ANZ Stadium and Allianz Stadium have economies of scale on their side; they can make huge financial guarantees the clubs simply cannot resist. Canterbury needed 14,000 people on Monday night just to break even. I believe there is a solution, a superior means to match the right events to the right venues. Clubs should be completely removed from dealing directly with venues. Instead, the NRL should look at its draw, decide exactly how many of its 192 games it wants played in each market, and do the negotiations on behalf of everyone. If it's in rugby league's interests to have 25 games at Homebush, two in Perth, six in Wollongong and five at Leichhardt, then that's what the NRL books – passing the financial guarantees and incentives onto the clubs on a pro rata basis. Obviously you can't have 16 nomad clubs. But the minimum number of games Sydney teams have at their 'home' ground should be determined by how much support they have there, not by a contract that keeps them there regardless.

How many well-attended games a year can Allianz Stadium, or Campbelltown Stadium, or Barlow Park in Cairns, support? Let's only go there that number of times. The other advantage of centralising stadium deals is that the NRL can incentivise state governments and city councils. At the moment, clubs just go out and agree to play in Cairns or Perth or Hamilton and cop the cash, without sharing any information. But if the game negotiated as a whole, it could say to Alice Springs: "We'll let you have a comp game next year if you take a Nines weekend, or a developing states game, or a Pacific Test or a trial this year". We could get some great outcomes for the game this way. The league would actually book Canterbury's home ground on their behalf, then give the game to Canterbury. But in other instances, they'll book a the Cake Tin in Wellington – as an example – and invite clubs to tender for the event. The decision will be made according to how the match would draw at the home team's primary venue, how the teams involved have drawn in Wellington in the past, how it fits in the NZRL's objectives and other factors. It would be a far superior process to the one we have now.

What did I learn from Monday? That the 'metrics' surrounding rugby league – the Facebook likes, the Twitter followers, the merch sales, the online engagements – are real people. And if you take a game to them, they'll come along and behave like real people to create an experience that adds up to far more than the sum of its parts. Easy fix There is a simple way to close the loophole that allows Michael Ennis to serve a suspension this weekend and then come into the NSW team as a "late" replacement for Robbie Farah. Why is this a problem? Because it encourages dishonesty, it lacks integrity. There is an incentive there for Farah, and for the NSW team, to lie about his injury and about their own intentions. I'm not saying they are lying, I'm saying the incentive to do so is there.