Aussie Pro Rugby
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Can Nine, Stan Sport & Sean Maloney return Australian rugby to the masses?
So how exactly will Nine and Stan attempt to take rugby into a new era? Given the rights were only secured in early November last year, the two parties were hardly left with oodles of time to organise their promotion, marketing, technology, talent and everything else that goes into a modern sports broadcast. ESPN understands both Nine and Stan are very much racing the clock to be ready for the Feb. 19 kick-off, which suggests there might be more than just a few gremlins across the opening few games. Stan Sport did however release its price-point of $10 a month, which goes on top of an existing Stan subscription. There is a 30-day free trial to encourage sign-ups. The first three rounds of Super Rugby AU are, in fact, particularly vital for both Rugby Australia and their new broadcasters. Maloney understands this, too.While Nine and Stan will confirm its commentary team once and for all on Wednesday, former Wallabies Drew Mitchell and Morgan Turinui, All Blacks great Andrew Mehrtens and former Fox Rugby host Nick McArdle are all understood to be involved. Existing Nine talent Allana Ferguson is also tipped to combine her rugby league duties with some 15-player work, while ESPN understands another high-profile female talent will also join the team. Andrew Swain, another former Fox employee, will serve as a Maloney's back-up caller. -
Additionally some of the supporting content will feature Ben Kimber. He has a pretty good reputation around these parts, particularly working with Morgan Turinui on podcasts, and a YouTube venture called RuggaMatrix with Djuro Sen who has been around sport for a while (including the Tahs and Wallabies).
Going to be very interesting times. Stan Sport is going to kick off Feb 19 and I can't wait.
No matter what you think of Maloney and Swain, think about the simple advantage of no more Kearns and Marrrrrto.
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@Machpants said in Aussie Rugby:
Yeah crazy that they changed colour so much. I understand that the green was dropped after clashes with SA, but to go from gold to yellow...?
"Marketing people who don't give a fuck about the game's traditions" is the standard response.
It also got all those ex-Wallabies sitting in a room contributing something to the game, rather than firing off letters about how rugby has lost its way etc. Despite a lot of them doing sweet fuck all about it.
Better to have these useless, mouthy old dickheads inside the tent pissing out, than outside pissing in.
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@NTA said in Aussie Rugby:
Additionally some of the supporting content will feature Ben Kimber. He has a pretty good reputation around these parts, particularly working with Morgan Turinui on podcasts, and a YouTube venture called RuggaMatrix with Djuro Sen who has been around sport for a while (including the Tahs and Wallabies).
Going to be very interesting times. Stan Sport is going to kick off Feb 19 and I can't wait.
No matter what you think of Maloney and Swain, think about the simple advantage of no more Kearns and Marrrrrto.
One big benefit. The other is they haven't stacked their commentary team with league people. Fuck knows why they went with Allana Ferguson over Lou Ransome.
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@antipodean said in Aussie Rugby:
Fuck knows why they went with Allana Ferguson over Lou Ransome.
Familiarity with the league audience?
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@NTA said in Aussie Rugby:
@antipodean said in Aussie Rugby:
Fuck knows why they went with Allana Ferguson over Lou Ransome.
Familiarity with the league audience?
Unlikely to watch and even if they did they're hardly likely to be swayed by her commentary.
"There's a ruck"
"I think you'll find that's just a tackle"
"There's a ruck"
"No that's a maul" -
@akan004 said in Aussie Rugby:
No Lou and no Clarkie. Not a great start. Only positive so far is no Kearns, but overall I prefer the Foxtel team.
If Kearns and Martin go, then I'm willing to sacrifice Clarke. Collateral damage.
Shame about Ransome but again: this isn't a dealbreaker. She's still covering other sports for Fox I assume.
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@antipodean said in Aussie Rugby:
@NTA said in Aussie Rugby:
@antipodean said in Aussie Rugby:
Fuck knows why they went with Allana Ferguson over Lou Ransome.
Familiarity with the league audience?
Unlikely to watch and even if they did they're hardly likely to be swayed by her commentary.
"There's a ruck"
"I think you'll find that's just a tackle"
"There's a ruck"
"No that's a maul"Probably got her covering for the female element and the studio stuff I guess.
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I'm really happy with that Stan commentary team. Clarkie was past it, had a great career but his style had been tired for years. "What a try by the men in gold".
They picked out the most competent caller (Tim Horan), and thankfully brought back Sean Maloney and Nick McCardle. And they ignored Kearns and Gregan, who were both abysmal.
Turinui and Mehtens are good thinkers, Harrison is a bit of a wildcard. I'm into it.
