A dream that’s worth chasing

 By Shane Wall 

A lot has been written about the current structure of the NRL and the common theme is simply that in order for the NRL to grow and even try to rival the AFL as the dominant sport in Australia the current structure needs to change.

In an alternate plane of existence the NRL has conquered the Australian sporting landscape with the premier sporting completion in Australia out-performing the AFL for attendance and ratings.

In the real world the NRL is plagued by factional grievances, tribal-like interests from clubs, an independent committee, TV masters pushing for more games and the players’ union demanding less.

The scenario below is purely hypothetical on how the NRL could deliver on the expansion of the NRL while allowing for fewer games for the players and more for the TV networks.

The structure

In order to reach this level of dominance the NRL would have to expand from its existing 16-team structure to 24 teams. 

These teams would be split into four conferences based roughly on their geographical locations.

• Sydney City Conference;
• NSW Conference;
• Queensland Conference,and,
• Tasman Conference.

The eight new teams to come into the competition would be based on the current teams bidding for entrance into the NRL and could include :

• Perth (Tasman Conference);
• Brisbane second Team (Queensland Conference);
• Central Coast (NSW Conference);
• Wellington (Tasman Conference);
• Canterbury (Tasman Conference);
• Ipswich (Queensland Conference);
• Adelaide (Tasman Conference), and,
• Papua New Guinea (Queensland Conference).

The conferences would look something like this:

Queensland: Brisbane Broncos, North Queensland, Gold Coast, Brisbane Bombers (1), Ipswich Jets (5), Papua New Guinea (8)

NSW: Newcastle Knights, Manly Sea Eagles, Penrith Panthers, Cronulla Sharks, Canberra Raiders, Central Coast Bears (3).

Sydney City: South Sydney Rabbitohs, Sydney Roosters, St George Illawarra Dragons, Canterbury Bulldogs, Parramatta Eels, Wests Tigers.

Tasman: New Zealand Warriors, Melbourne Storm, Perth (2), Adelaide (7), Wellington (4), Canterbury-Otago (6)

Note the numbers next to the new teams. An influx of eight teams into a previous 16-team competition would be a disaster and would dilute the existing pool of players too quickly.

To help combat this, I propose that teams be added every two to three years in increments of two – the number next to the teams indicates which order they be added, with the first two teams to be Perth and Brisbane.

The season

Once the teams are in place the season would play out as follows.

Teams would play each teams in their conference twice in home-and-away legs, and they would play four out of the six teams from each other conference – which teams they don’t play would change each year.

This would result in a 24-week season with 22 games played with two byes. 

While there would be two less rounds than the current format, the proposed system would produce an extra 72 games per season.

The extra weeks could allow for the possibility of stand-alone rounds for State of Origin and Tests, or alternatively allow for more time at the end and start of the season for All Stars, Nines, World Cup and Four Nations tournaments.

The finals

Twelve teams would make the final, with three chosen from each conference. Conference winners would be seeded from one to four, with the remaining seeded from eight to twelve.

The top four seeds would get Week 1 of the finals off, with an elimination round between the remaining eight sides.

The winners would then play the top seeds in quarter finals, followed by the semi finals and then the final.

This system provides an extra two finals games each year, and it guarantees the presence of three Queensland-Papua New Guinea teams, six NSW teams, and three interstate-New Zealand teams to maintain interest across numerous markets.

Game scheduling

With a maximum of 12 games per week the NRL can balance between games that are suitable for both crowds and TV audiences.

There would be one Thursday game, two Friday games, four games on Saturday and Sunday and then one more on Monday. With the presence of Perth, Adelaide and additional New Zealand teams, this creates the opportunity to have three to four live games back-to-back on Saturdays and Sundays.

Players

Adding an extra eight teams will require a large influx of players and creates the risk of diluting the playing pool across too many teams and reducing the quality of games overall. To combat this, players could not only be drafted from current NRL ranks but other avenues, such as Super League, rugby and the NFL.

The last few years has seen an increase in top-line Super League players coming to the NRL not only for money but to test themselves in Australia. 

Meanwhile, there is a proven method with players from both rugby codes crossing over. 

The NRL could easily tap into the Australian and New Zealand playing ranks, with other opportunities from France and South Africa.

And every year in the NFL there are players who fail to get drafted, but they have spent most of their lives in training camps. 

So it’s not out of the question that some of these players could be retrained to play the 13-man game.

Furthermore, an introduction of American players into the sport has the potential to create interest for rugby league in the US.

The NRL can continue to try to sell its current successes but until it provides a product that can interest the whole of the Australian public and not just NSW, Queensland and a few people in Melbourne it will always be considered the poor little brother compared to the AFL. – The Roar