A new addition to the Gurgler portfolio is an occasional rant brought to you by Frankington Stanley, and this edition sees him take aim at the 2019 NRL Draw.
Firstly, let me say that Thursday Night Footy is complete garbage. With clubs protesting about the small turnarounds, and players banging on about welfare, let’s just do away with this abomination hoisted upon us by television rights. They got rid of Monday Night Footy and the world rejoiced for all was great again, players rested, and fans continued to stay at home.
But just as we all thought that maybe, just maybe, the NRL Draw 2019 has listed to all interested parties involved with the game, they introduced Thursday Night Footy.
Seriously? That’s going to solve the turnaround, and player welfare issue? Complete fools. They learnt nothing from the MNF disaster, and last couple of seasons showed that just like a Roosters home game, the fans will continue to stay at home.
So how do we solve our Thursday Night dilemma? Simple! Move it to Sunday 6pm. It’s purely for TV purposes, so why not suggest to our friends at Channel Nein they have a 30 min news bulletin at 6.00pm, then at 6.30pm, we go to live coverage of the footy, which then leads into the Sunday night movie! It’s such a great idea! It solves the turnaround issue, and also eliminates The Block, 60 Minutes, The Voice, or any other reality trash they want to foist upon us. It’s a winner.
They should do it.
Now.
Which then brings me to Friday. The NRL had a sneaky plan to encourage people to stay out on a Friday night by playing a game at 6pm, and only playing it on Fox Sports. Pubs and clubs rightly so gave a hearty “Hoorah!” to this cunning plan. Again, as much as I hate hoisting the Roosters home games as examples of lousy crowd figures, but history (and television) shows you – people just do not turn up!
Have you been in Sydney traffic? Do you know how long it takes to get anywhere in peak hour parking? It can’t be done! Both games should be televised at 7.30pm. Technology allows us to do that, let us choose which game we want to watch first, then swap the games over. They used to do it in the past, so do it again! We even enjoyed the fact that the second game was loaded with ads because that allowed us to have numerous personal breaks caused by the copious amount of refreshments we had during the first game. Do it.
I do love the fact that the NRL Draw 2019 has miraculously achieved everything that our great friends at Channel Nein would have wanted. It’s as if they produced the draw themselves.
Surely not? I mean, the Broncos have a favourable draw at the beginning of the season being on FTA either Thursday or Friday night for eight of the first ten weeks. They do have a spell of seven weeks over the origin period where they are not given their favoured spot, but when you think about it, two of those weeks are byes. And why would you want your annual origin period slump televised for the world to see? But never fear Broncos fans. Six of the last eight rounds return to normal Channel Nein programming.
The television coverage could be worse though. You could be a Canberra Raiders fan. Should you be one of these mystical people, then pencil these rounds in: Round 6, Round 19 and Round 23. They are the only times you will see your game loaded up with plenty of Rabs and Gus arguing in between ads. Who am I kidding. Rabs won’t be travelling down the Hume Highway! He hates travelling. We will have Ray Hadley foisted upon us.
Warriors fans – pencil in Round 7. This is the only game in the NRL Draw 2019 that you will see your team in action. For free. Let me give you a tip. Call Fox Sports now on 131 999 to see your team make the semis again, while everyone who doesn’t have Fox wonders where did this team come from.
Finally, who doesn’t like their Sunday Afternoon Footy? Did I mention Sydney? Did I mention two Sydney teams? Round 6, Round 12 and Round 23 are the only times you will not see a Sydney based team play Sunday Arvo footy at 4.00pm. One of those Rounds is during Origin, so Ch Nein were forced to do something different. Fifteen of the twenty-five rounds involve both teams being from Sydney, and twenty-one of these games involve the home team being from Sydney. All this means is that Rabs can still get his members golf game in at Castle Hill on Saturday, and call the footy on Sunday.
You see, the best thing that happened to us a few years ago was they the NRL allowed Fox sports to televise all matches. That’s where I will be. It’s where you should be too. You know it.
