Paul Kent: NRLW wrestling with a confronting truth
The trick to more money for the NRLW and its players is to play a game appealing in its own right, not to follow the men and try to wrestle their way to premierships, writes PAUL KENT.
Opinion
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First, a little housekeeping – in the non-domestic sense.
Roosters skipper Corban Baxter was at Monday’s NRLW season launch, which kicks off with a triple-header at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle on Sunday, claiming the NRL needed to drastically address the NRLW pay-scale so players could earn as much as $100,000 a year.
Admittedly, a payrise is a sentiment most of us can share.
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Brisbane skipper Ali Brigginshaw went a different route, claiming her teammates could earn more working at Woolies than they do playing rugby league.
And even as support for both women’s claims received predictable support, nobody would dare argue, a certain kind of logic got lost in the argument.
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Brigginshaw’s complaint, for instance, ignores a simple law of commerce: Woolies makes a profit, the NRLW does not.
Baxter’s claim overlooks this fact the NRLW does not profit and is entirely subsidised by the men’s game, so who fronts for the pay rise, and given the NRLW runs at a loss, how much is actually deserved?
It is a confronting truth.
Claiming the women train just as hard as the men, so therefore entitled to money approaching the men, is a persuasive, highly emotional argument. But ultimately it is irrelevant.
Nobody in the world is paid for the effort they exert. If so, Woy Woy A-grade might also be entitled a similar payrise. The heart rates get just as high there.
Pay scales are based on income generated, and that is it. It’s why women’s prizemoney at the tennis grand slams is equal. The sponsorships, tickets and television ratings are equal.
The NRLW is subsidised, entirely, by the men’s game.
NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo confirmed this when I asked, in very basic economics, if the NRLW could survive on its own if the men’s game somehow went bust and could not fund it.
“Not as they stand at the moment,” he said.
“We invest in it. But we have invested in it because we believe it will eventually stand alone as a monetary proposition.”
Yet like any organisation worth its monthly dues, the players union is urging for a pay rise.
The Rugby League Players Association is arguing the NRL made a $43 million profit last season (when there was no NRLW competition) and the NRLW is entitled to a greater portion.
This, of course, ignores significant problems. When the ARL Commission was first formed, a bunch of dunderheads were voted in and the NRL spent the game’s entire income like it was someone else’s money, which it was and for which they have never apologised.
In their first decade, the NRL spent nearly $2 billion with not an asset or a dollar in the bank to show for it.
So, much of last year’s $43 million profit is about correcting that mistake, and the NRL wants to invest that money to ensure future profits.
As the NRL wasted millions, grassroots spending was basically ignored. One of its side effects being why the NRLW took so long to be launched.
Now that the NRL has finally banked some money, urgent spending is needed for investment to ensure future profits. This is driven by the understanding the broadcast deal is sure to soften next time around.
Part of the investment will go towards the NRLW, but in proportion.
“You have got to grow sustainably,” said Abdo, who next week is expected to announce pay rises for NRLW representative games, the Origins, Tests and All-Star games.
Fret not, though, readers, as this is no bash-up on the female version of the game.
There is a solution.
Some years back a conversation that got a lot of minutes around the NRL360 office was the private conversation between the boss of the English Super League and a young Australian coach, just arrived.
An ambitious fellow, the coach was intent on wrestling his way to the title so the boss explained to him that it was a different market in England, rugby league was not the big game in town, and so to attract viewers and fans they needed his team to play an attractive brand of footy. This wrestling, he said, would have to go.
So this week I called Brisbane’s football boss Ben Ikin and asked if he had relayed that conversation from 360 to the Broncos’ NRLW team.
No, he said, their focus was to find a plan to win the game. Already the Broncos have had their contact coach, Brett O’Farrell, working with the women to strengthen their defence.
Selling the game’s appeal, Ikin said, was for the administration, not the clubs.
Which is true.
The pity is that when the NRLW first began, the women did play a different style, one noticeable and pleasing to watch.
It was fast, open, had enough skill, and best of all was punctuated by highlight reel collisions.
Mick Cronin, who is rugby league’s north star, pointed out in a conversation early on that at least the women hit with shoulders and forced a collision, which the men no longer did as they catch and wrestle. Rugby league was, at the beginning, always a collision sport.
For many fans new to the NRLW, as all were, it was a large attraction. Tremendous to watch.
But by the last season played in 2020 there was already evidence the women were intent on wrestling their way to a trophy. The collisions were disappearing and defence was slowing it down.
In their bid to win, with the obsession for wrestling, the NRLW was already losing its point of difference and instead becoming a version of NRL-Lite.
Abdo agreed the women played an exciting, different version to the men but disagreed wrestling had crept into the women’s game.
This weekend will provide more certain proof of that.
He was cautious about suggesting any kind of interpretation to encourage the NRLW version, through rules or officials, to discourage wrestling techniques.
Thankfully some officials are not oblivious.
QRL board member Renita Garard, a two-time Olympic hockey gold medallist, has spoken in QRL board meetings of the opportunity to think differently about the women’s game.
She should be listened to immediately.
The NRLW should be discouraged from following the men.
The trick to more money is to play a game appealing in its own right, which the early pioneers were on their way towards doing, until the men do what they always do, which is get involved and ruin.
They will tell you defence wins premierships, but there are bigger things at stake.
The only way for the NRLW to make more money is through a bigger audience and to begin generating more money themselves which will make their game worth more.
Wrestling ain’t going to do it.
SHORT SHOT
The hate mail was a little on the light side after last Saturday’s column on corporate bookmakers, revealing there is a bigger evil than Vladimir Putin, Voldemort and yours truly.
The behaviour of corporate bookmakers in banning punters who are guilty of the sin of winning is more widespread than just a few disgruntled punters.
From Nathan: “I won a heap of money last year with Ladbrokes. All of a sudden, the p---ks wouldn’t take certain bets, decreased all my power players etc”.
From Barclay: “Disgraceful. Plus they pay no tax and are all foreign-owned.”
From Holly, an old racing figure: “Had lunch with six blokes today … all said what a disgrace.”
From Thommo: “Two weeks ago, I got two quaddies up. As you know, that’s what I like to bet. I then tried to put on a quaddie at Ascot and it kept rejecting me, saying ‘Bet not allowed’.”
From Paul, a publican: “Today’s sermon was spot on.”
From Veronica: “(Her husband) is a lifetime punter and no fool – he agrees wholeheartedly with you.”
From David: “I have been a professional punter on harness racing for nearly 12 years now. My experience with these ‘bookies’ and their underhanded tactics with anyone who ‘smells’ like they may win infrequently ... I could go on forever.”
Brad passed on his email from Sportsbet. After a win, the company cancelled all the promotions it uses to entice mug punters: “Our decision to make this change to your account was done in accordance to our terms and conditions.”
The best part, though, was the next sentence: “These changes may be reviewed in the future.”
In other words, when Brad’s luck changes and he goes on a losing run, they will start taking his bets again.
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