Australian Rugby / RA

[Derpus]

I don't understand why people in 2020 are still not paying for journalism. Apologies in advance if you pay for oher subscriptions and not The Aus, but the constant posting about paywalls on this site astounds me

You're astounded that people won't pay to support the News Corp media empire? Even if you do support them - you should be able to understand why some people don't.

This Suaallii thing is a joke. I'm actually glad that RA didn't get him. One ACL injury and this kids ceiling has dropped dramatically. Not to mention the astronomical pressure on the guy to be the next superstar - which always goes so well.

Plus - hard reality is we are clearly not a great choice at the moment. The Tahs are poo and there isn't even a competition tabled yet. No rational person turns down what is effectively a house by the age of 18 for the chance to play in the Olympics?

 

[Wilson]

I don't understand why people in 2020 are still not paying for journalism. Apologies in advance if you pay for oher subscriptions and not The Aus, but the constant posting about paywalls on this site astounds me

That's fair, and I don't agree with posting whole articles wholesale (paywalled or not) but I'm certainly not going to criticize anyone for deciding the news corp papers are not worth paying for.

Either way it doesn't change the fact that adding a post with a link to an article and no real detail doesn't add much to the conversation. Quote the relevant paragraph or add a reasonable summary of the important points.

 

[PhilClinton]

The last schoolboy viral sensation that RA picked up was Thor and he’s turned out pretty well.

But, it is hard to judge when this is clearly a man v boys situation. That is always my biggest concern with signing schoolboy superstars. Yes I’ve heard he’s carved up the big boys at Redfern but until his body is tested for a whole season against adults, it’s still a bit of a gamble, although a calculated one.

 

[Jets]

You're astounded that people won't pay to support the News Corp media empire? Even if you do support them - you should be able to understand why some people don't.

This Suaallii thing is a joke. I'm actually glad that RA didn't get him. One ACL injury and this kids ceiling has dropped dramatically. Not to mention the astronomical pressure on the guy to be the next superstar - which always goes so well.

Plus - hard reality is we are clearly not a great choice at the moment. The Tahs are poo and there isn't even a competition tabled yet. No rational person turns down what is effectively a house by the age of 18 for the chance to play in the Olympics?

Chances are he will have a season out in the next four years. He's still growing and his body will be pushed to its limits.

Also a lot of chat that the Olympics may not go ahead in 2021.

I think league is a great place for young men to develop. They seem to have the best S&C guys who manage to get the players in great physical shape.

 

[VassMan]

League can develop him for the next few years until he grows into his body and gets used to contact against men. Might be a good thing waiting until you're in your 20's to start traveling the world playing union. While he's a teenager it's probably nice to be around his family and staying around Sydney mainly.

Hopefully union can sort itself out and get a good competition going and we can get some of these guys back without having to take the big money risk on them (they would either be superstars, flopped or be middle of the row guys by then).

 

[Derpus]

League can develop him for the next few years until he grows into his body and gets used to contact against men. Might be a good thing waiting until you're in your 20's to start traveling the world playing union. While he's a teenager it's probably nice to be around his family and staying around Sydney mainly.

Hopefully union can sort itself out and get a good competition going and we can get some of these guys back without having to take the big money risk on them (they would either be superstars, flopped or be middle of the row guys by then).

My dream is that some private equity group decides to go all in on Australian rugby and dump a bunch of money on a new comp (whether that be local or TT) and use a lot of that money to bring back a lot of the talent we've either missed or lost.

 

[Braveheart81]

Also a lot of chat that the Olympics may not go ahead in 2021.

I think the Olympics is a big carrot to dangle but I agree with this. If you were advising someone now it would have to be to say that the chances of there being a Summer Olympics games in 2021 is very low.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

My dream is that some private equity group decides to go all in on Australian rugby and dump a bunch of money on a new comp (whether that be local or TT) and use a lot of that money to bring back a lot of the talent we've either missed or lost.

I think most share that dream as sick of league winning the war for talent

 

[Bobby Sands]

I don't understand why people in 2020 are still not paying for journalism. Apologies in advance if you pay for oher subscriptions and not The Aus, but the constant posting about paywalls on this site astounds me

Very important point.

It's not about supporting or not supporting "Citizen Kane" it's about the fact that we need to get information from somewhere.

If the news is not supported financially then we get poorer journalists (Google an investigative journalist piece of the gangland war from The Age in the early 2000's and compare to now) with less resources, and as a result more unreliable news.

Bezos bought the Washington Post for this exact reason.

If traditional media falls over, and we have no reliable "sources of truth" (cue the conspiracy theorists) then a critical institution of democracy falls over.

Trump, and his dwindling alternate reality legions can sense this and are trying to create a world where we get our news from blogs that are unsourced, and have no accountability. Hence his idiotic catch phrase.

End of.

 

[Derpus]

^^^^
It's a death spiral, though. Why pay for something you have no intention of consuming? Product gets worse and less people want to pay for it (see PHI). They need a new model (i pay for media i actually want to consume).

 

[rugboy]

League can develop him for the next few years until he grows into his body and gets used to contact against men. Might be a good thing waiting until you're in your 20's to start traveling the world playing union. While he's a teenager it's probably nice to be around his family and staying around Sydney mainly.

Hopefully union can sort itself out and get a good competition going and we can get some of these guys back without having to take the big money risk on them (they would either be superstars, flopped or be middle of the row guys by then).

For mine this is a far better option. Tom Wright, while not anywhere near as highly touted as Sua'ali'i benefitted from a full time League set up straight out of school and now is flourishing. Cam Murray and Angus Crichton both have excelled and are now proven, if we were to try and entice them back it would be with far greater confidence that they are able to contribute straight away to the National set up and provide more return for any large investment needed.

 

[Braveheart81]

I still don't understand why media orgs haven't developed a micro payment system where you can pay to read a single article.

Charge me $1 to read an article and I will pay for a lot more.

The way it stands is that there is media worth reading from many publications but paying a substantial fee to a single publication for access to everything means you are unlikely to be subscribed to more than 1 or 2 at most.

 

[dru]

Sorry I was able to read it without paying.

Thanks - it came out more terse than intended.

I don't understand why people in 2020 are still not paying for journalism. Apologies in advance if you pay for other subscriptions and not The Aus, but the constant posting about paywalls on this site astounds me

Mate, it is standard rules on every forum I am on.

To have it covered you would need subscriptions to every likely news service that could be quoted. Which is silly. I don't have a problem with the concept of paying for journalism - though I do tend to be selective.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

Very important point.

It's not about supporting or not supporting "Citizen Kane" it's about the fact that we need to get information from somewhere.

If the news is not supported financially then we get poorer journalists (Google an investigative journalist piece of the gangland war from The Age in the early 2000's and compare to now) with less resources, and as a result more unreliable news.

Bezos bought the Washington Post for this exact reason.

If traditional media falls over, and we have no reliable "sources of truth" (cue the conspiracy theorists) then a critical institution of democracy falls over.

Trump, and his dwindling alternate reality legions can sense this and are trying to create a world where we get our news from blogs that are unsourced, and have no accountability. Hence his idiotic catch phrase.

End of.

I actually buy the australian paper (hardcopy not digital subscription) regularly primarily because they cover rugby but also have good business section.

 

[Bobby Sands]

I actually buy the australian paper (hardcopy not digital subscription) regularly primarily because they cover rugby but also have good business section.

Final point on this, I work in Finance and one the doyens of the financial world (who believe rightfully no mainstream media is covering money with the nous, resources or relevance to be relevant) from the Square Mile, to Wall St, to Pitt/Collins St is an alternate blog called Zero Hedge which gets enormous traffic, and produces some good analysis.

However it's been proven almost objectively that it is a stooge site for Russian intelligence, but it just doesn't matter anymore because it has become part of the culture and lexicon of financial services.

Where we get out information from is important.

Source: https://newrepublic.com/article/156788/zero-hedge-russian-trojan-horse

Anway, I will drop off. But it's a good point you raise RebelYell.

 

[Rob42]

No rational person turns down what is effectively a house by the age of 18 for the chance to play in the Olympics?

Keep in mind, one version of the story was that he was being offered an 18 month contract from RA - whilst he couldn't be playing NRL because of his age - and during that time, he could potentially go to the Olympics and play with the Tahs. And then, if he wanted, head off to play NRL in 2022, which would have been his first season of NRL anyway.

A pretty sweet offer, I'd suggest. For RA, a decent gamble with 3rd party money.

 

[Up the Guts]

I still don't understand why media orgs haven't developed a micro payment system where you can pay to read a single article.

Charge me $1 to read an article and I will pay for a lot more.

The way it stands is that there is media worth reading from many publications but paying a substantial fee to a single publication for access to everything means you are unlikely to be subscribed to more than 1 or 2 at most.

Google and other search engines have looked into this for clicking on sponsored links but the uptake isn’t there from consumers. People are hesitant about using automated micropayments over security concerns.

 

[Derpus]

Google and other search engines have looked into this for clicking on sponsored links but the uptake isn’t there from consumers. People are hesitant about using automated micropayments over security concerns.

I would never sign up for an automated micro-payment system. Hell, i don't even buy phone apps, really.

 

[Braveheart81]

Google and other search engines have looked into this for clicking on sponsored links but the uptake isn’t there from consumers. People are hesitant about using automated micropayments over security concerns.

But I buy apps or movies etc. from the Google Play Store for (slightly bigger than) micropayments.

It seems like it would be an additional revenue channel worth investigating from organisations that sell subscription content.

 

[Up the Guts]

But I buy apps or movies etc. from the Google Play Store for (slightly bigger than) micropayments.

It seems like it would be an additional revenue channel worth investigating from organisations that sell subscription content.

I think the reticence was coming from the fact the transfer was being launched by a click on a link rather than a consumer having to seek out an actual store.

I agree though, it would work well for sports journalism when there is often information about selections, injuries etc. that people are interested in but are unlikely to find it worthwhile to subscribe to an entire organisation for when they can wait for the info to drip out on social media.