We all know about the early rounds with the Eels playing several teams directly after they had the bye. Typically, having the bye early in the season wouldn't be ideal, but this year was different due to the late finishing world cup last year.
How the funk do the Broncos only play 3 of their 24 games in Sydney? Not only that, the Broncos play 17 of 24 games in Queensland. The Broncos are one of the biggest sporting brands in Australia. Why they only have 3 games in Sydney (rugby league heartland) makes no sense.
Why do the Panthers, Storm, Roosters, Sharks, Titans, and Tigers all have 2 byes before the Eels have their 1st bye??? The Sea Eagles and Knights have their 2nd bye in round 14, the same week the Eels have their 1st bye.
I believe the setup of the draw must-have requirements to make it look more balanced—for example, travel and bye schedules. Along with the salary cap and player payments not being made public ( I believe they should be) the draw is the next biggest issue for most fans. The difference between the best and the worst draw is way too large. Obviously, without a home and away competition with every team playing each other twice, a totally fair draw is not possible.
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As Graham Annersley explained a few weeks ago , their are so many variables involved when working out the draw . Hopefully Parra benefit later with pressure off them when the season progresses. And I think we get a shot at the Broncos in Darwin next week don't we ? Broncos should be out of their comfort zone ( except for the humidity maybe?). https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/nrl-defends-draw-p...
We don't have a single indigenous player, I reckon we will be a little more out of our comfort zone than the Broncs. It's certainly a game I'd feel more comfortable dragg8mg them to Western Sydney for.
Sorry Wiz I thought Hoppgood is indigenous according to his profile . Imay be wrong but pretty sure thats what i read
Although you make a good point re low quantity of indigenous players in the Eels team , I doubt many NSW indigenous players have ever been outside their residential area except to sporting grounds , so hardly any have been to NT I am confident in saying .
So are we disadvantaged playing in the NT without many of them in our team ? I don't think so .
If we had beaten melbourne, and not gifted manly the win, nobody would be complaining about the schedule.. we actually have a soft run in the middle of the year, when the bye's are really needed
I'm not saying the Eels' poor start is due to the draw. However, every year the media report on the fact that some teams benefit greatly due to a soft/easy draw. My point is more about how and why the NRL allows a draw that is extremely helpful to the Broncos (only 3 games in Sydney). The Broncos only leave Queensland twice in the opening 10 rounds, In week 1 they played at Penrith, and in round 8 they play the Eels in Darwin.
After looking further into it, the Dolphins also have limited games in Sydney. If you don't call Wollongong a Sydney ground, the Dolphins' 1st game in Sydney isn't until round 15 at Brookvale and they also only have 3 games in Sydney. The other 2 Queensland-based teams travel to Sydney several more times. The Titans have 6 games in Sydney and the Cowboys have 7.
Things that look unfair results in fans thinking some teams are favored more than others.
The NRL draw is famously broken. We don't play every team twice, so the draw will be inherently unbalanced. There's also no rhyme or reason about the order of playing teams. It seems completely random. Some teams have to travel frequently, some don't. Some teams get a run of easy games, some don't. Origin in the schedule makes the draw even more of a joke. Origin should be during a mid year shut-down for this reason, but the NRL refuses to give 3 weeks of time to the AFL.
We get 2 x byes during origin, and are also the only team with a bye on rd 27. If we make the top 8 that's a pretty huge advantage, and if we make top 4 then even better.. it's a tough start to the year, but looks favourable towards the pointy end (when it matters)