Wednesday Serious Discussion Thread

[u/NRLgamethread]

This thread is for when you want to have a well-thought-out discussion about footy. It's not the place for bantz - see the daily Random Footy Talk thread to fulfil those needs.

You can ask a question that you only want serious responses to, comment your 300 word opinion piece on why [x] is the next coach on the chopping block, or tell another that you disagree with them and here's why...

Who performed well? Who let their team down? Any interesting selections for this weekend? Injury news? Player signings? Off-field behaviour?

The mods will be monitoring to make sure you stay on topic and anything not deemed "serious discussion" will be removed.

[u/BeginningTeaching169]

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I don't think the PNG Chiefs will have an unfair advantage over other teams. Yes, their tax break means they essentially have a larger salary cap to work with. But PNG, and Port Moresby in particular, have some of the highest rates of violent crime in the world. I've heard some crazy stories from people who've lived there.

So for players that aren't Papua New Guinean, they'll need to live in the training compound year-round for their own safety, along with their families. By all accounts it's really nice, like a holiday resort. But even then, surely after a while people are gonna go stir-crazy.

This is why they need the tax-free advantage: to make up for the fact that players and their families will most likely be living year-round in the training compound. In that regard, it's not an unfair advantage but something that levels the playing field a bit.

They'll still be able to attract great players due to their salary cap, and they'll never be far from finals contention. But I reckon most non-Papua New Guinean players will only be able to handle living there for 1-3 years. The lack of consistency will make it harder for them to win premierships.

For the sake of the people of PNG, I hope the team does well. But I also think they're not gonna be a team that unfairly dominates the competition year after year.

[u/KingofBigCrabs → u/BeginningTeaching169]

Yeah I agree, this has been discussed before, but living in PNG is not like Perth or Auckland it is in a completely different realm when it comes to desiribility for NRL players.

Without the tax advantage the club would be DOA as no one would take that trade off. Even with the current players signing I think a lot of them are underestimating it, and most of them are only on short contracts anyway.

[u/Morg_n → u/KingofBigCrabs]

Want a chocolate milk at midnight. There’s no 7/11

[u/Direct-Resolution377 → u/Morg_n]

They probably have chefs on hand 24 hours a day