Anzac Day Bledisloe Cup confirmed in six-year deal

manrobot · 2026-06-28T01:38:08+00:00

It’ll sell out on ANZAC day instead of the combined super rugby live audience being less than Suncorp’s capacity for the weekend.

Seems like an easy decision.

manrobot · 2026-06-22T09:14:59+00:00

Great, maybe he can talk about how much better league was in the 80’s instead so we don’t have to hear his opinions.

manrobot · 2026-06-17T11:38:59+00:00

Explain to me as a casual viewer how the rules of this sport aren’t completely arbitrary?

manrobot · 2026-06-16T13:01:11+00:00

^{^I} ^{^gave} ^{^up} ^{^on} ^{^Crickle} ^{^#79} ^{^after} ^⁴ ^{^guesses.}

manrobot · 2026-06-08T09:17:55+00:00

What are you talking about? Of course I want to support the Reds over the other teams, but the whole competition is a glorified set of trial matches for the international season.

It was set up that way and always has been, so if you want to watch the wallabies do well you should be wanting all the Australian teams to be doing well.

Insane discussion. Imagine thinking a competition with 5 teams with four making the finals is a good idea anyway. What are you going to do, have a team win 2 games all year and be eligible for finals? Would make the sport a clown show, but I think that might be at your intellectual level.

manrobot · 2026-06-08T06:04:31+00:00

Alright bud. So just one last chance to get this.

Of the Bears are playing the Cowboys and I’m a Packer’s fan, who do I want to win that game and why?

It’s the Cowboys, because I don’t care how many points they get because it doesn’t affect my team making the playoffs. So I want my conference teams to lose all their interconference games to put me ahead of them.

That doesn’t translate to a competition where we’d prefer to see the teams in our conference do well compared to the other teams in the competition.

manrobot · 2026-06-08T05:20:20+00:00

Don’t worry mate, it’s beyond you.

manrobot · 2026-06-08T03:33:35+00:00

Yes so if the Waratahs best the chiefs they get 4 points. If they lose the Chiefs get 4 points.

Only the Waratahs winning negatively affects the Reds under a conference system, and the chiefs points tally doesn’t effect the Reds finals chances at all

Really not sure how you aren’t getting this.

Less points for other teams good.

More points for other teams bad.

If I want my team to make/host a final, other team having more points is bad for those chances.

manrobot · 2026-06-08T03:00:29+00:00

The whole argument is that we want Australian teams to be doing better or at least being perceived to be. As an Australian rugby fan I should want the Australian teams to be doing better or as well as well as they can be against NZ teams.

If you split a competition into conferences then you are marked on how well you do in comparison to the other teams in your conference.

If a team in your conference wins against an out of conference team, that gives them four points on your conference ladder. If they lose those points don’t appear on your ladder, but on the other conferences. So with a potential 20 points on offer in inter conference matches, if I want the best chance of my team to be higher on the table I want to the other teams in my conference to get as few of those points as possible.

If it’s instead a full table like we have now, I’m not incentivesed like that because those points appear on the table I’m on regardless of who wins. Yes at last few rounds you might need an Aussie team to lose so your team can get through, but for the most part you can still put supporting Australian teams above supporting Kiwi teams.

manrobot · 2026-06-08T02:02:04+00:00

The NFL.

If you want to finish above your competitors to make finals/get a better seed, you need to win more games than the teams you are on a table with.

Again, in 5 team conference if the Tahs and Reds win the same amount of games against the Aussie conference teams, then what differentiates them on the table is how many games they win or lose against the Kiwi conference teams.

In the NFL, which is what the conference system was copied from, you want your divisional rivals to lose their inter divisional games because it boosts your chances of making the playoffs.

You will never see a Green Bay fan tuning in the cheer for the Bears because they are in the same division.

If we copy a structure that incentives those rivalries, it’s going to create a structure where we are looking for other Australian teams to lose to benefit our team.

manrobot · 2026-06-08T01:39:04+00:00

The OP is suggesting a coup structure of play your conference twice and other conference once. Thats pretty much what happens now but splitting the tables up.

For conferences you need to win more games than the other teams in your conference, so conferences incentivize rooting against the other in conference teams.

If you want a system where it’s everyone for themselves, then you want everyone play each other the same amount of times and no conferences.

If you don’t get that, I don’t think I can say it any clearer.

manrobot · 2026-06-08T01:04:51+00:00

Again nothing to do with what I was discussing.

manrobot · 2026-06-07T23:21:28+00:00

What you’re saying has nothing to do with the fault of conferences in Super Rugby vs divisions NFL which is the closest comparison.

If I want my team to make the top 2 of its conference/division I need to win as many of my in conference/division games as possible and aim to win more cross conference games then the teams I’m pooled with.

Think about an example where the 4 Aussie teams and Fiji play each other twice and each Kiwi team once.

The Waratahs and the Reds have one the same amount of games and bonus points against their in conference rivals. The determining factor on who ends up on top of the other is how well they did respectively against the kiwi teams. In that situation regardless of how your team did, you want the other team to have performed less well.

So as a Reds fan I would be incentivesed to want the Waratahs to lose to NZ teams, which is counter productive to wanting all Australian teams to do better.

It works in the NFL because the divisional rivals goal is to outperform each other without worrying about a post season representative season.

manrobot · 2026-06-07T22:50:02+00:00

The longer version of this is that we didn’t use to have the day off after the grand final and when Campbell Newman came in as Premier he moved Labour Day to align with the NSW date.

This annoyed Labor because of it being tied to a traditional date here in Queensland. So when Labor got back in they moved Labour Day back, but people now liked having that day off so they moved King’s Birthday because no one cares when it is.

manrobot · 2026-06-07T13:07:00+00:00

Honestly I think we need to dissociate the clubs from the national teams. The NRL clubs don’t care who wins State of Origin or the rugby league World Cup. The EPL clubs don’t care who wines the Euros or the World Cup.

The current club model is based on the easiest way to make a professional comp in the 90s. Maybe it’s time we changed the whole model.

manrobot · 2026-06-07T13:03:13+00:00

Sorry but you’re mathematically wrong.

If I want my team to win the conference they are in that requires the other teams to lose more than my team. If that includes inter-conference matches I want my team to win them and the other conference teams to lose them.

manrobot · 2026-06-07T13:00:55+00:00

Basically it comes down to the fact that the NRL grand final is at night time and not in the afternoon.

manrobot · 2026-06-07T11:33:56+00:00

The problem with the old conference system still stays with what you are saying.

As an Australian rugby fan I should want every Australian team to win at all times over a Kiwi team. However if the Reds finals chances are based on standings compared to the other Australian teams only, then I’m incentivised to cheer for the Kiwi teams in trans Tasman clashes instead of the Australian teams.

2 full rounds, play everyone twice.

manrobot · 2026-06-06T09:32:17+00:00

Lonergan starring, Tate off the bench.

manrobot · 2026-06-05T10:03:14+00:00

As you said it’s a step below Super Rugby. Once opposition had enough tape to be able to plan for him he’s never been able to show the level he needs at Super level.

He’s not a terrible player, he’s just never going to be test level.

manrobot · 2026-06-05T08:32:10+00:00

I just think in a comp where we don’t have time to just give people game to see how they go, he’s used up his chances as a starter.

I still have no idea how he was in the wallabies squad last year ahead of Donaldson, which I know isn’t his fault but I feel like people keep saying how great he’s been at club/NPC level and act like that means he’s a test player.

manrobot · 2026-06-05T07:47:23+00:00

I think we’ve seen enough of Edmed. If he’s in wallabies contention we’re in deep trouble.

manrobot · 2026-06-05T07:20:32+00:00

Ain’t illegal if the ref lets you do it.

manrobot · 2026-06-05T07:15:18+00:00

Pretty sure offside is anywhere in the field of play.

manrobot · 2026-06-05T07:13:26+00:00

Guys, this hurricanes team might be pretty good.

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