Broncos slam 'very, very, silly scheduling'

[Super Freak]

WINTER is coming for the Broncos.

In a scheduling move slammed as “ridiculous” by star forward Sam Thaiday, the Broncos this week embark on their season’s toughest stretch.

The Friday night specialists kick off a season-defining three weeks in Townsville against the reigning premiers, part of a stretch which includes a game without their Origin players, a three-day turnaround and a five-day turnaround.

“I think it’s very, very, silly scheduling,” Thaiday said of the Broncos’ three weeks from hell.

Thaiday, a certainty for Queensland, was fuming, particularly with the run Brisbane face after Origin I when their Maroons play three games in eight days.

“It’s a bit ridiculous,” Thaiday said.

“The best players in the NRL are having to play three games in eight days. You want the best of the best out there on the field. That’s only going to boost the NRL’s brand, the Broncos’ brand.”

Brisbane officials were privately filthy at the scheduling when the draw was first announced.

The eight days between Origin I and the Raiders clash, with the Warriors meeting in the middle, means Brisbane will likely have to rest their Queensland stars.

Thaiday expects to miss game time, along with up to six other Broncos who will be named in Kevin Walters’ first team.

“We have a really tough turnaround there,” Thaiday said.

“It might be a case of playing Origin then playing the Warriors game and maybe resting the game after that.

“Who knows? Wayne (Bennett) will come up with a plan.”

Thaiday said the Broncos were lucky to have talent waiting in the wings, with Herman Ese’ese and Jai Arrow among those who have had the chance to play first grade in recent weeks.

“We need these guys out there playing some footy and playing some minutes, so in this Origin period Wayne can have that freedom to rest guys if he wants to because he has faith in those young boys,” Thaiday said.

The Broncos are not the only team dudded by bizarre NRL and broadcast scheduling to date.

Manly had four five-day turnarounds in the opening nine rounds. Five-day turnarounds are being abolished for the 2018 season.

Rugby League Players’ Association chief Ian Prendergast told The Courier-Mail they were trying to work with broadcasters on next year’s schedule.

“We want to see a major reduction in five-day turnarounds for next year,” he said.

No Cookies | The Courier Mail

 

[Mosyzlak]

“We want to see a major reduction in five-day turnarounds for next year,”

Surely the only thing preventing this from previously being incorporated is broadcasting interests? Without knowing how this affects other sports, it makes NRL seem like a joke to me. Surely a bunch of grads have run the fruitcaking numbers dozens of times with it being cross check over and over as well.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

We haven't heard from him, but you know Bennett ain't having a bar of this. There will be plenty of restings. probably a good reason for him to be blooding Ese Ese and Arrow now.

 

[mitch222]

You take the good with the bad

 

[Nashy]

You take the good with the bad

Yep. And we get a lot of good.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Every year the Broncos play the Warriors during origin. Bennett really should just rest the origin players during origin.

 

[johnny plath]

We do get our share of good, but its nothing like the extent the media and the haters make out. People seem to confuse FTA coverage with a favourable draw, however the reality is quite different. If you look at the draw in terms of FTA coverage, and turnaround times its quite a different story. For example, contrary to popular belief the most popular FTA team is the Rabbitohs, with 15 FTA (up to round 20) games, we're next on 12 then bulldogs on 10.
Seven day or greater turnarounds: We get 9, along with eels and tigers.... this is the bottom rung of 7 day turnarounds. Every other team has 10 plus, with bulldogs and sharks topping out at 14 each, and cowboys and sea eagles 13 each. We do best with 6 day turnarounds where we recieve 8. At the tougher end we didn't get any 5 day turnarounds this year, although i read somewhere that we had the most last season, yet still made the GF. Even then, the teams with the most are all Sydney based, which is probably a logical thing when you consider travel to and from games for regional teams tends to balance that out.
Despite that, Sammy should probably just suck it up and get on with playing football and leave the whining to coaches and administrators who are responsible for managing this stuff.

 

[Morkel]

We do get our share of good, but its nothing like the extent the media and the haters make out. People seem to confuse FTA coverage with a favourable draw, however the reality is quite different. If you look at the draw in terms of FTA coverage, and turnaround times its quite a different story. For example, contrary to popular belief the most popular FTA team is the Rabbitohs, with 15 FTA (up to round 20) games, we're next on 12 then bulldogs on 10.
Seven day or greater turnarounds: We get 9, along with eels and tigers.... this is the bottom rung of 7 day turnarounds. Every other team has 10 plus, with bulldogs and sharks topping out at 14 each, and cowboys and sea eagles 13 each. We do best with 6 day turnarounds where we recieve 8. At the tougher end we didn't get any 5 day turnarounds this year, although i read somewhere that we had the most last season, yet still made the GF. Even then, the teams with the most are all Sydney based, which is probably a logical thing when you consider travel to and from games for regional teams tends to balance that out.
Despite that, Sammy should probably just suck it up and get on with playing football and leave the whining to coaches and administrators who are responsible for managing this stuff.

No wonder so many opposition players wanted to punch you Johnny Plath, that was hard for me to digest and I'm not even a prop!

 

[johnny plath]

haha sorry, hope it made sense eventually.... the crux is its bullshit that we get a soft draw and most tv games. Other teams get more fta games, and every team bar 2 get more seven day turnarounds than us.

 

[coreyh88]

Sammy mustn't be able to count. We cant have these turn around when we only play on Fridays

 

[gordjw]

Hopefully the removal of 5 day turnarounds forces us out of some Friday night games. Maybe we'll even play two games during the day.

 

[bazza]

The thing that always annoys me is when opposition fans say we only get Friday night matches, and that we get an advantage over other teams because we get 7 day turnarounds. Well the truth is, the Broncos had the most number of short, five day turnarounds in the competition. Go figure. We repeatedly get smashed in the Origin period due to poor scheduling, usually against a fully strength Warriors, but you hear no one complaining then. We played them twice during that period in one of the recent seasons.

It's not like its in our control, that we get Friday night matches whenever we choose. To all the other clubs complaining, how about you fill up a stadium for once and then maybe you'll be considered. The Broncos style of play is entertaining and the crowd gets involved, which is part of the reason they get given Friday matches. I wish we got more day time football. Its great for the players and its good for the fans to come out and support it.

 

[Big Pete]

“What’s the point (of talking to the NRL), it’s not going to change. Everyone has their say on it but nothing really changes,” Bennett fumed.

“We’re talking about the best players in the game, the best players in our team, not the second and third best players, our best players.”
Bennett was adamant the schedule could derail Brisbane’s premiership tilt.
“Of course I’m worried about what it could do to our season,” he said.
“If you look at the record books with the Broncos, nearly every season that I’ve coached here, we are somewhere where we are now and look at where we finish after Origin. We’re all over the shop.
“We got away with it last year, but am I confident of getting away with it this year? Not overly, but the reality is we have to deal with it.
“I just hope we don’t get too many injuries and we have good back-up players here to take their place.”

Bennett rants over NRL fixture - Rugby League Week

Wayne chips in.

Origin scheduling has been a joke since the 90s. At least in the 80s you could cop it - Rugby League wasn't a full-time profession for a lot of players back then, but these days with so much at stake it's rubbish that the competition takes such a hit. Teams like Melbourne, North Queensland and Brisbane can have their finals position decided by games where they had to use QCup players while another side gets to gain momentum.

In saying that, Brisbane will likely benefit more than most teams.

 

[Big Pete]

[TWEET]733189735686905856[/TWEET]

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Smith has always been a punce.

Wayne would get paid the same regardless. Can't say the same for this hack.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Warren Smith usually misses the point.

 

[Battler]

Our biggest issue is replacing Boyd for a couple of games, but kahu, the incumbent Nz fb, should be more than capable. Oates will be a big loss, but maranta and Anderson will serve us well. It'll be interesting to see how our promising rookie forwards go.

 

[broncos4life]

[TWEET]733189735686905856[/TWEET]

[TWEET]733192474005409794[/TWEET]

Smith has always been a punce.

Wayne would get paid the same regardless. Can't say the same for this hack.

Is Warren Smith a halfwit? Wayne's salary has nothing to do with the TV rights deal. The Broncos earn plenty to not be concerned about that.

 

[Foordy]

absolutely [MENTION=7802]broncos4life[/MENTION] ... Smith shouldn't confuse us with the poorly run Sydney clubs that rely on the TV rights deals to not only pay players, but staff and hotdog vendors as well