Rugby TV Shows

[lily]

I am sorry to all that I have had to start a new thread for this garbage. I tried the search engine but nothing came up.
It amazes me that a program that claims to be of value just discussed Mike Harris' great game and in the first clip showed him throwing a pass to Cliffy.
Awesome editing and producing.

 

[Ash]

Watching the replay now Harris through a few loose passes, I think I am up to 4 with 20 to go.

The show seems a bit all over the place at the moment. The "this or that" and "call like clarkie" or whatever it is segments are pretty lame. As was the painfully long segment on J'OC - about twice as long as it needed to be. Surely they could fill that time by actually analysing last week's games or looking at match ups in depth.

 

[qwerty51]

Greg Martin and Kearns need to go

 

[Ash]

Greg Martin and Kearns need to go

Pretty much. They need another person like Kafe who is willing to put effort into analysing the game instead of just trying for some humour factor. Martin and Kearns don't really bring much apart from some "flavour", and it feels like the show is mostly "flavour" and little substance. That being said, I think that McArdle does a decent enough job hosting.

The show's only an hour long, which isn't much time to look at the 5 Aus teams and their previous and next games, let alone the rest of the comp.

 

[Bowside]

I think horan doesn't always think about what he is about to say before he says it.

 

[tigerland12]

McArdle and Canno are great value and Kafer is easily the most knowledgeable and non-bias of the lot. Horan/Martin/Kearns(especially Kearns) can go elsewhere. Just don't fucking bring back Jeremy Paul

 

[Utility Back]

Thought Kafe was rubbish tonight, he did a segment on the force being too predictable, which in general is fair enough, but he chose the one phase where they didnt just kick the effing ball away, and made 40 metres keeping it tight, and being patient.

 

[Gagger]

I don't get the format of the show anymore. They have so many panel experts sat on that desk they can't even fit Kafe on anymore.

It needs a total re-think

 

[AngrySeahorse]

The highlight of the program for me tonight was Foley & his lack of reaction to Greg Martins comments about Tom Carter.

IMO I'd like to see some of the player interviews dropped from The Rugby Club, we get enough after & before interviews at games & on Fox news. My main gripe with this is that from team to team, player to player, the comments are almost identical. I'm not blaming the players either, even if things within a team are genuinely shite or not clicking its very hard for a player to sit there & say live that certain team mates are playing crap or that their coach is horrible, etc. Also, its not going to help the team if they do that, as that sort of thing tends to be done face to face not over Fox. My Ma was actually able to preempt the gist of most of Delve's general responses tonight. The O'Connor interview did go on a bit long, I don't mind these kinds of players interviews where they go into a players background (I'm looking forward to the Beau Robinson one next week) but again they should aim for quality not quantity. Foley was good in his interview but sometimes the coach interviews are similar to the playing ones. I guess I prefer the 'background story type interview".

Like Ash, I'm not a fan of the "this or that" and "call like clarkie" segments although I thought Tomane was good I cant help but think they should put something a bit more meaningful in there. I'd be happy to keep all the current hosts but rather add some more into the 'rotation' for a bit of variety.

On positives I think McCardle does do a good job as main host. I love Kafe's tactics segment, I would like to see more of that sort of thing. An idea would be to be to have a different Law explained (which I think Kafe does a lot anyways) every show & to have it downloadable (isn't Kafes segment already downloadable somewhere?) anyhow I think something like that would be good for kids or people unfamiliar with the game of Rugby. I also noticed in previous years they mentioned who was going to be in the grand finals for each competition state to state in the top grade/division, etc this also included Regional areas - I liked that they did that too. I noticed last year they did a couple of stories on womens rugby too which was good. Probably not a lot of stories on Juniors (just going by memory).

I would like to see them cover more of the above paragraph & to see them cover each week a grassroots club or just a general story on a whole competition from a particular area. It could be from a major city but outside of the main competition or from a regional or outback area. I think stories like that are very interesting, you get to learn about Rugby in places you didnt think there was Rugby, the volunteers, players just playing for the game & their own pride, etc. I honesty believe showcasing this side of Rugby would make The Rugby Club valuable watching & would promote Rugby in a very good way. I think it would be good exposure for clubs. AFL & NRL run stories like this all the time to promote their games & its pretty successful, cant see why The Rugby Club cant do the same.

I suppose it could be worse, it could be The Back Page but it isn't far off that.

 

[AngrySeahorse]

Thought Kafe was rubbish tonight, he did a segment on the force being too predictable, which in general is fair enough, but he chose the one phase where they didnt just kick the effing ball away, and made 40 metres keeping it tight, and being patient.

Comes back to the quality v quantity argument for mine, I don't think his segment gets enough time so they picked something small & relatively uncomplicated to explain. With more time we could have seen something taken on a bit more complex or perhaps would look at multiple tactics from more than one game.

 

[Ash]

Oh fuck, Jeremy Paul was a car crash in motion. Please no, don't even bring him up. Some moronic producer somewhere might get ideas.

But yeah, I agree with Gagger. The show feels all over the place, it doesn't even feel like there is a real format other than random wanging, boring (sadly) interviews and tips for the week. Nothing really in depth other than an occasional segment from Kafe.

I hate to say it, but the NRL shows are better on Fox. I even watched NRL Tactics on occasion last season because the depth they went into (while sometimes over the top) was interesting.

At the moment, the Rugby Club feels more like that boring-as-shit AFL show where some old guys just sat on a coach and talked about the old days.

 

[Ash]

Really hope it doesn't descend into The Back Page, that show was truly awful.

 

[AngrySeahorse]

Really hope it doesn't descend into The Back Page, that show was truly awful.

Past tense, as much as I'd like to say it is no more, unfortunately it still exists. I Like to call it the AFL/NRL/GOLF show with the occasional Soccer or Rugby segment often including talk over Rugby & how confusing it is & Soccer & how sissy it is.

 

[Troy]

Must say I quite liks the show at the moment, esp now that that wingnut Jeremy Paul is gone!

I can see how Marto would get under a few peoples skin - but I like his direct approach. Rather one to the jaw than five to the gut!

Last week discussing the Cheetahs was classic - They'll start bad get worse and end rubbish when everyone else was trying to be diplomatic or pc.

Last year even the missus used to watch - she enjoyed the piggies & princesses - but likes those different non technical segments of the show.

And what's not good about play of the week!

 

[Brisbok]

I think it all comes down to who the show is targetted at. Are they following the general theme in Aus rugby whereby they need to make it as 'entertaining' as possible in order to attract as many new fans as they can? Or are they trying to satisfy rugby fans who love the game regardless and would much prefer to see more in depth analysis of games rather than a couple of comedy segments involving current and former players?

...unfortunately it appears to be more of the former than the latter.

 

[Moses]

I think it all comes down to who the show is targetted at. Are they following the general theme in Aus rugby whereby they need to make it as 'entertaining' as possible in order to attract as many new fans as they can? Or are they trying to satisfy rugby fans who love the game regardless and would much prefer to see more in depth analysis of games rather than a couple of comedy segments involving current and former players?

...unfortunately it appears to be more of the former than the latter.

I have no doubt that ultimately their goal is to enhance the FoxSports rugby product and entice more subscriptions. Hardcore fans will pay for Fox regardless, so entertaining the masses would be the brief.

 

[fatprop]

Too much influence from the footy show "clown stuff", not enough rugby, not enough research and knowledge.

The interviews are usually to the quality of what the players favourite colour is.

 

[Brisbok]

One part that often interests me is how terribly the "experts" on the show fare in tipping the results of games. Often it is Nick McArdle and Clarkie who lead the way in the tipping which perhaps says something about how closely the "experts" follow the game (outside of their home state!).

 

[Brumby Jack]

And what's not good about play of the week!

Shorks are due a home game soon...

 

[Inside Shoulder]

My main gripe with this is that from team to team, player to player, the comments are almost identical. I'm not blaming the players either, even if things within a team are genuinely shite or not clicking its very hard for a player to sit there & say live that certain team mates are playing crap or that their coach is horrible, etc.

Great call - but they're not allowed to say what they really think even if they want to because of the "bringing the game into disrepute" rule: look what happened to Venter in England!
That said, if the players arent going to call it for what it is then they need to go further afield. the problem then is that any journo, even if he is an ex-player, who criticises a player is going to find it difficult to do his job with the player or his team in the future.
Kearns has got to the point where if there is a serious point to be made and a cheap one liner to be scored he'll take the latter every time.