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Expansion won't happen anytime soon

BuderusIsaBeast

Juniors
Messages
554
In terms of my plans for expansion the end goal should be a 20 team league. First 2 obvious choices are Perth and Brisbane 2. When there settled we can bring in 2. I prefer Christchurch to Wellington as Westpac is an awful ground for footy and Christchurch is on the South Island and seem to support the game more. Ideally Adelaide would be next but if intrest has not picked up you can put in the Central Coast.
 

Tigers1986

Juniors
Messages
1,315
Penrith and Campbelltown are 50kms apart...

Also, not sure why Wests Ashfield who now own 75% of the Wests Tigers would be interested in becoming Phil Gould's biatch...

It'd be better than being the current b**ches of Balmange who are dying and have no hope of repaying the debt.

Also there's a good distance between Campbelltown and Leichhardt. Both around a 45- minute drive.

Oddly enough Penrith did float the suggesting of merging with Wests back in 98/99 but it fell through for some reason.

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Expansion needs to happen but it has to be done carefully. Forget what the AFl tards are boasting down in Mexico.

Central Coast needs its own team and not to be viewed a development area for the Bondi fools. Put the Bears in and take advantage of the fanbase, facilities and myriad of youth coming into the system. It's a no-brainer.

Perth and NZ2 are next up because of the ex-pat community to foster the growth of the club and the precious advantageous TV timeslots for their games.

Brisbane 2 is frought with danger - the Broncos went above and beyond to kill the Crushers in 95. They've done their hardest to ruin any incarnation of Gold Coast. They want the monopoly of being the 1 team city. Broncos fans will not abandon them for the new flash flavour of the month (unless they beat them in a grand final, hey Cowboys fans).

If Queensland are to get a 4th team, it should be in the Western Corridor or Central Queensland.
 

BuffaloRules

Coach
Messages
14,272
It'd be better than being the current b**ches of Balmange who are dying and have no hope of repaying the debt.

Also there's a good distance between Campbelltown and Leichhardt. Both around a 45- minute drive.

Oddly enough Penrith did float the suggesting of merging with Wests back in 98/99 but it fell through for some reason.

----------------------

How are Wests Ashfield anyone's biatch at the moment?

They own 75% of the club now... Why would they want to dilute that with a merge with Penrith...
 

Hello, I'm The Doctor

First Grade
Messages
9,124
If Balmain go down the shitter, I wonder what the future would be for Wests.

Balmain provided the vast majority of the fans for the JV but Wests have plenty of coin. It would happen never happen but a Western Suburbs Panthers "super club" would be amazing. 8 games at Penrith, 4 at Campbelltown with revenue coming from 3 huge licensed clubs.

The Tigers brand could move to Perth and play a game per year at Leichhardt.

As usual, the expansion forum takes me on a journey beyond possible realities.

I think it would have been brilliant back in 1998 in terms of geography (everything west of Blacktown and Liverpool would have been theirs) and in terms of branding (West Sydney Panthers; Panther logo and the WS Black/White jumper).

Now though, i dont see a merge happening.

I could see Panthers changing their name to West Sydney and making unilateral moves into the South-West, but i dont see a merge happening...

The NRL won't let the South West become a vacuum for fumble ball etc.A fast growing young area.

Surely a First Grade NRL team isnt nesesary in every suburb just because the AFL might get a few fans there.

Like most of the rest of the country, im sure theyd be fine with a focus on junior development and a 30minute drive to the game...
 

Hello, I'm The Doctor

First Grade
Messages
9,124
It'd be better than being the current b**ches of Balmange who are dying and have no hope of repaying the debt.

Also there's a good distance between Campbelltown and Leichhardt. Both around a 45- minute drive.

Oddly enough Penrith did float the suggesting of merging with Wests back in 98/99 but it fell through for some reason.

.

I reckon, like the suggested merge with Canterbury and Parramatta, there was a fear that Wests would just be too weak and would be swallowed up.

For these stronger clubs, the merge was more about the free $8mil on offer. I bet none were offering any real concessions like combined logo or compromise on the home ground.

I hindsight, i reckon Balmain should have merged with North Sydney and Wests marry Penrith/Parra/Cantebry and hope for the best. This Wests Tigers from the far east and the far west is such a mess of ideas (i bet Balmain though Wests would see it as a chance to leave Campbeltown and head back to Ashfield)
 

taipan

Referee
Messages
22,409
I think it would have been brilliant back in 1998 in terms of geography (everything west of Blacktown and Liverpool would have been theirs) and in terms of branding (West Sydney Panthers; Panther logo and the WS Black/White jumper).

Now though, i dont see a merge happening.

I could see Panthers changing their name to West Sydney and making unilateral moves into the South-West, but i dont see a merge happening...



Surely a First Grade NRL team isnt nesesary in every suburb just because the AFL might get a few fans there.

Like most of the rest of the country, im sure theyd be fine with a focus on junior development and a 30minute drive to the game...


The population numbers when the new airport comes into being , suggests it will much be more than a suburb.The areas set aside for residential are enormous
In my view Canterbury and Tigers should have merged meaning that area covered to inner west.Wests to South West.
Bears to cover Nth Sydney /CC.
You see the trouble we found out with the SL aftermath.Flicking the Bears we lost a hell of a lot of people to the game either by dropping the code, or following fumbles and rah.

The joint venture clubs have been on and off cluster*cks.,and they also lost some fans.

Fumbleball is not going to relocate ,or merge any more teams.They acknowledge there are too many dramas.
They relocate another Melbourne team,and soccer/rl/ru are the beneficiaries.

If the Gnats hadn't come it with all their AFL money, then fair enough ,the NRL could be a little more adventurous.

Always follow the notion,."never give the suckers(insert competition) an even break,"
 

Marlins

Juniors
Messages
1,340
In dream world.
Wests need to move to Liverpool with a new 25k stadium and that solves a lot of problems.

The Nrl should expand to a 18 then 20 team comp over the next 6 years with
Perth, NZ2, Adelaide & CC Bears.

That would pretty much cover all bases.
 

Diesel

Referee
Messages
20,280
Tigers problem is they are spread too thin and trying to keep everyone happy. Leichhardt, Campbelltown, Homebush and Moore Park, pick one or two and stick to it.

It's 18 years too late to undo everything but Balmain would've been better off getting into bed with Parra, Roosters or even the Brisbane East Tigers/Gold Coast three way merger that was suggested.

Wests would've been better off with Penrith than the Bulldogs but either would've been better.

The other clusterf**k is the Dragons, smack bang in the middle of Sharks territory.
 

flippikat

Bench
Messages
4,449
Tigers problem is they are spread too thin and trying to keep everyone happy. Leichhardt, Campbelltown, Homebush and Moore Park, pick one or two and stick to it.

It's 18 years too late to undo everything but Balmain would've been better off getting into bed with Parra, Roosters or even the Brisbane East Tigers/Gold Coast three way merger that was suggested.

Wests would've been better off with Penrith than the Bulldogs but either would've been better.

The other clusterf**k is the Dragons, smack bang in the middle of Sharks territory.

Yeah, no geographical logic at all.. but that's what the NRL gets when they played "musical chairs" with the clubs in the late 1990s.
 

Eelz76

Juniors
Messages
1
I'd like to suggest something totally different. Rather than adding or merging teams, why not expand the current boundaries of clubs to cover the entire country and NZ? Its hard to promote something somewhere if you don't have a presence. This way sure you have to play at different venues like Wests Tigers and St George Illawarra do now but I would say a much better model than one where new teams are continually introduced potentially diluting talent without giving existing teams a chance to grow and still being left with huge parts of the country unrepresented.

I’d suggest something like: West Tigers adopt Western Australia, Cronulla adopt South Australia, Parramatta adopt Northern Territory, Canterbury adopt Northern NSW, Manly to adopt Sydney’s North Shore (a massive cash cow the NRL are missing out on) and the Central Coast (and join forces with the Bears properly), St George adopt Brisbane (as a second team), Penrith adopt Central Queensland, South Sydney adopt Victoria (2nd VIC side) and Easts to adopt the South Island of NZ with Warriors keeping the North.

Sounds like a win win for me. Old fans have stronger clubs, new fans have a strong established club and there is potential to earn more and more revenue for the clubs and game. A model to give the game the best future for the next hundred years rather than a model still based on a bygone Sydney premiership that administrators don't have the balls to tweak for the long term good.
 
Messages
14,501
Tigers problem is they are spread too thin and trying to keep everyone happy. Leichhardt, Campbelltown, Homebush and Moore Park, pick one or two and stick to it.

It's 18 years too late to undo everything but Balmain would've been better off getting into bed with Parra, Roosters or even the Brisbane East Tigers/Gold Coast three way merger that was suggested.

Wests would've been better off with Penrith than the Bulldogs but either would've been better.

The other clusterf**k is the Dragons, smack bang in the middle of Sharks territory.


Wests Tigers and NRL should do a SWS membership. I know people who don't go for or even like the Tigers but got to all Campbelltown games to watch NRL.
 

TheFrog

Coach
Messages
14,300
Wests need to move to Liverpool with a new 25k stadium and that solves a lot of problems.
Also creates one. Who will pay for it?

The NSW Government is already copping serious criticism for levelling a perfectly good stadium and swimming centre at Parramatta. If Wests Tigers are the next beneficiary of asset-sale money you could expect Penrith, Manly and others to have their hands out for similar largesse.
 

Panfas

Juniors
Messages
1,182
Penrith adopt Central Queensland
Penrith already incorporates all of Penrith, Hawkesbury, Blue Mountains & Blacktown (most parts) city councils. It also has the entire central west NSW, which includes Lithgow, Mudgee, Bathurs, Orange & Dubbo.

We have enough troubles trying to get a foothold in our area without worrying about QLD
 

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