Like a drunkard desperately seeking love at the end of a weekend session at the local RSL, the NRL seem increasingly desperate to get their 2020 season going again, so we’ve decided to help with our Alternative Ways to Restart the 2020 NRL Season; they may be desperate enough to listen.
Who knew that the NRL were in such a position that a few months off from playing would put it in a big financial mess?
It seems that no suggestion is off the table to keep the season alive, so that allows us to be wild as we like.
Sadly, the NRL have taken a few of ours already, like the Moreton Island one.
But there’s plenty more ideas where that came from, so enjoy our Alternative Ways to Restart the 2020 NRL Season.
FOUR POOLS IS NOT A BAD IDEA:WHERE DO WE PLAY AND HOW DOES IT WORK?
There has been an idea floated about having four pools with four teams in each, and we think it is a potentially great idea.
The four pools would be in four different locations, and feature each team playing each other twice (six games).
The best thing about four pools is you could match four great rivals together and have nothing but premium games.
One pool could be North Qld, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Melbourne; another South Sydney, the Sydney Roosters, the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, St George-Illawarra…and so on.
Once the teams have played their six games, the top two teams from each pool go into a final eight knockout format.
This could be based in south east Queensland, with one pool based at Redcliffe, another at Langlands Park, and one each on the Sunshine and the Gold Coasts.
The final knockout series could be based in Brisbane.
Of course, the season won’t be as long as usual, but any rugby league is good rugby league, and the NRL are kidding themselves if it will start before July 1.
OTHER LOCATIONS FOR THE FOUR POOLS
Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton – a winter sunshine tour.
Betoota, Birdsville, Windorah, Bedourie – why not take the game to proper bush locations to expose rugby league to people who don’t get the chance? With the combined total population of the four towns at just 377, you could probably let every person from each town attend matches. The excellent Betoota Advocate would have the local league scene covered. The isolation could be a good thing for the players too.
Great Barrier Reef islands – with tourism decimated, after cyclones did a decent job beforehand, a great way to rebuild rugby league and tourism in these areas is to have every team based on a different island, as per the initial four-pool plan.
ADD SOME SECOND TIER PLAYERS
A variation on the four-by-four .
With both the Queensland Intrust Super Cup and NSW Canterbury Cup abandoned for the season, Queensland and New South Wales Residents teams (drawn from these competitions), will join the 16 NRL clubs. It could be a nice way of giving their players some football and showcasing their talents.
PNG MAGIC WEEKEND – EVERY WEEKEND
No place on earth loves their rugby league like Papua New Guinea, so why not base the entire competition in the country where it is the national sport?
Your main issue would be keeping the rugby league-mad fans away if crowds aren’t allowed.
The magnificent National Football Stadium could easily host every game, but there are other locations (like Lae and Kokopo) in case separate areas were needed for isolation.
Now onto the more out-there suggestions…
TURN THE JOURNEYS TO EACH POOL ABOVE INTO AN AMAZING RACE-STYLE SHOW ON THE WAY THERE
The lack of live sport (as opposed to replays) has been the biggest change with COVID-19, with the NRL resorting to commentating over old games and pretending to do analysis in the breaks. On this occasion nothing IS better than something.
We’re to watch old games, especially great grand finals like Canberra v Balmain, but it doesn’t need new commentary, or faux match analysis.
So, to fill the vacuum of live sporting content (the Belarusian football won’t last forever) you could turn each team’s journey to restart the 2020 NRL Season into an Amazing Race-style competition.
Each team is given a minimum of clues to get to their pool location, and everything is filmed along the way. Probably by Channel Nein, as they are more experienced with filming reality TV rubbish.
The first team to get all their players at each pool location gets an additional two competition points.
CREATE A GIANT FLOATING CRUISE SHIP PLAYING FIELD
Since cruise ships are as popular as Todd Greenberg, and soon to be as empty as the NRL’s wallet, why not create a floating rugby league field on top of a cruise ship?
There will be enough accommodation to house all the players, staff and their families to live in splendid isolation. After it is fully disinfected that is.
This way all the players are kept away from the public, which also has multiple benefits to the community; and with nothing else to do, the games can be played daily, which should keep TV broadcasters happy, and they can do whatever they like with the coverage.
The NRL Cruise Ship could then float around the east coast of Australia in a different location every day.
It would be a buffet of rugby league.
BUBBLE LEAGUE
If rugby league wants to play but keep the players as safe as possible, then why not restart the 2020 NRL Season by playing “bubble rugby league” until the Covid-19 threat passes?
There would still be the contact that league fans crave; perhaps the clashes would even be accentuated.
Sure, the giant bubble wouldn’t allow for some of the silky skills that rugby league’s best are loved for, but hey, any league is good league.
