My wish list for the QBL
1. A better regular season format 14 teams in 3 pools is not working for this competition. The current format rewards weaker southern teams with playoff spots at the expense of northern teams who have a far more superior record. At the end of the day fans, players and teams want to see the most deserving teams at the end of the season based on their season performances not their location. There are two major obstacles in this; the format of the regular season and number of teams in the league. It could be possible to change the format to two pools of 7, however most people are in favour of a state league with a full home and away series. A 26 game regular season would be hard to implement in the current time frame, therefore requiring a reduction of teams (either a 10 or 12 team competition). Management would have to make hard decisions like do we put the 12 best teams in the league or the 12 best associations and which team/associations would need to go into the SBL. Then you have associations like Northside, Runaway Bay, even Southern Districts that could or should be in the QBL, at some stage there have to be decisions made to ensure the best teams are in the competition. If associations are angry at management for being left out then it’s the onus of the association to ensure that they field the most competitive teams, to ensure they develop better local players. 2. Have a neutral venue to host the QBL Grand Final
If you want to grow the fan base of this competition, you need to have at least one of the grand finals in the South. The South hasn’t seen a grand final if memory serves me right I think it’s 2006, how you expect to get new fans when they are unlikely to see the grand final in Brisbane. How you expect media exposure or getting league wide sponsors to spend money if the biggest commercial market isn’t properly capitalised? Rather than give the highest ranked semi-finalist hosting rights, get associations or venues to bid for the Grand Final and alternate between North and South. For example, have the South host the men’s final and the North the women’s final then switch for the next year. That way both the north and south get to see finals. Regular season winners should get a prizemoney or a reduction to next year’s fee’s as an incentive. 3. A QBL All Star weekend. For a league that doesn’t have any naming right sponsor, showcasing the best players in the league in one game would be one way of attracting sponsors. The ideal time for a hypothetical All Star should be on the weekend that the BQ Annual Meeting takes place. A north vs south or an Aussies vs imports could take place with both the best men and women’s players taking place. You could have skills, 3 point, dunk competition, showcase the best juniors in the league. More importantly it would give the fans something to be involve in, fan voting, get players and coaches to vote, create excitement. The biggest hurdle would be logistics and financing such a weekend, or a venue (how about Chandler, Boondall Sports centre, Logan Metro, the Tennis Centre at Tennyson or the QAS stadium at Nathan) promote the event (get a social media ho like Big Joe and see how quickly he can fill those stadiums). It would give something back to the fans and the players
4. Better refereeing standards While referees are human and can make mistakes there are also get paid and they are responsible to make fair decisions. How many time have seen referees run away after games because they don’t want to deal with coaches and explain their decisions? Or the times referees have shut down coaches in-game inquires with abrasive behaviour. With the QBL running a short season a decision either way can impact a team season and have ripple effects to the rest of the league. I want more in terms of transparency and communication between referees, their supervisors and co-ordinators with the coaches, like referee supervisors releasing their finding and explain what sort of ‘educating’ and advice have they given to refs in game and out of game. All games have video footage of the games, have the BQ ref coordinator watch the games and give detail explanation not only to refs but coaches and players to ensure that there is an understanding of the rules I want to see better referees across the board, one of the reason why the last years round 1 game between Townsville and Suncoast men’s game didn’t take place was because the one of the women’s refs wasn’t up to scratch to ref a men’s game. Which begs the question why are there different standards between men’s and women’s refereeing in this league?
5. Take the point system off and other roster rules It’s an unfair system, even in the NBL is in talks to scrap the points system for the 2016/17 season. First of all, it’s unfair to have an import (12 points) and a NBL/WNBL restricted player (10 points), teams like Bundaberg, Toowoomba, Gladstone and others get disadvantage over teams like Townsville and Cairns who have NBL players in their disposal. Second of all defining which professional overseas league should be unrestricted or restricted is beyond explanation. If an Australian is getting paid to play in an overseas team, irrespective of the league strength they should be restricted. Also ban current NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA players like freshmen, sophomore and juniors from playing in the QBL. It jeopardises the eligibility of players and could potentially cost them a scholarship, just for a couple of offseason games. NCAA Division 1 players are not allowed to play during the offseason but yet NCAA Division 2 are. NCAA is inconsistent in their rules i have seen players lose a year cos of mistakes and , so it has to come from BQ or BA to make a decision. People would argue that the point system encourages local talent development, here is a better way. place a certain amount of percentage of local players to be in the active roster, like for example a 60% rule where 6 out of the 10 players have to be former juniors of that association for an x amount of years. Having junior reduction points, it’s just complicates matters.
I honestly don’t expect these suggestions becoming reality, but I want the betterment of the league for the sake of the fans, sponsors, players, coaches and management. We all have our own ideas to make this league better than its current woes but at the end of the day it comes down to the associations. Each association pays over 10 grand to participate in this league, they should be the ones going to BQ management / board and demand your money’s worth, don’t accept the 'we can’t do it cos it’s too hard' excuses, they get paid to make decision to come up with ideas and improving the league and honestly if they can’t then get someone else to do it. Make the league fairer for teams to compete, make sure that the best QBL teams and program are allowed to take place. But most of all do it for the disgruntle fans, players, coaches who give countless hours to be a part of this competition.
