: Wed Mar 18, 2009 12:42 pm  

It might help if they target cities that don't have major sports franchises but do have popular college football teams. If they play during the off season and try to recruit from college football teams then that would certainly peak local interest.

: Wed Mar 18, 2009 12:46 pm  

Lockyer4President! wrote:

The Aussie soccer comp is an 8 team league.

aussie cricket league is 6 isnt it?

: Wed Mar 18, 2009 12:57 pm  

yes 6 teams

: Wed Mar 18, 2009 5:48 pm  

Leyther_Matt wrote:

You do know who the new Widnes coach is, don't you?

Vic King wrote:

Wide Reciever - Ian Roberts

: Wed Mar 18, 2009 6:22 pm  

For now they can target gridiron players that don't make it, yes. But they will never be a force in the RL world if they continue to do this as the players will not have developed many of the skills needed to play RL and will most likely not have enough time to master them to as extent that they will become expert. They need to get people playing in schools to develop this earlier. That will obviously come with time, but the way people are talking it appears that they think they will be able to build a competitive team out of gridiron converts which in most likeliness will not be the case. They may be good athletes, but that doesn't mean they'll be good RL players.

: Wed Mar 18, 2009 6:32 pm  

True but the best RL players are great athletes. You may get a couple of good ones and it's the obvious place to start.

If a pro league happened would the union teams go pro too eventually to compete? Because any decent Union player's going to convert to league if they can make a bob or two

: Wed Mar 18, 2009 6:38 pm  

Dico wrote:

True but the best RL players are great athletes as well. You may get a couple of good ones and it's the obvious place to start.

Added a bit in bold, which is the key point. Mix of physiologoical, psychological, technical and tactical aspects of an individual that contribute to being an expert athlete. They aren't the best RL players because they're physiologocally superior. They're the best because they are physiologically superior AS WELL AS the rest.

Dico wrote:

If a pro league happened would the union teams go pro too eventually to compete? Because any decent Union player's going to convert to league if they can make a bob or two

I wouldn't be suprised. I'm pretty suprised it hasn't happened already to be honest.

: Wed Mar 18, 2009 6:40 pm  

Any idea on the state of union over there? I haven't the foggiest what crowds/teams and whatnot. I heard it had a bit of a bad rep as college boys who refused to grow up and caused trouble. That's about it though.

: Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:13 pm  

spooky wrote:

It might help if they target cities that don't have major sports franchises but do have popular college football teams. If they play during the off season and try to recruit from college football teams then that would certainly peak local interest.

That's almost certainly when they would play. Trying to run in the fall going head to head with the NFL and NCAA would be suicidal. The time of year they could generate interest is in the spring and summer, from March to August. If they're serious about getting TV interest they'd be targetting big cities since those are the major media markets.

: Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:29 pm  

Wellsy13 wrote:

For now they can target gridiron players that don't make it, yes. But they will never be a force in the RL world if they continue to do this as the players will not have developed many of the skills needed to play RL and will most likely not have enough time to master them to as extent that they will become expert. They need to get people playing in schools to develop this earlier. That will obviously come with time, but the way people are talking it appears that they think they will be able to build a competitive team out of gridiron converts which in most likeliness will not be the case. They may be good athletes, but that doesn't mean they'll be good RL players.

It depends a lot on which players they recruit, and what positions they played in American football. All have good hand-eye coordination since they all grew up throwing and catching football. Defensive players can already tackle, they just need to learn the RL style of tackling. On the defensive side of the ball there are clear parallels between some positions, e.g. cornerback to wing, safety to fullback, etc. It's a case of working out what RL positions are the closest to the ones they've played before to shorten their learning curve.

Even some of the bigger ones might be surprising: last fall I was watching the Nebraska-Colorado game on TV, when Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh -- a 300-pounder -- returned an interception 30 yards for a touchdown. I'd never have believed someone that big was capable of that if I hadn't seen it.

If they're starting as semi-pro, they should forget players from the "Big Six" conferences who are all accustomed to big crowds, big budgets and a spectacular atmosphere on game days and eyeing the NFL draft. They need to target those from lower-tier conference schools who are used to a more modest setup and are more of a longshot to get picked in the draft.