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So still could be a decrease in real terms for the domestic rights. At a time when all the other codes have had huge increases.

If you just put an NRC double header in the fixture list and did nothing special around it. No out of the ordinary promotions or anything, just a couple of games of rugby at one venue, then I would agree with you. But if you created an occasion around them, built them up as a festival of...

This is why you would have other things around the venue! A kids zone being one of the most important things. A lot of people wouldn't watch all 160 minutes of rugby and you'd certainly have a bit of a gap between the games.

Last year was the first year Wellington failed to sell out in ages. Previously it sold out in minutes. I'm not sure what's gone wrong, but the NRL Auckland 9's has had an effect as it's new while perhaps the Wellington 7's has got a bit stale. The Gold Coast was a terrible location for the...

The way I see it is that the NRC product is great but it needs to get a lot more people to give it a go first and foremost. The best way I can think of that happening is to create a special event or events around the NRC. Occasions that people will want to attend because they know there'll be...

The 7's in the Gold Coast has been a disaster for many reasons. The main being that the Gold Coast is the worst sporting city in Australia and the stadium is in an awful location. The 7's in London this year sold out Twickenham on the Saturday because it was a big party with lots of beer, plenty...

The other thing is that with 2 matches you can create much more of an event. It's longer, there's a gap between games etc. You can just do a lot more to make it a real day out. More than watching 2 games of rugby. Plus with a bit of lead time you could market it over a couple of months. Maybe...

It's a pity the ARU's financial situation is so poor they need to break even on the NRC from year 1. Ideally they'd be throwing a bit more money at it in the first few years to gain over the long term. Awareness and engagement doesn't come free.

There is already free entry for kids of a young age. But they don't know about it! If all the junior rugby players had a little NRC pass card, which had the fixtures relevant to where they live written on it then it might encourage them to pester their parents into taking them. Or for older...

I don't expect most teams to want, or be able to sign a marquee international player. But it doesn't matter. If even one team is willing to spend the money to do it then I think they should be allowed to. They're not going to get some huge advantage over everyone else on the field, and while...

Oh and another one I had was about a marquee player allowance. There was talk before the competition started that one of the teams (guessing the Stars) was trying to get Jonny Wilkinson to play for them. Rumour was that the ARU nipped this in the bud and said it would be a 'bad look.' That's...

I've had some ideas I've posted on this site and on the roar, but to repeat the more significant ones: 1. Live streaming with commentary of every match not broadcast by Fox. This should not be up to the clubs to organise separately. One YouTube channel and a decent NRC website should be the...

Well the Japanese super rugby team won't be a company team so hopefully it will be able to grow support. Definitely a fair risk of failure, especially considering the competition structure, but the potential gains for SANZAR are huge if rugby can grow in Japan and Asia. Surely the longer term...

Unlikely to happen. What's more possible is the creation of an online streaming channel that's the same for all non Fox broadcasted matches. That way everyone would know where and how to watch games and the audience could build over time. It's ridiculous the clubs all had to decide whether to do...

Will Melbourne be able to get a significantly bigger crowd for the semi final? Seem to have a core of about 2k for the Rising, so there's still a lot of regular Rebels fans that haven't been won over yet. Anyone's guess for the other semi final. It's a shame that Brisbane City didn't finish...

Season 2 will be the real test. This season was rushed together, and Andrew Fagan leaving to the Adelaide Crows surely didn't help. They should be able to do a much better job with a year of planning and a dozen little improvements based on learnings from this first season.

I'm very interested to see how Fiji go against France and Wales. I have a feeling that in 2015 we're going to see a Fiji closer to the 2007 vintage rather than what we saw in 2011. Outside of the Wallabies games I think I'm most interested in the tier 2 vs tier 1 matches.

I'm guessing you have quite a narrow definition of what counts as an "Aussie."

Sorry TOCC, you are right. Things have gone a bit too far on this tangent. Don't go down that line. Multiculturalism has certainly assisted in the growth of soccer in Australia and one thing rugby could do a lot better is embrace different communities. You don't see many people from a non...

I think China are more likely to qualify in the women's then Japan. They've been the top women's team in Asia for the past couple of years. Plus, they will be competing in the IRB series as a core team this year after qualifying alongside Fiji, France and South Africa. If the evidence of the...