Will 2024 be the best NRL season ever?

[The Rocket]

2 hours ago, Damien said:

 

Brilliant we`ve got the ANZAC Day clash in New Zealand now, that will be another big event game every year. 

I can`t wait for tomorrow, 3 ANZAC Day matches spread across New Zealand and Australia. All we need now is an ANZAC Day eve clash in the nation`s capital Canberra every year, loads of dignitaries in Canberra at that time of year who would attend and it could be another big annual event game.

[Anita Bath]

10 hours ago, The Rocket said:

Brilliant we`ve got the ANZAC Day clash in New Zealand now, that will be another big event game every year. 

I can`t wait for tomorrow, 3 ANZAC Day matches spread across New Zealand and Australia. All we need now is an ANZAC Day eve clash in the nation`s capital Canberra every year, loads of dignitaries in Canberra at that time of year who would attend and it could be another big annual event game.

Possibly for next year since Anzac day will fall on Friday so the ‘eve’ would be the regular Thursday night slot.

 

 

 

[Anita Bath]

Two more blowouts today and one nailbiter. We are seeing fewer close games this season. Up to the end of round 7 this season there were 16 games finished with a margin of 6 points or less. That compares with 24 games at the same point last season.

[Damien]

This can only bode well for the future:

 

[John bird]

7 minutes ago, Damien said:

This can only bode well for the future:

 

Great news and proves all the doubters wrong that the NRL won’t have the numbers to fill squads of 3 extra teams.

[Dunbar]

1 hour ago, Damien said:

This can only bode well for the future:

 

For me there is a clear correlation between the sport clamping down on foul play and the rise in playing numbers.

Rugby League is a tough sport to play but people would have second thoughts letting their kids play if head shots were tolerated and all in brawls were laughed off.  Kids taking up the game is the only pipeline of the next generation of senior players.

As old school fans, we get frustrated with the watering down of the old school biff sometimes, but for the future of the sport, it is absolutely the right thing to do.

[DavidM]

Just reading a bit by Graham Annesley which in some ways sums up my issue with VR reviews in the game . He said Brian Kelly’s no try decision was right because although it looked like a try and on one angle also looked like a try , on another there were , and I quote , ‘ a couple of frames ‘ where it came away from his bicep . He admitted there was a difference of opinion though . I just increasingly despair at the level of scrutiny of incidents , completely contrary to how the game is played or viewed , or common sense rationale . It also seems there’s a mindset among video refs of ‘ how can I disallow this ? ‘ in what is a try scoring game . It may be right but as the debate in football , right at what cost to the spectacle and game 

[Worzel]

On 19/05/2024 at 08:14, Damien said:

This can only bode well for the future:

 

Good demonstration of how elite league audience growth and commercial performance is the best way of supporting and growing the community game further down the pyramid. Participation, and increased volunteer engagement, comes from kids being attracted by a sport having seen it at the highest level. This is why focusing on making Super League successful is just as important for lower league clubs, community clubs and youth rugby league, as it is for the SL clubs themselves. It is not the purely selfish exercise some see it as.  

We saw this with football post-1996, and now we're seeing it in our own sport with the NRL (having been delayed by the division of effort the Super League War created). Sometimes in English rugby league we spend too much time arguing about whether the current small cake is distributed "fairly", and not enough time working on growing the cake. 

 

 

 

 

[The Rocket]

55 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Just reading a bit by Graham Annesley which in some ways sums up my issue with VR reviews in the game . He said Brian Kelly’s no try decision was right because although it looked like a try and on one angle also looked like a try , on another there were , and I quote , ‘ a couple of frames ‘ where it came away from his bicep . He admitted there was a difference of opinion though . I just increasingly despair at the level of scrutiny of incidents , completely contrary to how the game is played or viewed , or common sense rationale . It also seems there’s a mindset among video refs of ‘ how can I disallow this ? ‘ in what is a try scoring game . It may be right but as the debate in football , right at what cost to the spectacle and game 

They can say "it came away from his bicep" all they like, but none of the angles showed whether his hand  lost contact with the ball, that being the case the ref`s on-field decision "try" should have been upheld.

I think Des may have painted himself into a corner over this though by saying at the press conference , yes the NRL will admit they got it wrong, everybody makes mistakes and we apologise. It left them nowhere to go but back the bunker.

On the up-side incidents like this and the one against the Raiders are exactly the sort of thing Des  uses to create that us against the world ethos he is famous for instilling in his teams. Titans are on the up.

 

Edited May 20 by The Rocket

[The Rocket]

On 19/05/2024 at 18:38, Dunbar said:

For me there is a clear correlation between the sport clamping down on foul play and the rise in playing numbers

I think there`s several things feeding into the increase, the crack-down on bad off-field behaviour and the immediate stand-down policy  has sent a very clear message to the general public that the NRL are serious about this and the image of the game and the people who play it, and I think the public like that.

None of these things would matter so much of course if the on -field product wasn`t so attractive at the moment either.

 

[The Rocket]

On 19/05/2024 at 17:14, Damien said:

This can only bode well for the future:

 

Apparently there`s been a massive increase in Touch across Oz last year as well with over half a million registered players nation wide now, with about 150 000 OzTag players registered as well. 

So we`re nudging 900 000 for the three forms of the game. Crazy numbers.

That young Kaeno Kini was picked up by the Titans at a Touch carnival in N.Z., his mum said to the talent scout "but he can`t tackle" apparently the scout responded " don`t worry, we`ll teach him how to tackle". He seems to be pretty home in first grade now.

[Sports Prophet]

Fox Sports reported today that the Magic round hit the following viewing records:

#1 viewers in a regular season round of all time

#1 viewers of Friday 6pm regular season game of all time

#1 viewers of Saturday 5.30pm regular season game of all time (and what a game they were given!)

#1 viewers of Sunday 4pm regular season game of all time

It’s been a brilliant year to date and we still haven’t even had Origin 1!

Will 2024 be the best NRL season of all time? It’s proving to be.

[John bird]

1 hour ago, Sports Prophet said:

Fox Sports reported today that the Magic round hit the following viewing records:

#1 viewers in a regular season round of all time

#1 viewers of Friday 6pm regular season game of all time

#1 viewers of Saturday 5.30pm regular season game of all time (and what a game they were given!)

#1 viewers of Sunday 4pm regular season game of all time

It’s been a brilliant year to date and we still haven’t even had Origin 1!

Will 2024 be the best NRL season of all time? It’s proving to be.

I enjoyed it immensely and the warriors winning was the cherry on top of the cake for me.

[unapologetic pedant]

4 hours ago, Worzel said:

Good demonstration of how elite league audience growth and commercial performance is the best way of supporting and growing the community game further down the pyramid. Participation, and increased volunteer engagement, comes from kids being attracted by a sport having seen it at the highest level. 

Watching RL on TV is as likely to put people off participation. There are far more Aussies playing Soccer than Tackle RL.

Only a small percentage of the younger NRL TV audience will be keen to sign up if they (and their parents) believe the Tackle game is the only version available in junior RL clubs.

The NRL strategy is to deliver grass roots RL as a contact/non-contact package. Thereby maximizing the benefits of elite-level media prominence.

[Worzel]

1 hour ago, unapologetic pedant said:

Watching RL on TV is as likely to put people off participation. There are far more Aussies playing Soccer than Tackle RL.

Only a small percentage of the younger NRL TV audience will be keen to sign up if they (and their parents) believe the Tackle game is the only version available in junior RL clubs.

The NRL strategy is to deliver grass roots RL as a contact/non-contact package. Thereby maximizing the benefits of elite-level media prominence.

I agree it's not just about having a popular elite comp. Other things need to be done too, like reducing barriers to entry including fear of injury (as you say). But without increasing awareness for the elite comp, everything else is a waste of time. It's step one on the journey. There's a clear correlation between NRL's popularity and participation growth, just as there was between Premier League popularity and the (counter-intuitive) growth in lower-league football attendances etc. 

The first step is to become an attractive product, with positive associations, that people aspire to be associated with. 

[Anita Bath]

10 hours ago, Worzel said:

Good demonstration of how elite league audience growth and commercial performance is the best way of supporting and growing the community game further down the pyramid. Participation, and increased volunteer engagement, comes from kids being attracted by a sport having seen it at the highest level. This is why focusing on making Super League successful is just as important for lower league clubs, community clubs and youth rugby league, as it is for the SL clubs themselves. It is not the purely selfish exercise some see it as.  

We saw this with football post-1996, and now we're seeing it in our own sport with the NRL (having been delayed by the division of effort the Super League War created). Sometimes in English rugby league we spend too much time arguing about whether the current small cake is distributed "fairly", and not enough time working on growing the cake. 

 

 

 

 

The two things are not mutually exclusive. Its impossible to grow the game in League 1 areas if they are existing on a shoestring. We should be seeing sharing the cake as an important element of growing the game.

[Anita Bath]

FTA TV exposure helps …in SE Queensland There is a one hour show on Monday Evening plus a 2 hour show on Sunday lunchtime, live games on Thursday, Friday and Sunday with Saturday live games on at the business end of the season and of course Origin games. And theres a QRL game on live before the Sunday NRL game.

AFL has a couple of live games each weekend but nothing outside of these games.

Union has one live game some weekends and nothing else. 

There is no substitute for mass coverage.

If you asked 100 people on the streets of brisbane how did the Broncos/lions/reds do at the weekend Id expect 75% to know the broncos won, 33% to know the lions won and 95% to ask ‘who are the reds’.

[Worzel]

1 hour ago, Anita Bath said:

The two things are not mutually exclusive. Its impossible to grow the game in League 1 areas if they are existing on a shoestring. We should be seeing sharing the cake as an important element of growing the game.

They’re not. But you can’t grow the game at all if kids don’t aspire to play it. That’s step one. 

[Anita Bath]

8 hours ago, Worzel said:

They’re not. But you can’t grow the game at all if kids don’t aspire to play it. That’s step one. 

And having mass coverage on FTA tv is an important element of that. Walk around Brisbane at weekend and count the number of shirts being worn for NRL, AFL and Super rugby teams. You will only need one hand for the last one and still have spare fingers.

[Worzel]

4 hours ago, Anita Bath said:

And having mass coverage on FTA tv is an important element of that. Walk around Brisbane at weekend and count the number of shirts being worn for NRL, AFL and Super rugby teams. You will only need one hand for the last one and still have spare fingers.

Yes agreed. 

[EggFace]

23 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

Fox Sports reported today that the Magic round hit the following viewing records:

#1 viewers in a regular season round of all time

#1 viewers of Friday 6pm regular season game of all time

#1 viewers of Saturday 5.30pm regular season game of all time (and what a game they were given!)

#1 viewers of Sunday 4pm regular season game of all time

It’s been a brilliant year to date and we still haven’t even had Origin 1!

Will 2024 be the best NRL season of all time? It’s proving to be.

I didn't get a chance to watch a game this weekend as was busy but which game was the 5.30pm game ? as I catch up on the NRL app.

[Dunbar]

8 minutes ago, EggFace said:

I didn't get a chance to watch a game this weekend as was busy but which game was the 5.30pm game ? as I catch up on the NRL app.

That was the Sharks Roosters game.

[Sports Prophet]

1 hour ago, EggFace said:

I didn't get a chance to watch a game this weekend as was busy but which game was the 5.30pm game ? as I catch up on the NRL app.

Sharks v Roosters

[John bird]

How freaking good were the 2 NRL games this morning played in front of sold out stadiums!!!

[John bird]

NRL really knocking it out of the park this season both on and off the pitch.

happy days!!