Good stuff. www.runningrugby.com/accounts-fu ... +Year+Plan

Good stuff. www.runningrugby.com/accounts-fu ... +Year+Plan

The NRL are very cautious about expansion. Certainly the idea or more than two new franchises, at the very most, seems ridiculous. In fact, they show the same reluctance to look outside their heartlands (to Perth, say) as...



Oh.

Shane Richardson, the new development czar at the NRL is talking about Perth, South Queensland and New Zealand as strong candidates for a new round of expansion in 2018. The NRL is thinking of an even bigger TV contract. Having the extra clubs enables the NRL to have three instead of the current two Australian TV networks televising games, dividing up the bigger pie, and therefor paying more for it.

Perth offers an opportunity for the Friday night double header to be live when a game is played in Perth (two hours behind Sydney), and Brisbane II offers more Friday double headers involving Queensland clubs. Moreover a second NZ club offers a bigger TV contract from Sky NZ, which enriches the NRL coffers.

Personally I would like to see Perth, Brisbane II, Wellington and PNG (despite its problems) added to make 20 clubs. Then you could have each team play every other club once, and have State of Origin on stand alone weekends. It would reduce the number of rounds from 24 to 19, and the number of competition weeks ending two weeks earlier, with the non-SoO players getting a bit of a break, and enabling the clubs to have their SoO players available fresh for all games.

It also creates a time space for World Club Series, esp. if the RFL reduces the length of the SL season.

Richardson can say what he wants, but moto's closer to the mark. A number of clubs rely on central funding, and the latest franchise (Titans) is a basket case. There won't be any rapid expansion strategy in the near future - they tried it before and it failed. Even the bigger TV money won't help entirely, as what we'll see is what's already happening - increased TV revenue going out the door to existing players and wage inflation.

Mods please ban this fool, every topic he comments on is derailed by his degrading of Super League.

I'm glad a long term strategy is being thought about, I would like to see their full articulated plan.

And talking is where it will stop.

The RfL showed exactly how ambitionless they are by ludicrously tying us into a sky deal for several years. If you have a lucrative business you don't tie it down! They have cut off a potential increase in a revenue stream -at a time where football rights are getting more difficult to acquire for the usual suspects. RL could have been a potential substitute for those not getting the football -the RFL could have been in an excellent bargaining position - fools

Perhaps the NRL won't rush to add new clubs, but you can be certain they would regard cutting two clubs from the top flight as utter lunacy.

But those fools in Aus don't have P&R. We will be whupping their sorry asses in a couple of years when our standards shoot through the roof. No games are easy now. Did you not see the top quality product on show last night?

Every minute matters don't you know, can't wait to see the standards to improve when 4 professional top flight clubs have to face the glamorous powerhouses of Fev, Leigh and Batley for the right to stay in the SL. I do hope we can get a few more WF postcode teams in the SL.

Any way, ambition is all very nice but does he actually mention how he is going to make all this happen? Sounds a bit Del Boy " this time next year we'll be millionaires"

He's not even saying this time next year we will be millionaires 24% in 7 years is not a lot. If we match inflation we will meet that target. That's the level of the games ambition .

You can see some pretty poor footy in the NRL as well. I've sat through a couple of stinkers already this season. They do, though, have enough quality players over there to make increasing the number of teams in the league a feasible option (although of course there might be other reasons why that might not be proceeded with), whereas we arguably don't. Which doesn't make either the NRL or the RFL fools in this case, it seems to me.

Re perth
We've got a 21,500 capacity decent stadium
Draw 20,000 crowds to nrl games
Produce juniors
Have a multi millionaire waiting

And we still don't have a club. I'm not sure I'd be holding the nrl up as some shining light of ambition!

I'm not for a minute saying it will improve standards but those teams could give certain of the glamourous powerhouses of SL a game.