by Honeysett Fri Sep 24, 2021 7:07 pm
mattnz wrote: WT Winfield wrote:Doesn't seem like there's enough talent for 16 teams when every year there's only 5 or 6 that have a legitimate shot at winning, and the bottom 6 or so look like reserve grade teams.
NRL just chasing the short-term cash grab.
Its more the distribution of talent and mismanagement by clubs that is the issue.
Every sport has a few teams in contention for the title each year and lots of bad teams.
This is very true, however it's also how big is the divide between your best and worst. This has been the worst year of league I've ever seen in terms of the clear top and the clear bottom. I can only see that gulf growing.
AFL is awful for it, the bottom teams never challenge the top teams. But they all seem to have little premiership windows every decade or so if they manage the list well enough.
In a system where you don't have draft picks or a means to help the bad teams get better the divide is only going to grow. You have to pay more money to get good players, you have to pay huge money to get elite players and in the Tigers case huge money for scrubs. The NRL is tough because it takes so much to turn a team around from average to elite and we just aren't seeing it. Storm/Roosters locks for finals every single year. You really need to create a standout plan like the Panthers have, create pathways from youth and stick to it. You can't rely on drafts.
So while agree management is a huge part of it for sure, it's not the start and finish of the conversation.