Two interstate home games in 2016

[Frogz]

Parra in Darwin.
Penriff in Bathurst.
Dogs go to Wellington I think.
Souffs go to Perth.

We should claim Adelaide.

Souffs went to Cairns also I think from memory

 

[The Who]

I wonder when Brisbane will take two of their homes games from Suncorp to spread the message about rugby league?

 

[cherry_poppins]

The NRL will play games in outposts like Mt Isa or Broome before they go to Tassie. Hell, there has even been an NRL game played in the South Aussie town of Whyalla when the Adelaide Rams played the Steelers there in 1998. Ironic really, it was a Rams home game but Whyalla is known as the "Steel City" thanks to the BHP steelworks....and Illawarra's major sponsor was BHP.

Not counting rep games or home games for the Western Reds (1995-97), Adelaide Rams (1997-98), or the Drizzle (1998 - ), since premiership games first started being played interstate in 1989 there have been a total of 38 games played in Australia outside of the traditional NSW, Qld and ACT areas.

Adelaide Oval - 7 games (1991-2011)
Hindmarsh Stadium (Adelaide) - 2 games (2006-2009)
Lathlain Oval (Perth) - 1 game (1999)
nib Stadium (Perth) - 9 games (2005-2015)
Olympic Park (Melbourne) - 1 game (1993)
Princes Park (Melbourne) - 2 games (1994)
Richardson Park (Darwin) - 3 games (1991-1995)
Subiaco Oval (Perth) - 1 game (2012)
TIO Stadium (Darwin) - 4 games (2012-2015)
WACA (Perth) - 8 games (1989-1994)

Short sighted NRL
Not even national

 

[HoldenV8]

Short sighted NRL
Not even national

I've been saying that for years. Rugby league in this country has an alarming habit of not wanting to venture too much out of its own back yard of NSW and Qld. And while the competition is basically located on the east coast it will never be a true national competition despite it being called the National Rugby League. Even this week John Grant has come out and said that the preference for a new team to enter the competition is in SE Qld, once again showing the league's reluctance to grow beyond its traditional boundaries.

In a lot of ways, the only reason there is even a team based in Melbourne is because that actually puts league right in the heart of AFL territory. The other two teams in AFL-land have long since gone. The Western Reds folded at the end of 1997 with the club about $10 million in debt, while the Adelaide were rumoured to be a trade off to keep Melbourne in the competition beyond 1998 (although owned by News Ltd, the Drizzle were not a SL team. Melbourne was preferred over Adelaide by the ARL as the Victorian RL had stayed loyal to them during the SL war, unlike the SARL who signed with SL in 1995).

The then VFL took a punt in 1982 and moved South Melbourne to Sydney. Perth and Adelaide being Aussie rules cities were always going to be part of it at some point, but the VFL/AFL has always had a big focus on gaining a strong footing in the two rugby league states, thus the Brisbane Bears came into being in 1987 and now there are two teams in Sydney and two in SE Qld with the AFL giving those clubs (especially the Suns and GWS) a lot of concessions and financial support to make sure they are successful.

The AFL is much more a national competition than the NRL currently is. Hell, even Super Rugby has teams based in Perth and Melbourne.

 

[cherry_poppins]

I've been saying that for years. Rugby league in this country has an alarming habit of not wanting to venture too much out of its own back yard of NSW and Qld. And while the competition is basically located on the east coast it will never be a true national competition despite it being called the National Rugby League. Even this week John Grant has come out and said that the preference for a new team to enter the competition is in SE Qld, once again showing the league's reluctance to grow beyond its traditional boundaries.

In a lot of ways, the only reason there is even a team based in Melbourne is because that actually puts league right in the heart of AFL territory. The other two teams in AFL-land have long since gone. The Western Reds folded at the end of 1997 with the club about $10 million in debt, while the Adelaide were rumoured to be a trade off to keep Melbourne in the competition beyond 1998 (although owned by News Ltd, the Drizzle were not a SL team. Melbourne was preferred over Adelaide by the ARL as the Victorian RL had stayed loyal to them during the SL war, unlike the SARL who signed with SL in 1995).

The then VFL took a punt in 1982 and moved South Melbourne to Sydney. Perth and Adelaide being Aussie rules cities were always going to be part of it at some point, but the VFL/AFL has always had a big focus on gaining a strong footing in the two rugby league states, thus the Brisbane Bears came into being in 1987 and now there are two teams in Sydney and two in SE Qld with the AFL giving those clubs (especially the Suns and GWS) a lot of concessions and financial support to make sure they are successful.

The AFL is much more a national competition than the NRL currently is. Hell, even Super Rugby has teams based in Perth and Melbourne.

John Grant was an awful choice from the beginning

Firstly who is he? I'm guessing he was never good enough to play in the Sydney comp and secondly I'd love to know his business acumen, does he have any???

Secondly Smith is....screenshot this because you'll rarely see it.....way worse than Gallop,it's much like Australian politics

Vote out Gillard/Rudd/whoever and you have just voted in Tony 'Aussie George Dubya' Abbott

If i could rule the NRL for one year I'd axe both of them and everyone in the referees,as fruit from the poisoned tree that is Harrigan,hire a new generation and install the pommy ref as coach and head ref who does Australia vs NZ

I'd investigate every club for cap reasons and install a system like the transparent NFL, but first there would be an amnesty so it can be rebooted on a level playing field

I'd collect bids for expansion/relocation and offer a fair sum out of the billion dollar tv money to do so,30 mil now for a new fanbase to grow

Tigers, Saints wouldn't have a choice other than destination because they aren't afloat without nrl money but GC and Newcastle would stay put, provided the GC underwent rebranding either mascot or perception of a titan and the colors can't help either

Greenburg would be banned from being anywhere near the code as would the roosters (ex storm) contractual dude

Punching, shoulder charge and refereeing would revert to the time when it made sense

2 new teams in 17 followed by another 2 in 18 would join

Perth
NZ 2
Brisbane 2
And the next financially viable bid from another new/returning state

Suspensions to be replaced for under grade 3 to fines equaling a percentage of said players wage

If any team was like Melbourne or bulldogs breachwise every player in said club would become a free agent instantly, the clubs board would be removed to be replaced by a new voted in board and every member of the previous cheating board would be subject to a 5 year ban, it would be done through licensing the clubs and non negotiable

There would be increased player loyalty bonuses so more one club players could happen

Scrap the all Stars game
Make origin post final
Internationals following that

Introduce every school kid in Australia, Tassie and NZ to the NRL using schools and social media linked to youtube or vines

So far our first billion dollar media deal has done nothing other than bringing touch and oztag to the nrl table

How to get into the schools? Use some money to donate to the education part of the government given the provision that league be taught in autumn and Winter to school kids

Not as the main sport but say a minimum of 6 times in the relevant season

We won't steal all the kids hearts and minds but we'll have more interest, bigger more violent kids will gravitate to where they belong perhaps becoming stars

If we stole 5% from afl and soccer well it was worth the money but I dare say with understanding of the rules we'd do better than that number

We suck at advertising, marketing and virtually everything else because these other states aren't familiar with the products potential

If i can't understand the rules of a game i don't watch, aggressive relevant marketing required

We can't grow in a place we've saturated with this substandard product,we need to first fix the product then we need to cross borders and be aggressive in our education of the game to the rest of the country

We are losing the money war to a game made up by cricketers to keep fit in the ****ing off season, it's not even a real sport it's cross fit with a red ball,**** me swinging

 

[HoldenV8]

Last year when it was announced that Game 2 of this years Origin series was going to be played at the MCG it was hailed by the league and the media as a great thing for the game, taking such a high profile rep game outside of Sydney or Brisbane and exposing the game to new fans.

Can someone explain the logic of all the talk about exposing the game at the highest level to a new audience by announcing that they would be playing the game in a city where they already have an established team. Fair enough the MCG is easily the biggest stadium in the country (its actually the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere and the 10th largest in the world) so from that point of view its understandable. But where was taking the game to Melbourne exposing rugby league to new fans? Before this year there had already been 7 Origin games played in Melbourne since 1990, 3 of them at the MCG (plus there have been 7 test matches in the city). To me taking another game to Melbourne is not exposing rugby league to a new audience.

The NRL's reluctance in Australia to look beyond the traditional states or Melbourne is only hurting the game. Someone should tell the NRL that there are fans in Perth, fans in Adelaide. Hell, there are fans in Tassie.

 

[COMMANDER]

We will play Brisbane twice in Brisbane.

 

[cherry_poppins]

We will play Brisbane twice in Brisbane.

If one is a double header i say good

 

[COMMANDER]

If one is a double header i say good

Mate we will play twice on the same night according to the NRL. Run off and put the home jersey on for the second game.

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

You win the prize Cherry...for the longest post in the history of this site.