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The Muster- Logan Savory: The Southland Tribune · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: This is the muster on Hakanui. Logan Savry joins us
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: out of the Southland Tribune after a big weekend in sports. Sav,
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: good afternoon. There's a lot of talk around the NPC
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: or New Zealand rugby in general. And let's be honest,
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: after watching these events overseas and just transferring it back
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: to what compares in New Zealand outside of the All Blacks,
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: and unfortunately, you can only draw a big blank. Good afternoon.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, afternoon, Andy. I mean, yeah, you're right, and I
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: think it often comes back to the thing that we
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: forget a lot of the time, and that is that
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: we're a country of just over 5 million people and
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: commercially trying to make all these sports stack up at
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: the moment. And you look across the board, netball, rugby,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: cricket and the domestic competition, it's hard going for these
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: sports administrators to make it work. And as you said, Andy,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: At the same time, there's some pretty compelling products going
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: on elsewhere. Obviously, a great AFL final in the weekend
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: and that NRL game last night was just drama-filled, wasn't it?
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: It was really compelling. Yeah, and that's what people want
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: to tune into.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: And what situation generally is the state of rugby in
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: New Zealand from what you're hearing or seeing?
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Well, it's obviously been pretty well documented that the projecting...
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: losses over the next five years of $ 66 million, which
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: is a significant number. But they're looking at trimming about
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: $ 20 million a year out of their expenditure. So it's
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: about 5% to 7% of their expenditure. So, look, it's
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: not insurmountable. It can be done, but there's going to
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: have to be some decisions made across the board. And
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, often... You know, we sort of
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: see it from down here, because we're all passionate about
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: the MPC, or most of us are, that this MPC
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: always gets put under the spotlight. But I think there
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: is bigger problems or bigger issues across the board looking
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: to save money than just shining a spotlight on the MPC.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: You know, right across the board, there needs to be
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: some fat trimmed. Or not just fat trimmed, you know,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: there needs to be looking at other ways to introduce
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: more revenue. the Silver Lake deal and the opportunities there
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: that were supposed to increase revenue probably haven't come. But yes,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: there's some tough decisions, but across the board, not just
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: around the MPC.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Well, actually, that Silver Lake money, for instance, did it
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: actually filter down to the provinces? And if so, where
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: did it go?
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: Well, part of the deal is every club in New
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Zealand got effectively a handout, a payout, depending on their
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: number of players or number of members. There is now
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: a legacy fund in place, but, you know, look, it's
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: pretty minimal in the grand scheme of things. I think,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: you know, the difficult nature is we're now selling up
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: to deal where we're handing over part of, when I
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: say we, New Zealand Rugby, are handing over part of
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: the commercial revenue each year to Silver Lake or Woolby.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: and I guess you want a bit of return on
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: that investment, don't you?
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: We're always being told about the fans being part of
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: the All Blacks, one of those ridiculous campaigns about using
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: blood and DNA in jerseys, for goodness sake. But ultimately,
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: I think it just leads to the bigger questions regarding
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: the viability of a lot of competitions going forward outside
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: of the All Blacks.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Oh, absolutely. I mean, the only thing at the moment,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: when you strip it back, that is making the money
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: is the All Blacks. I think They generated $ 38 million
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: annual profits through their commercial. Obviously, they're a big player
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: on the global stage. They can make money, but it's
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: the only thing that is making money. I mean, you
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: look at Super Rugby Men's Competition lost $ 11 million. Super
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Rugby of Piki, the women's comp, $ 8 million. The Black Ferns,
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: our top female women's team, $ 11 million losses. So those
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: door blocks are propping them up, but that can't carry
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: on forever.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: As far as the stags, where do we lie in
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: the MPC? Hearing all these rumours or murmurings about proposals
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: that are going through, where does Southland stand in all
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: of this?
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Well, we're definitely vulnerable if there was to be a
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: cut in team numbers. I mean, that's pretty obvious we
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: would be in a vulnerable position. But I think there
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: is an appetite from what I'm hearing anyway for the
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: MPC to remain. Where the changes may come may be
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: around some work between the Super Rugby organisations and their
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: provinces and their hometowns. So you're looking at Otago and
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: the Highlanders working closer together, you know, Waikato and the
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: Chiefs alike, to reduce some of the duplication that goes on.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: And that's where some of the cost savings would come.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: What that would mean, Otago being more closely aligned with
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: the Hogs, I don't know. And then there's also the
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: private element to some of the Super Rugby teams being
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: privatised and how that works with the unions. But I
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: get the feeling there's an appetite because they need to
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: make sure that the pathways are still pretty strong in
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: New Zealand rugby. And MPC has been identified as playing
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: a pretty key role in that. So I would like
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: to think that... 14 teams would remain and we would
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: be safe in that regard. But as you said, look,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: if there was any trimming of teams, then we would
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: probably come under the spotlight.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: Well, it's interesting you talk about it in that way
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: because the Hurricanes are lighting themselves a Wellington rugby who
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: are winless. They're going to be bottom of the MPC
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: this year. and especially being a super rugby power. They
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: only won the competition two years ago for Pete's sake,
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: and look where they've gone. So there's your first example
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: of where things can go bad.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and ironically, I think the MPC is, in terms
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: of a competition and the fact that you don't really
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: know who's going to win each game every week, I
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: think it's almost the best it's been. It's been a
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: great competition this year in terms of that. And I mean,
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: the MPC... I think can at times be a better
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: watch than the test rugby because, look, the fences aren't
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: quite as good. There's fatigue comes into the game and
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: it's a bit more open sometimes. And there seems to
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: be less TMO involvement in the NPC rugby. But, yeah,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: you look at Wellington, Auckland, these powerhouse unions, provinces traditionally...
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: and not exactly blitzing at the moment.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: The Heartland Championship is like basketball scores, like 45-43 being
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: the end results in some instances, but you can actually
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: identify with the rugby. But look, what about the Stagzo? Unfortunately,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: another admirable loss on Saturday, but the key word there
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: is loss.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right. I mean, you never want to be...
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: accepting losses. It was an opportunity to go up there
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: and upset Canterbury. But I did think there was improvement,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: probably particularly around the intent and the effort. The accuracy
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: is still missing a little bit, particularly with the line-out.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: There was just some key areas in attack where they
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: had opportunities attacking line-outs that went wrong. That may have
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: been a difference, but The reality is they were still
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: in the fight with five, six minutes to go. A
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: lot of the away games this season, or all of
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: the away games, apart from Manawatu, the game was gone
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: midway through the second half. So I think what we've
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: seen is the importance that Samisi Tupou-Tailoa brought to that team,
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: just as energy intent, as physicality at the breakdown. And
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: we thought we were missing him. throughout those first eight games,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: I think it highlighted how much we were missing him.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: He was huge. And there's some other guys that stepped
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: up around him. I thought Jack Sexton, the loose-head prop,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: was outstanding. Just need a bit of consistency in the
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: team and putting those sort of performances out there more regularly, obviously,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: preferably with wins. Good on you, Sam.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: Always appreciate your time and keep up the tremendous work
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: at the Southend Tribune. Brilliant. Thanks, Andy. Logan Savory out
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: of the Southland Tribune. Ellen McCleary of Shearwell New Zealand's
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: up next to wrap up.