NRL Round Discussion NRL Round 1, 2024 Discussion

[Viking]

Did they say how wide the field was? It can't have been the regulation NFL width.

Found it; 94.5m by 64m. Did the smaller field keep the games closer or just well matched teams?

 

[tajhay]

Will be interesting to see if any smokeys come out of the combine in the weekend. Some of the girls look like they've got the basics sorted.

NRL Combine: Athletes put to the test

Aspiring US athletes were put through the ultimate fitness regime, testing their speed, agility, tackle and jump ability. Vision courtesy of Jackal Creative

www.nrl.com

It was an invite only combine. 25 men and 25 women were invited with top 4 players chosen to be flown over (expenses covered) to train with nrl/nrlw clubs. There's just so many positives with nrl taking the game to USA. Just don't understand the detractors.

 

[tajhay]

Did they say how wide the field was? It can't have been the regulation NFL width.

Found it; 94.5m by 64m. Did the smaller field keep the games closer or just well matched teams?

Fun fact - each 10m marking on field was 9.45m with ref's told to account for the markings to still keep the opposition 10 metres behind play the ball.

 

[Viking]

Fun fact - each 10m marking on field was 9.45m with ref's told to account for the markings to still keep the opposition 10 metres behind play the ball.

They should be used to it after taking the Warriors back 11m all these years.

 

[Beastmode]

There's just so many positives with nrl taking the game to USA. Just don't understand the detractors.

I'm interested to know who is paying for this current venture. Cant be cheap.

Hopefully a private backer like Rupert Murdoch and not the NRL?

 

[WahsUltras]

I'm interested to know who is paying for this current venture. Cant be cheap.

Hopefully a private backer like Rupert Murdoch and not the NRL?

Murdoch paid for all the fox leauge crew to go over… Not sure about the clubs themselves.

 

[JaggedJ]

I'm interested to know who is paying for this current venture. Cant be cheap.

Hopefully a private backer like Rupert Murdoch and not the NRL?

This has always been my biggest question.

If it's making money or breaking even then great, whatever, I doubt it makes much of a difference long term but it's not hurting the game.

If it's costing a lot or losing a lot of money then they're actively taking money out of the game that could be better spent elsewhere in areas that could genuinely improve the comp long term.

Time will tell I guess.

 

[j_p]

I'm interested to know who is paying for this current venture. Cant be cheap.

Hopefully a private backer like Rupert Murdoch and not the NRL?

They would've got a massive bag from Las Vegas tourism board or whatever they're called. 18000 + tourists flew over who I assume would've spent at least a week over there. I have no idea the costs over there but making up some rough numbers. If they each spent about 3k minimum there. That's 45 million dollars. And than on top of that all the promotion they would've got to all the nrl viewers. You notice how they were showing a lot of shots of the skyline etc, even I was shocked at how nice that place looks. That was huge publicity.
Remember how much NZ spent on infrastructure etc to have America's cup here in 21. Which ended up being a dud due to covid iirc. I think it was around 100 million.
Edit: no one picked it up but the 45 million figure I got was from 15000 tourists which is the number of Aussies I heard flew over. Think there was another 3000 from England where I got the 18000 number from

 

[j_p]

Mates in the crowd sitting next to some yanks who have never watched a game in their life and they’re absolutely buzzing. He said the crowds similar to magic round but much more lyrical. He also sent me a picture of his beer can which was around 1L for the same price of a lion red at Mount smart..

Early signs looking good for these Vegas games, will be interesting to see the TV audience numbers.

Hey bro did you talk to your mates again? Would be really interested to see if there was much more feedback from any other Americans. Really pissed me off in the after game that they didn't interview Americans leaving to see what they had to say. Hopefully they did and were just worried about airing it live in case there's too many negative comments from the American crowd.

 

[Beastmode]

They would've got a massive bag from Las Vegas tourism board or whatever they're called. 18000 + tourists flew over who I assume would've spent at least a week over there. I have no idea the costs over there but making up some rough numbers. If they each spent about 3k minimum there. That's 45 million dollars. And than on top of that all the promotion they would've got to all the nrl viewers. You notice how they were showing a lot of shots of the skyline etc, even I was shocked at how nice that place looks. That was huge publicity.
Remember how much NZ spent on infrastructure etc to have America's cup here in 21. Which ended up being a dud due to covid iirc. I think it was around 100 million.

As they say in Vegas - the house always wins....

And those escort ads covering the skyline was indeed noticeable

 

[WahsUltras]

Hey bro did you talk to your mates again? Would be really interested to see if there was much more feedback from any other Americans. Really pissed me off in the after game that they didn't interview Americans leaving to see what they had to say. Hopefully they did and were just worried about airing it live in case there's too many negative comments from the American crowd.

Yeah he said they were struggling to keep up with the speed of the game which is to be expected with there being stoppages between each down in the NFL.

They hadn’t watched the video of Russell Crowe explaining the basic rules of the game, but that clarified a lot for them. Maybe this could have been better advertised in the states?

Other than that he mentioned that a big draw card was the no pads and big hits which all teams delivered on the night and they loved it. They were also shocked to see some of the players with cuts/gashes and blood dripping down there face get taped up and get right back into the action, something I’m assuming you would rarely see in the NFL.

The Americans he was sitting next to were Vegas locals so they were excited to find out that the NRL would be returning over the next few years. He also gave them one of his warriors jerseys to try and persuade them to get on the bandwagon and they were stoked .

 

[j_p]

Yeah he said they were struggling to keep up with the speed of the game which is to be expected with there being stoppages between each down in the NFL.

They hadn’t watched the video of Russell Crowe explaining the basic rules of the game, but that clarified a lot for them. Maybe this could have been better advertised in the states?

Other than that he mentioned that a big draw card was the no pads and big hits which all teams delivered on the night and they loved it. They were also shocked to see some of the players with cuts/gashes and blood dripping down there face get taped up and get right back into the action, something I’m assuming you would rarely see in the NFL.

The Americans he was sitting next to were Vegas locals so they were excited to find out that the NRL would be returning over the next few years. He also gave them one of his warriors jerseys to try and persuade them to get on the bandwagon and they were stoked .

Thanks for that. Wonder what he got in return for the jersey .

 

[Worried2Death]

Any tv ratings numbers out yet for the US broadcast?

 

[Worried2Death]

Thanks for that. Wonder what he got in return for the jersey .

That info stays in Vegas bro, you know the rules

 

[tajhay]

Hey bro did you talk to your mates again? Would be really interested to see if there was much more feedback from any other Americans. Really pissed me off in the after game that they didn't interview Americans leaving to see what they had to say. Hopefully they did and were just worried about airing it live in case there's too many negative comments from the American crowd.

Have a look at some of the comments from americans on X(Twitter). I did not see a negative comment at all, and every one i read was absolutely the opposite with ppl asking Fox to pick up televising the sport or ppl who wanted the game live and were enthralled at the speed and toughness of the game.

The number of americans(and canadians) paying more attention to the sport have been increasing in the post covid years. Look at the number of americans doing reactions on NRL players or NRL games these days. Was closer to zilch before covid, now theres quite a few.

I doubt they will see much of an increase on watchnrl subscribers but i would hope that Fox starts televising more games to americans. Would be a great fill in spot between seasons of NFL to the yanks.

 

[tajhay]

Any tv ratings numbers out yet for the US broadcast?

will be interesting to see the numbers. suspect it will be pretty low. btw the opening game was pushed back to FS2 rather than FS1 on USA tv due to a college womens basketball game going into OT. FS1 had a lil blurb that 'Major League Rugby' has been moved to FS2. So yeah, the potential is huge. Primarily because rugby league right now does not even register.

Now if only we can get the people over there to understand that this is not rugby union, that might be a good start. Otherwise if Warriors get invited next season, they should rename the team to the All Blacks just for the opening game make the most of the hype that would be over there. More people would know who the all blacks are than would know what rugby league is.

You can understand the confusion. Americans consider the word 'league' as the competition. Major Baseball League. National Football League. How to get them to understand that the 'league' part of Rugby League is not the actual competition but the sport itself. Personally, for the USA market this is a 'too hard' basket to get them to understand that, so they should have just marketed it all as NRL rather than Rugby League. And just sent a memo to all american news channel and interviews they did that the sport was Rugby League not Rugby. Every american broadcast pregame i saw with the interviews and info on the season launch mentioned simply 'Rugby'.

 

[WahsUltras]

Thanks for that. Wonder what he got in return for the jersey .

Seeing as where talking about another grown man I’m hoping nothing to sinister

 

[j_p]

Seeing as where talking about another grown man I’m hoping nothing to sinister

Bless your innocent mind.

 

[Beastmode]

You can understand the confusion. Americans consider the word 'league' as the competition. Major Baseball League. National Football League. How to get them to understand that the 'league' part of Rugby League is not the actual competition but the sport itself.

That makes so much sense now. Here I was thinking “dumb” Americans when it’s silly Aussies using the word “League” to differentiate from Rugby while still using the word “Rugby” just to confuse the masses.

Should have named the sport something cool like they did with Gridiron aka American Football…

 

[MrFrankWhite]

That makes so much sense now. Here I was thinking “dumb” Americans when it’s silly Aussies using the word “League” to differentiate from Rugby while still using the word “Rugby” just to confuse the masses.

Should have named the sport something cool like they did with Gridiron aka American Football…

100% NRL needs a new name.