we want to start one to grow RL in WA and stengthen the game generally. Taking $15mill out of WARL to put into the NRL is hardly a positive step forward for growing the game. The NRL should not be seen as a commodity to buy and sell and make a profit from. Hopefully the Brothers and Pirates bids will both be succesful and both use the NRL clubs to grow the grass roots as they have stated is their intent.
Of course we could sell off licenses and have the likes of Tinker, Sage, Palmer, Searle etc screwing the game up. Take a look at the for profit model of the Broncos, it has taken them this long to partner with a club (Logan) to form an academy! And some would argue they have only acted now out of self interest given the likely Brisbane bids.
In papabear's plan/idea, which isn't necessarily a bad one, the WARL would most likely not be the people to buy the Perth franchise off the NRL, so nobody would be taking $15mill out of the WARL, but the NRL would still be making that initial gain off the license.
The clubs and the grassroots would be run separately meaning that the WARL would never have to rely on the monetary success of the Pirates or vice versa but they would still be affiliated out of necessity, e.g. the Pirates would need the WARL for a supply of junior players and and the WARL would need the Pirates so that their juniors have a stable route into the NRL.
The question now is do we want the clubs to be owned and sometimes run by cashed up millionaires who may or may not have the best interests of the game at heart, or do we want them to be owned and run by people who truly love the game and want to see it develop into everything it can be. So the choice is make the NRL the peoples game as much as possible or make it a giant cash cow.
Neither route is technically wrong or right and both have proven to be successful in other competitions and sports, but I doubt anybody would argue that the millionaires and their money route hasn't been the most successful from a popularity of the individual competition and the money it makes point of view in the past (American football and the NFL being the prime example) and I doubt that anybody would argue that grassroots, spread the game to as many people as possible route hasn't been the most successful from a spread the sport point of view in the past (FIFA and the RUIB and their respective sports), it all depends on which direction the ARLC and the NRL want to take the game.
