General Possible future look of NRL.

[Northern_Union]

I've been thinking again concerning rugby league. I've been thinking about whats good for the national and international game, have been thinking about what Bigstuboy and a few others have been saying and here is what i came up with:

The NRL should be cut from 16 clubs to 12. A first division should be brought in to play beneath the NRL in a 10 team format. At seasons end on grand final day, as a curtain raiser to the big game a promotion/relagation match will be played between the teams finishing 12 in the NRL, and 1 in the first division, and between the teams finishing 11 in the NRL, and 2 in the first division. The winners of those two matches on grand final day either stay in the NRL should the two NRL sides be the winners or the two first division clubs move into the NRL should one or both win. The NRL will play 22 rounds with 11 home and 11 away matches. The first division will play 18 rounds of 9 home and 9 away matches. The NRL will play a 5 team play off system with the minor premiers having the first week off. The first division will have a 4 team play off with the the two winning teams going through the promotion/relagation games.

The two clubs wishing to gain promotion however will have to meet certain criteria: A modern stadium with medial facilities, capacity to hold 15,000 people safely, good access and transport to and from the ground, flood lights for night matches. Be able to show funds to maintain a team in the NRL for a minimum of two seasons.

My proposed NRL: (teams in no particular order).

1. Brisbane Broncos
2. Melbourne Storm
3. Manly Sea Eagles
4. Vodafone Warriors
5. Gold Coast Titans
6. North Queensland Cowboys
7. South Sydney Rabbitos
8. Wests Tigers
9. St George Illawarra Dragons
10. Parramatta Eels
11. Canberra Raiders
12. Newcastle Knights

First Division: (no particular order)

1. Sydney Roosters
2. Port Morsby Vipers
3. Wellington/Canterbury Orcas
4. Adalaid Rams
5. Perth Reds
6. Pacific Islands Domestic club
7. Second Brisbane club
8. Cronulla Sharks
9. Canterbury Bulldogs
10. Penrith Panthers

 

[2big2strong_old]

And risk the NRL turning into the ESL where the top 4 teams win the comp for the next 2 decades solid?

I hate relegation systems. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. Most unfair system in world sport.

Isn't the ESL doing away with relegation all together in the coming years? Because of it's unbalanced results?

I know you love the ESL NU, and I am also a big fan of the style of football they play over there. It's free flowing and great to watch, but it is substandard to the NRL.

What would happen if the Warriors got relegated? The NZ public are fickle enough as it is, the Warriors would struggle to get 3,000 through the gates, Eric Watson would sell the company for less than he bought it for!


I do like your thinking, but promotion/relegation is a thing of the past.

 

[Northern_Union]

Yeah thats possible a fair call. But for the sake of international football we have to take a leaf out the RFL's book. They'll have within a couple of years a French team in the ESL, a Welsh team in the ESL, the Toulouse club in the first division looking to move into the ESL, a Scottish club looking to move from the second division into the first division and numerous clubs from europe playing in the Challenge cup.

The NRL needs to look at inclusion of areas outside of Sydney to help grow the international game. Teams like Port Morsby, the Orcas, a PI side, Adalaid, Perth and possible a second Brisbane team must be considered.

If the promotion/relagation idea is a no go then maybe look at a two conference league with the champions of the two leagues playing off for the over all winner and maybe at the end of that two all star teams could be picked with funds either going into either an international develpment fund or towards a retirement fund linked into keeping the best players in rugby league.....you go to union and you lose your retirement payment.

Thoughts brother?

 

[2big2strong_old]

If the promotion/relagation idea is a no go then maybe look at a two conference league with the champions of the two leagues playing off for the over all winner and maybe at the end of that two all star teams could be picked with funds either going into either an international develpment fund or towards a retirement fund linked into keeping the best players in rugby league.....you go to union and you lose your retirement payment.

Thoughts brother?

I've always thought this would be a great way to go. Similar to the NBA and NFL conference systems. I definitely think expansion is a must also, I think a Wellington team would actually do better than the warriors and Brisbane, Perth and the Central coast are all screaming for teams.

I'd have the top four from each conference battling it out in the finals series,

 

[Skinny_Ravs82]

And risk the NRL turning into the ESL where the top 4 teams win the comp for the next 2 decades solid?

I hate relegation systems. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. Most unfair system in world sport.

Isn't the ESL doing away with relegation all together in the coming years? Because of it's unbalanced results?

I know you love the ESL NU, and I am also a big fan of the style of football they play over there. It's free flowing and great to watch, but it is substandard to the NRL.

What would happen if the Warriors got relegated? The NZ public are fickle enough as it is, the Warriors would struggle to get 3,000 through the gates, Eric Watson would sell the company for less than he bought it for!


I do like your thinking, but promotion/relegation is a thing of the past.

I'm not a big fan of the way they play in the ESL, I suppose it appeals to some but to me I can't stand the way they play, just my preference doesn't interest me, hence why I enjoy the NRL more, even thou it can be frustrating at times.

 

[daj3_old]

Good ideas NU... I'm a fan of the conference system.

Besides that point I'm not sure why you put the Roosters and Sharks in your second division. I understand that we need to lose Sydney based teams to grow the sport... but why would Souths, the Eels and the Tigers get in over Cronulla and Sydney?

Other than that, some choice ideas, it'd be awesome to see an all star game. Dunno if ARL would be keen though, origin could go the way of ranfurly shield.

 

[Jesbass_old]

I'm not a big fan of the way they play in the ESL, I suppose it appeals to some but to me I can't stand the way they play, just my preference doesn't interest me, hence why I enjoy the NRL more, even thou it can be frustrating at times.

Out of curiosity, were you a fan of the Warriors' style of play circa 2002/2003? Y'know, when we played attacking, expansive football, throwing it around like a hot potato, and essentially coining the phrase 'razzle-dazzle'?

 

[Jesbass_old]

NU, how dare you try to think outside the square! You won't get anywhere doing that!

I too am strongly opposed to the promotion/relegation system. League isn't part of the Australasian culture in the way that football is part of the European culture. If a team gets relegated, it probably won't survive financially. There'll be hardy souls who attend every game regardless of the division they're in, but the core group will diminish.

A conference system makes a lot more sense. Would you do it geographically, like they do in the US? That'd be pretty hard, because all the teams are fairly close, with the exception of the outlying clubs, like the Warriors, the Cowboys, and the Reds. But it would still warrant some serious thinking.

Also, setting up all of those new clubs wouldn't happen at once, so in the short term, two conferences of 10 teams might be the way to go. I like the idea of the top 4 from each division playing each other in a straight knock out system, (McIntyre rankings would be too difficult to define considering the different opposition each team would face), for a grand final winner.

I'd even suggest that the knock out system should be such that the knock out matches are within the same conference. For example:
Conference A Match 1: Conference A Team 1 -v- Conference A Team 4
Conference A Match 2: Conference A Team 2 -v- Conference A Team 3
Conference B Match 1: Conference B Team 1 -v- Conference B Team 4
Conference B Match 2: Conference B Team 2 -v- Conference B Team 3

Followed by:
Semi-Final 1: Winner Conference A Match 1 -v- Winner Conference A Match 2
Semi-Final 2: Winner Conference B Match 1 -v- Winner Conference B Match 2

And then:
Grand Final: Winner Semi-Final 1 -v- Winner Semi-Final 2

The purpose for this is to ensure that there is a team represented from both conferences in the grand final, ensuring a larger crowd attendance and higher television ratings. If the finals series was inter-conference, and both finalists were from the same conference, fans of the other conference may lose interest. Whereas the way I've suggested, even if your team gets eliminated, you can still back another team in your conference against the other guys.

This is a great think tank. Keep it up.

 

[daj3_old]

I reckon you could suss conferences geographically aye... you split the non-nsw teams into southern/northern, then split the NSW teams southern northern to make up numbers. You could draw the line at Parramatta being the Southernmost "northern" club. So assuming we keep all of NU's teams we would have...

North Western Conference:
Brisbane Broncos
Gold Coast Titans
NQ Cowboys
Port Moresby Gangsters
Pacific Island Tsunami (they'll possibly come up with more appropriate names)
Queensland cup side
Perth Settlers (we can't have them called WA Reds... surely)
Newcastle Knights
Manly Sea Eagles
Penrith Panthers
Parramatta Eels

Southeastern Conference:
Melbourne Storm
NZ Warriors
Canberra Raiders
Wellington/Canterbury Orcas/Rams (orcas is such a crap name... awww noe! awwwww noooeee! I'm beeeached, I'm beeeached azzzz!)
Adelaide Rams (might be a failure due to lack of local comp/players... but could succeed regardless, like melbourne)
St George Illawarra Dragons
South Sydney Rabbitohs
Canterbury Bulldogs
Sydney Roosters
Wests Tigers
Cronulla Sharks

 

[daj3_old]

South Eastern does look a lot harder than North Western though... you've got 4 fledgling NRL clubs vs 2... then 6 of this year's top 8 in the Southern conference.

 

[daj3_old]

NU, how dare you try to think outside the square! You won't get anywhere doing that!

I too am strongly opposed to the promotion/relegation system. League isn't part of the Australasian culture in the way that football is part of the European culture. If a team gets relegated, it probably won't survive financially. There'll be hardy souls who attend every game regardless of the division they're in, but the core group will diminish.

A conference system makes a lot more sense. Would you do it geographically, like they do in the US? That'd be pretty hard, because all the teams are fairly close, with the exception of the outlying clubs, like the Warriors, the Cowboys, and the Reds. But it would still warrant some serious thinking.

Also, setting up all of those new clubs wouldn't happen at once, so in the short term, two conferences of 10 teams might be the way to go. I like the idea of the top 4 from each division playing each other in a straight knock out system, (McIntyre rankings would be too difficult to define considering the different opposition each team would face), for a grand final winner.

I'd even suggest that the knock out system should be such that the knock out matches are within the same conference. For example:
Conference A Match 1: Conference A Team 1 -v- Conference A Team 4
Conference A Match 2: Conference A Team 2 -v- Conference A Team 3
Conference B Match 1: Conference B Team 1 -v- Conference B Team 4
Conference B Match 2: Conference B Team 2 -v- Conference B Team 3

Followed by:
Semi-Final 1: Winner Conference A Match 1 -v- Winner Conference A Match 2
Semi-Final 2: Winner Conference B Match 1 -v- Winner Conference B Match 2

And then:
Grand Final: Winner Semi-Final 1 -v- Winner Semi-Final 2

The purpose for this is to ensure that there is a team represented from both conferences in the grand final, ensuring a larger crowd attendance and higher television ratings. If the finals series was inter-conference, and both finalists were from the same conference, fans of the other conference may lose interest. Whereas the way I've suggested, even if your team gets eliminated, you can still back another team in your conference against the other guys.

This is a great think tank. Keep it up.

I disagree on your finals proposal. The idea of conferences is to keep fans interested in regular season games... by having less games, and having them all local. The finals should be a chance to have as many northern v southern games as possible... imagine if we were only able to see Warriors v Broncos on the condition that both made the grand final? Or if the warriors and Melbourne got put in separate conferences? No more Warriors Bulldogs? What if we missed out on our rivalry with South Sydney? That's my one concern with conference systems and I'd hope it could be rectified by a finals series that mixed things up as much as possible.