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Auckland Nines

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TRF_melon

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Courtesy of NRL.com
The inaugural Dick Smith NRL Auckland Nines will see the 16 NRL clubs competing for $2.6 million in prize money in a two-day blockbuster over February 15 and 16. While the individual 15-man squads are unknown at this stage, each club is committed to fielding 12 players from their top 25 squad, including at least one of their five highest-paid players.
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So to sum it all up -


  • 2 days
  • 31 games
  • 16 NRL clubs (4 pools of 4 teams)
  • 9 players per side
  • 9 minutes per half
  • AU$2.25m (NZ$2.6m) prize money

Full schedule here

Not since the late 90's have we seen a similar competition.

This should make for some pretty exciting viewing!
 
Unfortunately, I think that while the games might be entertaining, I think this is going to be a disaster.

There are 3 factors in place that will ensure that this day is not going to be the event to rival the Wellington Sevens that Dean Lonergan and Duco events want it to be.

League Fans:
Lets face it; they are a different crowd to rugby fans. They have a shocking track record at Eden Park with their behaviour.

Alcohol:
Like it or not; this is a big reason that the Sevens are so popular. It is a party, and parties tend to go off better with Alcohol.

Eden Park Staff and Security:
Hands down the WORST I have ever come across. Notoriously heavy handed and more often than not; pig ignorant - an awful combination.


Now put these 3 factors together and you have got a product that just isn't going to work.

I'm a Union man, but I would still like this event to succeed.
I just don't think it will.

Eden Park security won't allow people the ability to cut loose a bit, and the League fans will likely take a mile if given an inch.
People will be turfed out of the ground left, right and centre. And then there will be complaints by the residents aroudn Eden Park about the typical League fan's behaviour (as there is always is - take the double header at Eden Park as an example).

It's a great concept, but I fear it just won't work in Auckland.
 
I thought this would be the so called idea of competing with the State of Origin series. Two - three years ago there were plans to organize a similar series with 1 team representing Auckland (players born in Auckland or representing Auckland so the Warriors and Vulcans) vs the rest of NZ. So far promoters, sponsors and players are positive. I hope it will be a succes. Should be a nice alternative for the All Star game that isn't scheduled for 2014.
 
Looks like we're going to see Brad Fittler in action again!

NRL.com
Former Sydney Roosters captain Brad Fittler has indicated he will come out of retirement to play for his old club in the Auckland Nines.

News Corp Australia reported on Thursday that Fittler was poised to make a comeback with the Roosters at the NRL's new pre-season tournament.
Fittler later acknowledged on Twitter the speculation was correct.
"Pumped about given the opportunity to play again for the roosters. Demi has been keeping me fairly fit. #icebath," the rugby league great posted.
The deal is yet to be rubber stamped by the NRL.
"We'll be investigating the proposal with the NRL when they reopen on Monday," Roosters chief operating officer Brian Canavan told News Corp.
Fittler will be 42 when the two-day tournament starts in New Zealand on February 15.
He played the last of his 336 first-grade games in 2004, then coached the Roosters from 2007-2009.
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FlukeArtist said:
Unfortunately, I think that while the games might be entertaining, I think this is going to be a disaster.

There are 3 factors in place that will ensure that this day is not going to be the event to rival the Wellington Sevens that Dean Lonergan and Duco events want it to be.
Click to expand...

I hope it's nothing like the current 7's tbh, which is about the party, it's about the after party - and whilst I don't mind that - I actually watch the 7's for most of the matches.

I'm hoping that we can promote the 9's as a family event rather than the boozefest costume parade that the Wellington 7's has become. League needs some positives after a horrendous post season.

I think we look at that double header too often. It was 2010 and we've had a significant amount of games and thousands of league fans there since. (in league terms) Unfortunately for both us Warriors fans and Eden Park residents - we're going to have to get use too it.
 
The one problem I see is that they are trying to draw in interest from non-League and sometimes non-rugby markets, which isn't going to work through NRL teams.

Sevens has the effect that since the IRB WS is the biggest league for 7s, first-time fans can hop on the fanbase for any team since the league is only international squads.

I just think it will be hard to attract non-League fans to the sport and in effect the NRL by showing them a bunch of sides they don't care much about.
 
Whats the reason there are 9 players though? Seems like too many. I mean in the full games League has less players on the field than Union but in this version they have more, why is that?
 
Dunno, most likely to get all the big names out and attract more crowd.
 
Muzzy said:
Whats the reason there are 9 players though? Seems like too many. I mean in the full games League has less players on the field than Union but in this version they have more, why is that?
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The idea is to get a form of the game that is open and entertaining, but still has some level of structure. I think of it like being the difference between T20 and ODIs - 9s is aiming to be more like an ODI where the game still retains a balance between form and flamboyance, whilst T20 and 7s is just all attack.

Having watched it today, I have to say I reckon it's a great idea - if they do it again they ought to expand it and include all the ESL teams.
 
I went to the event yesterday.

Have to say it was very pleasing that it suceeded - as you can read from my previous post; I wasn't convinced that it was going to work.
But I think having an event that finished before 8pm certainly helped. And I didn't see one of the Eden Park security staff being a d***head which was nice for a change.

Although after being at the ground watching it, I thought that there was still too many players on the pitch.
Seven would be a better number (even though they won't do this as Rugby has done it already)
 
Nine players worked well IMO, along with the reduction in the number of tackles from 6 to 4 and no scrums.

The extra two players over sevens gave a little more emphasis on defence, not a bad thing for mine.
 
I think nine was far better. The product that was on display was just far better than 7's rugby. The set pieces in 7's are a mess and overall 7's is just such a scrappy game. Nines on the other hand has a lot of structure to it. I think saying that Nines are like ODI cricket and 7's is 20/20 is a good comparison. I think the Wellington 7's will have to rethink what it does now.
 
William18 said:
I think nine was far better. The product that was on display was just far better than 7's rugby. The set pieces in 7's are a mess and overall 7's is just such a scrappy game. Nines on the other hand has a lot of structure to it. I think saying that Nines are like ODI cricket and 7's is 20/20 is a good comparison. I think the Wellington 7's will have to rethink what it does now.
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I don't think its fair to say sevens is scrappy. In reality, it is a completely different game, with different tactics and skill sets from the 15 aside code.

Sevens is a lot more different from Fifteens than Nines is from the full version of RL. Nines to me looks like a mini-version of RL.
 
I don't see how sevens isn't scrappy. By scrappy I mean the game is disjointed with a lot of running backwards. There are also a lot more errors in 7's and it is difficult to maintain possession of the ball from your set pieces. That's my definition of scrappy.
 
smartcooky said:
Nine players worked well IMO, along with the reduction in the number of tackles from 6 to 4 and no scrums.

The extra two players over sevens gave a little more emphasis on defence, not a bad thing for mine.
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Was it not reduced only to 5? I'm sure I saw teams retain the ball after the fourth tackle...

To be honest I was a bit disappointed with the Nines. I think teams fell into the mindset that it was easier to score, and therefore showed less determination on defence.
 
Mr Fish said:
Was it not reduced only to 5? I'm sure I saw teams retain the ball after the fourth tackle...

To be honest I was a bit disappointed with the Nines. I think teams fell into the mindset that it was easier to score, and therefore showed less determination on defence.
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The little indicator on the scoreboard in bottom left of the screen was blue for tackle 1, 2 and 3 and then went red on the 4th, so maybe you are right.

Also, something else I noticed is that whenever there was a 20m tap restart, on the first tackle, the tackle indicator didn't come up, like a ZERO tackle, then on the next tackle the indicator went to 1. Is that something peculiar to nines?

William18 said:
I don't see how sevens isn't scrappy. By scrappy I mean the game is disjointed with a lot of running backwards. There are also a lot more errors in 7's and it is difficult to maintain possession of the ball from your set pieces. That's my definition of scrappy.
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The running backwards is a tactic I thought.

Perhaps sevens ought to do away with scrums and line-out, and just have a tap kick/handoover
 
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FlukeArtist said:
I went to the event yesterday.

Have to say it was very pleasing that it suceeded - as you can read from my previous post; I wasn't convinced that it was going to work.
But I think having an event that finished before 8pm certainly helped. And I didn't see one of the Eden Park security staff being a d***head which was nice for a change.

Although after being at the ground watching it, I thought that there was still too many players on the pitch.
Seven would be a better number (even though they won't do this as Rugby has done it already)
Click to expand...

It was spectacular. Pretty good Auckland weekend if you could get here. 9's. Lantern Fest. Rapture...etc. Anyways, League had a world 7's. Just didn't capture enough imagination. "Technically" older than the current 7's World Series

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_League_World_Sevens

William18 said:
By scrappy I mean the game is disjointed with a lot of running backwards. There are also a lot more errors in 7's and it is difficult to maintain possession of the ball from your set pieces. That's my definition of scrappy.
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In 7's it's tactical (for the better teams), it's about drawing out mismatches, creating disruptions in the defensive line, slowing down the play. Happens in AusTag and Touch. Just watch Tomasi Cama do it almost every match.
If anything, there was probably a lot more that the 9's could take from the 7's but it's the first year of hopefully many more to come.

Mr Fish said:
Was it not reduced only to 5? I'm sure I saw teams retain the ball after the fourth tackle...

To be honest I was a bit disappointed with the Nines. I think teams fell into the mindset that it was easier to score, and therefore showed less determination on defence.
Click to expand...

Yep - reduced to 5 per set. I actually disagree. I thought there was much effort on defense and teams weren't able to adjust appropriately. If anything, teams that ended up playing in the finals seemed like the best to adapt and had the better defence.

Watching from our seats, there were lots of opportunities to create scoring plays that they didn't take up but ended up going back to the default 13 aside game - ie hit up, hit up, run play, hit up, kick. But I'll take that as a learning curve and the coaches not wanting to expand the 9's tactics and elaborate on their 13's stuff.

Was disappointed by the Warriors to not get to the final but picked that they would've made the Semi's and happy the better team won the comp.

Bring on 2015.
 
Running backwards is definitely a tactic. It's just a tactic I don't enjoy seeing. Just my personal opinion of course.
 

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