I’m writing this from ANZ stadium on GF day where there is all the atmosphere of a regular club game.
The salary cap is not a talent distribution mechanism despite assurances from Todd Greenberg et al that the closeness of the competition is ‘proof’ that the ‘salary cap is working’.
Instead consider that the Storm or the Roosters have featured in (I think) 15 of the last 21 Grand finals.
The game is stagnating on a diet of Roosters, Storm, Broncos and Cowboys.
As I write this I can imagine what today would feel like if it was Souths vs Dragons, Eels vs Bulldogs or Manly vs Knights. Tickets would have sold out immediately and this stadium would be a sea of team colours and passion.
Instead we walk head long into yet another predictable finish. Regardless of whether today’s game is exciting or not the fans of traditional clubs are feeling disillusioned and frustrated.
If the NRL was serious they’d look closely at a talent distribution mechanism not to mention proper incentives for clubs whose responsibility it is to develop the thousands of juniors the game needs.
Instead we sit here today and watch two teams who develop no one play on the biggest stage to an audience that mostly could not care less.
Its not hard to work out what is needed to ignite unprecedented interest in the game and create an atmosphere where a ticket to the GF is like gold.
Instead Beattie, Greenberg and co will pat themselves on the back and the game will stagnate for yet another year.
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Absolutely spot on, its overkill of those clubs, in the media too.
Cannibalising might be the word youre looking for Mutly.
I think the game's dying.
For the first time I have real concerns about the future of the sport. I see it heading down the same path as Australian Rugby Union - destined to become a boutique sport played at very small grounds infront of a handful of family and friends. Punters are losing their passion and love of the game.
It's sterile, there's no competition for the ball, there's no fatigue in the game anymore and the little blokes are getting pummelled from pillar to post with no opportunity to play the footy we all used to love.
Add to that the unlevel playing field, weak administration and complete lack of any foresight and we have a looming disaster on our hands.
This new hulking stadium outside our leagues club is a sign of the predicament we are now faced with and a symbol of how far the game has fallen. Make no mistake - it's a soccer stadium. Unthinkable 20 years ago.
The game's not stagnating Mutt - it's going backwards.
We need a savior.
Fully agree with this excellent appraisal of NRL's present downslide into oblivion.
It might take a breakaway group of clubs fully supported by Fans to save RL. We have to get the privatisation of big business out of RL and return the game to the people for the people by the people, to bring back the spirit and soul of RL. We can't rely on the current powers that be behind the institutions, media, NRL, etc, to fix it because they operate with an agenda that does not support the REAL tribal spirit run by the people for the people.
Excellent comment, PT. Yesterday's AFL GF was the first game of anything I've watched for many a year, being an old Bears supporter and all. Regarding SJW's, leftism is a mental illness according to the psychiatrist Dr Lyle H. Rossiter, Jr - The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness. The philosophical delusion of Darwinism doesn't help much either, considering it opened the door to Marxism.
https://www.amazon.com/Liberal-Mind-Psychological-Political-Madness...
Welcome aboard old bear, that was one of the best RL emblems your avatar.
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