Why is the NRL manufacturing tries, diluting talent & calling the wreckage entertainment?
Tries are cheap. Tension is priceless
The NRL has confused movement with excitement. Tries keep piling up, scoreboards keep spinning and games keep dying long before full-time because a contest without jeopardy is not entertainment. It is wallpaper.
I think the Roosters’ demolition of the Cowboys was an anomaly, although the Cowboys have now lost the week after each of their past nine games against Brisbane, which shows how heavily they load their energy into that rivalry. The short turnaround hurt, but nobody expected the third-highest score in NRL history. The Roosters could have eased off. Instead, they kept swinging.
The wider pattern is the real problem. Penrith flogged Canberra. The Warriors flogged the Titans. Once momentum turns, penalties and the six-again rule stretch a defence until one try becomes three, and teams can no longer slow the game, recover their breath and fight back.
Yet the ugly 12-all struggle between the Tigers and Parramatta was compulsive because, after 70 minutes, every play still mattered. I reckon Parramatta completed at only 40-something per cent in the second half and still won a game neither side deserved. It was dreadful football. It was also alive. Give me tension over empty tries every day.
Expansion is outrunning the players
Three new teams in three seasons is ridiculous. The North Sydney Bears enter next year, the Papua New Guinea Chiefs follow, and the NRL will try to add a 20th side in 2029, with the Christchurch-based Orcas looking like the front-runner.
I think the Orcas are the geographical no-brainer. Queensland is probably saturated, so another club there would mostly rearrange existing supporters, while the South Island offers genuinely new territory. But the destination is not the problem. The reckless timetable is.
The competition has 17 squads of 30 players. Expansion lifts that total to 540, then 570 and more than likely 600, meaning 90 extra players must appear from outside the current competition. I reckon the Bears have signed about 22 players and only four regularly play first grade. They are in enormous trouble and could become the first team to concede 100 points.
We saw the standard drop immediately when four teams entered in 1995 because reserve-graders suddenly became first-graders. The NRL is repeating the mistake while neglecting grassroots and pathways. Start converting talented 13 and 14-year-olds from junior rugby and junior AFL now. Build the players before unveiling the logos.
The tax-free ambush was disgraceful
The clubs took a $4 million grant to approve the Papua New Guinea Chiefs. Fair enough. But they were not told the new franchise would receive a tax-free salary-cap advantage. I checked with a club CEO. The clubs did not know.
That is not a minor detail. It is the deal. The NRL needed club permission, bought it, then withheld the most explosive part of the arrangement. Reprehensible. There is no softer word for it.
It gets worse. The NRL owns the Chiefs. So the governing body concealed a massive competitive advantage being handed to its own franchise. Wayne Bennett is right to blow up. Every club should be kicking the door down.
Instead, they are kicking stones. That silence should worry everybody. Add the threat of a media cop policing criticism and the game starts looking like Big Brother: control the clubs, control the message, bury the ugly details. I cannot believe they think they should get away with it.
Cronulla’s safety net exposes the expansion racket
Cronulla’s financial trouble destroys the fantasy that modern NRL clubs operate in a genuine free market. The club entered the development around its ground, made poor deals, paid contractors far too much and later sought a bank loan that was rejected.
I think Cronulla probably failed to realise who it was dealing with in some of those negotiations, but the outcome is clear: it did not receive enough money and did not have the funds to finish the deal. Cronulla then brought Peter V'landys in to discuss the NRL taking over the loan.
The NRL must assume that loan or Cronulla will go broke. It will do so, Cronulla will recover and there probably will not be a lasting disaster, because the competition cannot afford to lose a club. That is the modern arrangement. Expansion franchises are asked for enormous entry commitments while existing clubs know headquarters ultimately cannot let them die.
November 1 will detonate the player market
The looming player-market frenzy is not accidental. Managers have timed elite contracts to expire around the new broadcast cycle, when the salary cap is expected to rise significantly, and that is smart business even if clubs hate it.
Herbie Farnworth cannot do anything until November 1, but the growing certainty around his future reflects a broader squeeze. Brisbane, Penrith and the Dolphins have numerous players approaching the point when they can negotiate, while the next broadcast arrangement is worth $5.3 billion and brings a new cap in 2028.
Tom Dearden shows the power of getting the contract right. I think his deal is tied to 12.5 per cent of the Cowboys’ cap rather than a fixed salary, so any substantial increase flows directly into his pay. His manager did a magnificent job.
Clubs rarely permit ratchet clauses now because two or three can devour the cap and leave scraps for everyone else. Only the genuine elite possess the leverage to demand one. Expansion will create more roster spots, but it will also pump inflated salaries towards players who are nowhere near elite.
Reynolds deserves respect, not control of Brisbane’s future
Adam Reynolds deserves a proper farewell. He has earned that much. But sentiment cannot hijack Brisbane’s last five games.
The season is dead. Reynolds is retiring, has struggled physically and has often looked a step behind. He has also been well paid. This was a professional deal, not an act of charity by either side.
I expect Michael Maguire to give Reynolds his send-off. Good. Then make the hard call. Play Duffy. Let the kid learn the weekly grind while the results carry no real consequence. Respect the veteran. Build for tomorrow. Brisbane can do both — and bloody well should.
