The second annual instalment of the NRL Auckland 9s has been deemed a success. We saw big crowds, wide coverage and great on field excitement and entertainment.
This has inevitably got keyboards tapping over here about whether we should get in on the 9s action. The biggest thinker in modern day Rugby League, Marwan Koukash, is known to be keen on the idea and it's one of the regular questions he puts to fans in his Twitter polls. Plenty of fans are also up on the idea, many thinking it should replace the Magic Weekend.
I don't want to be Mr Negative but I've run this idea in my mind a bit and I'm not convinced it would work for us.
Location
Although there is interest in taking it elsewhere now it's proved popular, the Auckland base for the 9s in my mind was integral in its inception. A major rugby league event was needed for New Zealand to help grow the sport and the NRL brand. This bite size version of the game is ideal for new audiences because you can showcase the speed, athleticism and skill offered up without having to get too held up in the rules and intricacies of full game - and crucially, not delaying everything with constant video ref referrals.
We would have to do something similar to get the idea off the ground and fully capitalise on its potential, but that was the concept with Magic Weekend and that part of its purpose has fallen away somewhat after limited success. The places you'd think of would be London or Cardiff with any real similarity for the reasons for taking it to Auckland. That would be by and large rejected by the commonly introspective and regionally protective rugby league core audience.
The plus that Auckland has is an already large audience who support the local NRL team. A team which represents the nation so can draw some patriotism and support from the curious audience members. Neither London or Cardiff can really offer that. Auckland also has a core rugby audience, which Cardiff can offer, but London sits on questionable ground with. I'm not sure we have a location like Auckland that can so suitably fit the bill.
Sponsorship
The NRL is big business down under. It's the major sports league in terms of media coverage, television deals and sponsorship revenues. Dick Smith has stumped up major money to get the 9s going, with each team picking up a handsome chunk of money for just being in the event before you think of the price money for winning the thing.
A total pot of around £1.2 million is dished out to the sides competing over the weekend. Put another way, that is more than the fantastic new Challenge Cup sponsorship deal brings in per year of Ladbrokes three year contract.
Quite simply, I'm not sure there is the audience or television interest on this side of the world to have such a commercially successful product as they have developed down under.
In the end that will result in a lesser standard of professionalism surrounding the whole event, which could leave the organisers with egg on its face. Lower prize money would also mean a lesser incentive to put out your best players for what is a sideshow event, but I'll move on to that later.
Timing
Another thing that is so great about the Auckland 9s is that it comes as the starting point of the NRL preseason. League fans have had a long wait between meals so they are ready to eat it up.
The bonus in this down under is that it comes as summer is winding down. OK, it rained a bit during the second instalment after 2014's sun saturated weekend, but it didn't exactly look cold with everyone who wasn't in fancy dress wearing shorts and singlets. There was definitely no chance of a frozen or waterlogged pitch calling off the action like you might get in England in preseason.
Two 'solutions' to this come to mind. Both of which I have reservations about. Firstly, have it in the preseason but move it away from the north of England. That could give you the weather that guarantees games will be played but would have issues in terms of generating an audience.
The second, more commonly mentioned and endorsed, is play it in May in place of the Magic Weekend. The best strength of the Magic Weekend is that it means something, so teams turn up with something important at stake, league points. Swap that for something that is effectively a festival that is likely to provide little incentive to really win and you won't get the same commitment to playing with the top players on show as you get at the Magic Weekend.
Players
The final major issue that challenges the potential success is one of the criticisms that has been made of the NRL 9s - the absence of a number of major stars.
This year most of the Australian big hitters were missing, and this for a preseason event rather than an event in the middle of a packed season.
What happens by and large in the NRL 9s is you get a few first team players in the early or middle stages of their career. You get a group of reserve graders or young players that might be stepping up in age group this time around. Then, for fun, you get the odd side featuring a former player coming out of retirement for the event.
No matter how any Super League 9s was put together, I can't imagine much difference in squad make up. There will not be more star names, and if you put it in the middle of an every minute matters season I would guess there could be even less, as we've seen in the midweek 9s series that were ran a few years ago that were effectively under 19s tournaments with a sprint on finals day.
My point is, you don't get wall to wall best of the best players at the 9s. The thing is, their back up players down under are better than ours. Their top clubs have a bigger pool of talent to call upon for a tournament like the 9s. What we could see is teams mostly made up of squad players, which are nowadays usually limited to academy products.
The fans
My last doubt would be how many fans are realistically going to turn up, potentially having to travel and pay for overnight accommodation, to watch teams largely made up of squad players and likely missing a number of stars. Probably not enough to support the idea and bring the desired attention and sponsorship I would fear.
Sorry to be all doom and gloom but when we sit watching the Auckland 9s and get excited about the same thing happening over here, we need to remember that other than the shape of the ball and the size of the pitch, there are a lot of differences to the place our great sport sits in the order of things.
I'm not saying it couldn't happen. Like anything these days, money talks. If someone stumps up enough money it could become worthwhile for the clubs to take it seriously. From that the rest could follow. If we do get a 9s, lets hope we get it right!
Mark
SLP
