Australian rugby/RA

[WorkingClassRugger]

Whilst we are seeing a mini resurgence at the moment, the reality is there are still many of the best athletes in Australia running around in the NRL and AFL.

Their competitions expanding also means the player pools available to rugby will be shrinking. It has been brought up in the threads before how the NRL have no qualms offering 14yr olds significant sums of cash to sign commitment deals. As the NRL and AFL grow, more of those deals will be getting offered particularly with these new teams like Perth and PNG where it's going to take some decent financial incentive to get players to move.

Whilst our competitors have the cash, they can essentially freeze out a fair chunk of talent from committing to rugby.

I think that may be part of the thinking in the elimination of the Giteau Law. Letting playets go north to earn the bigger money would pitentially free up resources to better compete for talent in the junior ranks.

 

[stoff]

One risk the AFL and NRL take with their continued expansion is dilution of talent, you wonder at what point they spread it too thin. Their domination of the week to week, domestic sporting market is pretty absolute at this point though.

But the more they expand, the bigger rugby's point of difference could stand out - as a big event sport with the best against the best on an international stage. That 'revenue in Australian sport' graph illustrating Tennis Australia's success from the Australian Open shows how lucrative it can be as a big event sport. When I've heard Dan Herbert and Phil Waugh speak it's clear to me their aim is to build some more big events into the calendar so that rugby is not as reliant on the Lions tour every 12 years and a home world cup every 20-30.

It’s harder to see the dilution when there is no alternate reference point. The bigger challenge to me is securing uncertainty of outcome across more teams.

 

[Rebel man]

I think that may be part of the thinking in the elimination of the Giteau Law. Letting playets go north to earn the bigger money would pitentially free up resources to better compete for talent in the junior ranks.

If R360 gets up, the amount of money on offer may sway kids to stay in rugby to try and get a deal. Definitely you have seen this effect with kids choosing to stay in cricket over returning to Aussie Rules

Now there is also the potential that 20 of the NRL’s biggest names are going to leave. Plus the prospect of another 3 teams starting up in a short space of time that the standard in the NRL falls away.

While yes it is harder to see the standard drop off when there is no comparison how many here actively watch European rugby?

 

[PhilClinton]

I know it sounds counter-intuitive but I think the NRL may actually be keen to have the competition diluted and level the playing field a bit to bring fans of the shitter teams back into the fold come finals time.

The comp has pretty much been dominated by a handful of clubs over the last decade, notably the Panthers, Storm and Roosters.

Even myself as someone who watches a fair bit of NRL over the weekend will likely not bother with another Panthers and Storm grand final.

 

[Rebel man]

I know it sounds counter-intuitive but I think the NRL may actually be keen to have the competition diluted and level the playing field a bit to bring fans of the shitter teams back into the fold come finals time.

The comp has pretty much been dominated by a handful of clubs over the last decade, notably the Panthers, Storm and Roosters.

Even myself as someone who watches a fair bit of NRL over the weekend will likely not bother with another Panthers and Storm grand final.

But those clubs still are better run businesses even with less talent available

 

[Dctarget]

It’s harder to see the dilution when there is no alternate reference point. The bigger challenge to me is securing uncertainty of outcome across more teams.

Agreed, it's the brilliance of the AFL. Each year there is an all time team and the best ever to pull the jersey on etc etc. In reality the last 5 years could've been the worst cohort of players ever and we'll never know. Add in the draft and in theory most teams should have their time at the top, it's a pretty tidy system.

Not sure why NRL doesn't have a draft.

 

[Wilson]

Not sure why NRL doesn't have a draft.

Terry Hill

 

[PhilClinton]

Agreed, it's the brilliance of the AFL. Each year there is an all time team and the best ever to pull the jersey on etc etc. In reality the last 5 years could've been the worst cohort of players ever and we'll never know. Add in the draft and in theory most teams should have their time at the top, it's a pretty tidy system.

Not sure why NRL doesn't have a draft.

My understanding is the rugby league junior player catchments are much more defined, and clubs are paying large sums of money to ensure their junior players come through that pipeline into their NRL teams.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

I know it sounds counter-intuitive but I think the NRL may actually be keen to have the competition diluted and level the playing field a bit to bring fans of the shitter teams back into the fold come finals time.

The comp has pretty much been dominated by a handful of clubs over the last decade, notably the Panthers, Storm and Roosters.

Even myself as someone who watches a fair bit of NRL over the weekend will likely not bother with another Panthers and Storm grand final.

One of the best results is to have the last 3-4 rounds be extended finals when you have teams 5-12 still alive.

The talents there. It will become less likely to have sides with 4+ Origin players because those guys will have more teams able to pay them big money.

Rugby may face a problem with the NRL wanting to re establish the U20s competition. They will be looking for players everywhere. Super Rugby Aus is a very good comp for Rugby to keep guys in house and playing.

 

[Rebel man]

Terry Hill

The NRL is more even than the AFL the draft is shit

 

[Omar Comin']

Whilst we are seeing a mini resurgence at the moment, the reality is there are still many of the best athletes in Australia running around in the NRL and AFL.

Their competitions expanding also means the player pools available to rugby will be shrinking. It has been brought up in the threads before how the NRL have no qualms offering 14yr olds significant sums of cash to sign commitment deals. As the NRL and AFL grow, more of those deals will be getting offered particularly with these new teams like Perth and PNG where it's going to take some decent financial incentive to get players to move.

Whilst our competitors have the cash, they can essentially freeze out a fair chunk of talent from committing to rugby.

This is true, but if rugby is laser focused on being a concentrated, big event sport with the best against the best then the NRL could become a feeder into top tier rugby. It would only ever be for a small number, like a few Joseph Sua'ali'i's every year, but it could happen because the rugby economy will always be driven by a much smaller number of players, while league and AFL keep cutting their giant pie into more pieces.

This would become more obvious if R360 works out, but could also be true at a smaller scale if test rugby continues to grow commercially around the world, which would lead to the core Wallabies players being significantly higher paid than any NRL or AFL player.