Merry-go-round at full tilt
EVERY Saturday The Chronicle team talks about the big issues in sport locally, nationally and internationally.
Unfortunately one of the issues Glen, Jason and Sean hoped never to speak of again reared its ugly head again.
Once more, the team is talking about the ridiculous and almost farcical NRL coaching merry-go-round.
Jason Gibbs: It just needs to stop.
The 2018 season is barely over, the 2019 pre-season hasn’t even begun and yet here we are talking about 2020.
This whole rubbish of coaches, players and clubs negotiating deals years in advance is damaging the game.
It takes the focus away from the athletic feats of the players on the field and turns it the battles in the boardroom – the exact opposite of what the fans deserve.
I can accept that the loyalty players and clubs showed in the “old days” are long gone.
But everyone wants to believe their players/coaches are 100 per cent committed to their current club.
How can we, though, when players and coaches are committing themselves elsewhere years in advance?
When times are tough will a player/coach dig in or pack up when they know someone who “wants them more” is going to be paying their bills pretty soon.
It’s high time the NRL introduced anti-tampering laws just like the AFL and EPL – it’s the only solution. Glen McCullough: There are two clear sides to the NRL merry-go-round issue.
Firstly the game needs it. The NRL is a bit like Donald Trump.
The more bad publicity rugby league gets and the more it is pilloried by critics and media, the more rank-and-file punters get behind it.
The NRL simply needs all the exposure it can get (good and deplorable) to continue growing at the rate it does with the people who matter most — the paying public.
I read the other day that despite all the hand wringing and condemnation the Bulldogs received over their regrettable Mad Monday performance, Canterbury-Bankstown club membership has actually increased.
But looking as a purist at the credibility and integrity of the growing culture of club swapping and jumping by players and coaches, it is a poor reflection on where sport has been heading for a long time.
There are no rules being broken, because seemingly there are no rules.
Loyalty and commitment have been taken over by money and society’s growing appetite for instant success.
If this one isn’t working, let’s quickly get rid of it and try the next one.
Coaches and players are not
to blame for jumping or being pushed off the merry-goround.
They are just trapped on the wild ride.
NRL 2019 style is about whatever it takes so keep holding on tight.
Sean Teuma: Remember the June 30 deadline and how every section of the media would bash the league from pillar to post for it?
Players and clubs were accused of talking before they were allowed, and while it got ugly at times, it had some sort of order.
Now the way the league is operating we have players agreeing to terms up to years in advance, and it is a stain on the current game.
An ideal situation would be a free agency period, and that applies for coaches too.
We’ve all just about had enough of the coaching circus between Seibold and the Broncos and Cleary to the Panthers.
Yes the AFL media got more than carried away with storylines and who was going where, but it creates excitement.
More importantly it keeps the on-field product in the forefront of people’s minds for the majority of the year, not wondering who is going where.
The NBA is another example of a league that has managed to work it well, plus it keeps the sport in the headlines well into the off-season. What’s not to love about it?