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The NRL and AFL have no problem banking mega-deals, why does NZR need to cry poor to the Northern Unions?

By Hamish Bidwell
The 2020 New Zealand Super Rugby jerseys. (Photo by allblacks.com)

The National Rugby League are about to seal a new broadcast deal worth $2.5 billion New Zealand dollars.

Their AFL cousins signed a $2.7 billion (NZ) deal in 2017, which they’re in negotiations to extend and increase.

People in other parts of the world watch both codes, but hardly in massive numbers. Never mind because Australian television networks are still happy to pay a fortune for the product.

Rugby in Australasia’s not in such rude health, though. In fact, global pandemic or not, New Zealand Rugby’s response to financial hardship has been to plead long and loud for Northern Hemisphere sides to bail them out.

You can’t make a buck from trans-Tasman competitions, we’re told, leaving NZR open to offers from promoters, private equity firms and more prosperous unions the world over. The All Blacks, it seems, are now available to the highest bidder.

It’s been interesting, then, to see a few old stagers start trickling back the other way.

Aaron Cruden had already forsaken France for FMG Stadium and now Sam Whitelock, Nehe Milner-Skudder, Ben Smith and Julian Savea have done similar.

Whitelock has reunited with the Crusaders, after his Japanese sabbatical was cut short, while Milner-Skudder has signed for the Highlanders. Plenty of folk hoped Smith would follow suit and now Savea’s expressed interest in a Hurricanes’ swansong.

The best rugby days of all five men might be behind them, but that hasn’t stopped people wanting to watch them play. Heck, Cruden cobbled together a couple of useful games for the Chiefs and some even wanted him selected in the All Blacks.

The best NRL players don’t disappear to play overseas, nor those from the AFL. Where would they go, for starters? It’s not as if either game is a global one.

But the bottom line is they don’t need to go. They’re not only well paid here, but playing in the best club competitions their code can offer.

Australia occasionally play Ireland in a hybrid version of AFL and Gaelic football while, until the emergence of Tonga as a potent force, international rugby league was an afterthought.

The point being, the AFL and NRL are domestic competitions that rate well and pay well, in large part because their best players are always on display. They’re not continually rested or on restricted minutes or saving themselves for international footy.

It’s still hard to fathom, particularly with the restrictions on international travel that should persist for some time, that NZR would decide global tournaments are the way out of a financial hole.

Money is a big reason why good rugby players leave New Zealand. Diminishing All Blacks prospects is another.

What’s often overlooked is travel. Guys tire of going to Argentina and South Africa to play test and Super footy. They’re fed up with the end-of-year trip to Europe.

They want to settle in the one spot and be with their families and, if there is travel, then it’s just between, say, Britain and France.

Even then, that lifestyle’s not for everyone. The quieter climes of home start to appeal again, if not the Super Rugby that comes with it.

The day surely has to come when the rugby franchises in New Zealand and Australia go down the membership or private ownership route that NRL and AFL clubs have. We say we have professional rugby here, but the reality is it’s more like social welfare given the national body foots the bill.

Europe and Japan are heavily populated with New Zealand and Australian rugby players who would still be of use here. Not all would be All Blacks or Wallabies, but they’d sure add some depth and class and box-office appeal to our franchise football.

Sam Whitelock, Ben Smith, Aaron Cruden, Julian Savea and Nehe Milner-Skudder don’t represent the future of All Blacks rugby. But they, and their ilk, do offer a glimpse of how good our domestic teams could be.

Maybe even good to merit the kind of multi-billion dollar broadcast deals other football codes around here can muster. 

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J
Jon 3 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 7 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

28 Go to comments
T
Trevor 10 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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