Despite being the greatest game of all, rugby league, and its elite competition the NRL have plenty of areas where it can and needs to improve.
Todd Greenberg wonโt be afforded the luxury of an easy settling in period after being appointed CEO of the competition last week.
I am loathe to be negative about the game I love, but now that we have a genuine rugby league minded individual heading the competition, rather than a banker, it is time for these issues to be resolved.
Below are the five that NEED to be addressed NOW as they are a blight on rugby league.
Honourable mention: Scrums โ what is the point?
The joke that is the judiciary
I hate to harp on about a single incident but Marty Taupau, after knocking Jack Bird down and out with a late, swinging forearm, will serve just a one week suspension.
To put this into hilarious if it wasnโt real context, George Burgess served a two week suspension last season for throwing a plastic water bottle in the direction of players.
Thatโs right, a grade two throwing of a plastic water bottle will land you DOUBLE the suspension of a vicious head knock that most league officials agreed should have been at least a sin bin.
I know Greenberg is not in charge of the judiciary persay, but as CEO, he can influence the wording and decision making, and quite frankly he needs to.
Just last week we had a player, who should never have been charged in the first place, let off an incident that almost a million viewers saw him carry out.
Weโve had players fight charges of lifting tackles that could have ended careers, despite footage showing that legs were lifted and a dangerous position entered.
It seems as though anyone who fights the charge invariably wins when it comes to the NRL judiciary.
Yet the NRL comes out and talks big about player safety and โcracking downโ on dangerous behaviour.
The judiciary and match review committee have become jokes to the day to day punter.
Salary Cap
The NRL needs to decide whether it wants to be serious about the salary cap or not.
We routinely hear of fines being handed out to clubs who break the salary cap, yet apart from the Bulldogs and Storm, there hasnโt been a side heavily punished for their offences.
Unfortunately the Eels look like their salary cap issues will not go away. I hate to see fans of sides suffer for their clubโs mistakes, but the outcome of their current issue will show where Greenberg and co stand on this issue.
Lately the cap has been looked at as a guide rather than an absolute, which is dangerous territory.
What is to stop a side recruiting a heap of fringe Origin players, promising them huge bonuses if they play rep footy, then claiming they didnโt foresee it?
A $100,000 fine is worth winning an NRL premiership every day of the week.
Either tighten it or scrap it.
Origin eligibility
This is an issue that comes up every year, although due to the Semi Radradra discussion it has appeared sooner than usual in 2016.
The NRL needs SET rules and regulations as to who is eligible to play for who or risk the gameโs so-called showpiece event desending into farce.
As a NSWโman I would love nothing more than to see Semi Radradra trample Queensland defenders to score tries, but he should never be made eligible for the series.
Sam Burgess, Sonny Bill Williams, Semi Radradra, three AMAZING players who are poster boys in their own country, as well as in Australia, but no player is worth opening the floodgates on this issue.
Semi Radradra was born and raised in Fiji and should represent Fiji.
I fully understand his being proud of being a naturalised Australian after making a living in the country and becoming a star, but his country of Origin is Fiji.
The current rules are ridiculous. They need to be CLEAR CUT and easy to understand.
Where you were born, you represent.
Thatโs the very definition of ORIGIN.
Cost of a day at the footy
This is something I have mentioned previously, and something that seems to divide fans almost down the centre.
Simply put, a day at the footy costs too much.
When was the last time a regular season game at a large stadium sold out?
The NRL operates on supply and demand and as shown by the crowd numbers in the early rounds, there are too many empty seats that people are not willing to pay to fill.
I applaud some of the work done by membership teams at a variety of clubs, which has led to an increase in memberships across nearly all NRL clubs.
Most of those fans however are rusted on fans who support their team no matter what.
The NRL has to attract those casual fans who watch on tele but donโt see it being worth it to travel.
I realise Todd Greenberg does not sit and price every teamโs ticket pricing, but the fact that some grounds charge $30+ for a piece of grass is almost embarrassing.
It would be ok if people were willing to pay it, but only a touch of 12,000 people attended the Panthers home game against the Broncos.
Penrith has a HUGE catchment of fans and should go close to selling out every week regardless of their opposition.
Despite the weather, Monday Nightโs crowd was downright putrid, but thatโs another issue, and one we wonโt have to deal with after 2016.
Letโs try some things to increase crowds instead of relying on the old โreal fans support their teamโ trotted out by fans who were almost born into lifetime memberships.
Todd could influence this by offering incentives to teams who sold out fixtures, or increased average crowds. Anything is better than just sitting back and insisting that the current structure is what people are willing to pay.
Expansion. Yay or nay?
This is one that has been around for many, MANY years. Is the NRL looking to expand or not?
There needs to be a plan put in place, whether that be to expand in three years, five years, ten years or not at all.
Right now we have multiple NRL hopefuls running โbidsโ for inclusion despite there being little to no talk about it actually happening.
For the NRL to capture the market there really needs to be a second New Zealand side, as well as a central coast or central NSW side, and of course Perth.
I havenโt seen the financials so I have no idea if this is a dream or a near certainty.
Iโm not sure the player talent pool is strong enough to cope with another two sides coming in, and Iโd hate to see the competition run with uneven teams again.
In a few years though, once more NYC talent emerges at NRL level, who knows?
Todd Greenberg should.
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