More Clubs added to the Victoria Rugby League Comp in 2009

[Werribee Bears RLC]

There are more clubs being added to the VRL Comp in 2009 they are:

Werribee Bears Rugby League Club - Seniors & Juniors Teams
Craigieburn Pheniox - Seniors & Juniors Teams
Northern Thunder - Senior Team

There is a game this Sunday 27th July 2008 at Sunbury between two of the new first grade teams for next year.

Werribee Bears vs Craigieburn Pheniox

Kickoff at 12.00pm
27th July 2008
Lagama Park
Sunbury

This is great to see more clubs being added to the VRL for the 2009 season.

[joondalup_giant]

great 2 see the game expanding in vic, will that make it a 11 team senior comp?

[Brownie.Kougari]

Sweet, should only be a few years until Storm games get shown live in Melbourne... Should coincide with the new stadium funnily enough.

The game will really kick into gear then, if Melbournians really want to live up to their claim of being "sports capital of the world"

[joshreading]

Anyone know of any movement with RL around Mildura - I had heard atleast 2 sides had/were being set up.

[cougar]

And In Another Five Years We Might Even Get Top Of The Table Clashes Shown Earlier Than Midnight....yeah Right...

[joshreading]

With the establishment of the Sunraysia RL we would be looking at over twenty RL Clubs in Victoria in 09 which is a good start.

[Coastbloke]

Are there any Vic juniors playing in the Storm Toyota Cup side...??

[40_20]

Was wondering if they're any players currently playing in the NRL that have come through the VIC league system?

What is the level of competition like in VIC?

[cougar]

Storm made a big deal about having 8 of the 25 man squad coming through the ranks of the local junior competition, however, not that many of them have seen a lot of on field time so far this season...

Jeremy Smith is probably the storngest claim to fame of NRL players coming through the local league system, having spent 3-4 years playing with Altona Roosters.

Drury Low has been impressive for Canberra in the U20s. From my knowledge his whole junior career was in Victoria.

Digby Ioane - now a Wallaby - played quite a few seasons here too.

There are also quite a few kids who played junior Rugby League in Melbourne now playing interstate with other clubs - but whether they moved because of football or just circumstance I couldn't say.

[LESStar58]

What area does Northern Thunder represent? Northern subs of Melbourne or Northern Vic?

Good news all round but!

[cougar]

Northern Suburbs - used to based in Preston however, believe they moved out to Broadmeadows area this season to try to expand player numbers at club.

[yakstorm]

With new clubs and regions starting to take to League in Victoria, particularly in the School and Seniors systems, it would be great if the VRL started aiming to create a State League in the next 5-10 years to really lift the profile of the code at that grassroot level, and also give the Storm something local to feed back into.

Next year the VRL will have competitions in:
Melbourne (Juniors / Schools / Seniors)
Geelong (Juniors / Schools / Seniors)
Benidgo (Schools)
Sunraysia Region (Seniors)
Golburn Murray Region (Juniors / Schools )

With Gippsland and Central Highlands also targets over the next few years.

Imagine how good it would be to see a State competition involving:
Melbourne (3 Teams)
Geelong
Albury-Wodonga (Be a good injection of players from the NSW side of the border)
Ballarat
Bendigo
Sunraysia Region side (Based out of Mildura)
Wangaratta or Shepparton
Gippsland Region Side (Based out of Bairnsdale)

Unlike NSW or Queensland, Victoria is a far more compact state, meaning all those regions are relatively easy to close to travel to (yes the two furthest apart towns, Bairnsdale to Mildura is 800km, but the most of the trips would be around the 200-300km mark)

[melbourne_belle]

Altona will still dominate, but its good for the comp.
Currently there isn't much competition for the Roosters in the seniors but next year with the Bears coming in it should even it up a bit and provide some good games, instead of the shallackings the Roosters have been handing out most of the year.

The Junior comp has evened out a little this season, although Altona still has the edge. It will be good for the game because atm Altona has the monopoly over the Western Suburbs so bringing in another team will spread that out a bit.

40_20
There are couple of players in the storm U20's side but none are getting a regular run with the side, Gaz is getting a run every week but he was raised in the UK and has only been in the Vic system for a few of seasons.

[melbourne_belle]

Yakstorm
That is a great concept, but IMHO having only 3 Melbourne teams wouldn't work, because out of all the teams in the current comp how would you chose just 3?

ATM in Juniors there are
Altona
Waverly
Northern
South East
Sunbury
Moorabbin

Also there is not enough money in these clubs for them to travel those distances.
Northern don't even have a permanent home ground and they train at a public park every week with no goal posts.

[LeagueXIII]

Isn't there a team at Corowa?