National Rugby League CEO Todd Greenberg "delivered a resounding vote of confidence in the Auckland Nines amid a sea of criticism, insisting the tournament will only grow and could eventually take on a T20-type format," according to Brent Read of THE AUSTRALIAN. The Nines will be played this weekend in Auckland "against a backdrop of discontent among several clubs and senior officials, some even suggesting the concept should be dropped." The NRL's contract with Auckland has another year to run and Greenberg confirmed that "talks were taking place with rival destinations," including Melbourne. He also revealed there had been "strong overseas interest," most notably North America and Singapore. Greenberg said, "The simple statement is the Nines will get bigger, not smaller. Where we decide to play Nines in future years when our contract finishes in Auckland is up for debate. It would be fair to say we have a lot of interested parties." Greenberg also suggested the nature of Nines "could begin to mirror T20 cricket," where specialist players represent their teams and countries. Greenberg: "I think it has scope to grow. I also think you don't necessarily need the current elite players to be the best players in Nines. I think we will have a different type of player playing the Nines, a little bit like what T20 has become" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 2/3).
