Analysis AFL vs NRL in Qld

[bigleague]

Why are you trolling the AFL's discussion forums? Is the League sites too quiet for you?

How is what I said trolling in any way? If you are truly that sensitive to any discussion involving the NRL perhaps you are in the wrong thread?

 

[Oscarman]

What about Hobart? I've never been there but I can't imagine there's much NRL support.

Plenty down here. Broncos/Storm got 12k to a preseason game a few years back.

 

[Football Tragic]

How is what I said trolling in any way? If you are truly that sensitive to any discussion involving the NRL perhaps you are in the wrong thread?

Trolling - not atm but why is a Leagie wasting his time on an AFL board? I'm guessing that the NRL Boards have tumbleweeds blowing through them at the moment so you're lonely enough to come and speak to people who actually passionately support a sport year long.

Plenty down here. Broncos/Storm got 12k to a preseason game a few years back.

A whole 12k! Wow

 

[The Educator]

No there isn't. They are AFL crazy. They don't know shit about RL.

Perth yes. Loads of South Africans and Kiwis.

The Bears is a great move.

This is the delusion. South Africans and most kiwis don't naturally follow the NRL - they are union fans.

Perth NRL is a massive risk to the NRL in the long run for a sport that doesn't have a great record at sticking it out and investing in the future

Huge costs given the location as well

 

[PhatBoy]

Trolling - not atm but why is a Leagie wasting his time on an AFL board? I'm guessing that the NRL Boards have tumbleweeds blowing through them at the moment so you're lonely enough to come and speak to people who actually passionately support a sport year long.

A whole 12k! Wow

Isn’t this thread about trying to convert league fans?
You have a league fan in an AFL thread who is actually being quite civil and I haven’t really seen any evidence of trolling and you’re basically just telling him to f**k off for no other reason than the fact that he’s here.

 

[LeBronco]

Why do they need to worry about the Knights? They were getting huge crowds this year even while playing diabolical football, and have made the finals four of the last 6 years. They had the 5th highest average home attendance this year despite finishing at the arse end of the ladder.

What should they be doing? Building them a bigger stadium? Making extra finals spots in the two seasons they didn’t make it?

What are they supposed to do to help the Tigers who went from last with 6 wins to
The Tigers ranked 10th for home crowds but played in 3 different venues and one of them has a capacity BELOW what their average home crowd actually is, another isn’t really equipped to cram in what their average home crowd is: and that is about to change with the upgrades that are being made to Leichhardt.

I’m not sure what it is you want the NRL to do. Put a draft in and gift players to struggling teams for no other reason than the fact that they are bad, perhaps?

I said the NRL don't need to worry about the Knights and Tigers because they're based in areas where AFL isn't seen as a threat. There has been panic from the NRL in recent years about Queensland because AFL is taking over the state and the takeover is being fuelled by Victorians flocking to Queensland in droves. Gold Coast isn't far off from becoming a rusted on AFL city and I expect Brisbane to follow suite in the not too distant future.

 

[Philhawk]

So what’s going to be the plan when the AFL inevitably changes the rules and actually returns those local kids back into the draft?

It’s not sustainable to pack teams like Bris and the GC with top talent for pennies forever.

It’s still bizarre that GWS had some of their benefits pulled back, but not GC.

 

[LeBronco]

So what’s going to be the plan when the AFL inevitably changes the rules and actually returns those local kids back into the draft?

It’s not sustainable to pack teams like Bris and the GC with top talent for pennies forever.

It’s still bizarre that GWS had some of their benefits pulled back, but not GC.

AFL have punished both the Giants/Swans over the years due to Victorians hating NSW and not wanting the clubs to become too strong. Victorians are happy to continue with the spoon feeding of the Lions/Suns regardless of how many premierships the clubs win because Queensland is basically Victoria North these days thanks to all the Victorians there.

 

[The Educator]

So what’s going to be the plan when the AFL inevitably changes the rules and actually returns those local kids back into the draft?

It’s not sustainable to pack teams like Bris and the GC with top talent for pennies forever.

It’s still bizarre that GWS had some of their benefits pulled back, but not GC.

They are not packing the teams with talent for pennies. They points and the discount have been tilted substantially from next year anyway so you'll see far more of these acedemy players going to other clubs in future

 

[kid_a]

I never realised there was much NRL support in Perth? I've always seen it as a rusted on AFL city much like Adelaide and very parochial.

Th vast majority of support for the NRL here comes from the rush of workers from over east and NZ who got in on the mining sector.

The thing is a lot of them move back to where they came from once they've done a few years and saved enough money, but a lot stay also.

It's very rare to meet a person in WA who was born and raised here and who's parents are from here that actually care about rugby league.

In terms of senior level participation rugby league numbers are still very low.

Union literally has a bigger footprint in Perth than league, it has a lot more participants and clubs and a long history in WA.

Outside of Perth both rugby codes are virtually non existent with the exception of mining areas (Pilbara & Kalgoorlie) who again have a large community of people from over east and NZ that set up their own rugby clubs.

 

[PhatBoy]

Th vast majority of support for the NRL here comes from the rush of workers from over east and NZ who got in on the mining sector.

The thing is a lot of them move back to where they came from once they've done a few years and saved enough money, but a lot stay also.

It's very rare to meet a person in WA who was born and raised here and who's parents are from here that actually care about rugby league.

In terms of senior level participation rugby league numbers are still very low.

Union literally has a bigger footprint in Perth than league, it has a lot more participants and clubs and a long history in WA.

Outside of Perth both rugby codes are virtually non existent with the exception of mining areas (Pilbara & Kalgoorlie) who again have a large community of people from over east and NZ that set up their own rugby clubs.

That’s actually representative of a lot of places though, including league strongholds.

Ie. I live in western NSW. It’s a league nursery. At any given time there will be a dozen or more players from within a 250km radius of say, Orange, playing NRL footy. Liam Henry is from Blayney where I live, a small town of 3000. Temora is probably even smaller (where Luke Breust is from) and has produced a really disproportionately high number of elite players. Jack Wighton is from Orange, Isaiah Yeo is from Dubbo, Charlie Staines is from Forbes, Angus Crichton is from Temora, etc etc.
these towns in terms of the sport they ‘support’ are all rugby league towns. At any given time one or two of them may have a local club that is a bit down on numbers or goes to a lower tier comp etc but on the whole they are ‘league’ towns.

Yet on a Saturday afternoon (league in the bigger comps is a Sunday sport, in the lower tier single grade village comps they will often play on a Saturday), all of them will have their local union field packed out with 4 grades playing and their clubhouse or sponsor pub full to the brim. It’s a very niche, strange thing. They are very loyal and in some cases you get guys who play both codes but for the most part all these towns still have a strong union club that doesn’t really struggle for numbers or for sponsorship etc. The private school system probably helps with that.
No one gives a shit about club rugby beyond those directly involved with the clubs themselves - the few thousand that watch a Shute Shield match are literally the few thousand that care. No one gives a shit about super rugby beyond those that turn up either. People DO have a casual interest in the Wallabies but I’m noticing more and more that outside the Bledisloe and when the Lions toured, people didn’t even realise they were playing when they toured Europe this month.

 

[LeBronco]

They are not packing the teams with talent for pennies. They points and the discount have been tilted substantially from next year anyway so you'll see far more of these acedemy players going to other clubs in future

It's unfair how the AFL continue to allow your club to be strong while I've had to witness my club have privileges taken away from us. Swans have also lost privileges while the Lions are allowed to remain strong and continue to get stronger.

 

[The Educator]

It's unfair how the AFL continue to allow your club to be strong while I've had to witness my club have privileges taken away from us. Swans have also lost privileges while the Lions are allowed to remain strong and continue to get stronger.

Gold Coast got a concessions package when it was a basket case a few years ago. The Lions have got a clutch of father sons

You are really just imagining some prejudice against NSW teams.

 

[GC2015]

This is the delusion. South Africans and most kiwis don't naturally follow the NRL - they are union fans.

Perth NRL is a massive risk to the NRL in the long run for a sport that doesn't have a great record at sticking it out and investing in the future

Huge costs given the location as well

This is really important to point out when discussing rugby fans in WA. Most Victorians don't understand that there are very distinct cultural/socioeconomic differences between the two codes of rugby - union and league. To the point that many fans of one code will express hatred towards the other code e.g. most rugby league fans fiercely dislike rugby union. Fundamentally, rugby union is an upper class sport and rugby league is a working class sport (for those who don't know).

As has been pointed out, the majority of people interested in either rugby code in WA come from a South African or NZ background. What you're going to find with almost every South African living in WA is that they are very interested in rugby union and very uninterested in rugby union. The Kiwis provide a more favourable split for rugby league, but once again would be more union inclined.

Having said all that, WA people really do seem to get behind their sports team and you can see that on full display with the Scorchers, Wildcats and even Glory at certain periods. So it'll be interesting to see if they embrace the Bears as much as they have with all their other professional sports teams. Going head to head with West Coast and Fremantle during the winter months in Perth feels like a losing battle, but time will tell. Immediate and continued success that the Storm experienced would be the best way to win over the WA locals.

 

[LeBronco]

Gold Coast got a concessions package when it was a basket case a few years ago. The Lions have got a clutch of father sons

You are really just imagining some prejudice against NSW teams.

We lost our Riverina zone while the Swans got banned from trading and both clubs lost the cost of living allowance. These things happened because Victorians hate NSW and feared the clubs would become too strong.

 

[Prince Imperial]

We lost our Riverina zone while the Swans got banned from trading and both clubs lost the cost of living allowance. These things happened because Victorians hate NSW and feared the clubs would become too strong.

No you didn't. You lost the Murray area (but still have it as an NGA zone). Football has been the dominant sport in this area since the 19th century. Towns like Albury, Corowa and Deniliquin get Victorian TV and are far closer to Melbourne than Sydney. It was absurd you were given it in the first place.

You still have most of the Riverina where Football is strong and got Himmelberg, Rowston, Hopper, Perryman, Kennedy, Williams etc from there. It's a bloody gold mine.

Your owners are so prejudiced against you they have just gifted your organisation a very generous assistance package:

Giants to receive no.3 pick, one of three clubs granted League assistance

Greater Western Sydney has received an AFL assistance package after five wins across three seasons

www.afl.com.au

 

[kid_a]

We lost our Riverina zone while the Swans got banned from trading and both clubs lost the cost of living allowance. These things happened because Victorians hate NSW and feared the clubs would become too strong.

What absolute tosh.

The AFL would love nothing more than for NSW clubs to do well and play in Grand finals as it would expose the game and draw in more people in "enemy territory"

Both the giants and Swans have been on the receiving end of distinct benefits at different times.

The giants literally exist because the AFL wants to grow the game in NSW, so why in the blue hell would they not want them to do well? ...and supposedly try to "sabotage" them as you are insinuating

 

[LeBronco]

What absolute tosh.

The AFL would love nothing more than for NSW clubs to do well and play in Grand finals as it would expose the game and draw in more people in "enemy territory"

Both the giants and Swans have been on the receiving end of distinct benefits at different times.

The giants literally exist because the AFL wants to grow the game in NSW, so why in the blue hell would they not want them to do well? ...and supposedly try to "sabotage" them as you are insinuating

Have you seen the umpiring we've received in finals over the years? Swans have also copped the raw end of the stick and it's not a coincidence. AFL want NSW clubs being competitive and in the mix for premierships but they don't want the clubs actually winning premierships because Victorians hate NSW and everyone knows Victorians are the centre of the AFL.