Harsh or painfully true?

[Perth Red]

lol even I wouldnt go that far! There are a number of clubs in Sydney that are growing strongly and have the potential to be even stronger, they are the drivers we need. The rest either need to ship up or ship out.

 

[southwalesrabbitoh]

lol even I wouldnt go that far! There are a number of clubs in Sydney that are growing strongly and have the potential to be even stronger, they are the drivers we need. The rest either need to ship up or ship out.

Isn't it "shape up or ship out"?

Anyway, no leave the comp as it is, we need to get more people from Sydney watching rugby league, I say bring back the North Sydney Bears. Bring in the Southern Orcas, Brisbane Brothers, West Coast Pirates and Central Queensland.

 

[Perth Red]

yeh but Ive had a drink lol!
You aint getting more people watching by having more teams. You get them watching by having a better product with better media hype and a decent station covering it.

 

[byrner]

This whole 9 teams in Sydney is a farce.
People need to realise how big geographicaly Sydney actually is.
Parramatta is a major city in its own right.
Penrith is its own city and over an hour from the Sydney CBD.
Wollongong is not in Sydney - dragons should move here full time.
Campbelltown is its own city and right on the edge of greater Sydney - tigers should move here fulltime.
Manly is in the northern beaches and represents North Sydney.

There are 5 teams out of the nine who are not 'really' in Sydney.

 

[ram raid]

lol even I wouldnt go that far! There are a number of clubs in Sydney that are growing strongly and have the potential to be even stronger, they are the drivers we need. The rest either need to ship up or ship out.

Go far and run with the ball my friend. You can see by the support the Wanderers get in Western Sydney that all us Westies want a team to jerk off to. The Norths poofs will support their teams, we all know that, and the Bondi guys will chip in. The Shaks/Dragons might get on board if they have some to cheer for.

 

[CC_Roosters]

This whole 9 teams in Sydney is a farce.
People need to realise how big geographicaly Sydney actually is.
Parramatta is a major city in its own right.
Penrith is its own city and over an hour from the Sydney CBD.
Wollongong is not in Sydney - dragons should move here full time.
Campbelltown is its own city and right on the edge of greater Sydney - tigers should move here fulltime.
Manly is in the northern beaches and represents North Sydney.

There are 5 teams out of the nine who are not 'really' in Sydney.

Yeah its more regions than anything, sydney is a tag of convenience for many. Would maybe only call souths, easts and half of wests tigers sydney teams.

I still maintain that less games not less teams will go a long way ro boosting crowds in the metro area. Or put another way will result in less sub 10k crowds as the bigger matchups pull 30k, 40k, 50k now.

The dragons should play most home fixtures in the gong and use gate sharing to give its sydney based fans a reasonable number of games still on a ticketed membership. Reducing the season to 22 games with 18 teams would give more fixtures tha current but less per team so satisfying player welfare and broadcasters. Thirdly mandate each metro club (except dragons) to take at least one game on the road. 3 simple steps and your looking at approx 80 games instead of 95-100 a season.

 

[Wellsy4HullFC]

Conferences and P&R are the only way to expand the make up of NRL clubs. Otherwise you're going to stick with the status quo.

I like the traditional teams, including the likes of Balmain, Western Suburbs, Norths, etc. I'm a big believer that there should be a route for every team to be able to make it to the top, not just those that have friends in high places. Obviously geography has a part to play, but I'd love to see the NRL become more of English football's Premier League and less of America's NFL.

Imagine an NRL2 like this...
Adelaide Rams (SA)
Brisbane Bombers (QLD)
Central Coast (NSW)
Christchurch (NZ)
Darwin (NT)
Fiji
Geelong (VIC)
Illawarra Steelers (NSW)
Ipswich Jets (QLD)
Newtown (NSW)
North Sydney Bears (NSW)
Northern Pride (Cairns, QLD)
PNG Hunters (Port Moresby, PNG)
Sunshine Coast (QLD)
Wellington Orcas (NZ)
West Coast Pirates (Perth, WA)

Absolute fantasy, I know. But would be a fantastic competition!

 

[Perth Red]

Slight problem of a $15mill review gap! P&r doesn't work in UK SL and would be even worse in NRL.

 

[flippikat]

P&R could just end up creating 'yo-yo' teams that are forever getting promoted one year then relegated the next, doing little for the game in that location.

 

[Perth Red]

Not to mention how a team on say $4mill a year revenue tops would be able to go up to NRL and comepte with teams on $20mill a year. RFL is dumb for bringing n a new p&r version to SL, if clubs were good enough outside of SL they would be in it.

 

[typicalfan]

P&R would cost way too much to serve any benefits.

 

[WireMan]

No there are 6 EPL clubs in a metropolitan of 13.6 million people and with $4.7billion tv deal. NRL is doing well crowd wise generally but that doesn't alter the fact nine clubs in one city of 5million is unsustainable and holding back the growth of the NRL.

Plus you cannot compare the EPL to the NRL as the prem has promotion and relegation, and no artificial way to keep teams competitive.

This means all the teams stay there by merit, and there is a fair chance we will lose 2 of the 6 at the end of the season.

In the NRL there is no way to naturally find the equilibrium Sydney can maintain.

The NRL should do what the super league did and only guarantee licenses for 3 years. Then every club has to reapply.
If 9 Sydney clubs can show they add more to the game than Brisbane 2, Perth, Wellington etc. then fair enough.

This whole 9 teams in Sydney is a farce.
People need to realise how big geographicaly Sydney actually is.
Parramatta is a major city in its own right.
Penrith is its own city and over an hour from the Sydney CBD.
Wollongong is not in Sydney - dragons should move here full time.
Campbelltown is its own city and right on the edge of greater Sydney - tigers should move here fulltime.
Manly is in the northern beaches and represents North Sydney.

There are 5 teams out of the nine who are not 'really' in Sydney.

That's great except using the teams in Wollongong and Campbeltown to show that not all the teams are in Sydney and because of this they are sustainable is not the best argument.

Both the Dragons and Tigers are Sydney teams and the Steelers and Magpies have had to merge because they could not sustain a team by themselves.

 

[Loose Cannon]

It is a shame that these "satellite" cities do not have the attendance figures to warrant full time teams. Penrith are looking at moving games, Campbelltown gets few games and are mostly victims of the TV schedule. I personally think a shorter season would help, but also wish the mergers had played out differently back in the day.

I understand why they didn't accept other offers, but from a "whole of game" business standpoint, Balmain and Wests being paired with Parramatta and Canterbury respectively would have solved a large portion of the "too many Sydney teams" issue.

Parramatta Tigers out of PS, and Western Suburbs Bulldogs out of that proposed Liverpool development would have created two powerhouse clubs from four, and we are one less already. St George permanently to Wollongong and we have one fewer again.

I always thought back around Super League and the merger, that six was the perfect number if Wollongong and Gosford were utilised. Basically, teams from Parramatta, Liverpool, and Penrith in the west, leaving Easts and Souths in the city, And one more team, either Manly in the North, or Cronulla in the south. Unfortunately, the problem lies with these isolated teams in that they dont have the facilities/finances/supporters of the teams such as Eels or CB who would have grown even further with the "takeover" of Balmain and the Magpies, yet have had no change to club structure. Sydney really is a bitch geographically.

With an A-league style reboot, something similar might of happened, but of course the game had too much history for that to be successful.

 

[oikee]

Look, forget about Adelaide, it will never happen.
Trying to convert a city that reports nothing but AFL is a time wasting exercise. You might as well line up selling ice to Eskimoes.

We need 18 teams. The reason why we need 18 teams,,,,, so more international players get the chance to join our Exotic code. (poms yanks kiwis islanders, even italians and french)
Also to provide our rugby league diehard cities with world fakin class derbies. ? You know, the ones that garner world attention, like Origin, Manchester United and (Green Bay Packers having a shite in London).

We need to find marketing and selling managers who are switched onto world growth, not suburban growth.

 

[Diesel]

It is a shame that these "satellite" cities do not have the attendance figures to warrant full time teams. Penrith are looking at moving games, Campbelltown gets few games and are mostly victims of the TV schedule. I personally think a shorter season would help, but also wish the mergers had played out differently back in the day.

I understand why they didn't accept other offers, but from a "whole of game" business standpoint, Balmain and Wests being paired with Parramatta and Canterbury respectively would have solved a large portion of the "too many Sydney teams" issue.

Parramatta Tigers out of PS, and Western Suburbs Bulldogs out of that proposed Liverpool development would have created two powerhouse clubs from four, and we are one less already. St George permanently to Wollongong and we have one fewer again.

I always thought back around Super League and the merger, that six was the perfect number if Wollongong and Gosford were utilised. Basically, teams from Parramatta, Liverpool, and Penrith in the west, leaving Easts and Souths in the city, And one more team, either Manly in the North, or Cronulla in the south. Unfortunately, the problem lies with these isolated teams in that they dont have the facilities/finances/supporters of the teams such as Eels or CB who would have grown even further with the "takeover" of Balmain and the Magpies, yet have had no change to club structure. Sydney really is a bitch geographically.

With an A-league style reboot, something similar might of happened, but of course the game had too much history for that to be successful.

100% agree.

They really stuffed up the future of Sydney by having these shotgun marriages or partnerships that after 15 years haven't fulfilled what they should've. The criteria was flawed and the winners ended up being Sydney's 3 SL clubs while Norths paid the ultimate price for actually thinking ahead.

It's too late to undo what has been done, the Tigers need to focus on Campbelltown with a minimum 6 games and the rest at ANZ, the Dragons need to be at the 'gong for 8-9 games a year and Penrith needs to somehow reconnect with the community like it did in the early 90's and pack out Penrith more often or take some games to C'town to grow that Western Sydney vibe that they talk so much about being part of, as for Manly and the North Shore, I'm not sure what the answer is, but Manly seem to be missing some real competition for that area and I think the demise of Norths has something to do with it

 

[Matt_CBY]

Y
I still maintain that less games not less teams will go a long way ro boosting crowds in the metro area. Or put another way will result in less sub 10k crowds as the bigger matchups pull 30k, 40k, 50k now.

Absolutely.

True but it is based around the fact no sport has more, anywhere in the world, in any sport! Why Australia thinks it can do it in melbourne and Sydney I've no idea, especially as the state of some clubs in those cities suggests it can't.

Just because it can't or hasn't or won't be done anywhere else in the world, doesn't mean it can't in Sydney with the NRL.