Auckland 9's Draw

9's was a massive success imo, was so much better on every level than I thought it would be.

All the new rules were positive without being over the top and I genuinely can't think of a rule that I thought was ridiculous or one that clearly needs to be brought in. They nailed it.

2 sell out crowds, awesome atmosphere. Smashed all the ratings on TV, both on Foxsports & Skysports & merchandise sales were supposedly very strong too.

The style of play was still true to the core fundamentals of Rugby League whilst still providing a free flowing, exciting attack based game.

Only slight negative imo was the handful of clubs who didn't back the concept. The NRL need to work out some sort of middle ground. Clearly the Roosters had a timing issue with the WCC and that will be further exacerbated in the future if clubs have to travel to England + the All Stars game making a return to the pre-season fixtures. Late January sounds like it may be the go in the future. But really need to get coaches like Bellamy, Hasler & Stuart to back the tournament.

Since Origin began 4 decades ago I don't reckon we've seen a concept with as much potential as this.

 

It's called the Auckland Nines by the NRL and has at least a 3 year sponsorship from Dick Smith with probable extension (if this tournaments success is anything to go by). So not going anywhere else for a while.