This Friday the Pre-Season Challenge kicks off for the National Rugby League in Australia. In the past these types of game would just be considered "Trial Games" but recently the NRL has wrapped a little bit of structure around these games to generate some extra interest and squeeze out some extra revenue. Fair enough I reckon. That's just good business.
Basically the competition is 17 games spread across 3 weeks with each team playing 2 matches. A number of games will be taken to country grounds and a few of the Indigenous and Maori players will be absent because of their own "All Stars Game" on Feb 15 but if you're keen to see how clubs are shaping up for the NRL season and get a glimpse at some of the younger talent (and depth) of the clubs this is certainly an interesting little competition to check out.
Each win is worth 12 points and 6 points for a draw, with up to 3 Bonus Points allocated to each team for various statistics. These are :-
- Score 5+ Tries in a match = 1 Bonus Point
- Make 5+ Line Breaks in a match = 1 Bonus Point
- Execute 10+ Offloads in a match = 1 Bonus Point
These Bonus Points are designed to act as a Tie Breaker on the leaderboard for teams who might win both games (it's only 2 matches per team, so this is very likely) and at the same time it encourages enterprising, attacking play that adds to the spectacle.
The winning team will take home $100,000 which is not a lot compared to many sporting events, but it's enough to give the players a bit of an incentive. For the most part, however, players are looking to cement their roles in their respective teams and start building confidence and combinations with other players. There is always a lot of player movements between clubs each season so these games can be a good guide as to how teams will kick off on Round 1 when the real competition starts.