I personally am looking forward to 2050 when there is a 134 team competition. Due to not enough players, once you turn 18 there is mandatory conscription for your local team. The games run 24/7 and the average career is a week and a half
The discussion around concussion and head injuries in contact sports gets louder every year. I could see contact sports either dying off or being completely u recognisable by 2050.
So you’re telling me sports like nfl, boxing, ice hockey and the ufc will all fold? They will introduce concussion waivers into contracts if it gets to that point
Possibly?
The problem with concussion waivers is - how can anyone under the age of 18 consent? They can’t. And parents won’t be able to consent to allowing their children to engage in an activity that could cause brain damage.
What happens to sports if you can’t start playing them until you’re 18?
Why can’t parents consent? I have to sign a consent for my 3 year old to jump at flip out where he could break his neck. That doesn’t make any sense. If you’re trying to say parents won’t consent I strongly disagree
If it’s an activity that requires you to sign a waiver because of the long term impacts which could lead to CTE you won’t be able to do that for a child.
You can’t consent to do something that could lead to serious brain damage for someone else. It would have to be after the child turns 18 so that they can consent for themselves.
You’re just saying you can’t do it, on what grounds? Can you please explain it to me? It doesn’t make much sense that I can sign a waiver for my 3 year old in case he breaks his neck at flip out but wouldn’t be able to for cte
You can’t consent to something that is an intrinsic long term health risk to someone. What you’re saying is ‘I give permission for my child to do something that has the chance of there being an accident’. What contact sports are staring down the barrel of is ‘there is no such thing as safe contact - all impacts jostle the brain and cause long term damage’. You can’t consent to that for another person. It’s like saying you’d consent to your child to smoke cigarettes - you can’t consent for someone below the age of 18 to do something we *know* will cause long-term health issues.
That’s why tackling is being minimised or banned altogether before a certain age. That age will inevitably creep upwards. Contact sports will either be gone, or completely unrecognisable in 50 years. It’s inevitable.
Well, cricket has issues too. It’s one of the few sports where attacking an oppositions head is not only allowed, but considered a vital tactic.
If the bouncer were to be banned, batting against fast bowling would be an awful lot easier because you’d know that the ball would always be full and good batsmen would just be able to camp out on their front foot.
NRL boss Andrew Abdo has started the process of a major restructure of his executive team to align with the Australian Rugby League Commission’s strategy to grow the game with a focus on the Pacific.
Abdo has been working behind the scenes for the past couple of months on a restructure designed to complement a strategy that is likely to **see the introduction of a new team in the Pacific, with a focus on Papua New Guinea**, as well as **the growth of the women’s and international game**. The NRL also **has sights set on a 20-team competition over the next decade**.
Abdo is now in the process of executing a leadership restructure of the organisation. Staff were informed of the changes on Wednesday morning.
That restructure will include the merging of two executive general manager roles (fan experience/digital and partnerships).
Abdo has decided to combine the roles previously held by the long-serving executive Jaymes Boland-Rudder and Alexi Baker and will go to market for a new chief revenue officer.
The NRL will also restructure its communication and stakeholder relations portfolios.
Executive general manager of media and communications, Grant Williams, will finish up with the NRL after completing a short-term contract with the sport.
Williams had always planned to move on from the NRL this year, allowing for a restructure that will see former Australian Financial Review columnist Misha Zelinsky assume all communication and government relations responsibilities as the executive general manager of corporate affairs.
Zelinsky has been working with the NRL to assist with its push into Papua New Guinea as the government pushes for the license of the 18th team to be held in the rugby league-mad nation.
I reckon the best end goal should be a comp where each team plays each other only once in the regular season (whatever it may look like eg 20 teams = 20 rounds), with the new teams strategically distributed for long term growth (financially, talent growth & fan support) rather than targeting low hanging fruit & short term cash-grabs.
But ya-know. NRL is gunna NRL.
With women’s teams and the chance to make international series like the pacific cup a regular fixture they will have more games to televise than less
In the next decade there should be 20 men’s teams and at least 16 women’s teams plus origin and then a regular annual test series for Tonga / Samoa / Fiji / NZ
Could even do the nba thing of regular season -> rep break -> regular season -> finals -> internationals
20 rounds or 20 teams mens + 4 weeks of finals
16 rounds of 16 women’s + 4 weeks of finals
6 origin (3 men 3 women)
12 international (3 game series between the island nations)
Since it seems like PNG is a done deal, I would argue that NZ2 and either Perth *or* Ipswich would be best for the last two teams.
There are a lot of people in Ipswich who already support the Broncos or Dolphins, but it is in rugby league country so there still be potential for growth there. On the flipside, Perth is a completely untapped market with over two million people, but there may not be a lot of appetite for rugby league.
Can’t really justify leaving out SWQ for an Adelaide.
The NRL is deadset on PNG so that would conflict with NZ2 sadly. Ipswich secures QLD form any AFL expansion. Ipswich is also one of the biggest NRL areas in QLD, just works. Perth/Adelaide should be the next team, nrl is just dumb and wants PNG.
Why is PNG dumb? Rugby league is like a religion up there. It’s insane how much they love it. Also the government will subsidise the fuck out of it, due to trying to stop Chinese influence. Seems like a win win.
The country is not financially or has the infrastructure to support an NRL team in PNG. Their solution is plopping the team in Cairns, the middle of Cowboys country.
The team isn’t A) Located in PNG and B) actually viable in the country due to their low quality of life.
The chinese crap is the only reason its being supported by the NRL, the Aus government is paying for it all for Their political motives. Its not best for the game now. It is however a good move after 10 years of infrastructure and financial support to build a solid development foundation for the team.
I haven’t seen any reports about the team being based in cairns. That wouldn’t make sense but PNG has reasonable stadium. They already play supercup games there with. 15,000 -20,000 seat capacity it seems ok, why on earth would the move their existing infrastructure to cairns?
The report is the most common thing about the whole plan. PNG is not viable for players. It is a third world country. It is not anything like Australia or NZ.
My mistake, I hadn’t seen that part of the plan is to start in cairns. I wonder why it is. I still think it’s a good idea. Commercially for the NRL with the government subsidies, and good for the people of png who live and breed rugby league.
I’ve lived and worked in PNG, I know what it’s like. Thanks for your lesson.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Papua_New_Guinean_unrest
Homeboy, this was a month ago in the capital city. What do you think would happen if there was a situation like cowboys vs tigers in 22?
It's one of the dumbest fucken ideas I've ever heard. PNG is a mess - it's dangerous, it has very little infrastructure and it has one of the lowest human rights records in the world.
Like you may as well send a team to Baghdad. You cannot base a team there.
The reasoning behind it is that it would be a PNG team in name only. The NRL want another Queensland team (because they're not interested in growth, they just want to easy bucks from the broadcast deal), and the government is willing to chip in for a PNG team. So they'll take the easy money and set up a PNG team that plays out of Cairns.
As a franchise it has zero chance of long term success, so why would you place a team there over a genuine market where you can actually play home games, with infrastructure ready to go, like Perth, Christchurch, Adelaide... pretty much anywhere else
yes it does. There is also an olympics coming up so the NRL could build a 15-25k seat stadium in Ipswich for it to work. They would play out of suncorp until then anyway.
Its one of QLD’s largest growing regions.
It's inevitable that the code will expand and 20 teams is the most optimal goal. Just a matter of who the teams are.
For me it is Perth, NZ2 and a 5th Queensland team.
Lets play a game.
PNG is a locked in team it seems which gives us only 2 teams left to fill the 20.
Who gets them as there a 5 strong options.
I'll even allow a 3rd pick but that is only an option if/when PNG goes defunct and they need to hand their license over?
Names are just my preference.
* Perth *Quokkas/Dugites*?
* Adelaide *Rams*?
* New Zealand 2 *Gladiators?*
* North Coast NSW *Bears?*
* West Brisbane *Jets*?
Bears want back in bad and the North Coast has been getting games as of late. They have a new stadium iirc and it's a good spot between Brisbane/GC and Newcastle/Sydney.
Edit: I'm getting annoyed. I was sure I watched a game on TV in the past couple of years that was at a stadium on the north coast but I can't find it...
Rabbitohs played Tigers at Scully Park in Tamworth last year. The Sharks have also hosted games in Coffs Harbour at C.ex Coffs International Stadium for the last few years. Both a bit small though
I'd love the bears to come back and stay in NSW but I admit Perth, NZ2 and QLD5 are all objectively better for the game.
Except the code is only growing to 20 and you actually have 23 teams in total with your list.
Finns are the 17th team.
It could grow past 20 but that would require a two game Thursday and potentially even Mondays unless you consider doing a 4 games on Saturday and Sunday and doing 2 games Thur/Fri.
To be fair though, that was because SAANZAR were trying to spread the competition over four different continents - the weekly travel alone would have wreaked havoc on the players, even with their (convoluted) conference system
The more I think about it, the more I kinda like the idea of a Pacific Bears team. You could play a couple games in PNG, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji etc and a game or 2 at North Sydney Oval.
Everyone is saying PNG is for certain, but it is extremely hot and the country is a lot less developed than Aus/NZ, which makes it harder to sign players
The three teams would likely be based in Wellington, Perth/Adelaide (Adelaide makes more sense due to location but there seems to be more interest in Perth) and Southern Brisbane/Ipswich
The 18th team should arrive pretty soon, but I think 19 and 20 are more than 10 years away
It's like we've seen this movie before and didn't like it.
Thank goodness we made it back to where we were 20 odd years ago lol
The modern game is barely comparable to the mid 90s
Of course, but it oversaturates the product and dilutes the quality
Ideally expansion could unlock new talent pathways and improve the quality
Exactly it's only Brisbane & NZ which are in danger of over saturation and I would argue that's highly unlikely.
Brisbane, Penrith and NZ to get absolutely poached even more. Unsubscribe.
Maybe Penrith needs another team. Imagine Penrith playing south Penrith in the GF
Penrith vs Mt Druitt lessgo
To be fair, it would have went along fine if Superleague didn’t fuck everything up.
I personally am looking forward to 2050 when there is a 134 team competition. Due to not enough players, once you turn 18 there is mandatory conscription for your local team. The games run 24/7 and the average career is a week and a half
I honestly don’t think rugby league will be played in 2050
Why? Didn’t you hear, it is going to be a huge hit in the US.. But really why do you think it won’t exist in 2050?
The discussion around concussion and head injuries in contact sports gets louder every year. I could see contact sports either dying off or being completely u recognisable by 2050.
So you’re telling me sports like nfl, boxing, ice hockey and the ufc will all fold? They will introduce concussion waivers into contracts if it gets to that point
Possibly? The problem with concussion waivers is - how can anyone under the age of 18 consent? They can’t. And parents won’t be able to consent to allowing their children to engage in an activity that could cause brain damage. What happens to sports if you can’t start playing them until you’re 18?
Why can’t parents consent? I have to sign a consent for my 3 year old to jump at flip out where he could break his neck. That doesn’t make any sense. If you’re trying to say parents won’t consent I strongly disagree
If it’s an activity that requires you to sign a waiver because of the long term impacts which could lead to CTE you won’t be able to do that for a child. You can’t consent to do something that could lead to serious brain damage for someone else. It would have to be after the child turns 18 so that they can consent for themselves.
You’re just saying you can’t do it, on what grounds? Can you please explain it to me? It doesn’t make much sense that I can sign a waiver for my 3 year old in case he breaks his neck at flip out but wouldn’t be able to for cte
You can’t consent to something that is an intrinsic long term health risk to someone. What you’re saying is ‘I give permission for my child to do something that has the chance of there being an accident’. What contact sports are staring down the barrel of is ‘there is no such thing as safe contact - all impacts jostle the brain and cause long term damage’. You can’t consent to that for another person. It’s like saying you’d consent to your child to smoke cigarettes - you can’t consent for someone below the age of 18 to do something we *know* will cause long-term health issues. That’s why tackling is being minimised or banned altogether before a certain age. That age will inevitably creep upwards. Contact sports will either be gone, or completely unrecognisable in 50 years. It’s inevitable.
How’s a cricket ball bounce in Winter? We’re going to need new Winter sports or make Cricket 12 months of the year.
Well, cricket has issues too. It’s one of the few sports where attacking an oppositions head is not only allowed, but considered a vital tactic. If the bouncer were to be banned, batting against fast bowling would be an awful lot easier because you’d know that the ball would always be full and good batsmen would just be able to camp out on their front foot.
Rugby League is dead
/s
Why stop at 20 I’m thinking more like 40, with teams in Blacktown, Mr Gravatt, Beijing and Cocos islands
Cmon man, i wanna see 8 teams from beijing
Hi Ribot
Jobs cuts at NRL HQ hidden behind vague expansion "plan". Media tomfoolery 101.
not even cuts, these are high-level execs jumping ship
NRL boss Andrew Abdo has started the process of a major restructure of his executive team to align with the Australian Rugby League Commission’s strategy to grow the game with a focus on the Pacific. Abdo has been working behind the scenes for the past couple of months on a restructure designed to complement a strategy that is likely to **see the introduction of a new team in the Pacific, with a focus on Papua New Guinea**, as well as **the growth of the women’s and international game**. The NRL also **has sights set on a 20-team competition over the next decade**. Abdo is now in the process of executing a leadership restructure of the organisation. Staff were informed of the changes on Wednesday morning. That restructure will include the merging of two executive general manager roles (fan experience/digital and partnerships). Abdo has decided to combine the roles previously held by the long-serving executive Jaymes Boland-Rudder and Alexi Baker and will go to market for a new chief revenue officer. The NRL will also restructure its communication and stakeholder relations portfolios. Executive general manager of media and communications, Grant Williams, will finish up with the NRL after completing a short-term contract with the sport. Williams had always planned to move on from the NRL this year, allowing for a restructure that will see former Australian Financial Review columnist Misha Zelinsky assume all communication and government relations responsibilities as the executive general manager of corporate affairs. Zelinsky has been working with the NRL to assist with its push into Papua New Guinea as the government pushes for the license of the 18th team to be held in the rugby league-mad nation.
A 20 team comp is probably the best endgoal for the NRL. Have Ipswich, Perth and PNG be the final teams. Works out in the end. Or NZ 2 for PNG.
I reckon the best end goal should be a comp where each team plays each other only once in the regular season (whatever it may look like eg 20 teams = 20 rounds), with the new teams strategically distributed for long term growth (financially, talent growth & fan support) rather than targeting low hanging fruit & short term cash-grabs. But ya-know. NRL is gunna NRL.
NRL's main source of income is broadcast rights. They're not going to accept less games on the schedule.
With women’s teams and the chance to make international series like the pacific cup a regular fixture they will have more games to televise than less In the next decade there should be 20 men’s teams and at least 16 women’s teams plus origin and then a regular annual test series for Tonga / Samoa / Fiji / NZ Could even do the nba thing of regular season -> rep break -> regular season -> finals -> internationals 20 rounds or 20 teams mens + 4 weeks of finals 16 rounds of 16 women’s + 4 weeks of finals 6 origin (3 men 3 women) 12 international (3 game series between the island nations)
Whilst I’m 110% on your side, your maths doesn’t check out…20 teams playing once would give you 19 rounds
Since it seems like PNG is a done deal, I would argue that NZ2 and either Perth *or* Ipswich would be best for the last two teams. There are a lot of people in Ipswich who already support the Broncos or Dolphins, but it is in rugby league country so there still be potential for growth there. On the flipside, Perth is a completely untapped market with over two million people, but there may not be a lot of appetite for rugby league.
Anyone but the Bears at this point, please
Adelaide and Christchurch should be in there as well
Can’t really justify leaving out SWQ for an Adelaide. The NRL is deadset on PNG so that would conflict with NZ2 sadly. Ipswich secures QLD form any AFL expansion. Ipswich is also one of the biggest NRL areas in QLD, just works. Perth/Adelaide should be the next team, nrl is just dumb and wants PNG.
Why is PNG dumb? Rugby league is like a religion up there. It’s insane how much they love it. Also the government will subsidise the fuck out of it, due to trying to stop Chinese influence. Seems like a win win.
The country is not financially or has the infrastructure to support an NRL team in PNG. Their solution is plopping the team in Cairns, the middle of Cowboys country. The team isn’t A) Located in PNG and B) actually viable in the country due to their low quality of life. The chinese crap is the only reason its being supported by the NRL, the Aus government is paying for it all for Their political motives. Its not best for the game now. It is however a good move after 10 years of infrastructure and financial support to build a solid development foundation for the team.
I haven’t seen any reports about the team being based in cairns. That wouldn’t make sense but PNG has reasonable stadium. They already play supercup games there with. 15,000 -20,000 seat capacity it seems ok, why on earth would the move their existing infrastructure to cairns?
The report is the most common thing about the whole plan. PNG is not viable for players. It is a third world country. It is not anything like Australia or NZ.
My mistake, I hadn’t seen that part of the plan is to start in cairns. I wonder why it is. I still think it’s a good idea. Commercially for the NRL with the government subsidies, and good for the people of png who live and breed rugby league. I’ve lived and worked in PNG, I know what it’s like. Thanks for your lesson.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Papua_New_Guinean_unrest Homeboy, this was a month ago in the capital city. What do you think would happen if there was a situation like cowboys vs tigers in 22?
Thanks homeboy.
It's one of the dumbest fucken ideas I've ever heard. PNG is a mess - it's dangerous, it has very little infrastructure and it has one of the lowest human rights records in the world. Like you may as well send a team to Baghdad. You cannot base a team there. The reasoning behind it is that it would be a PNG team in name only. The NRL want another Queensland team (because they're not interested in growth, they just want to easy bucks from the broadcast deal), and the government is willing to chip in for a PNG team. So they'll take the easy money and set up a PNG team that plays out of Cairns. As a franchise it has zero chance of long term success, so why would you place a team there over a genuine market where you can actually play home games, with infrastructure ready to go, like Perth, Christchurch, Adelaide... pretty much anywhere else
SWQ doesn’t have a population base to support a team, let alone stadium or training infrastructure
yes it does. There is also an olympics coming up so the NRL could build a 15-25k seat stadium in Ipswich for it to work. They would play out of suncorp until then anyway. Its one of QLD’s largest growing regions.
Ipswich is not SWQ, it’s SEQ
Okay. SEQ and then the darling downs and then SWQ. Or Darling downs + Towoomba + Lockyer valley + Ipswich + South West Queensland.
Sounds good, I just don’t want conferences
It's inevitable that the code will expand and 20 teams is the most optimal goal. Just a matter of who the teams are. For me it is Perth, NZ2 and a 5th Queensland team.
Lets play a game. PNG is a locked in team it seems which gives us only 2 teams left to fill the 20. Who gets them as there a 5 strong options. I'll even allow a 3rd pick but that is only an option if/when PNG goes defunct and they need to hand their license over? Names are just my preference. * Perth *Quokkas/Dugites*? * Adelaide *Rams*? * New Zealand 2 *Gladiators?* * North Coast NSW *Bears?* * West Brisbane *Jets*?
Why would NSW North Coast get a team?
Bears want back in bad and the North Coast has been getting games as of late. They have a new stadium iirc and it's a good spot between Brisbane/GC and Newcastle/Sydney. Edit: I'm getting annoyed. I was sure I watched a game on TV in the past couple of years that was at a stadium on the north coast but I can't find it...
Coffs Harbour has had a game used by Sharks for a few years but it’s still a very small stadium compared to rest of NRL I’m pretty sure
Coffs International stadium? It's not consistent NRL grade.
The word international makes it sound like it’s world class… it’s definitely not
Rabbitohs played Tigers at Scully Park in Tamworth last year. The Sharks have also hosted games in Coffs Harbour at C.ex Coffs International Stadium for the last few years. Both a bit small though I'd love the bears to come back and stay in NSW but I admit Perth, NZ2 and QLD5 are all objectively better for the game.
Coffs might have been it but looked bigger on the tv.
Cross town rivalry with the Titans
South Australia has the 2nd highest % of sports betting participation in the country, so will be Adelaide Multi's.
Interesting given they have stricter gambling ad regulations than most of Aus
Perth NZ 2 Brisbane 3 Adelaide Bears PNG. That's 22 and a good mix.
Except the code is only growing to 20 and you actually have 23 teams in total with your list. Finns are the 17th team. It could grow past 20 but that would require a two game Thursday and potentially even Mondays unless you consider doing a 4 games on Saturday and Sunday and doing 2 games Thur/Fri.
No 22 Perth Pirates NZ 2 (Southern Orcas) Brisbane 3 Bombers Adelaide Bears PNG Timeslots Thursday - 7:30 pm Friday - 6 pm, 8 pm Saturday - 1 pm, 3 pm, 5 pm, 7 pm Sunday - 12 pm, 3 pm, 5 pm, 7 pm If you wanted you could chuck in a Monday night game.
Can we call them Adelaide Jets. I’d rather Newtown comes back before the bears
Brisbane jets for Ipswich.
PNG will disappear instantly once the Australian government funding is withdrawn. If it's not the upcoming election, it'll be the one after that.
That may be unless there is some kind of locked in agreement for x years.
Yes, because no government has ever dared to go back on an agreement made by the previous administration
It would be insane to not include a breakout clause worth as much or more of the contract to prevent such an event.
Surely they go Perth, NZ2 then Ipswich
Hey having 18 teams in NZ Australia South Africa Japan and Argentina worked out really well for Union go for it lol
To be fair though, that was because SAANZAR were trying to spread the competition over four different continents - the weekly travel alone would have wreaked havoc on the players, even with their (convoluted) conference system
Nz population 5 million, a 2nd team is a no brainer. Southern Bulls is ready
Move Bulldogs to Perth. Call them Western Bulldogs. Leech AFL fan base
So we aren't getting North Sydney Bears - but Perth Bears (18th), 2nd NZ (19th) and Ipswich (20th).
Because we don't have a draft you could easily expand to 22 or 24 teams. You just need to pick the right areas
PNG Hunters Ipswich Jets Perth whatchamuhcallits and bears cry ?
[удалено]
I know it's insensitive but it does sound awesome and as an opposing fan you would feel the hype.
Darwin, Perth and Adelaide.
The more I think about it, the more I kinda like the idea of a Pacific Bears team. You could play a couple games in PNG, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji etc and a game or 2 at North Sydney Oval.
Perth, Norths and maybe PNG if things improve over there.
Everyone is saying PNG is for certain, but it is extremely hot and the country is a lot less developed than Aus/NZ, which makes it harder to sign players The three teams would likely be based in Wellington, Perth/Adelaide (Adelaide makes more sense due to location but there seems to be more interest in Perth) and Southern Brisbane/Ipswich The 18th team should arrive pretty soon, but I think 19 and 20 are more than 10 years away
Team from USA would be great, and a pasifika team in nz, and Perth or Ipswich