Rugby League - International

[BoyBrumby]

For a hybrid code to survive you'd have to take the most exciting aspects of each code and incorporate those into the new code. Which means it would basically be rugby league anyway.

Pfft.

I'd hope the hybrid code would at least take the scrummaging of union. League's scrums are farcical.

My guess would be scrums & line-outs from union with league's ball recycling.

 

[benchmark00]

Should just play Union but not allow anyone with an IQ greater than 10 to play/watch it.

 

[Ausage]

From Fox Sports.

Thoughts? If I was league I'd want to be ring-fencing the differences between the two codes just now rather than jumping into bed with union. Wouldn't want to see league die out as a separate sport.

However I am faintly intrigued as to know which rules from which code would survive.

Uniting the rugby world is a nice idea, but a hybrid ruleset will just create a third code imo. The last thing either of the rugby codes need is more competition. League has been evolving its ruleset for over 100 years. It IS the hybrid game.

Secondly as a Leaguie there are only a handful of rules from Union I'd like to see adopted, scrums being the obvious one but even then I see so much packing and repacking of them and scrum penalties, UGH!! I like 13 a side, I like the cleaner play the balls, I like 6 tackles a set, I like the 10 meter rule, I like 40/20s.

But frankly if they just tweaked League to have contested scrums back in, cleaned up the ruck speed and play the ball to ensure quicker plays each tackle and maybe lower the interchange to allow the faster men more room to move late in the game and I'd be perfectly happy with League.

To me this looks like an idea from someone looking to have Slater, Thurston and Smith line up against Cooper, Giteau and Barnes and make a ton of money on it. The rules that I saw being proposed wouldn't improve either sport.

Don't worry, League isn't dying either

 

[Julian87]

I don't have a problem with scrums. Ties up the forwards for an attacking backline move and as Emm from CS says if you knock the ball on you don't really deserve a chance of getting the ball back.

 

[Julian87]

Don't worry, League isn't dying either

Well the next TV deal SHOULD be a goldmine for the game considering it's the most popular thing shown on television in Australia. I know union is big overseas but in this little corner of the world it just doesn't compare to rugby league and unless changes are made to the game of rugby union itself that won't change.

 

[benchmark00]

"Over the entire season, the AFL was watched by a total of 65,023,000 and the NRL by 40,272,000. But what many fail to take into account is the three hour running time of an AFL telecast compared to the two hour running time of it's NRL rival. When this is taken into account, the AFL is viewed 2.4 times as often as the NRL on free-to-air according to Oztam figures. 195,069,000 cumulative hours were viewed for the AFL compared to 80,546,000 for the NRL. With advertisers able to slot in commercials every time a goal is kicked, the commercial value would also appear to be far greater than the NRL, which has far fewer opportunities to slot in ads of their own."

 

[Burgey]

State of Origin, as an example, isn't an NRL product. Do you know if those figures include those three games? Traditionally they're the biggest games of the year ratings wise., and I cbf clicking on the link

I think the point about an ad per goal is a very relevant one. Bit like cricket and the end of every over.

 

[benchmark00]

Yes it is included in it, as is the AFL pre season cup.

 

[Ausage]

State of Origin, as an example, isn't an NRL product. Do you know if those figures include those three games? Traditionally they're the biggest games of the year ratings wise., and I cbf clicking on the link

I think the point about an ad per goal is a very relevant one. Bit like cricket and the end of every over.

It's only relevant if you're talking FTA though. Pay TV is all about subscription numbers, and NRL dominates pay TV ratings.

I suspect that Benchy's link doesn't include regionals (the regional figures never get included for some reason). Considering NSW and QLD regional are the two biggest regional markets I'd say that might effect the ratings. Might be wrong tbf, like Burgey I can't be bothered clicking on some random propoganda.

 

[benchmark00]

It's an independent site ftr. Doesn't side with either party.

 

[Johnners]

It's only relevant if you're talking FTA though. Pay TV is all about subscription numbers, and NRL dominates pay TV ratings.

I suspect that Benchy's link doesn't include regionals (the regional figures never get included for some reason). Considering NSW and QLD regional are the two biggest regional markets I'd say that might effect the ratings. Might be wrong tbf, like Burgey I can't be bothered clicking on some random propoganda.

suggests otherwise

Edit: Re: regionals, this disclaimer suggests it does include them

TV ratings are based on the available OzTAM, AGB Nielsen and ASTRA estimates for the Australian capital cities and regional Australian TV markets.

 

[Ausage]

suggests otherwise

Edit: Re: regionals, this disclaimer suggests it does include them

--
The above figures, of course, only take into account the capital cities
--

No numbers for Kiwis either. They wouldn't be Union numbers, but they'd be decent I'd suspect.

Anyway this isn't a chalk and cheese discussion. AFL has greater numbers on FTA when taking viewing time into account, NRL is far bigger on Pay TV as evidenced by higher subscription rates in northern states and better NRL packages on Foxtel. When showpeice events (Anzac Test, SOO, All Stars, Four Nations, City/Country) and regional numbers get taken into account the FTA equation gets closer and closer as well ftr. Both codes are very strong in their heartlands, but the AFL has done far more to make its product freely available in it's expansion areas which will likely benefit it down the track.

 

[benchmark00]

--
The above figures, of course, only take into account the capital cities
--

No numbers for Kiwis either. They wouldn't be Union numbers, but they'd be decent I'd suspect.

Anyway this isn't a chalk and cheese discussion. AFL has greater numbers on FTA when taking viewing time into account, NRL is far bigger on Pay TV as evidenced by higher subscription rates in northern states and better NRL packages on Foxtel. When showpeice events (Anzac Test, SOO, All Stars, Four Nations, City/Country) and regional numbers get taken into account the FTA equation gets closer and closer as well ftr. Both codes are very strong in their heartlands, but the AFL has done far more to make its product freely available in it's expansion areas which will likely benefit it down the track.

What? The figures do take into consideration regional areas. And AFL on pay TV still has a higher viewership despite fewer games being shown on it.

 

[Ausage]

What? The figures do take into consideration regional areas. And AFL on pay TV still has a higher viewership despite fewer games being shown on it.

My line about regionals not being included was a direct quote from that website. About halfway down.

My comment about Pay Tv ratings comes from the NRL outrating the AFL almost every week on Pay TV and higher subscription numbers in NRL heartland. The NRL set a new foxtel record for the Eels/Cowboys game (nearly double the figure reported on that website) and from memory broke that record again a couple of weeks later. Last I checked it had a lock on the top 5 most viewed programs on Foxtel.

The NRL product is better on Fox (exclusive live games, more games etc), but I guess that's the only silver lining to having Murdoch rape our game for the last 15 years.

 

[Johnners]

--
The above figures, of course, only take into account the capital cities
--

No numbers for Kiwis either. They wouldn't be Union numbers, but they'd be decent I'd suspect.

Anyway this isn't a chalk and cheese discussion. AFL has greater numbers on FTA when taking viewing time into account, NRL is far bigger on Pay TV as evidenced by higher subscription rates in northern states and better NRL packages on Foxtel. When showpeice events (Anzac Test, SOO, All Stars, Four Nations, City/Country) and regional numbers get taken into account the FTA equation gets closer and closer as well ftr. Both codes are very strong in their heartlands, but the AFL has done far more to make its product freely available in it's expansion areas which will likely benefit it down the track.

Indeed, but it also notes that taking into account the approx % of the regional market, it still falls some way short of making up the deficit.

 

[Ausage]

Indeed, but it also notes that taking into account the approx % of the regional market, it still falls some way short of making up the deficit.

It does, (although I'd be curious to know how they reach that conclusion if they don't have the numbers) the AFL getting better FTA ratings wasn't what I was arguing.

 

[Johnners]

Guessing that the actual numbers down the bottom in the graphs is what the disclaimer was referring to, whilst the numbers used in the article are for a different period of time.

 

[Mister Wright]

Pfft.

I'd hope the hybrid code would at least take the scrummaging of union. League's scrums are farcical.

My guess would be scrums & line-outs from union with league's ball recycling.

Please. I watched a rugby game just the other week, and I counted well over 4 minutes where time was wasted with packing a scrum. No thanks. I'd rather the scrappy scrums we have in league and get on with the game.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Please. I watched a rugby game just the other week, and I counted well over 4 minutes where time was wasted with packing a scrum. No thanks. I'd rather the scrappy scrums we have in league and get on with the game.

League fan prefers league non-shocker.

I love scrums, me. I guess it's because I've spent many years at the coalface myself, as it were, so can appreciate the intricacies that go into the set piece. Sure, it's a pain when they're constantly reset, but that an issue of weak refereeing as often as not. I'd actually advocate a specific referee just for the scrum, so it can be seen what's going on on both sides.

I appreciate they can be off putting to the outsider, but if union fans are going to watch the proposed hybrid some facets of the senior code will have to be taken onboard. I think it'd be quite interesting to see how the game would develop if (say) at the end of a set of six a team could kick for touch rather than just booting the ball downfield and have a chance of regaining possession by means of a line out. It'd make the game less regimented anyway. IMHO, obvz.

Anyway, league has tried this before, albeit with Aussie Rules rather than union and it didn't stick then.

 

[Prince EWS]

League fan prefers league non-shocker.

I love scrums, me. I guess it's because I've spent many years at the coalface myself, as it were, so can appreciate the intricacies that go into the set piece. Sure, it's a pain when they're constantly reset, but that an issue of weak refereeing as often as not. I'd actually advocate a specific referee just for the scrum, so it can be seen what's going on on both sides.

I appreciate they can be off putting to the outsider, but if union fans are going to watch the proposed hybrid some facets of the senior code will have to be taken onboard. I think it'd be quite interesting to see how the game would develop if (say) at the end of a set of six a team could kick for touch rather than just booting the ball downfield and have a chance of regaining possession by means of a line out. It'd make the game less regimented anyway. IMHO, obvz.

Anyway, league has tried this before, albeit with Aussie Rules rather than union and it didn't stick then.

How would you go about replicating a union scrum with only 13 on the field? More players than that would surely be too many if you were to use league's "ball recycling" as it were as players wouldn't be taken out of play by the ruck.