Saturday, September 10, 2005
Saturday Morning Y'all
What a lovely quiet morning is. Perfect to get onto sport for a while. Only thing is I'm feeling a bit lazy. Anyway...
NRL crowd averages for the regular season:
Year
2005
TOTAL: 2,964,288
AVERAGE: 16,468
1,533 up on last year which was the previous highest in the comps history. Obviously it's been down to the competitiveness of the competition. There was only about 16 points between the top side and the bottom side compared to 26 points last year and 30 the year before.
It would be hard to see the crowds increase too much next year but a similar figure may be expected. The Warriors were one of the only teams not to string many wins together and get on a roll which every other side did at some stage which captured their supporters imaginations. Well with the exception of the melbourne Storm who averaged a miserable 8,898. They are aparently going to pump more into promoting the game down there and upgrade their ground wich is a shitter. If they don't add a few thousand to that in the next few years though they are no chance of remaining in the comp.
The Warriors ended up averaging 13,101. Their 6th highest figure in 11 seasons which is probably a fair reflection of how they played. Competitive but fuck all results. I think they may have needed 14,000 to break even.
Brisbane averaged a huge 30,331. Built on two things. Firstly their fantastic venue at 'Lang Park' and secondly their hot form until about round 21. That's the 4th highest average in their 18 years in the comp.
Manly had the highest average in their history. Not bad for a team that came 8th. They've done a fair bit better than that in the past though it's the first time they have made the playoffs in about 7 seasons. The Cowboys had their 2nd highest average in their 11 seasons. Theyw ere about 1,000 behind their debut season figure. The Eels had the 3rd highest average in their history as did the Panthers. St George Illawarra had the highest in their short 7 years together. And the Tigers beat their previous highest by about 5,000.
So all up an outstanding season. Nothing like a bit of stability along with an even competition.
*******************************
Right. On the decision to sack Kemp at the Warriors.
I think he is not up to the job and is not intelligent enough to take this team very far.
On the other hand I'm a little bit concerned that Cleary will not be able to take the side he will have anywhere either. They might well wind up finishing a few points outside the playoffs next year and then what do they do? My guess is that they will not make the playoffs next season but will make a couple of decent buys and stick with Cleary.
******************************
And how about those Tigers. What a flogging. 50-6 over the Cowboys. The Cowboys looked OK with the ball in hand but lacked a bit of cohesion in the face of a very enthusiastic Tigers defence. But the Cowboys were badly let down in the middle of the ruck area where their defence parted like a levee in N.O. all night.
The Cowboys might bounce back but it's hard to see their confidence not being shattered. Perhaps they will stand an outside chance of an upset next week (assuming they are still alive) but with Webb missing and Rauhihi not at his best it's hard to see them going anywhere.
The Tigers look like a bunch of kids but they are fizzing. I look at them and a few other sides in top gear and then look at the Warriors and wonder what fucken planet they are on if they seriously think they have one of the most talented teams in the competition. Based on what exactly? They couldn't put the sword to a single team this season and could only manage two straight wins. Even Souths had hotter streaks than that.
Another thing that does fuck me off though is seeing Benji Marshall running about like a spring chicken and then low and behold in 7 days he might well be saying "sorry NZ I'm off to get my shoulder poked and prodded" because I have to play for the Tigers in ... five months!!! If he plays all the semis and the final then maybe, just maybe he has a case to only play the games down under. But he hardly had to do anything last night apart from wreak a bit of havoc with the ball and if they get knocked out next week then I'm sure he has 4 or 5 internationals in him.
The NRL HAS GOT TO shorten itself to 20 games though. 24 is still way too long. I can see them averaging 20,000 a game in a few years if they cut back. State of Origin to be played on Friday or Saturday nights head to head with Super 12 games in OZ with no NRL matches those weekends. Add in a Kiwi test v France or Papua New Guinea or else NZ origin games on a different night.
Trust me, it'll work and take the sport to the next level.
The reason they don't do it now is because each team needs 12 home games each year for financial reasons. But with a better, shorter comp they should improve crowd averages a bit which will even it out.
******************************
My picks for the following games
Broncos to pip the Storm
Dragons to beat the Sharks by 20
Eels to hammer the fuck out of the Sea Eagles.
******************************
And Korea has it's second player in the Premier League.
Lee Young-pyo for Tottenham.
NRL crowd averages for the regular season:
Year
2005
TOTAL: 2,964,288
AVERAGE: 16,468
1,533 up on last year which was the previous highest in the comps history. Obviously it's been down to the competitiveness of the competition. There was only about 16 points between the top side and the bottom side compared to 26 points last year and 30 the year before.
It would be hard to see the crowds increase too much next year but a similar figure may be expected. The Warriors were one of the only teams not to string many wins together and get on a roll which every other side did at some stage which captured their supporters imaginations. Well with the exception of the melbourne Storm who averaged a miserable 8,898. They are aparently going to pump more into promoting the game down there and upgrade their ground wich is a shitter. If they don't add a few thousand to that in the next few years though they are no chance of remaining in the comp.
The Warriors ended up averaging 13,101. Their 6th highest figure in 11 seasons which is probably a fair reflection of how they played. Competitive but fuck all results. I think they may have needed 14,000 to break even.
Brisbane averaged a huge 30,331. Built on two things. Firstly their fantastic venue at 'Lang Park' and secondly their hot form until about round 21. That's the 4th highest average in their 18 years in the comp.
Manly had the highest average in their history. Not bad for a team that came 8th. They've done a fair bit better than that in the past though it's the first time they have made the playoffs in about 7 seasons. The Cowboys had their 2nd highest average in their 11 seasons. Theyw ere about 1,000 behind their debut season figure. The Eels had the 3rd highest average in their history as did the Panthers. St George Illawarra had the highest in their short 7 years together. And the Tigers beat their previous highest by about 5,000.
So all up an outstanding season. Nothing like a bit of stability along with an even competition.
*******************************
Right. On the decision to sack Kemp at the Warriors.
I think he is not up to the job and is not intelligent enough to take this team very far.
On the other hand I'm a little bit concerned that Cleary will not be able to take the side he will have anywhere either. They might well wind up finishing a few points outside the playoffs next year and then what do they do? My guess is that they will not make the playoffs next season but will make a couple of decent buys and stick with Cleary.
******************************
And how about those Tigers. What a flogging. 50-6 over the Cowboys. The Cowboys looked OK with the ball in hand but lacked a bit of cohesion in the face of a very enthusiastic Tigers defence. But the Cowboys were badly let down in the middle of the ruck area where their defence parted like a levee in N.O. all night.
The Cowboys might bounce back but it's hard to see their confidence not being shattered. Perhaps they will stand an outside chance of an upset next week (assuming they are still alive) but with Webb missing and Rauhihi not at his best it's hard to see them going anywhere.
The Tigers look like a bunch of kids but they are fizzing. I look at them and a few other sides in top gear and then look at the Warriors and wonder what fucken planet they are on if they seriously think they have one of the most talented teams in the competition. Based on what exactly? They couldn't put the sword to a single team this season and could only manage two straight wins. Even Souths had hotter streaks than that.
Another thing that does fuck me off though is seeing Benji Marshall running about like a spring chicken and then low and behold in 7 days he might well be saying "sorry NZ I'm off to get my shoulder poked and prodded" because I have to play for the Tigers in ... five months!!! If he plays all the semis and the final then maybe, just maybe he has a case to only play the games down under. But he hardly had to do anything last night apart from wreak a bit of havoc with the ball and if they get knocked out next week then I'm sure he has 4 or 5 internationals in him.
The NRL HAS GOT TO shorten itself to 20 games though. 24 is still way too long. I can see them averaging 20,000 a game in a few years if they cut back. State of Origin to be played on Friday or Saturday nights head to head with Super 12 games in OZ with no NRL matches those weekends. Add in a Kiwi test v France or Papua New Guinea or else NZ origin games on a different night.
Trust me, it'll work and take the sport to the next level.
The reason they don't do it now is because each team needs 12 home games each year for financial reasons. But with a better, shorter comp they should improve crowd averages a bit which will even it out.
******************************
My picks for the following games
Broncos to pip the Storm
Dragons to beat the Sharks by 20
Eels to hammer the fuck out of the Sea Eagles.
******************************
And Korea has it's second player in the Premier League.
Lee Young-pyo for Tottenham.
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