NRC onwards and upwards

[RugbyReg]

Hi all, I know we have the NRC Ideas thread, but I wanted to try and distill some of the ideas and feedback for the NRC moving forward in a seperate thread.

The ARU will do a complete NRC review and are keen to hear GAGR's thoughts so I will represent us and try to capture some of the ideas and opportunities.

So let's bring them to the table here. Positive and negative. What you liked and didn't any ideas for improvement or opportunities. Realism is desireable but I guess sometimes it never hurts to ask.

Go for it.

 

[qwerty51]

Parts of it were too amateurish for me. Need to have a TMO for all games on tries. Saw some dodgy tries being awarded.

Obviously I've been pretty vocal about the way players are aligned to clubs, something has to change so the teams are more equal. Make a minimum Super Rugby clause rather than a max.

The Bar TV commentators have done a wonderful job so I feel harsh for saying this but we need commentators that are more rugby knowledgeable. The scoreboard clock sometimes didn't reflect the referees so some games ran up to 85:00 and yellow cards were never shown - this was on the live streamed games.

 

[kiap]

I'll repost some of my earlier whing constructive suggestions to get the ball rolling (might have a few others & more in depth a bit later).

1. No overlapping games. Adjust the start times of matches 45 minutes each way if needed so that they don't overlap. More viewers will then be able to watch each game. The matches are being streamed anyway. Why should we have to choose? It's crazy.
2. No more "yellowfests" like Spirit vs Country. Take it out of the hands of the clubs. When the ARU release the draw at the start of the season, they should notify each team which jersey must be worn for each match (whichever combination clashes the least. Home team gets to wear their usual jersey unless there is still a clash - in which case the home team is told to wear their alternate). Dock a point for non-compliance.
3. HL Shield: I love it. Kudos to all involved for introducing it. BUT, All Horan-Little challenge match winners (holders) should get their name engraved on the shield when the season is done. Otherwise it's not a proper challenge trophy. This engrave the end-of-year holder only guff is a nonsense.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

The good - NRC franchises tried a few different things to different levels of success e.g Rising playing some regional games to promote (but bit hit and miss), doing family do's etc....

Country games at major regional centres like newcastle and major centres that QLD country played in.....maybe play regular games at big centres and rotate every year 1/2 games at smaller regional centres...

Marketing bit initially hit and miss - but Foxtel certainly improved their cross promotion and streaming of all games in one place great (but difficult to initially find out about it etc )

No media coverage of results at all in major papers - last year at least got this - closer relationships with major media outlets to address this.

Showing live game streamed or live on foxtel on thursday nights showing empty stands not good. This is typically because cameras centred on side where fans not sitting. ideally if can get cameras on other sides to show shots of fans would be better if possible. Not a really great look.

Constant rotation of players and disappearance of more marketable super rugby players without explanation. e.g. Dave Dennis and even Hansen prior to Wallaby call up had headed back to Melbourne to start training with the Rebels (WTF!) - hard to support a team that changes completely weak to weak and one week is strong and next week paper thin in terms of quality of players. Sure some valid reasons for some of rotation but also really poor communication about this as gave impression lack of any real proper commitment to competition to see team sheets change dramatically without explanation.

Sydney teams....watching them get thrashed every week not appealing and lot to do with different model to other states NRC sides. Needs work as this is damaging NRC and view of many.

Sydney Stars based around one shute shield side not working.....watching a game at leichardt with 400 other people is embarrassing and not appealing from an atmosphere perspective.

Moving to sliding time slots rather than starting all games at same time good as many would like to watch a couple of games.

NRC wrap up on 7.30 on Foxtel on Monday nights good.

Team of week on here good to spark a bit of following...and cross promotion on other web sites.

Couple of articles in media good e.g. one on Joost and one about Rams vs Stars game below wallaby article good (linking to wallaby brand).

Playing at smaller ovals was actually overall ok as made more atmosphere and indeed looked better on TV etc than showing large empty stands in some cases....

 

[dru]

I really loved how the Reds engaged with the NRC and commend the Waratahs to come on board. I'd also like (tall order) for Brumbies, Rebels, Force to look to two teams.

Particularly what I liked was getting a window into the Club players who are looking for contracts. It makes for a really interesting pre-pre-season.

 

[Jagman]

It would be nice to be able to stream a replay of a weekend game that same evening. Needing to watch it live on a Saturday afternoon or waiting 48 hours for the replay to come on wasn't great.

NSW teams need a leg up in current situation or drop them to 2 Waratahs affiliated teams like the QRU model.

In current set up I'd suggest having a date sometime during Super Rugby where the Super Rugby affiliated teams (non NSW) have to nominate half of their Super Rugby players. If they get injured from that point on its tough, they already count toward the Super Rugby player limit.

In saying that however I think a more complex player points system could be developed, like the Shute shield one but for the whole squad rather than game day team.

Players like Francis Fainifo and Alex Gibbon were professional players leading up to the NRC but there are no restrictions for them because they were not contracted Super Rugby players.

Something like:

Amateur player 2 points
Semi pro (academy player) 6 points
Professional in last two years (anywhere including sevens) 8 points
Contracted Super Rugby player 10 points
Starting 5+ Super Rugby games in last 2 years 12 points
50+ super rugby caps 14 points
1st tier international in last 3 years 16 points

- 2 points for each consecutive year with same club (capped at minimum half points)
+ 2 point player transfer fee for changing clubs

Just put the squad point limit somewhere around which ever team they think best represents one 9th of the talent.


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[Hugh Jarse]

The crowds are down this year. Most likely something to do with a tournament in England going on at the same time.

How has the "click" rate being going for NRC Blog articles and Forum visits this year compared to last year?

Again, G&GR and The Roar have had great NRC coverage. Without those, no one outside of the family and friends of the players, a bloke without Foxtel would not even know that NRC was on.

I really like the way that Foxtel and ARU have embraced G&GR input to NRC, and it would be worthy of exploring ways to step up that engagement without compromising G&GR independence.

While I am usually a glass half full bloke, there does appear to have been less interest in NRC this year than last year when it was a shiny new concept. I just hope that this was a RWC anomaly.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

The crowds are down this year. Most likely something to do with a tournament in England going on at the same time.

How has the "click" rate being going for NRC Blog articles and Forum visits this year compared to last year?

Again, G&GR and The Roar have had great NRC coverage. Without those, no one outside of the family and friends of the players, a bloke without Foxtel would not even know that NRC was on.

I really like the way that Foxtel and ARU have embraced G&GR input to NRC, and it would be worthy of exploring ways to step up that engagement without compromising G&GR independence.

While I am usually a glass half full bloke, there does appear to have been less interest in NRC this year than last year when it was a shiny new concept. I just hope that this was a RWC anomaly.

Variety of reasons for crowds down as HJ you have highlighted. Other one includes Rising taking their games out to the regions which led to much lower crowds as regional Victoria tougher nut to crack as AFL heartland territory.

Problem one has is crowds is very public perception of success or failure and note the daily telegraph had little snippnet on inside sports page to say could ARU do better things to waste $4m on competition that no cares about or is interested in. Fact major papers don't even publish the results reinforces latter in some ways perception.

 

[TheNude]

Again, G&GR and The Roar have had great NRC coverage. Without those, no one outside of the family and friends of the players, a bloke without Foxtel would not even know that NRC was on.

I'm somewhat new here but I have to commend both the the ARU on the access they've given to people such as Brett McKay from the Roar and GAGR so far this year; having moved overseas before the start of this years tournament I'm reliant on both sites to know what's happening in the NRC.

From afar the obvious things they need to fix is competitiveness in Sydney and somehow 'encourage' the Waratahs to get more involved as the Super Rugby aligned teams are just killing those in Sydney.

On a positive note that I think some of the teams have stepped up their social media presence this year, notably the Stars who were hopeless last year for even basic things like game day information.

From a selfish point of view I'd be happy to pay to watch the games broadcast on foxsports.com however the fact they've been geoblocked is a bit of an annoyance; hopefully now they Skysport deal has been announced this will be resolved for next season.

The Horan-Little Shield has been a great initiative and it's great to see something led by the community adopted.

 

[neilc]

I'd like to see more evening out of the team quality so more Super Rugby players spread around to make the weaker teams more competitive.

Overlapping games as has been mentioned - not sure why some weekends there were all these games on a Saturday and nothing at all on a Sunday.

The Fox coverage has been good - the Monday night show has been good to catch up on matches. A bit more serious analysis and less 'playing for laughs' would be good though.

Media coverage has been pretty woeful, not sure why - would be interested in hearing from the ARU what the issue is here - has the media just not been interested? The Weekend Australian, which has quite extensive rugby coverage, has not mentioned the NRC once that I have seen.

Better club engagement - I am in Brisbane and the Reds do a good job of getting info on matches out to members, but given there are a lot of club players involved I am surprised that the clubs themselves haven't been pushing the message out to their members - 'get the juniors with their families along to see x players from our club perform along with Super Rugby stars as they come up against x big name from the Brumbies/Rebels/Force etc'.

 

[RugbyReg]

Overlapping games as has been mentioned - not sure why some weekends there were all these games on a Saturday and nothing at all on a Sunday.
.

Good feedback mate, thanks. A quick answer on this one may be as simple as availability of grounds. I also assume increased cost on Sundays for casual stuff etc?

 

[kiap]

I also think with non-pro players in the side, Saturday is generally the go. Some guys will have to recover (and fly home) to be at work 7 am Monday morning.

Occasional Sundays are good but too many also mean shorter turnarounds for Thursday nights.

But that doesn't mean the kick off times can't be staggered.

Even a small overlap would be preferable to games on at exactly the same time. 2pm and 3.15 pm might have a 15 minute overlap but would still be better than 80 minutes worth.

But 2 pm and 3.30 pm would be great.

 

[kiap]

There are 4 rounds with a game in Perth. So that's a 5pm game in the East (for a 3pm local kickoff).

2 pm ... 3.30 pm ... 5 pm (Eastern time)

In the other five rounds throw in a few Sundays (e.g. for Sydney derbies) -- or, when daylight saving kicks in, play a Ballymore Saturday game at say 4pm local (5pm for viewers in the South).

Minimum 3 hours of NRC viewing on a Saturday - and on most weeks 4.5 hours straight.

Teams that play Sunday aren't asked to backup the following Thursday (where possible)

Near enough fixxed!

 

[blindsider]

I'm loving the NRC. The HL shield is working & club players getting that bit extra out of their game.
My one suggestion/comment is that there's too many Sydney teams. The talent is spread too thin and the Sydney sides struggle to be competitive.
Maloney and Hoiles do a great job on the shows and their podcasts promoting the comp too.


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[Caputo]

I would like a 10's or 7's to start the competition as a lightening carnival. 16 teams competition with extra 7 teams could be - Real Qld (Blue Heelers) and NSW Country (Cockatoos), ACT Griffins, Rebel Academy, Reds Academy, Force Academy and Waratah Academy.

Like the Australian Barbarians game against NZ Heartland.

Wish ARU would enforce departing Super players having to play. Would enhance NSW teams as non NSW clubs would use their ongoing players going forward.

I think this year and World Cup years are an anomaly with more Wallabies or fringe Wallabies in the teams as they play the Rugby Championship and prepare for NH tour. Probably help NSW teams.

I liked that the ACT Griffins had games some with NRC emerging teams and with Defence. This engaged the JID players as it is hard to break into UC CV heavily laden with Super players and fringe Super ie Abel, Fainifo Perry and Third.

 

[TOCC]

Another thing which could be improved is the scheduling of the Shute Shield to allow a break between the seasons, QRU adjusted their season to allow a break between the NRC and QPR, the Shute Shield should look at doing something similar. Is there a reason as to why they couldnt move the season one week earlier?

Likewise in Perth, it goes against the concept of using local players if the local competition finals series is still running when the NRC has kicked off, some players had to play an NRC game and a club game on the same weekend.

 

[Pfitzy]

Another thing which could be improved is the scheduling of the Shute Shield to allow a break between the seasons, QRU adjusted their season to allow a break between the NRC and QPR, the Shute Shield should look at doing something similar. Is there a reason as to why they couldnt move the season one week earlier?

Not really. But they won't be dictated to

Thing is, at the moment with 12 teams the SS has a full home and away setup, so 22 rounds. Even with certain teams not being a shit show of winning a game, they don't want to change it so they can keep paying lip service to Western Sydney as a development area. And I guess it is because clubs like Penrith turn over lots of players who get snapped up by clubs with money.

In any case, they could do worse than pare SS back to 10 clubs, play 18 rounds starting a month after Super Rugby kicks off, then let the finals play out a fortnight before NRC starts. Or something.

 

[I like to watch]

They have been playing 18 rounds for the past few years......

 

[TOCC]

They don't have to change the number of rounds, just start it one week earlier and finish one week earlier giving their NRC teams a little bit more preparation time prior to the NRC.

Is there a reason the Shute Shield couldn't start one week earlier?


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[Eyes and Ears]

It is hard for clubs who use a cricket oval - Randwick, Norths, Gordon, Manly although not Uni anymore if their new ground is ready.