Ideas for NRC

[Dave Beat]

Reducing teams will have more talent go off shore.

For those that follow the Shute Shield comp closely they'd be aware how much talent has headed off shore and thus reducing the depth.

I've listed a combined Manly / Rats team on one of these threads that would push a lot of Super Teams.

So dropping it back to 2 NSW teams - really - so aspiring rugby players have there season cut short so Super Players can drop back and play NRC.
I'd much rather see these aspring players allow a crack.

 

[BaysideBird]

I like the concept that someone else put forward previously of NSW Country aligning themselves with the Brumbies

I said this before the start of the inaugural season... I always thought that the NSWRU was Sydney-centric and that NSW Country Rugby would be better off alligning with the Brumbies, especially in the Southern Inland.

 

[dru]

Although not yet confirmed, it looks as though next season the NSW Waratahs will head the NRC program in its own state and at this point will only register 2 NSW teams to compete in the 2016 NRC Competition.

Intruder, how solid is this?

It would be great for the NRC for the Waratahs to actually engage. I get that they would want to control cost hence two teams. As one of a few hundred Stars supporters, this would be disappointing. But for the NRC an engaged Waratah organisation is a win.

 

[Dave Beat]

I think dropping back to 2 teams will end up being the first step to dropping back to 0 teams. We will be left with 2 teams that club supporters will struggle to relate to when supporter numbers attending games presently are already down.
I believe the current team structure is sound - but simply needs to be tweaked a little. Some of the NSW teams could have performed better this year but for different reasons struggled.

 

[Lindommer]

Paty, me old mucker, where've you been these last 20 years. Southern Inland IS aligned with the Brumbies. Draw a rough line through Griffith and Goulburn, everything below that's part of ACT & Southern NSW Rugby.

A few years ago there was talk of Illawarra leaving NSW Country Rugby Union and joining the Brumbies, that'd mean ACT Rugby would start on Sydney's outskirts at Campbelltown. That was too much for the NSWRU alickadoos and pressure was brought to bear on our 'gong brothers to stay sky blue.

 

[kiap]

Whether it's 4 teams or 3 or 2, the NSW teams need the NSWRU/Waratahs on board.

The "tweaks" that are required cost money. The clubs don't have it.

 

[Bring Back The Ruck]

I have heard a rumour that the waratahs will indeed be aligned to 2 teams
However there is still a chance of 2 non waratah aligned sides from nsw

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Okay, I'm going to go out on a limb and say, I don't think winding back the NSW teams from 4 back to 2 is that bad an idea. Think about it. One of the stalkly obvious issues at present with the NRC is the lack of overall competitiveness of the NSW teams. When you consider that as a state we house the player base and still produce the majority of the talent we should be running teams that are very, very competitive. But we're not. That's because the likes of Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and even the Queensland based squads are able to concentrate talent in one or two teams while we are spreading it over four. Yes, I know much of the talent concentrated in the other squads is sourced from our club comp but that's how its always been and will likely be for some time to come. We need to get over that.

What's the objective here? To have dots on a map or develop a highly competitive competition as a means to identify and develop talent for Super Rugby and by extension the Wallabies?

If its quality then why not use the same system that has developed the best Rugby championship going. Super Rugby. It was an to an extent still is the concentrated nature of the provinces/franchises that helped produce the best Rugby around. Seven of the 8 RWC backs this up.

We need to look to make the NRC highly competitve. No easy matches and if only having two NSW teams is the answer then so be it. For those who argue alienation say if you went to a Sydney and NSW Country set up then wouldn't that be in line with traditional representative structures?

 

[qwerty51]

So we have a 7 team competition..? Honestly I'm baffled at the suggestions to reduce the NSW teams to even the competitiveness rather than weakening the 1 state teams by spreading the talent out more.

 

[wamberal]

The main aim of the NRC should be to be a platform for the game's expansion.



Whatever works towards that end is okay by me.



Firstly, the competition has to survive financially. Secondly, it has to build up a following - not only amongst the rusted-on, but, gradually, into the wider audience.


Nothing else matters if it fails to survive and to grow audience participation numbers.


It has to be a genuine third tier. If it does survive as a genuine third tier, it will, by definition, develop the next cadre of elite players, just as surely as night follows day.

 

[TOCC]

8 teams, it provides the healthy equilibrium between representing different areas but also concentrates the talent enough to make the tournament competitive, I agree that rugby needs the NRC to be genuine third tier which bridges the gap between club and super rugby. Australian Rugby is only going to continue losing players to the northern hemisphere, we need the NRC to become a production line of players ready to step up.

If there are too many teams then the standard of the comp drops and so does the development potential.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

So we have a 7 team competition..? Honestly I'm baffled at the suggestions to reduce the NSW teams to even the competitiveness rather than weakening the 1 state teams by spreading the talent out more.

Wouldn't weakening the one team states only weaken the competition as a whole. It shouldn't be about weakening some teams by cutting pro numbers in order to allow others to become more competitive but more finding a solution to raise the competitiveness of the weaker squads. Maybe removing two squads might be a little extreme. Perhapd just one like TOCC suggests might work out. One thing is fairly clear and that's in regards to the NSW teams the talent is spread too thin and that needs to be addressed.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

8 teams, it provides the healthy equilibrium between representing different areas but also concentrates the talent enough to make the tournament competitive, I agree that rugby needs the NRC to be genuine third tier which bridges the gap between club and super rugby. Australian Rugby is only going to continue losing players to the northern hemisphere, we need the NRC to become a production line of players ready to step up.

If there are too many teams then the standard of the comp drops and so does the development potential.

Your last sentence sums up my first post nicely. The NRC is about delivering high level development opportunities to emerging talent. To ensure they are best prepared for the step up to Super Rugby. To do so the competition needs to be highly competitve across the board. No easy matches. Having too many teams dilutes that. May be 7 is too few perhaps 8 is the perfect number.

The point is, while the NRC has delivered on a number of fronts it still has a few issues to resolve. Developing a highly competitive competition that benefits players as well as is attractive to viewers is one of the issues. There has been a number of really great games in the NRC. We need to make those games more the norm.

 

[qwerty51]

The Vikings at one stage were putting out a full Super rugby pack, what's the point of that?

 

[TOCC]

Because out of that Vikings pack only Butler and Alexander have been regular starters for the Brumbies over the past couple of years, the rest of them have only had limited game time or were promoted to the squad in the past 12months.

This is exactly what the competition is designed to do, give game time to the players below the super rugby starting XV, those coming back from injury and the young players with potential.

 

[Highlander35]

9 probably stretches the base too thin, on the basis of what we've seen.

7 I think will mean a too significant reduction in player spots for a development comp.

Hence, I think the ARU should really be exploring all available Avenues to both increase the Tahs involvement and still retain 8 teams.

Ultimately though, the almighty dollar always wins, and if a 7 team comp proves both financially more stable, and a consistently higher quality of rugby, I think we'll have to accept that.

 

[Slim 293]

Because out of that Vikings pack only Butler and Alexander have been regular starters for the Brumbies over the past couple of years, the rest of them have only had limited game time or were promoted to the squad in the past 12months.

This is exactly what the competition is designed to do, give game time to the players below the super rugby starting XV, those coming back from injury and the young players with potential.

Precisely...........

The Vikings had a very good squad, but for the record the Vikings NRC GF team only contained 4 starters from a full strength 2015 Brumbies team, plus another 7 squad players (5/7 featuring regularly on the Brumbies bench), and the remaining 4 players were from the John I Dent Cup, 2 of whom have now received Super Rugby contracts.............

The bench had one current Brumbies squad member (Makin), and future squad member (Anae), with the rest comprising club players.............

There were a number of teams, including Brisbane City, that had just as many regular Super Rugby starters in their XV's..............

Teams shouldn't be diminished due to the failure of NSW to fully commit to this competition..............

Certainly one of their teams needs to be scrapped, but I think two is too many.

 

[Jagman]

Cut the NSW teams down to 2. The Waratahs can't take over 3 teams and they're not going to share their contracted players with a 3rd run by someone else. Do the Reds end up sharing any contracted players with non QLD teams? And they have less Wallabies than the Tahs. The 3rd team will have to import all the players from the left overs of Brumbs Rebs and Force.

So... Adelaide made an initial bid to start an NRC team and Pulver said their bid was very good but something for down the track. Well the financial situation has changed now for the ARU and Adelaide are never going to have a Super Rugby team so why not give them the next best thing if they initially made a compelling bid.

Send the excess Super players to Adelaide and you have 8 teams.


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[Slim 293]

If we're cutting back on NSW teams it's definitely far too early to start adding teams from outside of the Super Rugby territories...........

 

[BaysideBird]

Paty, me old mucker, where've you been these last 20 years. Southern Inland IS aligned with the Brumbies. Draw a rough line from Griffith to Goulburn, everything below that's part of ACT & Southern NSW Rugby.

I do know that. What I was suggesting is that NSW Country become alligned to the Brumbies and build their base out of the Southern Inland, Wagga and the such. Then you could still have 2 Sydney teams, because I think there is plenty of players to have 2 competitive teams out of Sydney, where as 3 seems to stretch NSW a bit thin.