It would be nice to hear some feedback from dealers as to their thoughts and the quantity being bought / busted.
From a quick look at the group Breaks forum it looks like Michael did 3 cases of 2016 Traders at release and the same again this year with 2017 Traders.
I understand that, but the maths of mass-production for a tiny market doesn't seem sustainable to me? They can say that their stock is selling out until the cows come home, but it appears that very little of it is getting bought and busted, at least by entrenched, regular collectors. How many #001's are going to stay unbusted in this and future Traders releases? Will they renew their licence if there is no (or a heavily eroding) future profit margin? If not will a new company take the reigns with the NRL's lofty minimum guarantee...Select didn't seem interested.
I know these issues have been created by the NRL not TLA and I'm not trying to rag on them or anybody, I'm just struggling to see how the market is viable at the moment and in the future and that has me concerned. But then I'm over here in rural NZ and not in Sydney newsagents to see the physical stock disappear off the shelves so I wouldn't know. I'm probably looking at it too simplistically. For all I know trading cards are just a very small part of a contract TLA has with the NRL.
...And for the record, I hope that I am misunderstanding the way that the market is working, because I love collecting footy cards. And the production quality of the cards is increasing every year under TLA. This Traders set is no exception.
Anyway I didn't mean to derail another great review from Brendan. I'm a high school philosophy teacher and sometimes I wake up the next day after visiting OZCT to find my overactive imagination has blurted across poor defenseless forum pages...
There is still a market there and I would expect TLA (ESP) will have the licence for some time to come.
A couple of big issues for them (not of their doing) is that the NRL Minimum Guarantee is huge.
For them to make money, they need volume of product and hope it sells. I never fall for the its sold out routine...sold out by them means that its off their books and the re-sellers are stuck with the product.
My gut feel is that Traders, Xtreme (improved out of site this year) and Elite will continue, however you will see more "Niche" products that don't cost a lot to make, but have potential to sell out via re-sellers.
Think along the lines of the Sharks Premiership set, limited but expensive to buy.
One point here - Extreme needs to have a game site that is mobile compatible. That's something they need to have to ensure that products success.....
There are other challenges they are facing as well..... distribution is one, Gordon & Gotch who do it now for Australia are nowhere near as effective as network Services were in getting product to stores and replenishment.
On top of that, you have the main retail distribution point (Newsagents) struggling to survive.......if they didn't have lotteries to prop them up, I think newsagents would be a thing of the past.
Papers and Magazines are struggling big time and people aren't going into the newsagents.....if they don't go in there, they aren't going to buy trading cards on impulse.
I think there is still a market there.....I just think is has become smaller and we will see different distribution models happening in future.
Cheers
Matt
@Matt26 i think one of the main reasons why extreme is so successful this year is having a signature card. If there wasn't any sig in this set, you wouldn't have got much sold. I have been buying extreme/powerplay since it has been released, like a few others here.
What I see wrong with it now, is slot of people have jumped on extreme product just for the sig card. I wouldn't be surprised if most won't go back and collect previous set.
should another extreme product comes out next year without a signature, you won't get the success as this year
Yeap totally agree. Maybe the fringe players too, who play the token two / three games a year(kinda an incentive thing for them) if it was the sharks, would have Nu browns, latimores and so onTotally agree, the signature card lure has made me buy more of Xtreme this year than what I purchased last year. I think its a vast improvement and at a great price point.
I think the release could be a place where you put some of the "non" superstar players and have them signing in the release.
have you bought sealed boxes of 2017 traders from the newsagent?Fantastic review Brendan, And i think this series is quite nice. I have a base set and all the dogs inserts. Not chasing anything else.
On the sale of stock, The newsagents i have been to have sold all of their Starter packs and are trying to restock. However, a newsagent i have been to in the past week is selling sealed boxes at cost price just to get rid of them,
While the sig is a big boost Xtreme has done a lot right overall as a set too@Matt26 i think one of the main reasons why extreme is so successful this year is having a signature card. If there wasn't any sig in this set, you wouldn't have got much sold. I have been buying extreme/powerplay since it has been released, like a few others here.
What I see wrong with it now, is slot of people have jumped on extreme product just for the sig card. I wouldn't be surprised if most won't go back and collect previous set.
should another extreme product comes out next year without a signature, you won't get the success as this year
Yes i purchased 2 boxes dave, Got a sasb in 1st one and Bulldogs Duo in the other.have you bought sealed boxes of 2017 traders from the newsagent?
if so did you have any luck?
NiceYes i purchased 2 boxes dave, Got a sasb in 1st one and Bulldogs Duo in the other.
While the sig is a big boost Xtreme has done a lot right overall as a set too
Starter packs have bonus cards that are 1 per team (though they could've made them alternate colour or foil design so the in-set equivalent didn't lose value) and album card only has 3 variants, adding the flick cards and extra stats so kids can play more games with the cards, making the Super Hero cards foil, and I personally really like the Wild Power cards. they don't have much value as a game card but I'm a sucker for sketch and lenticular cards so I liked those.
As for Traders I haven't bought much this year but I'm hoping to make some pickups as there's a few inserts I'm still missing
Us eels fans respect ManuFinally, my favourite card... Manu Ma'u base card - I reckon even through a zoom lens the photographer must have been terrified - awesome!
Finally, my favourite card... Manu Ma'u base card - I reckon even through a zoom lens the photographer must have been terrified - awesome!
Will they renew their licence if there is no (or a heavily eroding) future profit margin? If not will a new company take the reigns with the NRL's lofty minimum guarantee...Select didn't seem interested.
Thanks for the info, Matt.
The All Blacks killed the trading card game in New Zealand after 1997 with licensing demands and NZ cricket did its best too.
I think they cut down on kicking cards because one of the more recent ones wasn't a great photo...Hi Brendan,
Great review as always, and I agree with what you've said.
My additional thoughts...
I love continuity - that's why I think the retirements are a good set - and I would have liked to see some master plan linking in some of the inserts, e.g. 2016 Power Forwards > 2017 Playmakers > into 2018 Outside Backs/Defenders/etc to highlight the different players and roles in the game.
I think a nice feature of these cards is the documentation of history and that cards like the Club Hero linked to actual club awards, and STR linked to player achievements are a real acknowledgement of the season - more than just player pics and profiles.
Also, browsing back over past releases; yes, the image quality has improved - but I am a bit over the 'ball out in front, eyes on the defensive line' pose of 99% of shots. I would like to see a greater range of shots - e.g. kickers kicking, tacklers tackling, try scorers scoring/celebrating. The easiest way to do this would be to include backgrounds.
Finally, my favourite card... Manu Ma'u base card - I reckon even through a zoom lens the photographer must have been terrified - awesome!
I believe it has already been renewed for a further 5 years and they weren't the only ones that put their hand up for the contract.
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