NRL 2022: Call to bring back Monday night football following success of trials on Fox Sports
The success of the Knights-Bulldogs trial proves it’s time the NRL scrapped its Thursday night fixture and replace it with Monday night footy, DAVID RICCIO writes.
NRL
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Andrew Abdo hasn’t risen to the top of one of the toughest jobs in Australian sport by sitting still.
So Andrew, get moving.
Abdo’s next project should be to convince Fox Sports into bringing back Monday Night Football.
Scrap the Thursday night fixture and replace it with Monday night footy.
The NRL trial match between the Knights and Bulldogs on Monday night reminded every footy fan what we’ve been missing out on at the start of every round of the footy season.
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So busy are our lives, Thursday night arrives and leaves before we even care.
But who has plans on a Monday night?
Which girls are organising a girls night on a Monday?
Which of the boys are sending a group message to meet down the pub on a Monday night?
Very few coaches plonk the training on for kids team sport on a Monday night.
How easy was it to flick the Knights-Bulldogs on with the busy weekend behind us?
Why? Because we’re home.
That should be the NRL’s marketing campaign when Monday Night Football comes back: “Monday night – your home game.”
The NRL included Monday Night Football into the season draw for 10-years between seasons 2007-2016.
Poor crowd numbers and a struggle from some players ‘to get up’ for matches on a Monday night were factors in it being scrapped and replaced by a Thursday night fixture.
At the very least, Abdo needs to consider drip-feeding Monday Night Football back into our lives. Give us six to 10 Monday night games per-season.
Abdo pushed for two years for pre-season trial matches to be shown live on television.
He wanted the excitement of a new season to bite earlier than normal for every NRL fan.
Eventually, he got his way, with Fox Sports broadcasting all eight matches live over the course of the past four days.
And Abdo, as every NRL fan should be, is cheering.
Footy is back in our lounge rooms, introducing us to the best young guns, while providing every supporter an opportunity to pass judgement on what may lie ahead for the game’s biggest stars.
Fox League are enjoying strong ratings with viewer numbers averaging 160,000 each trial match.
Lessons are being learned.
Bringing back Monday Night Football is the biggest lesson of all.
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