NRL Fixed in 20 Steps

[Ralphie]

1. Stop trying to copy the AFL. Rugby League is a different beast, always has been and always will be and it will never ever have their crowd numbers.

2. Rugby League doesn’t have to be the biggest sport in Australia, it just must be the best to its supporters and the rest will take care of itself.

3. Stop pandering to television. Change your view of television to that of cream on the cake rather than it being the cake and adjust your expenditure to suit.

4. Get rid of the two-referee system, it doesn’t work.

5. Get rid of the bunker, it doesn’t work.

6. Get rid of the video referee (Except for Captains Challenge), it doesn’t work.

7. Introduce a Captains Challenge to the video referee. One each half that is only lost for that half after a failed challenge. The Captain can ask for ANYTHING to be looked at, at any time there is a breakdown in play but is lost for that half after one failed challenge.

8. Add two new teams (Perth & 2nd Brisbane team) and don’t bail out any club that gets into financial trouble, let them fold (Yes, even Manly).

9. Play 17 rounds so everyone plays everyone once, then play semi-finals from a top 8.

10. If TV wants more games have a pre-season comp again.

11. Get rid of the 6.00pm Friday night timeslot.

12. Return to suburban grounds and allow ALL teams who have earned a home semi-final to play it at their ground of choice.

13. Reward tackles around the legs (ie let them hold on for a bit) and penalise wrestling mercilessly.

14. Play SOO on standalone weekends so clubs aren’t impacted by loss of players. This is easily done now that we only have 17 rounds. I would be interested in it then.

15. Make referees attend a press conference after the game and before the coaches press conference. Their answers to the journo’s questions will take the heat out of the coaches.

16. All clubs share the prime-time TV slots equally rather than the current favourites week in week out.

17. Introduce a player Salary Cap valuation mechanism to negate the effect of TPA’s.

18. Introduce a televised trading window or similar and stop mid-season transfers.

19. Don’t change any rules for at least 5 years!!!!!!

20. Let the kids run on to the ground at the end of the game again.

 

[The '47ers]

See NRL, even @Ralphie can sort it out!

 

[Deleted member 26876]

Agree with most except I'd keep it at 26 rounds, although they should organise the draw based on an overall team ratings system (so clubs like the eels don't get piggybacked to the top 4)

Love the idea of a captains challenge.

Also I'd introduce a rule where if the ball hits the chest of a player who is trying to catch the ball, but misses, it needs to be classified as played at and therefore be a knock on. When tries are scored like that it just seems cheap. I remember one for the dogs against us last year and I was stunned, it just looks as I said, cheap

 

[Holmsey]

Not 17 rounds Id push out the bye rounds and make it only 24 rounds. 17 is to short.

 

[Holmsey]

Trading window should be 2 weeks after gf it starts and 2 weeks before season it ends.

 

[The '47ers]

Needs a fair home/away draw, but too many teams for that atm.

 

[Chip and Chase]

Todd Greenburg standing 18 steps away from cliff and then implement 20 step plan

 

[The Who]

I'd prefer Greenturd to fall down 20 steps.

 

[Waz13]

They need to introduce the captains challenge as suggested. Just let the refs make all the calls on field and only go upstairs for challenges. Wasn't it used in knights drags game final rnd 2016. Refs just made the calls nobody complained. Don't think anything was even referred upstairs.

 

[BoomStickBarbie]

I want to see 20 teams split in to 2 divisions. Division 1 10 teams top 5 play semi finals bottom 3 drop to division 2. Division 2 top 3 teams move up to division 1 same amount of teams same finals format as division 1.
This way we can have a true home and away comp with 20 rounds.
Still enough time to take a mid season break for SoO and rep games. Game gets more exposure tv gets more games.
Major problem is schedule. Need to drop Thursday night footy so that leaves 4 day to get 10 games out. Friday night have 2 games played similar to this year. Saturday 2 games at 3pm 2 games at 5pm 1 game at 7pm
The Sunday have a 12pm game a 2pm and a 4pm if not swap the 12pm game for 6pm.

 

[Spartan Eagle]

You all need to stop whinging - the game is perfect as is, just ask toddy.

You just need to grow up!

 

[Harvies elbow]

The NRL is already 'fixed'.

 

[sheridanstand78]

There is no way the clubs will accept only 8 or 9 home games. I do agree that the game must go back to the fans and that we must have family friendly time slots and fair allocations of free to air TV time slots. The game day experience needs to improve. It is time to go back to the 3 games on game day, do something about the extortionist prices you pay for tickets and food.. Have some consistency with refereeing and be honest with the fans about mistakes made rather than covering them up and fining anyone who questions the process, Under the current CEO there is a culture of denial about the problems in the game, we fill in survey after survey and NOTHING seems to change!!

 

[Fluffy]

haven't addressed the NRL choosing who wins.

Need short arm penalties - 6 again for the subjective 50/50 calls around the ruck (strips, held on too long etc)

5 in the bin

 

[MadMarcus]

Make Tooves NRL CEO

 

[Loobs]

In my view, you can fix the refs/bunker by:

• Refs either award a try or send it upstairs for specific review for the bunker to decide on
• The bunker either calls try or if inconclusive*, no try
• They use the line like in NFL for first downs for offsides and forward passes in review for clarity
• Forward passes are reviewed by the bunker on the basis that the majority of the ball must be behind the passers hands for the first metre then after that if it drifts forward who gives a ****. Floater passes drift.

*Here I will borrow some legalese and say that the onus on the bunker here would NOT be the ****ty torts balance of probabilities crap which they seem to go by now but something befitting league, being the criminal BOP, i.e. beyond a reasonable doubt. So to quote the great Barwick CJ, "...to be certain". Anything less - no try.

 

[Eagles2nv]

@Ralphie what your suggesting requires the NRL administration to have common sense.

You make alot of good points.

I would like the NRL to invest heavier in Digital streaming. I don't want to pay all that money for Foxtel just to get the NRL (which I know is foxtels strategy). I rather pay money direct to the NRL and get a high quality stream. The current NRL pass is garbage. Also means clubs could have their own sub-channels which gets fed to you as part of your subscription. Gives fans a closer involvement with their team. (I know clubs sort of do this now but it could be alot better if there were dedicated media teams to support it).

I too am a fan of the 5 min bin. Would be an effective tool to stop the wrestling if refs could use it to bin repeat offences.

Would like a 30/30 rule introduced to encourage more risks taken from inside their half when your team is being belted in an attacking set off your line. If it doesn't come off, you gift the opposition field position, if it does, your out of trouble.

I note your comment about tackling around the legs. They wont want to encourage leg tackling because of the increased risk of head knocks. They are very concerned about litigation.

Finally start clamping down on the media spreading rubbish. Start taking media outlets to court over false claims. There is nothing more harmful than a 'fake' scandal that the media blows out of proportion. They dont care, its sells advertising, but it damages the NRL's brand.

 

[EagleFromMay1967]

You all need to stop whinging - the game is perfect as is, just ask toddy.

Yeah, grow up the lot of you. You're talking like spoilt little kids.

Like it @Ralphie, but Point.16 will come a cropper as Its the TV stations that control the League . . . . not the other way around.
In terms of on field, rules etc, I would just be looking for renewed use of the 5 minute SinBin, that referees implement all the rules of the game instead of cherry picking inconsistently which rules they're going to enforce that week. Eg: Play the balls, 10 mtrs back, late tackles on kickers, ruck possession infringements.
Lets face it, right now, the referees cannot even get the basics correct.
The head of Referees should also acknowledge, publish statistics on each referee, and comparisons between how each referee is penalizing each club. Perenara, Cecchin please note.

 

[TagMonster]

My simple take:

1. A points based player valuation salary cap system. Points are determined before a contract is signed by a vote system from one rep from each team. Drop the top two and bottom two, take the average and there you have it.
2. One Ref and Two Touchies. No video ref. 1 x Coaches or Captains challenge per half that is lost if you are unsuccessful.
3. Restructure the comp into 4 x divisions of 4 teams. Each team plays each other twice within their division and the same for one other division for a total of 16 games. Then plays four other teams from other division for a total of 20 games. Add in two byes per team for a total of 22 weeks. Division winners automatically qualify for the finals as Top 4. Remaining 4 is made up by those with the best records.
4. SOO is played after the season on consecutive Saturday nights.
5. If team fails financially then it folds and the license is auctions off. Failed clubs are then replaced by (arguably) more viable options with private financial backing etc.

 

[EagleFromMay1967]

My simple take:
5. If team fails financially then it folds and the license is auctions off. Failed clubs are then replaced by (arguably) more viable options with private financial backing etc.

Sorry, No to point 5. You are just encouraging News Corp to own still more NRL clubs, further concentrating their conflict of interest (NewsCorp = Fox = Broncos), which already has clear distortions for scheduling, TV coverage, NRL bias (which to me seems quite real) and therefore clubs survival. The current structure is NOT a level playing field, the fans know it and the whole thing has a stinky "Reality TV" tinge to it, that dominates.
However, agree with your other points.