Nrl: 2017

[jimandr]

I switched on the Warriors v Bulldogs after watching the news. I was shocked.

I thought the reports of Josh Jackson and David Klemmer playing two days after Origin were just a typical Hasler smokescreen. But there they were, on the field.

Two months ago, they were not permitted to play City v Country due to concerns for their player welfare for a club game 4 days later.

Maybe the criticism of that move has caused Dessie to not be concerned about player welfare any longer. Perhaps he is more concerned about coach welfare.

[Captain Nemo]

**** Jim, really?
They lose this game it's organise end of season trip time!
Need all the artillery they can get, and even that's not enough!

[3oneday]

Woeful game, shite refereeing again.

NRL is close to a no go zone.

[Captain Nemo]

Yep, shit game.

[TheTrueReview]

Neil Henry gone. The two assistant coaches will look after the team for the next two matches.

I watched the press conference. "It wasn't player initiated", the CEO said. That says to me that the sponsors had something to do with it. They were barking in the media last week that they supported Jarryd Hayne and didn't like the way he was being "treated."

Perhaps Neil Henry should've got tips from Wayne Bennett about how he gives baby Darius his bottle each night and then puts him to bed. I think Jarryd needed that extra care from Neil Henry.

[MAZA68]

Go the Dogs, Cowboys into the Finals.

[Jarro]

Hope the Chooks can pull a decent crowd for a finals game

[Ron Burgundy]

Hope the Chooks can pull a decent crowd for a finals game

They didn't and neither have the Sharks. Do any Sydney teams have supporters? Surely it's embarrassing playing a home final and only half filling the ground.

[PeteyD]

95000 at the G to watch Richmond. Pretty poor crowds in comparison.

[KristianJ]

Bloody embarrassing. Neither of the 3 Allianz games looked any different from a normal season Roosters game.

But at least Penrith got up and the Cows live to fight another week. Wish I could hitch a lift down to Brissy with Jim and get him to drop me off at Suncorp for Bris/Pen on Fri night, but I'll cheer the Panthers on from back at home.

[3oneday]

Only 4 refs left to screw the games up, plus bunker and touchies.

The officiating keeps thousands away I reckon.

[SundayHack]

The officiating keeps thousands away I reckon.

Only in Sydney....Eat dick sandwiches Sharks.

[pt73]

They didn't and neither have the Sharks. Do any Sydney teams have supporters? Surely it's embarrassing playing a home final and only half filling the ground.

And Todd Greenburg's grand plan is to move all games away from suburban grounds to big stadiums.

Go figure .........

[pt73]

Only 4 refs left to screw the games up, plus bunker and touchies.

The officiating keeps thousands away I reckon.

Any wonder Bill Harrigan gave Archer 2 out of 10 for his performance as the head of referees.

[MAZA68]

[QUOTE=pt73;1358055]And Todd Greenburg's grand plan is to move all games away from suburban grounds to big stadiums.

Makes no sense, you will loose the community/suburban support for the teams.

[Ron Burgundy]

Surely it's embarrassing playing a home final and only half filling the ground.

Turns out I was being too generous. Average Sydney finals crowd last weekend was 17500. That's just over 1/3 of the SFS capacity. And now they're playing this weekend's game at homebush. A sub-20k crowd is going to look interesting at an 80k venue. Little wonder AFL is taking over if league fans can't be arsed even going to finals games.

[PerryGroves]

Low crowds for NRL finals=AFL taking over. Not sure I get the link given AFL crowds are also declining.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-2...-codes/8839466

[3Puttpete]

Low crowds for NRL finals=AFL taking over. Not sure I get the link given AFL crowds are also declining.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-2...-codes/8839466

Not according to any numbers available anywhere.

[pt73]

On NRL 360 last night Buzz Rothfield said the Week 1 finals crowds were down 30% on last year.

No clue where he got those numbers but if true, they are a real worry.

[SundayHack]

Last year week 1 had 1 game in Sydney. This year there was 3. Crowd numbers will improve with Brisbane hosting a knock out semi this weekend. They will probably get more than all the Sydney games combined from this past weekend.
Sydneysiders will than be in an uproar if the gf gets moved to Qld next year though.

[PerryGroves]

Low crowds for NRL finals=AFL taking over. Not sure I get the link given AFL crowds are also declining.

Not according to any numbers available anywhere.

Here is one measure

Average AFL crowd (including finals) 2007: 38,100.............last year 33,200 (down 13%)

NRL over the same period 16,577 to 16,057 (down 3%)

[3Puttpete]

Here is one measure

Average AFL crowd (including finals) 2007: 38,100.............last year 33,200 (down 13%)

NRL over the same period 16,577 to 16,057 (down 3%)

Apples and oranges for the afl. 2007 didn't have two crap teams in western Sydney and the Gold Coast. 2012 onwards.

It's one of the mistakes he makes in his article

[Ron Burgundy]

Granted there's probably not an absolute causal link between one weeks worth of attendance figures and any impending total demise of rugby league in Sydney. But if one code is barely filling 1/3 of their grounds for home finals and another is packing them out, that's one indicator of fan involvement and interest in the game. Broadcast deals and participation rates would seem to also correlate with this.

And those stats, like all stats, can be analyzed any number of ways. For example between 2007-2017 total attendance for home and away rounds at league games declined 5.3% while AFL grew 4%. First week average crowds for the AFL finals of 59k aren't too shabby either. Make of that what you will. Might mean something, might mean nothing.

As a league fan it'd be nice to see some atmosphere at the games and having sat through a game at the SFS with only 7k or so other people there I can tell you there's more atmosphere at a wake. Still, could have been worse. Last year one of the roosters games at the SFS only drew 3600 people!

[3oneday]

It also says that 10 years later the administration of the NRL has marginally less of a clue than they had before.

[3Puttpete]

Average crowds will be much different this weekend when gws and the broncos host finals