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The new year kicks off at a leisurely pace for The Tip Sheet with a relatively no-nonsense holiday period for the code. Sixties, Forty20 and Clint get back to work as the preseason resumes and the run towards Round 1 (and 0) begins in earnest.
An ACL injury to young talent Richard Penisini headlines the Parramatta news. He will miss the 2024 season as a result and the boys look at how that will shape his future.
Jarome Luai is officially a Tiger while Scott Fulton has lost his stripes as the joint-venture continue to overhaul their roster on and off the field. Up at Brisbane, Selwyn Cobbo is flagging a move to the centres – is that the best thing for both player and club?
Round Zero and the big double header at Vegas is getting closer and closer and the show tackles some of the issues that will face the NRL as they look to win over the American audience.
Is it important to distinguish rugby league (NRL) from rugby? Americans use the term rugby and there isn’t the awareness that there are separate codes.
Sixties this is no different to Southern states in Australia. Most of whom follow earial ping pong. In my time working in WA and Victoria I discovered most could not distinguish between the two Rugby codes.
It is another reason the NRL needs to have a team in WA. There are plenty of expats from Qld, NSW, NZ, Britain and South Africa living in Perth who are ready to support a team.
Off the top of my head I think the population of WA is about 2.5 million
As of 2023
WA 2.28 mil
Tasmania 420,000
The AFL putting a team in Tassie (0.42 million). NRL hesitant about putting a team into WA (2.28 million)
The AFL has always been more into expansion.
John, I’d back the NRL expanding to WA. As you say, there is a ready audience, and the time zone can be used to advantage. Unfortunately, I don’t see the NRL setting up a team over there.
I tend to agree. Looks grim at the moment.
Can I just add that the money is there. Furthermore a credible junior competition is there as well. It sort of collapsed when the Reds were shut down but it is growing again.
I lived in WA through the 70s and at that time they had a very good league competition, North Beach, Applecross, South Perth etc. I lived in the northern suburbs and each Saturday there were several junior games on a local oval, at the time it was far more prominent than union.
Obviously killed off by SuperLeague withdrawing from WA, interesting that it could be getting a foothold again, From mates over there seems the South Africans emigrating and living in Perth were a major reason in union picking up.
I believe that the NRL have been very slow to respond to developing the game in WA. Maybe the business model from a distance/travel/investment perspective is too difficult. From a juniors playing the game view, it was ahead of Melbourne. Obviously Melbourne was a prime market to target, but why take club games and Origin there without a goal of expanding? Maybe they are happy to get the commercial returns of staging a couple of events per year.
Your are much more bullish about the Vages trip than me. I just see it as a rort for gambling interests. Now I do throw a few gold coins on first try scorers but the social costs of gambling is an issue not that I expect it to be a concern of the current NRL leadership. That aside and I may very well be wrong but I don’t see league gaining a great traction in the US nor it becoming a source of potential new players. I’m sure many organisations can walk and chew gum at the same time but I feel this NRL boondoggle distracts from much needed nurturing if the grass roots of footy.
I felt much the same as you Shaun – and to that end I was glad that Parra didn’t put their hand up. Then I’ve had communication from some of our American Parra fans who are travelling to Vegas just to be able to finally watch NRL live. So whilst I think that getting a foothold in America for the game is the stuff of dreams, I’m also excited on behalf of Americans who’ve fallen in love with rugby league to the extent that they are travelling to Vegas – even though their club isn’t involved.
Couple thoughts from the States:
1. I think “NRL Football” or “NRL Footy” would be the best proper noun to use for the game in promotions and media. Fox Sports talking heads love saying “football” when it’s already implied or included in an abbreviation.
2. I wouldn’t worry about distinguishing our game from rugby union as such. For an American who hasn’t played or watched much rugby union (98%+), NRL footy is almost as close to a variant of gridiron as it is to rugby union. The ball is snapped with the foot, blocking and forward passes are banned, there’s six downs, first downs are only awarded for defensive penalties or violations, punts can be recovered by the kicking team, and an offensive player cannot go out of bounds or fumble forwards. That gets you most the way to the rules of game. No need to mess around talking about the other code.
Adam, that’s a great simplification of some differences. By the way, I’m not someone who has an interest in NFL but I have naturally watched highlights over the years and looked at lateral passes in their game (for those who aren’t aware, you can throw one forward pass per down but you can throw unlimited laterals). I’ve often wondered whether an innovative coach would ever explore the use of laterals more than the game currently does? I’ve mostly seen it used in rare unstructured moments.
I’ve been to Vegas twice and can only remember where we stayed. I find it difficult to say anything sensible and will be completely ignoring the NRL joyride should it jog my memory.
Sounds like a movie I saw
Thanks Sixties – for me it’s a bit of a game and giggle tbh.
I have found that the NRL have been more abt being popular than true investment. But time will see.
I’ve actually taken a liking to NFL through a Netflix series and it was good.
As for the game taking off in the USA it will only work if it’s promoted / expanded / $$$$$ and embedded there.
I personally would rather the NRL invest in young kids here nationwide…and as others have said invest in Western Australia.
QLD has enough teams now for me and we need to sure up the west coast. Doubt the NRL will…useless for me.
I’m on board with the west coast. By the way, what was the series?