NEWS Vlandys (and Abdo) want to divide the competition

Foordy

Foordy

International Captain
Contributor
Mar 4, 2008
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A report in the SMH saying that there is talk within the NRL to expand to 18 teams and create a conference system.

they'd expand to 18 be still neglecting Perth ... they'll add a second NZ team instead.

the NRL think is will increase revenue .. and well, it works in America, so why wouldn't it work here.

Sydney conference: Roosters, Rabbitohs, Eels, Bulldogs, Tigers, Panthers, Dragons, Sharks, Sea Eagles (play each other twice).

Outer-Sydney conference: Broncos, Titans, Cowboys, Storm, Warriors, Knights, Raiders, new Brisbane franchise, second New Zealand team (play each other twice).

Remaining games: Play opposite conference teams once.

Finals system: Top four teams from each conference play in separate finals series. Winners of each conference square off in grand final for premiership.

Wayne Bennett Says:

“It’s a great sale point,” Bennett told the Herald on Thursday. “America does it in the Super Bowl. The biggest drawing final games we’ve had are when there are two Sydney teams. I went through it with the Dragons when we played the Tigers in the prelim. There was over 60 or 70,000 people there.

“The reality is the biggest crowds at finals times is when local teams play each other. They don’t get crowds when you get Brisbane or Melbourne against a Sydney team. The stupidity of it all is it’s always been about maximising the impact to the game. What they should want is rivalry and having the Tigers playing Parra home and away every year. A conference system guarantees it.”

“I’m a big believer in it,” Bennett told the Herald. “I know it’s a crowd changer. It won’t change the quality of football, though. You’ll get more rivalries and having lived in Brisbane and Sydney I now know the difference. Queensland has Origin as its great rivalry and Sydney has the rivalry between its clubs.

“Even Queensland, they have the Titans, Broncos and Cowboys. That’ll always bet there. Adding a fourth team in Queensland will only add to it as well. You still get to play other teams in the conference once, you just guarantee home and away in your conference – that’s what you get.”

“[Sydney fans] embrace the national league but they also embrace the club rivalry and unless you’re living in Sydney you don’t realise how strong it is. It’s what people outside of Sydney don’t get about Sydney is the genuine rivalry between the clubs here. It makes the game, I love it.”

Andrew Abdo wouldn't comment when contacted by the SMH, said that discussions with the clubs were "confidential" but told NRL. com in a recent interview:

“Moving to 17 teams wouldn’t be an end point. It gets you closer to 18 teams and obviously 18 teams gives you a few different options,” Abdo said.

“An 18th team allows you to think about what we might want to do about expanding in New Zealand. Having two teams in New Zealand creates a tribalism and a new rivalry in New Zealand. It also gives you options around pools because you can have two pools of nine teams. As you see with some of the big US sports, as you grow your competition and the scale of the number of teams, you can create a dynamic around who plays who.

“Ultimately it creates more rivalries in regional areas and have competitions within competitions. You have to begin with the end in mind, you have to always keep an eye on the long term and you have to think about what is moving you closer to becoming an even more sustainable and relevant and viable sport.”
 
yet another one of Phil Gould's pet idea's, V'landys is essentially just a puppet at this point. Every brain fart he comes up with you can bet Gould wrote about a decade earlier in the SMH.
 
I guess the draw would be consistent this way, rather than the way it is now, where teams are seemingly randomly selected to play each other twice (and Broncos get screwed).

the NRL won't do this, if they can't figure out a way to do this.

I still can't believe they are neglecting Perth though.

ARLC commissioner, Peter Beatie was in the paper (talking about the second Brisbane team) and said that the NRL are committed to being a national comp. but needed to add the 2nd Brisbane team to sure up their heartland first (or something along those lines) ... i got news for him, you can't be a national comp if you only care about the east coast of Australia and NZ
 
Not a good idea. There isn't the depth of talent to expand the competition like this.
 
A report in the SMH saying that there is talk within the NRL to expand to 18 teams and create a conference system.

they'd expand to 18 be still neglecting Perth ... they'll add a second NZ team instead.

the NRL think is will increase revenue .. and well, it works in America, so why wouldn't it work here.

Sydney conference: Roosters, Rabbitohs, Eels, Bulldogs, Tigers, Panthers, Dragons, Sharks, Sea Eagles (play each other twice).

Outer-Sydney conference: Broncos, Titans, Cowboys, Storm, Warriors, Knights, Raiders, new Brisbane franchise, second New Zealand team (play each other twice).

Remaining games: Play opposite conference teams once.

Finals system: Top four teams from each conference play in separate finals series. Winners of each conference square off in grand final for premiership.

Wayne Bennett Says:

“It’s a great sale point,” Bennett told the Herald on Thursday. “America does it in the Super Bowl. The biggest drawing final games we’ve had are when there are two Sydney teams. I went through it with the Dragons when we played the Tigers in the prelim. There was over 60 or 70,000 people there.

“The reality is the biggest crowds at finals times is when local teams play each other. They don’t get crowds when you get Brisbane or Melbourne against a Sydney team. The stupidity of it all is it’s always been about maximising the impact to the game. What they should want is rivalry and having the Tigers playing Parra home and away every year. A conference system guarantees it.”

“I’m a big believer in it,” Bennett told the Herald. “I know it’s a crowd changer. It won’t change the quality of football, though. You’ll get more rivalries and having lived in Brisbane and Sydney I now know the difference. Queensland has Origin as its great rivalry and Sydney has the rivalry between its clubs.

“Even Queensland, they have the Titans, Broncos and Cowboys. That’ll always bet there. Adding a fourth team in Queensland will only add to it as well. You still get to play other teams in the conference once, you just guarantee home and away in your conference – that’s what you get.”

“[Sydney fans] embrace the national league but they also embrace the club rivalry and unless you’re living in Sydney you don’t realise how strong it is. It’s what people outside of Sydney don’t get about Sydney is the genuine rivalry between the clubs here. It makes the game, I love it.”

Andrew Abdo wouldn't comment when contacted by the SMH, said that discussions with the clubs were "confidential" but told NRL. com in a recent interview:

“Moving to 17 teams wouldn’t be an end point. It gets you closer to 18 teams and obviously 18 teams gives you a few different options,” Abdo said.

“An 18th team allows you to think about what we might want to do about expanding in New Zealand. Having two teams in New Zealand creates a tribalism and a new rivalry in New Zealand. It also gives you options around pools because you can have two pools of nine teams. As you see with some of the big US sports, as you grow your competition and the scale of the number of teams, you can create a dynamic around who plays who.

“Ultimately it creates more rivalries in regional areas and have competitions within competitions. You have to begin with the end in mind, you have to always keep an eye on the long term and you have to think about what is moving you closer to becoming an even more sustainable and relevant and viable sport.”
Not a fan, NBA has 15 teams per conference, so essentially a conference is as big as the comp we have now... It would be bat shit boring watching your team play the same 8 teams most of the year imo.
 
Not a fan, NBA has 15 teams per conference, so essentially a conference is as big as the comp we have now... It would be bat shit boring watching your team play the same 8 teams most of the year imo.

Yep. A lot more depth of talent in basketball too as it's a worldwide sport where the NBA is the pinnacle of the sport. A never ending pipeline of talent really.
 
So all the non Sydney teams have to travel around between Auckland, Townsville, Melbourne etc while the worst case scenario for the cockroaches is a trip to Canberra or Wollongong. Seems fair.
 
So all the non Sydney teams have to travel around between Auckland, Townsville, Melbourne etc while the worst case scenario for the cockroaches is a trip to Canberra or Wollongong. Seems fair.

well, we all know what the "N" stands for in NRL
 
So all the non Sydney teams have to travel around between Auckland, Townsville, Melbourne etc while the worst case scenario for the cockroaches is a trip to Canberra or Wollongong. Seems fair.
Yeah was thinking this. But hey could we have our very own judiciary like Sydney has had for so long?
 
Absolutely fucking rubbish idea (I know what a shocker for Vlandys).

a) There isn’t enough talent for one additional team let alone two
b) One conference would have to be travelling all the time while the second conference would barely travel at all.
c) Comps like the NBA and NFL have conferences because they have so many teams, not because it is ‘funky and fresh’ or whatever reason the weird looking **** has come up with.
 
So all the non Sydney teams have to travel around between Auckland, Townsville, Melbourne etc while the worst case scenario for the cockroaches is a trip to Canberra or Wollongong. Seems fair.

Exactly. Just reads like another blowjob for the Sydney clubs to me, but that's hardly surprising. Not that I really care as a Broncos supporter. If we can get our shit even half together, every one of those teams in our conference are beatable except Melbourne.
 
What you forget with the "not enough talent" argument, is that R&R seems very limited to a select group of players. The NFL with the college system, school system, lower divisions, (exactly like NRL has over here) is brutal with players not making it. Tim Tebow is a joke, but at the school level was killing it. We just have to wield the knife a lot harder and if a player isn't up to scratch, boot his arse. There are more half backs who we could look at then the 4 the media is pushing for us to sign.
 
I don't mind the conference idea, but the way they proposed the finals is horrible.

Top 4 from each conference make the finals in their conference... then the winner of each conference play in the grand final.

This means we'd never see two teams from the same conference in the grand final.

No big rivalry grand finals (Broncos v Cowboys, Roosters v Souths etc)
 
I guess the draw would be consistent this way, rather than the way it is now, where teams are seemingly randomly selected to play each other twice (and Broncos get screwed).
Consistently shit for every team not located in Shitney.

Teams outside of Sydney travelling all over the country and NZ with 8 conference away games and 4/5 games in Sydney (12-13 travelling games a year)... compared to NSWRL teams only travelling out of Sydney 4/5 times a year.
 

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