Monday Buzz: NRL weekend highlights, lowlights, 18-team comp

Forget Peter Beattie’s departing wish for a 17th NRL team to play out of Brisbane, there is a better way forward for rugby league that will solve a lot of the game's issues.

The NRL has conducted a review into refereeing.

Check out the highlights, lowlights and talking points from another big weekend in sport.

HIGHLIGHT

Aussie Eddie’s World Cup semi-final triumph with the Poms against the All Blacks. Whatever it costs, the ARU needs to bring this coaching genius home to look after the Wallabies.

HIGHLIGHT II

Tonga’s emphatic win over Wayne Bennett’s England team on Saturday night in New Zealand. This is a great result for the depth and future of international rugby league.

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Siliva Havili celebrates Tonga’s win against the Great Britain Lions. Picture: Getty Images

LOWLIGHT

Sam Burgess partying in Mexico with a woman sitting on his crook shoulders. Footy players are entitled to have a good time in the off-season but this is not the sign of a player who wants to continue playing rugby league at South Sydney.

LOWLIGHT II

Spring. Melbourne races. Footy players. Punting and partying. It’s not a crime for Brett Finch to be at Moonee Valley in a marquee on Saturday afternoon but, at the same time, it’s not a good look … and a concern for his closest mates.

SHOOSH

An angry NRL boss Todd Greenberg sent an email to the 16 club chief executives on Friday, complaining about the leaking of confidential financial details.

SHOOSH II

Which NRL star took his boat ashore in Port Hacking, not knowing the tide was going out, and was stranded for five hours?

SPOTTED

Former Australian champion ‘Baby’ Peter Mitrevski acting as Paul Gallen’s minder in Melbourne, where his horse Te Akau Shark ran third in the Cox Plate. The owners shared $375,000 in prizemoney.

‘Baby’ Peter Mitrevski and Paul Gallen.

SPOTTED II

Broncos, Maroons and Kangaroos legend Alfie Langer in the betting ring at Moonee Valley on Saturday afternoon for the Cox Plate.

SPOTTED III

2GB host Ben Fordham with his good mate, Channel 9’s director of sport Tom Malone, at the races at Randwick on Saturday.

PASSING TV TEST

There’s no question fans still have a hunger for rugby league, weeks after the grand final. The Kangaroos v Kiwis TV ratings on Channel 9 and Fox Sports were up by 23 per cent

compared to last year’s game.

ONE SIMPLE WAY TO FIX REFEREE ISSUES

The NRL has conducted a review into its refereeing ranks.

It has come back with more than 100 recommendations which will hopefully be shared with the media as the pipeline to the fans.

The loss of confidence in match officiating is one of the reasons crowds are down.

Obviously not all recommendations will be acted on.

The rugby league internationals have again shown us all that one referee is the way to go in the NRL.

The NRL has conducted a review into refereeing.

We all saw what happened in the grand final with the “six again” call and the disagreement between the head referee and his assistant. With one referee, you lose the confusion.

There will be those who complain the ruck will get too messy with only one referee. The way to fix it is by getting the one referee to keep an eye on it.

Then, like in soccer, give the touch judges something to do by policing the 10m.

Cutting back to one would also save an enormous amount of money that could be ploughed back into grassroots and the development of referees.

There is mail that the review will also reveal the bitterness around the role of refs boss Bernard Sutton from a number of referees.

The Redcliffe Dolphins (left) or Brisbane Bombers could be in line for an NRL berth if Peter Beattie’s outgoing wish is granted.

TRY 18 TEAMS AND SHORTER SEASON

Peter Beattie’s departing wish for a 17th NRL team to play out of Brisbane is likely to fail.

Having one extra team can’t create extra content for the TV networks or extra funding in the broadcast deal.

The only way to expand is to increase the competition to 18 teams and give the broadcasters an extra game each weekend.

Some, however, feel the season is now too long.

Will Brisbane get another NRL team? Picture: AAP

Cricket’s Big Bash was a smash-hit ratings success because there was never too much of it.

Once it was expanded, the ratings and crowds dropped off. It was no longer “special”.

Rugby league administrators face the same predicament.

There is actually one theory that by having 18 teams, the competition could be reduced to each team playing each other once.

Apart from anything else, it would put integrity back into the draw.