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From the Australian
The Sydney Roosters and Manly have been hit hardest by the game’s bold new vision, copping the most five-day turnarounds of any club next season after the NRL draw was released yesterday.
ARLC chairman John Grant, who yesterday announced a record $1.8 billion broadcast deal, and NRL Head of Football Todd Greenberg were both talking up the importance of player welfare and how short turnarounds would not increase next season but there are 43 occasions where clubs will have to back up in five days according to Fox Sports Lab.
The worst affected are the Roosters. The 2013 premiers have to play seven times with only five days between games. Manly come in next with five while at the other end of the scale, Gold Coast and the Warriors have none at all to worry about in 2016.
The Sea Eagles have also been hammered on another front with the club forced to play three games in 10 days to start the season — a similar schedule that Melbourne were forced to endure at the end of last season. Storm coach Craig Bellamy later branded their schedule as criminal.
Manly’s horror run starts in Round 3 when they face Cronulla at Brookvale on Monday night, followed by a Round 4 encounter on Saturday night with the Sydney Roosters at Allianz Stadium. It concludes with a Round 5 match on Thursday night against South Sydney at Brookvale.
The Australian reported during the week the draw was delayed because of concerns from some clubs over the amount of five-day turnarounds. RLPA president Clint Newton yesterday said he had effectively been cut out of any talks on the issue since October 8.
Newton did not want to speculate on whether there would be any repercussions after a high-profile group of the game’s best players led by North Queensland captain Johnathan Thurston threatened to boycott this year’s Dally M Awards over the issue of extended breaks between games.
Newton stressed he was happy the NRL had struck a lucrative deal with Channel Nine, Fox Sports and Telstra, but said short turnarounds made it difficult for all players to deliver the very best product to both the fans and all the corporate partners on the field.
“Don’t be caught up in the fact that we’re just speaking on behalf of a few players: this is some of the game’s greatest players saying that they don’t like five-day turnarounds,” Newton said.
“While we didn’t fully expect them to be eradicated, the fact that there is zero reduction next year is incredibly disappointing and extremely frustrating.
“We have to live in the now and how this impacts on our players now — not how’s it going to look in 2017 and beyond. Their careers can be over in the blink of an eye.’’
Greenberg acknowledged yesterday’s broadcast deal had made the draw more challenging with games now spread over five nights but the positives far outweighed the negatives.
“The fact that we’ll be playing football from Thursday to Monday is a massive win for the fans,’’ Greenberg said. “There’s going to be some fantastic rugby league from start to finish.
“It’s a big process. Doing the draw from start to finish is a big process and there’s a lot of people who do a lot of hard work behind the scenes but we’ve been in contact today with all 16 clubs and I think there’s a lot of positives for all of them in their planning for their 2016 campaigns.’’
Greenberg stressed that player welfare remained a priority for the game and five-day turnarounds would decrease when the Monday night was abolished from 2017.
“Clearly we’re trying to make sure we work with our players and the RLPA to minimise five day turnarounds,’’ Greenberg said.
“What I can tell you next year is they’ll be flatlined — they’ll be exactly the same number they were in 2015 and the outer years will certainly be a decrease as we see Monday night football eradicated in 2017.
“We’ve been in constant contact with Clint Newton as well as relationships we have with our senior players across all clubs and it’s very clear to us that player welfare is a fundamental priority of how we do the draw.’’
The Sydney Roosters and Manly have been hit hardest by the game’s bold new vision, copping the most five-day turnarounds of any club next season after the NRL draw was released yesterday.
ARLC chairman John Grant, who yesterday announced a record $1.8 billion broadcast deal, and NRL Head of Football Todd Greenberg were both talking up the importance of player welfare and how short turnarounds would not increase next season but there are 43 occasions where clubs will have to back up in five days according to Fox Sports Lab.
The worst affected are the Roosters. The 2013 premiers have to play seven times with only five days between games. Manly come in next with five while at the other end of the scale, Gold Coast and the Warriors have none at all to worry about in 2016.
The Sea Eagles have also been hammered on another front with the club forced to play three games in 10 days to start the season — a similar schedule that Melbourne were forced to endure at the end of last season. Storm coach Craig Bellamy later branded their schedule as criminal.
Manly’s horror run starts in Round 3 when they face Cronulla at Brookvale on Monday night, followed by a Round 4 encounter on Saturday night with the Sydney Roosters at Allianz Stadium. It concludes with a Round 5 match on Thursday night against South Sydney at Brookvale.
The Australian reported during the week the draw was delayed because of concerns from some clubs over the amount of five-day turnarounds. RLPA president Clint Newton yesterday said he had effectively been cut out of any talks on the issue since October 8.
Newton did not want to speculate on whether there would be any repercussions after a high-profile group of the game’s best players led by North Queensland captain Johnathan Thurston threatened to boycott this year’s Dally M Awards over the issue of extended breaks between games.
Newton stressed he was happy the NRL had struck a lucrative deal with Channel Nine, Fox Sports and Telstra, but said short turnarounds made it difficult for all players to deliver the very best product to both the fans and all the corporate partners on the field.
“Don’t be caught up in the fact that we’re just speaking on behalf of a few players: this is some of the game’s greatest players saying that they don’t like five-day turnarounds,” Newton said.
“While we didn’t fully expect them to be eradicated, the fact that there is zero reduction next year is incredibly disappointing and extremely frustrating.
“We have to live in the now and how this impacts on our players now — not how’s it going to look in 2017 and beyond. Their careers can be over in the blink of an eye.’’
Greenberg acknowledged yesterday’s broadcast deal had made the draw more challenging with games now spread over five nights but the positives far outweighed the negatives.
“The fact that we’ll be playing football from Thursday to Monday is a massive win for the fans,’’ Greenberg said. “There’s going to be some fantastic rugby league from start to finish.
“It’s a big process. Doing the draw from start to finish is a big process and there’s a lot of people who do a lot of hard work behind the scenes but we’ve been in contact today with all 16 clubs and I think there’s a lot of positives for all of them in their planning for their 2016 campaigns.’’
Greenberg stressed that player welfare remained a priority for the game and five-day turnarounds would decrease when the Monday night was abolished from 2017.
“Clearly we’re trying to make sure we work with our players and the RLPA to minimise five day turnarounds,’’ Greenberg said.
“What I can tell you next year is they’ll be flatlined — they’ll be exactly the same number they were in 2015 and the outer years will certainly be a decrease as we see Monday night football eradicated in 2017.
“We’ve been in constant contact with Clint Newton as well as relationships we have with our senior players across all clubs and it’s very clear to us that player welfare is a fundamental priority of how we do the draw.’’
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