. Some politicians at great risk of losing their seats if they support prioritising the tax payer funded stadium over education, health etc. Watch this space as they say.

I have seen figures of up to 3/4 billion AUD to build the stadium of taxpayers money, but as we know that in all these projects the costs will rise

Edited October 20, 2023 by The Future is League

[unapologetic pedant]

1 hour ago, Damien said:

I do think too that the variety that a PNG team offers cannot be underestimated both for viewers wanting to watch in Australia, and elsewhere, and for the NRL competition as a whole in terms of sponsors and perception. 

The potential is there, but unlikely to be realized by a league whose fans are so insular and cynical. When the new team loses games, they will belittle the players, dismiss the team, and excoriate the vain politicians and venal administrators who brought PNG into the comp.

Warriors games on TV consistently rate amongst the worst in Oz. Aussie viewers are no more interested in international aspects of NRL than they are in national RL teams.

PNG is an extraordinary place. And for those accustomed to the image of Rugby League as a minority Northern English phenomenon, the status and popularity of the game in PNG is also extraordinary. But what impact does this have on perception when our global profile is so abysmally low and any positive or intriguing publicity is automatically conflated with another sport? 

[Wellsy4HullFC]

I can't say I know enough about PNG to comment on what it would from an international rugby league POV, exposing a large population to NRL standards regularly can only improve playing numbers worldwide, but whether they'd get up to scratch within an acceptable timeframe is obviously a huge issue. As said, I can't see many from outside PNG wishing to relocate.

I'd like to see it purely to see what happens!