My Concept for a New Premiership Expansion

There has been a lot of talk about expanding the comp over recent years which got me thinking.

As an EPL fan I often find the competition at the bottom of the table just as exciting as the top of the table, esp towards the end of the season.

My thoughts for an NRL comp would be to split the comp into two divisions. Lets say A and B. If the NRL added four more teams then that would leave 10 teams per comp. At the end of the year the bottom two teams of Division A drop down to B, while the two top teams of B move up to A. Makes Division A, perhaps titled the Premier Division an exciting concept both at the top of the ladder and the bottom.

A big plus in having ten sides per comp, would mean teams could play each other twice in the season, home and away, rather than the current shamble of a draw they presently use. It would also leave adequate weekends free for stand alone Rep weekends. i.e. State of Origin. Which would please the playing group.  

Obviously being part of Division A would be financially more rewarding and more prestigious to play in.

Another advantage I see for having two competitions in the NRL, is the broadcast deals possible. I feel this would overshadow the costs of an expanded comp.

Another concept that could be possible with two comp's is a mid week knockout comp, involving teams from both divisions. The final could be played half-way through the comp on a stand alone weekend. Once again this would up the broadcast deal.

Things I would also like to see in a new comp, as well as the current one for that matter, is the following.

1. One Referee (Two refs has simply been a failure, it also keeps costs down)

2. Re introduce reserve grade (I feel the best/only way to develop/prepare talent for first grade)

3. Four substitutions per game (allows the smaller players to be more prominent again)

Anyway just my thoughts and wanted to put it out there.

 

You need to be a member of 1Eyed Eel to add comments!

Join 1Eyed Eel

Votes: 0
Email me when people reply –

Replies

  • Sorry mate, 2 divisions would destroy the comp and the game as we know it, its simply not sustainable and a terrible idea, if you love RL im very surprised if youd back an idea like this because it would destroy the game imo

    • Its a risk yeah, but I still feel it could work. I do agree though if current management were in charge, it would be failure just like imo the game is currently being destroyed.

  • Great idea if we had a bigger population, more big business and league was the only football code in the country this would be ok.
  • One of the points you highlighted was the financial windfall for the top division. Equally this is the very reason it should never be implemented as Snake has alluded to. Bradford Northern in the UK have just folded due to not being in the Super League. It will also mean that only a handful of clubs will ever win it again.

    I'd be more in favour of a conference or divisional system much like the NFL.
  • It would be the death of any club that isn't in the top league. We already have fairly low crowd numbers and that's with every club being in the "top league" imagine if a team dropped down? You wouldn't get many more than what you get at a reserve grade game. Also corporate money.

  • That is a good point Brett regarding supporting the two teams, though I was thinking of the Soccer/Football model of multiple divisions rather than RL. Though I am sure the concept would be the same, as long as their teams were not in the same division. 

    Yes I agree that it is part of the English culture and it would be hard to adapt in Australia, esp with such poor quality public transport and overcrowded roads making it difficult to get to games in and around Sydney. The advantage the English have is more local grounds with better public transport.

  • I like the ideas a lot ... but agree they wouldn't work here due to the small playing and watching pool. We'd need to find another 100 top quality players for the 4 extra teams - not sure we have that depth.

    BTW - can you imagine John Grant and Co trying to imement a two tier system with the self interested clubs we have? Wow. There's more chance of Leicester winning the EPL, Cronulla NRL, Western Bulldogs AFL, Ireland beating the All Blacks, Trump the U.S. Election and Brexit all in the same year ... Oh, better make that ... Two years running!

    The conference idea is a more practical compromise for Australia.
    • Nope its been tryed wont work
  • No no no. Who decides the A team comp to start with? Those in the B team will die or wither away without sponsorship, crowd and tv coverage. Then there will be player poaching and transfers because they all want to play in clubs that are in the A Comp. Also what would happen to national ratings and broadcast deals if the A comp consist of mainly or just Sydney teams? No no no...
    • Who decides the A team comp to start with? The positions on the ladder from the previous year would determine who's in what division. The new teams would start in the B division. 

      Why couldn't all games be televised from both divisions? It is only two more games per week. 

      Why couldn't both comps be giving as much coverage by the media? 

      Transfers? Realistically there should be some sort of player transfer window now. The current system is a joke. 

      And poaching doesn't already happen? 

This reply was deleted.

More stuff to read

Marty replied to Cʜɪᴇғ -'s discussion Big News On Lomax
"LB you probs correct on two Coaches getting maturity from Lomax, it was all in his mannerism last night. I do wonder the noise from Parra if Gutho went to Wing... for the betterment of the Team? Would he bleet 🐏 so much? "
6 minutes ago
AlShaw replied to Cʜɪᴇғ -'s discussion Big News On Lomax
"If Tago does stay at centre then it does coincide with them having a budget 6 but I still think the plan will be to move him"
39 minutes ago
AlShaw replied to Cʜɪᴇғ -'s discussion Big News On Lomax
"500k for May is well worth it. Penrith know what they'll get from him every week but Lomax is inconsistent, right now he's playing his best football because he's advertising himself to other clubs. When his attitude is down his game can be  poor.…"
54 minutes ago
Nightmare Off-Season replied to Cʜɪᴇғ -'s discussion Big News On Lomax
"The Panthers just re-signed / about to re-sign May on 500k per season, and have re-signed Tago on 750k (reportedly) at centre. Our 3 centres probably don't reach 750k combined. 
So while they've developed great wingers as you mentioned, they've also…"
2 hours ago
More…