My expansion plan

[DC_fan]

Since just about everyone else has had their say I thought it was my turn.

I would start from the very beginning, a new fresh competition. Before I decided on the number of teams I would look at location. Areas where the game needs to have teams and where (hopefully) they could survive. Then I would look at numbers of teams representing each area.

In NZ I would look at the South and North Island. In Qld the areas I would l look at are north Qld and Brisbane. In NSW it would be Newcastle, Central Coast and Sydney. Then we would have Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

That is 11 different areas. Obviously only Sydney and Brisbane would have more then one team. So before we get to them we already have nine teams.

In my opinion Brisbane could support two teams. That would give us 11 teams.

Sydney would have five teams, giving us a total of 16 for the competition. The only problem who would be the five Sydney teams.

 

[docbrown]

Technically that's a Super League style restructure rather than pure expansion.

We really can't give up on the teams that we've got because they've done the groundwork and they constitute the rugby league fan base.

That said some clubs restricted by geography might need to maintain that history but broaden their scope in order to keep up with the top clubs and for expansion to fill out long term to PERTH, ADELAIDE, CENTRAL COAST, SOUTH WEST BRISBANE, SUNSHINE COAST, CENTRAL QUEENSLAND, WELLINGTON, SOUTH ISLAND, MELBOURNE II, PNG in a 24 team comp.

 

[DC_fan]

Technically that's a Super League style restructure rather than pure expansion.

We really can't give up on the teams that we've got because they've done the groundwork and they constitute the rugby league fan base.

That said some clubs restricted by geography might need to maintain that history but broaden their scope in order to keep up with the top clubs and for expansion to fill out long term to PERTH, ADELAIDE, CENTRAL COAST, SOUTH WEST BRISBANE, SUNSHINE COAST, CENTRAL QUEENSLAND, WELLINGTON, SOUTH ISLAND, MELBOURNE II, PNG in a 24 team comp.

Appreciate your comments.

I suppose my idea is more of a restructure, with a touch of expansion.

Outside of the Gold Coast (which I will get to later) the only teams I have given up on are a handfull of Sydney teams. My thought is, and I have had this for sometime, that Sydney has too many teams playing out of it. My plan would have just five Sydney teams playing in it. The hard part would be to pick which four present teams should not be a part of the competition. But like it or not, be it painful or not the decision would have to be made.

I have doubts that sport and the Gold Coast work well together, especially sports that play there on a weekly basis like the football codes do. Soccer has tried, AFL has tried and NRL has tried. All without any real success. One of events like car racing have success because it attracts people from outside the area who use the event as a holiday. The Commonwealth games which will be held on the Coast in 2018 will probably also be successful because it will draw people from around the country and overseas.

 

[docbrown]

Appreciate your comments.

I suppose my idea is more of a restructure, with a touch of expansion.

Outside of the Gold Coast (which I will get to later) the only teams I have given up on are a handfull of Sydney teams. My thought is, and I have had this for sometime, that Sydney has too many teams playing out of it. My plan would have just five Sydney teams playing in it. The hard part would be to pick which four present teams should not be a part of the competition. But like it or not, be it painful or not the decision would have to be made.

I have doubts that sport and the Gold Coast work well together, especially sports that play there on a weekly basis like the football codes do. Soccer has tried, AFL has tried and NRL has tried. All without any real success. One of events like car racing have success because it attracts people from outside the area who use the event as a holiday. The Commonwealth games which will be held on the Coast in 2018 will probably also be successful because it will draw people from around the country and overseas.

Sydney probably can support the current number of clubs that it has but you're going to see a gap grow between the bigger teams and smaller teams so something needs to happen to bring those smaller sides up to scratch.

I really do believe a total relocation is a mistake. Sydney fans just aren't travelling as away supporters unless it's a big match at a common venue. The clubs on the periphery aren't getting those away numbers hence I don't believe that fans of a relocated club will start driving all the way out to Penrith or Brookvale etc. Likewise I can't see the other Sydney clubs forfeiting 1 home game each to that club for obvious financial reasons.

I don't want to see the number of Sydney clubs base locations contract either. At the moment the only place that's lacking is the North Shore, hence just one of the reasons why the Bears make sense to me. People suggesting total relocation of Manly don't seem to realise that would mean there'd be no games north of the harbour at all.

That leaves 3 options

1 - Maintain the present course and have two tiers of Sydney clubs - the big clubs that are in constant finals contention and the little clubs that aren't

2 - Merge 2 Sydney clubs - no traditional rivals, no competing mascots. A team that has national brand value i.e. a strong location tied to a strong mascot - and whose strengths address the other's weakness

3 - Play an extra round a season, give extra games to a relocate Sydney club (or clubs) so they can relocate elsewhere but still play a number of games at their traditional homegrounds (on par or more than what happens at Campbelltown, Leichardt or Kogarah).