Manly Sea Eagles players hilariously FAIL at drawing opposition team logos as teams go to great lengths to promote the 2024 NRL season draw
- The NRL draw for all clubs has been released this week
- Clubs used social media to promote it
- Manly’s effort has been hailed as one of the best
The Manly Sea Eagles have taken a different approach to promoting the 2024 NRL draw, asking players to draw their opponents’ logos for a social media video – with some hilarious results.
With the 27-round draw announced on Tuesday, including the groundbreaking two-match split opening round in Las Vegas, clubs have been getting creative to share their draw with their fans.
The challenge for the Sea Eagles players was simple: draw the opponent’s logo from memory before each round.
For some players, like star fullback Tom Trbojevic, the task was simple. All he had to do was write the word ‘BYE’ for the club’s farewell rounds.
Flying winger Jason Saab came up with a pretty decent version of the Melbourne Storm logo
Should that be a tiger? Jake Arthurs’ attempt at the Wests Tigers logo fell short, but Reuben Garrick was quite pleased with his Eels logo
Some, like center Reuben Garrick, put in admirable efforts, with his version of the Parramatta Eels logo coming quite close.
Other efforts left much to be desired.
Tommy Talau tried to be creative when he was commissioned to draw the Penrith Panthers logo and came up with a creation that looked more like the characters from Where the Wild Things Are.
Austin Dias’ attempt to draw the Canberra Raiders logo looked more like a cat, while halfback Jake Arthur’s attempt to draw the classic Wests Tigers logo didn’t look like a tiger at all.
It was all in good fun though, with fans praising the club for its efforts.
“Every game preview you post should include the correct Sea Eagles logo, in addition to the logo drawn by the players,” one fan suggested.
‘Another elite content. At least we control the socials,” another added.
“This wins the internet forever,” another replied.
Promoting the NRL draw in a unique way became a trend among the clubs, all of whom took different approaches to the task.
The North Queensland Cowboys used the adorable children of prop Reuben Cotter and star center Valentine Holmes as a fun way to share their draw with fans.
Melbourne Storm took to the streets for random fans to announce their draw.
Perhaps one of the best efforts was the Parramatta Eels.
The club has put together a series of popular internet memes and songs to appeal to their opposition, with hilarious results.
While the Sea Eagles have a fairly favorable draw, clubs like Souths, Parramatta and the Melbourne Storm have tough assignments ahead
NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo insists every effort was made to ensure the draw for the 2024 season was fair
The NRL season kicks off with the much-hyped Las Vegas double-header on March 3, but the first set of matches on Australian soil starts the following week, with CEO Andrew Abdo defending the decision to hold the first match in Newcastle.
“It’s an unusual year because we actually had two round 1s,” Abdo said after reports that broadcasters were unhappy with Thursday night’s match.
“We have two games in Vegas the week before, and then we have the rest of Round 1 at the traditional venue.
“This is an opportunity to do something different this year. In the early rounds there are some blockbusters and in round 1 there are some big matches.
“The opportunity for us to play at McDonald Jones Stadium and have the Knights start the season hosting the Raiders in a rematch of that exciting game we saw in the finals series is quite exciting for our fans.”
Meanwhile, Abdo says things have been done to ensure player burnout doesn’t become a factor in 2024.
The preseason challenge starts on February 15 and the international window is likely to end in November after a 27-round season and four weeks of finals and State of Origin.