Sharks-Blues deal sunk: Cronulla's NSW Cup entry shatters feeder plan
BY BRETT KEEBLE
THE proposed joint venture between the Northern Blues and Cronulla Sharks has been effectively scuttled before it even set sail.
The Blues had hoped to act as a feeder club to the Sharks and, in turn, be bolstered next Newcastle Rugby League season by the inclusion of senior Cronulla players not required for NRL duty.
But Cronulla's decision on Friday to field a second-tier team in the NSW Rugby League's NSW Cup competition next year has diluted their planned partnership with the Blues.
Newcastle Rugby League general manager Steve Fleming said he had not received formal notification from the Blues about the alliance, and until he had he could not support it.
Fleming said there had been overtures from Newcastle clubs in 2007 to form similar partnerships with Manly and South Sydney "but they were knocked on the head by the board".
"It hasn't been discussed at board level yet and I've spoken to the Bay about that this morning," Fleming said yesterday.
"I applaud their initiative, but until they put a formal proposal to us, and until our board can sit and discuss it, we can't support it. The first we heard about it was what we read in the paper [The Herald] yesterday."
Blues secretary Geoff Bulmer said in The Herald on Monday: "The Newcastle Rugby League are 100 per cent behind us."
But Bulmer said yesterday that the proposal still had to be ratified by the NSWRL, Country Rugby League and Newcastle Rugby League, and conceded it might not proceed next year.
Bulmer said the Blues would notify the Newcastle board "in writing", and that a joint venture with Cronulla had the support of other Newcastle clubs and was good for the game.
"It's got to go formally through NSW Rugby League, CRL and certainly Newcastle, because we're coming across borders. All of these things have to be sat down and discussed and submitted to one another, and I don't have a problem with any of that," he said.
"I see it as a really big positive, not only for our club, but for rugby league in Newcastle."
Bulmer was confident the Blues would still be able to use some Sharks players next year despite Cronulla's decision to stay in the NSW Cup.
"The sooner we can do it, the better . . . I see a lot of positives in the whole thing. I cannot see one negative in it," he said.
"If it doesn't get up this year, it's certainly got to get up some time in the future because we need to lift the profile of this competition."
Sharks chief executive Richard Fisk said his club would honour their commitment to the Blues but fielding a NSW Cup team had changed the landscape.
Fisk said Cronulla coach Ricky Stuart was "good friends" with Blues coach and former Bulldogs teammate Robert Relf and they intended getting together to swap ideas.
"We'll still be doing something with them. To be honest, we were in a difficult situation and they put their hand up to help us and it was always on condition that we didn't enter a team in the NSW Cup," Fisk said.
"It's quite early days, because a week ago we were moving down the track of a joint venture with them, and circumstances changed very quickly. We're now in with a NSW Cup team, but we want to honour any moral obligations we have with Nelson Bay.
"I think it will work more in a coaching area."
Knights chief executive Steve Burraston said his club was not concerned about the Blues' intention to align with the Sharks.
"That's a decision for them and the Newcastle Rugby League. We don't run the Newcastle Rugby League and they need to make decisions in the best interests of their competition and their district and their junior development," Burraston said.
Herald
