Australian national rugby league team coach Mal Meninga has called for the Nines to become an int'l tournament, "believing the abridged version of rugby league can attract new audiences to the game in the same way the Big Bash League has for cricket," according to Adrian Proszenko of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. The third edition of the Auckland Nines kicked off over the weekend, "playing to packed houses at Eden Park and marking the unofficial start of the season." The tournament has become a "major event on New Zealand's sporting calendar." Meninga, appointed as Australian coach after "a decade of dominance overseeing the Queensland State of Origin team," said that part of his charter was "reinvigorating the international program." He predicted that could include "the return of Kangaroo tours, albeit in a different format, and an expansion of the Prime Minister's XIII itinerary." He also believed an int'l Nines event "had the potential to expose league to new audiences." Meninga: "International Nines is an important part of growing the game globally. ... You could do it off-season, you don't want to encroach on club commitments. You don't need to be playing our best players all the time, you can rest them. You could make it a genuine emerging program." The BBL is "the best example of fans flocking to a shortened version of a traditional sporting format." The average attendance was up 22%, to 28,346, for the '15-16 edition, while TV ratings were up 11%. Meninga: "A lot of money needs to be spent around the event itself but you look at the international Sevens, it's played around the world" (SMH, 2/6). In Sydney, Michael Carayannis reported National Rugby League club Manly coach Trent Barrett declared the Auckland Nines to be "dangerous" and said the NRL was "taking risks with players' welfare after the Sea Eagles hopes for the tournament and beyond were dashed through injury." Manly suffered a "horrific injury toll" as it finished the tournament "one player short with Jamie Buhrer, Jorge Taufua, Jake Trbojevic, Jayden Hodges and Nathan Green sidelined." Manly was not "the only team hit by injury," with Cameron Munster, Jack De Belin, Alex Johnston and Chris Lawrence also being hurt. Barrett: "You have to come but there is a reason why you don't bring your [Daly] Cherry-Evans, [Brett] Stewarts. It's dangerous and it's risky because of the back-up factor and the fatigue factor. We go on about player welfare but there seems to be little regard for player welfare in this case" (SMH, 2/7).
