Rate the NRLol

[Cook]

Agree to disagree. Time will tell though. I suspect Baa would be finding ingenious ways to slow down play, and I suspect that more and more players will be doing so in 2021. Papenhousen last night might have been a case in point, and if so that would kind of argue against the whole "tiring defensive lines" argument, as he would probably be one of the players most expected to be taking advantage.

Yeah players will definitely try. Guthetson was guilty of it also. Pretended he hurt leg than took dropout a minute later

 

[MatstaDogg]

I remember a couple of seasons ago there was a bit of discussions about player burnout, now with the game being made to be played faster i wonder as the season progresses and we come to the back end if player burnout will rear it's head as a result.

 

[Psycho Doggie]

I remember a couple of seasons ago there was a bit of discussions about player burnout, now with the game being made to be played faster i wonder as the season progresses and we come to the back end if player burnout will rear it's head as a result.

The players association has already said they are keeping a close eye on things. They've flagged raising official concerns as early as round 5 depending on how things go.

 

[Alan79]

At the end of the day I don't want to watch a competition where a betting agency can be directly involved. And it seems like most of the rule changes are designed to allow referees to manipulate the results which in conjunction with the gambling agency being involved looks far too susppicious to not think it's corruption. Referee manipulation of Origin results stopped me fro watching one of my formerly must see events of the year. I've gone from watching every game I could find the time to watch, to only Bulldogs games.

My sister is dating a league tragic who I spoke to about the seemingly fixed games and he didn't want to acknowledge it. But he said he'd seen planty of games where he thought refereeing had played a bigger part than the players. At some point the NRL will face a situation where enough fans tune out in disgust if they continue down this current path. I personally think that point will happen in the next few years. It's harder to win people back when they've felt cheated for a long time than to grow new fans. But for a while every group in charge of the NRL seems to have become more about the short e=term gain verse long term success.

Yawnion is at a point now where they've lost enough fans that they struggle to make money. I just hope that Rugby league recognises that the fans are the lifeblood of the game before it reaches the same point.

 

[Como Dog]

Just like to see what everybody thinks of our "premier" competition.

PS you can pick more than one option.

My votes in ... all of the last 3.

 

[flamebouyant]

My vote was incompetent. The game as a business is successful, but still nowhere near AFL. The constant rule changes of the past years have completely changed the game, and not for the better. The fact that these rule changes have not been implemented accross the globe are a worry too. At some point we will be playing a different game to those in the UK.
They should be deciding on these rule changes collectively. Not just some pioneering patsy making rules up as he goes to remain relevant.

 

[Como Dog]

My vote was incompetent. The game as a business is successful, but still nowhere near AFL. The constant rule changes of the past years have completely changed the game, and not for the better. The fact that these rule changes have not been implemented accross the globe are a worry too. At some point we will be playing a different game to those in the UK.
They should be deciding on these rule changes collectively. Not just some pioneering patsy making rules up as he goes to remain relevant.

Really good point about uniform rule changes.

 

[The DoggFather]

It's pretty unanimous that the nrlol sucks so much arse it should be sponsored by Dyson.

 

[Como Dog]

It's interesting as to me it feels like rugby league has unsuccessfully grasped the concept of professional sport. For me professional sport is about running the sport well without nepotism and in a professional manner, as well as responsibly managing the large sums of additional money. For Rugby League, the focus seems to be one of it being a consumer product in the form of sport entertainment much like the NFL approach. That's what happens when you have media organisations running the game. Compare this to football / soccer where there is far more money involed, rule changes are slow, measured and normally uniform, and a game now is pretty similar to a game 20 or 30 years ago. Maybe being so big internationally has spared Football / soccer from the same fate as NRL and NFL.

This consumer TV product approach has done the following damage:
- Assumes all fans incorrectly are TV audiences who easily switch off and get bored watching a game
- Results in a perceived need to keep people entertained with constant rule tweaks and changes
- Focuses only on increasing scoring, attack and game speed and not on defence
- Aims to make it appealing to someone who flicks their TV over for 2-3 minutes so they may catch some ads
- Chases the $ so desperately that you now have betting agencies as sponsors who are now some of the biggest stakeholders in the game
- Referee interference and control in games on such a scale that many of us now question their motives with suspicion
- Origin series that are so staged, that what I used to love is something I never bother watching now
- Relentless and hopeless pursuit of perfection

As some have already said the NRL administrators are now effectively puppeteers and the game is fast losing it's soul. I used to want to watch games all the time, now I try to see the Dogs and don't particularly care for watching other games except the odd Friday night game. I only support the Bulldogs now and not the NRL.

I do worry about the future of the game and feel like it's slowly sleep walking into oblivion. Concussion and brain trauma is not helping with diminishing numbers of kids now playing the game as well.

 

[flamebouyant]

Really good point about uniform rule changes.

You would think that so many massive rule changes would need to be ratified by the world rugby league board. Maybe not. But if the super league are happy with the way the game is, then why are we so compelled to completely overhaul the rules every year? Why try to constantly improve something that is already great?
Bring back the bif, allbeit with harsh penalties, bring back the shoulder charge, remove betting agencies stranglehold on the game, and we are good. Fuck changing all the rules constantly to try to bring crowds back again.