How do you rate the Dave Smith Era?

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How do you rate the Dave Smith era?

  • Fantastic 10 out of 10

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Pretty Good 7 to 9

    Votes: 3 6.7%
  • Yeh average 4 to 6

    Votes: 15 33.3%
  • Hmmm pretty ordiinart 2 or 3

    Votes: 15 33.3%
  • Absolutely rubbish 0 or 1

    Votes: 12 26.7%

  • Total voters
    45

Killer03

Bencher
With Dave Smith leaving I was wanting to think what people think of the last 3 years. Personally I think it has been pretty ordinary maybe 2 or 3 out of 10. I see the criteria of:

1) Do the people running the game understand it and have a vision for it?
Answer: No way. Dave Smith to me just has never got rugby league at all.

2) Has there been a connection between those running the game and the fans?
Answer: Absolutely not. Fans are becoming more and more disenfranchised that they are seen as 'customers'

3) Is there consistency?
Answer: Again no way at all. There is one rule for one and one rule for others (case in point Tooves getting a $10k fine, whereas Thurston gets off scott free after claiming a 'conspiracy' against non Sydney teams.
Add into this the judiciary and their rulings.

4) Is the Administration reactionary or proactive? Visionary?
Answer: certainly not visionary. The policy on the run in the last couple of years is nothing short of pathetic. Changing rules constantly mid season has become nothing short of a joke.

5) Did Dave Smith surround himself with capable people?
Answer: This to me is the mark of a great leader, they surround themselves with great people......Greenberg, Richardson.....need I say anymore.

Which I then begs the question. Who should run the NRL?
 
Fact is I don't enjoy watching footy like I used to. Zero to do with our ordinary 2015, just that watching older games and the football is betterer. I dunno.
Increased athleticism and increased professionalism means that 13 players on the field nowadays is the equivalent of having perhaps 15 old-style players on the field. There's few defensive holes. So it becomes a routinized, tactical game safely taking advantage of the 10 metres each tackle so as to culminate in a kick into the in-goal, or to hand over possession about 10 metres out from the tryline.

50/50 penalties decide many games.

To fix this, we could try limiting the number of players on the field (radical) or the number of people in a tackle (less radical) to give more advantage to players running the ball.
 
His biggest mistake was hiring Greenberg. Make no mistake all of those things mentioned above are Greenberg's remit and he has failed. Smith was brought in to set it up financially. I think he was on the right road by snubbing Fox until they showed us the money. He pissed Rupert off which i applaud but i knew his days were numbered when Rupert overspent on the AFL to make League look stupid. The ARLC have now **** themselves and we will end up getting raped by News Ltd once again. Dave Smith should have been a CFO Chief Finance Officer for the NRL he should never have been made a CEO. I think getting rid of him could be a mistake. Idiots like Greenberg and that twat John Grant have next to no idea and we will see it get worse before it gets better. We should get Dimetriou to replace him. His son Addison plays for us ;-)
 
Smith's success was in his revenue raising. The NRL bank balance is very healthy.
This is only visible to us when we see the price of tickets for SOO and the GF - so Fans resent him. But he did introduce other channels of income to the game.

Unfortunately, his 'empire building' meant that the increased revenue is appears to be wasted on the 700k pa lackeys who all take limos to games. The headcount at NRLHQ has to be reduced as the Club's rightfully resent the ever growing bureaucracy.@:cool:

The FTA deal he negotiated for 2018 and onwards was a strategic error. I was surprised by his lack of understanding on who the media powerhouse is in Oz - it's not Nine.
Not having all three current media partners at the table, was a damaging move :cool:

If the ARLC can not get the new Media deal renegotiated, then Foxtel will lowball them and the new deal will be a fraction of the current 1.2b. :(
 
Rugby league starting sucking the day that mums and 10 year old viewers became the priority and not just a consideration when marketing the game.

Not sure if Smith is responsible but it has seemed to be more apparent in the last few years
 
Gallop was very successful in his time achieving his main objective - delivering massively undervalued broadcast rights to FOX (more than once).

Obviously the end result of this TV deal is yet to be finalised but I'm fine with putting Murdoch in his place any day of the week.

The NRL's measured and patient handling of the ASADA scandal, which broke a week before Smith came into the job and is now a distant memory (unless your name is Sandor Earl), compares pretty favorably to the almighty AFL's arrogant attempts to bury it, resulting in an ongoing saga with WADA still digging away.

Off-field the game is doing ok.

I would have voted "Pretty good 7-9" except that he

(a) put Greenberg in - I could forgive him for this because so many supposed league experts were also fooled into thinking he was a "good operator"; and

(b) let Greenberg keep his job despite repeated unsavory revelations being swept under the carpet (Tandy, Barba, who knows what else hasn't been exposed - yet...), an obsession with increasing the speed of the game (40-20 quick taps, shot clocks, tacklers simultaneously disappearing) with complete disregard for consistency or process and constantly changing rules mid season (time-off, "shoulder charge" definition) leaving many fans unhappy and contributing to a drop in crowd numbers.

Now I worry about Smith's successor and I really hope it's not the man he should never have appointed and should have sent packing once the appointment was proven to be so flawed.
 
Gallop was very successful in his time achieving his main objective - delivering massively undervalued broadcast rights to FOX (more than once).

Obviously the end result of this TV deal is yet to be finalised but I'm fine with putting Murdoch in his place any day of the week.

The NRL's measured and patient handling of the ASADA scandal, which broke a week before Smith came into the job and is now a distant memory (unless your name is Sandor Earl), compares pretty favorably to the almighty AFL's arrogant attempts to bury it, resulting in an ongoing saga with WADA still digging away.

Off-field the game is doing ok.

I would have voted "Pretty good 7-9" except that he

(a) put Greenberg in - I could forgive him for this because so many supposed league experts were also fooled into thinking he was a "good operator"; and

(b) let Greenberg keep his job despite repeated unsavory revelations being swept under the carpet (Tandy, Barba, who knows what else hasn't been exposed - yet...), an obsession with increasing the speed of the game (40-20 quick taps, shot clocks, tacklers simultaneously disappearing) with complete disregard for consistency or process and constantly changing rules mid season (time-off, "shoulder charge" definition) leaving many fans unhappy and contributing to a drop in crowd numbers.

Now I worry about Smith's successor and I really hope it's not the man he should never have appointed and should have sent packing once the appointment was proven to be so flawed.
Hired Richo STRAIGHT after he swept the US arrests of his players under the rug...
 
Terrible, absolutely terrible made Gallop look like an outright superstar

Possibly a reasonable CFO but never ever should have had the top job.

The disconnect with the fans is at its highest level ever, the fat cats at the top who take limo rides to every game and only watch them from fully catered boxes and earn $700-$900k a year for doing so have no ****ing idea.

Oh sure all games should be played at ANZ stadium , that's because the boxes and catering is better there than any old facility like Brooky.

**** the fans, they'll pay more and whilst we are at it lets up the costs for catering licences at games so we can make more money, and don't worry the fans will pay more for beer, more for pies, gee our bottom line is looking great now.

And let's not help the bush , oh no not one cent those whinging country people don't need any money to help run junior league or try and keep the game alive in drought ravaged areas, nope **** them they are on their own .

And let's just make rules up as we go along all depending on how the media views a particular incident.

And let's surround ourselves with totally out of touch wankers who know Bugger all.

He's a total wanker, pleased he's on the plane back to where he came from!
 
And let's not help the bush , oh no not one cent those whinging country people don't need any money to help run junior league or try and keep the game alive in drought ravaged areas, nope **** them they are on their own .

Whilst I agree with your post, I couldn't help but give a giggle when I read the above underlined bit...within context of your rant of course.

:giggle:


Dave Smith was ok if you were a roosters or souths supporter as he brought back the long lost ability for certain influential people to get their teams a premiership.
 
Whilst I agree with your post, I couldn't help but give a giggle when I read the above underlined bit...within context of your rant of course.

:giggle:


Dave Smith was ok if you were a roosters or souths supporter as he brought back the long lost ability for certain influential people to get their teams a premiership.

Yes it was a bit tongue in cheek but the problem in the country is huge.

One of my grandsons plays Jnr league, the costs ( mainly bus travel to get to every second game) are horrendous and a lot of families can't afford it so they just don't play the game.

A grant of say $10k for every junior country club ( and really how many of those are there) would make a huge difference to the number of kids that would play.

Young Tom's club fund raises, run a canteeen and sell doubles, but with only a small number of kids and parents it's hard work.

The only thing the NRL does, through the CRL is send out a few players for a promotional visit in February, the kids do like it BUT doesn't help to run the show.

They are just not in the NRL's vision.
 
Increased athleticism and increased professionalism means that 13 players on the field nowadays is the equivalent of having perhaps 15 old-style players on the field. There's few defensive holes. So it becomes a routinized, tactical game safely taking advantage of the 10 metres each tackle so as to culminate in a kick into the in-goal, or to hand over possession about 10 metres out from the tryline.

50/50 penalties decide many games.

To fix this, we could try limiting the number of players on the field (radical) or the number of people in a tackle (less radical) to give more advantage to players running the ball.

Or, dare I say it (no agenda here, I promise) breath some fresh air into the coaching boxes or sidelines, like the Walker brothers have. Start thinking outside the box in terms of the way teams play the game. Be inventive and unpredictable in the style of footy you play. The game is very structured these days and defences are usually very difficult to break, but that's because defensive lines are very well drilled and know what is coming and how to deal with it.

Just like the Germanic barbarians defeated the Romans by using unexpected tactics. Big stretch, but.... you know what I mean. :)

Oh yeah, ummmmm Dave went ok I guess. Apart from Greenturd.
 
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Bottom end of average. 4/10

Did a few good things but overall the game is going backwards on a whole. Seems to lack long term vision just trying to replicate what works in Melbourne ignoring the differences.
 
Is it too much to expect the next CEO will have empathy for both fans, players and junior development, and not just about business and TV deals?
I seriously believe if you give fans what we want, and cultivate junior development in all regions (not just in major cities), then the 'business' of RL will grow.
 
I'd like to see a clearly articulated, and deeply considered, strategy from the replacement. Something that inspires and gets everyone (most) heading in the same direction. Some possible starting points:

The aims. eg Are we looking at getting bums on seats at the game? Or bums on seats at home? And if both, what is the relationship between these - and the priority? Where does the spectator sit in relation to priorities, and where does money sit? What's the relationship between these?

The philosophy. eg Why is the game here? To make people buy sponsor products? To create entertainment? To relieve people from their mundane lifestyles? To help give meaning to people's lives?

The methods. eg Maximise exposure to maximise consciousness of the game? Maximise attendance (eg lower prices of attendance/food, make it easier to get to games, Sunday afternoon scheduling) to create behavioural change - habitual change)? Maximise interactivity with fans?

There's going to be costs with whatever choices are made. Can we bite the bullet?
 

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