Oh, I'd add to the "self interest" theme. Shouldn't we be discussing SANZAR and NZR?
And RA, for a couple of years now they don't seem to have any.
Superb postbarbarian and Braveheart81
I have to say thanks. You both have this ability to galvanize a response from me, things that truly help pull together my thoughts. You know those discussions when you are talking with a logical thinker, you both agree on the facts, and somehow walk away with one going "white" and the other "black".
It's perplexing. One thing for sure, we can't both be right.
Yes true, obviously true, but the comment skews the discussion. We really do, I think, underestimate the level of distrust and annoyance in RA and Super. Any alternate is going to have a bounce. And before we start talking about "dead cat bounce" surely RA and Super need to answer the questions themselves. Dwindling fan support, dwindling enthusiasm in the media, dead crowds, diving broadcast ratings, constantly commercially failing RUs, intentionally reduced professional opportunity.
The question should be whether the RA can manage any kind of bounce - dead cat or other. Hell just a flattening of the trend would be useful. We can only dream of "bounce".
Again, before we throw darts at an alternative, what is RA doing here? NRC? (Intended) Removal of the WA rugby community? Honest question here, after the real fail between Pulver and SRU, Castle has been on the job over 6 months now, how frequently has she met with the SRU? The growing disfunction between Shute Shield clubs and RA is surely a fact in support of ANY alternative comp, hardly a pillar of strength for the status quo.
This is misrepresentation. Though let's play with the wholly unnecessary polemic. ,The FIRST question to be answered is how good is the current business plan? No, actually, the first question is WHAT IS THE ACTUAL current plan? And when you say the alternate isnt a good business plan, it should not be"is it good?", let's try "is it better?"
IF we put new teams teams in Brisbane and Sydney, arranged to play when Waratahs and Reds were away, I humbly suggest that there is indeed more than enough "anger" to match the success of those two teams (not a high bar btw) - in the absence of any other addition to the business plan. ofc you wouldn't proceed just on that business plan, but in my view, right now, it would actually be enough. We'll gain back some of the rusted out rugger fans, and match enough of the not-yet-rusted-off fans (like yourselves) to match the RA success. I think. But no, you wouldn't proceed on that basis.
Possibly ask yourself if you are in danger of protesting too much on this. It's like me saying "FWIW I'm pro-Reds" which is true, but it's not at all a complete or accurate picture.
They claim to have enough talent in Australia for 2 divisions of fully professional soccer and we be are happy to not have any professional national comp in rugby???
https://www.news.com.au/sport/ffa-c...h/news-story/9df0b8d2113e23f6acf1a3c6825f20be
I'd argue they would struggle to find the talent to fill out their proposed expansion teams without hurting the overall standard of the A-League let alone a second division.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...-gains-where-now-for-super-rugby-in-australia
So now Twiggy should save the NRC and Super rugby
Well, there are currently 8 teams in the NRC. It wouldn't be all that difficult to add 4 or so Asian teams.
Everything in that article I have been saying should happen. There is such a big opportunity with WSR and NRC link and opportunities to expand into Asia Twiggy presenting that I just would be dumb founded if RA is not seriously putting out the olive branch to Twiggy and his team and working bloody hard to find a way to work with and not against Twiggy's team.https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jul/31/after-marginal-gains-where-now-for-super-rugby-in-australia
So now Twiggy should save the NRC and Super rugby
Cyclopath, there is nothing interesting in how NRC will go this year. It will go this year the same it has gone in previous years. And I’m assuming you are referring to crowd and viewer numbers.
The true potential of the NRC vis a vis Super Rugby could only be judged if it was THE step before Test rugby, had all available pro players, AND if it was played at the start or the year.
Anything else is a false comparison really
True. But in cricket no-one watched state cricket anyway for years, and T20 is basically a different game. If it competed with anything it was International One Dayers. The analogy in Rugby would be a Supercharged domestic sevens comp, with games on every night.Instead of thinking how to fix Super Rugby or could NRC become a replacement, I prefer to think in terms of how do we fix rugby content during the prime ‘winter’ football months of March to July - with a purpose of maximising the number of Australian fans. (This is also a largely defensive play to protect rugby’s turf from NRL and AFL.)
If that’s the aim you quickly get a list of requirements that can be summarised as:
1. Easy to access for viewers - FTA before pay tv
2. Reliable and regular home games and tv scheduling in useful timezones
3. Predictability of outcomes via talent equalisation
Next on the list after this is branding etc.
On the subject of how quickly can people adopt a sports team - the BBL is instructive - the format, the access for viewers, the amount and scheduling of content was so spot on (after Ten fixed it of course) that people quickly adopted brand new teams over the previous state based alligences.
I had dinner with my brother in law, and his brother in law on the other side the other night. Both entrenched rugby fans. Neither had even a vague attachment, not much interest in, an NRC team. It could develop in time, but in any confected competition, a big issue is getting people to care about a team. I mean, club rugby (certainly in Sydney) holds its fans, but if they are drifting from Super teams with old state attachments, it's a big task for NRC to drag in eyeballs. I fear this is a big stumbling block for anyone, and any comp. It'll be interesting to see how the NRC goes this year.