Ideas for NRC 2015

[qwerty51]

The #1 thing this year has surely just got to be letting people know this damn thing is on.

 

[TOCC]

Which could be achieved through social media platforms and having a media manager to keep a steady flow of releases coming out ... This is where the NSWRU/Waratahs and ARU failed badly in 2014...

You don't need to spend $hundreds of thousands to market the competition....

The NRL and AFL pages have more followers then any of the teams, yet the NRC doesn't have a page? Casual fans could like the 'NRC' page and get weekly updates on squads, news reports, video, broadcast timing etc..... There is so much room for improvement it's ridiculous.

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[Brendan Hume]

This stuff seems so simple though, I can't for the life of me understand why it isn't done better. Social media is such a cheap way to promote your product - sharing video, marketing, information.... All the franchises and the ARU have people working in this space - as you've mentioned TOCC: a consolidation of these resources and tapping into the grassroots support of the concept by empowering the grassroots to produce content - get a Samsung or Sony or Toshiba to jump on board, give away a few handycams and let the fans loose. Capture the experience and get someone to edit it and throw up a fan produced package of each weeks experience. All it takes is someone with a passion for marketing and engagement to be given a chance to run with this sort of concept.


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[Brendan Hume]

My son was lucky enough to run the ball onto the field in Townsville - wouldn't it be great to do a short commercial interviewing these kids and get a mash up of their responses?


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[Brumby Runner]

Not sure how it might work in Sydney where there are four NRC franchises, but elsewhere there perhaps should be more connection between the Super outfit and the associated NRC team, with promotional activities taking place at home Super games, advertising in the match day programs etc.

 

[TOCC]

In all fairness I think many of the issues were in part due to the short planning time frame the franchises had to get the teams up and running, this work was done by the same people who were running their respective super rugby and club rugby teams so their focus was directed elsewhere...

I'd expect and hope that many of the teams and the governing bodies conducted an after action review and highlighted improves, fixes and sustains for 2015..

There was a complete lack of cross promotion between the Super Rugby and the NRC seasons, even in the last weeks of the season.. A short advertisement during the games on Foxtel to let people know what and when the NRC is on will do wonders, an advertisement in the match day guides and even half time announcements will also boost exposure ..

Have stalls or announcements around the grounds at the Shute Shield and Premier Grade matches as well.

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[WorkingClassRugger]

There's a whole swathe of promotion options that are low to practically no cost that the ARU/Unions and franchises could be employing. They could even get out among the grassroots of the game popping up at junior games. Part of the success of the BBL has been their focus on kids and women. That's a good model to look to emulate.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Does anyone know if the Franchises employ anyone full time ie year round? Is there an organisation in place to do these promotions?

If not then it has to be up to the ARU

 

[Scoey]

You all may have seen this on Facebook already but this is a marketing campaign that the NRC could take notes from. Aimed at drawing in casual fans and Rugby novices they use the catch phrase "Rugbyginners" well.

http://www.sanzarrugby.com/superrugby/news/sharks-launch-hilarious-new-marketing-campaign/

I doubt it was super cheap to produce but I don't reckon it would be budget busting stuff either.

 

[Hans]

When is someone going to realise that the best way to build a supporter base, and build a footprint is to engage families, younger people and the female crowd...........................how do we do this...................... HAVE A JUNIOR PATHWAY!!!!!!

Look at how successful league has been in doing this through the Harrold Mats, SG Ball formats. If someone with any hint of a brain over at St Leonards ever cottons on, COMBINE THE GOLD CUP WITH THE NRC AND HAND OVER CONTROL TO THE NRC FRANCHISES.

If they don't play ball, take away their licenses!!! Given the state of affairs and the seemingly endless ability of the HR Departments at the major rugby centres to employ brain dead monkeys for every single roll, someone with some signs of cognitive function surely has to get onto this and make it happen.

Imagine every saturday / sunday arvo rolling down to the local ground/stadium to watch the U15, U17, U20 and open matches all in an afternoon! OUTSTANDING.

ARU/NRC organisers.................even if it starts as a local derby thing in the first year, between the QLD and NSW teams only, make it happen!

 

[TOCC]

I don't think handing over control of the junior gold program to NRC teams is the solution, many of these teams are already operating on the smell of an oily rag and giving them the responsibility of the junior gold might be more of a burden then an asset at the current time..

In saying that you might be on to something by aligning the development pathways with the NRC teams, I'm not 100% how this might work but there can't be much harm in aligning the junior gold players with NRC teams.


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[Wilson]

Right now having the u20s more or less attached to the super rugby programs is the most cost effective way to do it. Going forward there is probably room for some u20 nrc based hit outs for short travel away matches, e.g. two sydney sides or Brisbane City vs QLD Country, but there just isn't the money for much else, certainly not in terms of a fully fleshed comp (which if drectly attached to the nrc would also be the wrong time of year). Wholly replacing the junior gold cup teams with there constituent nrc sides might work long term, though I'm not sure moves away from a rep based structure are a good idea there. There should probably be more staff sharing going on though.

 

[Slim 293]

More gold jerseys!

The Canberra Vikings will be relaunched with a new logo and a redesigned jersey for the second National Rugby Championship season in an attempt to ease any lingering tension in the capital's club rugby ranks.

No, fear not.........

The Vikings have been allocated red and white colours by the ARU for at least the first two seasons.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/spo...-new-look-for-second-nrc-20150219-13j759.html

An interesting tidbit in there - Vikings were the only team to make a profit in the NRC...........

 

[Wilson]

Crowd numbers weren't great but they looked to have a fairly efficient setup, and travel is almost as good as the Sydney teams for them. The only team seems a little surprising, would have thought City would have aswell, but maybe Brisbane City/QLD Country are a single entity so it was balanced out a bit.

 

[Pfitzy]

Sorry, but you can't have any meaningful discussion about youth rugby in this country until you tell the various schools associations that they need to open the gates and establish a wider base

 

[Hans]

Sorry, but you can't have any meaningful discussion about youth rugby in this country until you tell the various schools associations that they need to open the gates and establish a wider base

In order to combat the school strangle hold, you need an attractive alternative. The state championships is a dead duck essentially after about the U14's with school kids pulling the pin left right and centre. Can the state champs at this point, reload that pathway into a "semi professional" system like the NRC, All state and ARU funding for the state champs goes into the NRC system, and the parent funding of the gold cup (currently $600 per person), funds the running of the NRC style comps. There is absolutely a chance it could occur.

I can tell you know, kids who sit on the border line of league and union at about age 15/16/17 will swing to league 90% of the time due simply to the fact they are training with the senior guys, faces they see on TV and the bright lights league makes are very deceiving to a kid. If union doesn't try and create a pathway to mirror this, they will lose every day of the week.

The most successful Gold Cup teams have been from Melbourne & Perth, a single team city, NSW & QLD are spread to thin, need to combine these into 3 or 4 teams to align with the NRC and create a really solid stable competition accross the board.

Would be easy as piss to organise and administer, you would quite literally only need half a brain cell and one bloke at ARU level to administer it, not to mention the freed up resources at club level and so on.

The other advantage to this system is that the clubs then need to come to the party and assist the NRC teams in order to get their mits on the young talent coming through, rather than one particular team building a super junior rep side and killing everyone, while the rest suffer.

It could run cost neutral at the very least in its first year, and would be alot more attractive to sponsors if they have a wider market reach!!!!!

 

[Hans]

The one caveat to the above theory is that someone at the ARU level needs to have the canasters to tell the clubs to sit tight and shut up, and tell the local state associations and the noise making pests at groups like Sydney Junior Rugby and NSW Junior Rugby to bugger off and toe the line or lose all funding permanently.

Unfortunately there are far to many entities that make a shite load to much noise, and need a rocket up their backsides. All of the conflicting views are what is driving the game apart. It needs commonsense and a singular driving force in a singular direction!

 

[TOCC]

I think aligning schools and junior should be a long term goal of the NRC, but i would be hesitant to suggest that the ARU and NRC dive straight into it..

Like i mentioned previously, most of these teams are run on a very fine budget and lack the financial and manning capacity to really contribute to the Junior Gold development at this stage.

I think give the NRC one or two more seasons to establish itself a bit better then consider the official aligning of pathways, currently i think there is to much conjecture about who teams are representing and where they should be based, i still think a bit of rationalisation is needed of the NRC teams especially in Sydney.

However, it should definitely be on the cards for the 3-6 year planning phase. But I think the next 1-2 years needs to focus on the nuts and bolts of running a semi-professional rugby team.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

I think aligning schools and junior should be a long term goal of the NRC, but i would be hesitant to suggest that the ARU and NRC dive straight into it..

Like i mentioned previously, most of these teams are run on a very fine budget and lack the financial and manning capacity to really contribute to the Junior Gold development at this stage.

I think give the NRC one or two more seasons to establish itself a bit better then consider the official aligning of pathways, currently i think there is to much conjecture about who teams are representing and where they should be based, i still think a bit of rationalisation is needed of the NRC teams especially in Sydney.

However, it should definitely be on the cards for the 3-6 year planning phase. But I think the next 1-2 years needs to focus on the nuts and bolts of running a semi-professional rugby team.

I agree. However an issue would be the rationalisation of the JGC to fit in with the NRC structure. Do you maintain the current 24 centres or do you reduce that number to 9 in line with the NRC.

If it were to reduce to 9 teams the savings provided could potentially allow for the abolition of the current JGC participation fee. Aligning it with the NRC it could be played over the 11 week period with all the best available talent. Could be a real game changer when it comes to attracting and retaining talent. The opportunity to play in a national competition.

The only issue is, what do you do with the centres left behind.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Leave it up to the NRC franchises if they want to run (and fund) one or more groups before they select their final 9 JGC teams.