Archive for Rugby League Forums  |
| parragirl |
NRL needs a pre-season tournamentTuesday, 27 February 2007
As we move towards the third week of NRL trial matches in 2007; the question needs to be asked – why have so many trial games? While one or two practice games prior to season kickoff to at least confirm player combinations, fitness and test playing strategies makes sense. Why do NRL teams look at playing 3 or 4 trial games? The chance of injury in the modern game is so high, it seems ridiculous to subject squad members to such risk in these meaning less games. Most teams already realize this, and generally only field their top players in 1 or 2 of the trial games, so why then do we even play the early trial games where 2nd tier players form the basis of the team? A lot of comparisons have been made lately between the NRL and AFL. Most notably by Sydney Morning Herald columnist Phil Gould. Most of these comparisons relate to the general day to day running of the NRL and also how marketing and grass roots development is taking place to ensure the game grows rapidly and improves year on year. One of the NRL directives is to play as many trial games in the bush, to ensure the game reaches supporters in all corners – as it stands today, the people in the bush get to see a single trial game where 26 players they never heard of battle it out. These people want to see Andrew Johns and Darren Lockyer take the field and experience true NRL. The only way to improve the pre-season format I believe is to implement a knock-out tournament. A tournament with a large prize money bonus for the winner and a respected trophy to add to the leagues club cabinet. Incentives such as these will ensure teams field their best players and realistically everybody wins: * Clubs get warm-up games before NRL kick-off * Fans in the bush can get to see games with meaning * Additional TV broadcast opportunities (local/international) * A final in Sydney would draw a large crowd For those that can remember far enough back; the Challenge Cup used to be a pre-season Rugby League tournament that worked extremely well. Games drew big crowds and TV audiences and the title was respected and chased by all clubs. Maybe it’s time to go back to the future. NRLnews.com at 16:23 http://www.nrlnews.com/ |
| sirbaneb |
I agree that a pre-season comp is a good concept, I just don't know if the top-line players would/could even consider playing. So much stress on there bodys already, with 26 rounds, SOO, Tri-Nats, WCC etc. |
| mighty red v |
good pointthat sounds very good but it does put alot of strain on the players i think with nrl in the country they should focus on playing more games during the season in the country with the amount of money the nrl make i`m sure they could give clubs a subsidy to play there games in the country, i would like to see something like a oz tag comp during the off season there`s no body contact its also a good physical tester and a good way to tone there ball skills plus coaches use it in there training. maybe a oz tag trophy cup during the off season.. |
| Skyhunter |
Good idea mighty red v,i would like to see a return of the sevensTournament perhaps. With this i would like to see the end of the City v Country as i can't see any benefit of it. And maybe the NRL, CRL and QRL could do something about forming a national competition in the larger bush areas like Griffith,Bathurst,Orange and Dubbo etc.... Which could run in conjuction with the NRL and the new under 21 comp which starts in 08. Some country areas of NSW are doing it tough due to lack of work in different areas and the drought all this is hurting some of the CRL competitions. If they could start a competition like this the benefits would be great for Rugby League in general the young players that couldn't normally make it into the NRL competition. These players would have a better chance as more talent would be available. But i can't ever see this happening due to a lack of funds,Sponsorship,management etc.... |