1.2 Million Over!!!!

[Suitman]

What we should have done is shore up our own backyard !
The areas of Central NSW and QLD are pleading for a NRL team. so is Christchurch.
Thats where we should have gone!
The Vics can have the AFL.

That is where you are conceding defeat.
Please, don't do it.
There is a market in VIC for NRL. WE MUST PERSIST!!

Suity

 

[Suitman]

As much a i hate Melbourne the team and everything they have done to the game we need a strong and competitive Melbourne.

Too right we do. Phil Gould can carry on as much as he likes regarding his anti NRL/News Limited stance.
Fact is, we need a Melbourne team as much as we need the Bronco's. It's as simple as that.

It's Rugby League vs AFL ffs.

Suity

 

[hineyrulz]

The crowd tonight showed their is a market for RL in Melbourne, apparently the are 9 Vic kids in their SG ball side. So the signs are there. It would be stupid to pull out now just like we did in Perth which i still think should be an option down the track.

 

[eloquentEEL]

The crowd tonight showed their is a market for RL in Melbourne, apparently the are 9 Vic kids in their SG ball side. So the signs are there. It would be stupid to pull out now just like we did in Perth which i still think should be an option down the track.

should be even more appealing for local juniors now... they´ll have to start promoting them and relying on them after shedding a quarter of the team.

 

[NorthShoreEel]

That is where you are conceding defeat.
Please, don't do it.
There is a market in VIC for NRL. WE MUST PERSIST!!

Suity

I'm sorry, I don't agree. Having lived in Melbourne in recent years, there is no market for anything in Melbourne during winter. It's like trying to establish baseball in India - it's never going to work.

Even when the storm win a game, they are lucky to get 20 lines in the paper, about 15 pages in from the back page. Sorta like reporting on lawn bowls.

You have to remember- Melbourne has & will always have an issue with anything to do with Sydney - they hate everything that is good about Sydney/NSW.

The majority of "supporters" are ex nsw,qld or nz's - & a small amount from some small clubs in the west ( this is where I lived). The junior clubs are given free tickets to storm games every week. ( a lady who worked at the cafe across the road was the secretary for the Altona rugby league club) She gave me free tickets to any game I wanted to go to.

Even Julie told me that she didn't think NRL ever had a chance in Melbourne. Her family came from Sydney originally & her hubby played league, so, wanted the kids to play. Her kids were more interested in the Western Bulkdogs than the storm.

So I ask, why persist in spending money in a market that will never change?

Ask yourself, would baseball ever work in India, or Gridiron in the UK?

 

[parra-matters]

They'll watch anything in melborune if it is a sport, all that has to be worked out is a timeslot that doesn't have AFL to clash with it and show the free to air games then.
Maybe a live Sunday game, live on paytv and free to air in Melbourne.

 

[Twizzle]

Well, it's the same for everyone who plays the Storm this year...

every team that plays them this year will be cheated, they have been found out yet still continue to field the same team that got found out

the only fair way is to strip them of players now, not next season

 

[parra-matters]

i travel to melbourne twice a year once in the season and once just before the start of the season. NRL made front page of the Hearld Sun last August, Greg Inglis and his girl had a spat and it made page 1 and page 4. Results for the weekend games were well inside the sport section which starts with AFL, Soccer then Racing and then there was half a page of league and the other half page was NBA.
Why would the paper report on games most people in Melbourne don't get to watch due to the time slot?
I'm surprised they get more 10k to most game with the lack of publicity the NRL gets down there that shows just what a great Job the Storm are doing promoting the game down there they get those sort of crowds.

 

[NorthShoreEel]

The crowd tonight showed their is a market for RL in Melbourne, apparently the are 9 Vic kids in their SG ball side. So the signs are there. It would be stupid to pull out now just like we did in Perth which i still think should be an option down the track.

No. It probably showed people appearing to support them Storm, but probably a mix of supporters & bandwagoners.
As I mentioned in the previous post, Melburnians hate anything NSW, & at the moment they have taken this as a attack on their state - believe me, I was receiving emails about it from our Melbourne office all Friday.

The Storm should be thankful, that with all of their rorting, they were successful. If they had not been successful, there would have been a lot less.

I agree with some of the other posts, money must & should be spent in our own backyard. Forget the southern states, it's never going to happen. Spend the $$$ on country football & get the Sydney clubs to start being more involved in country teams.

 

[mickdo]

every team that plays them this year will be cheated, they have been found out yet still continue to field the same team that got found out

the only fair way is to strip them of players now, not next season

Simply not possible. The players all have contracts.

 

[Twizzle]

I know its not possible, but I dont like the other option either

 

[parra pete]

Was very interested to listen to Matt Elliott's thoughts on the Storm on the Footy Show.
Matt said the Storm, with no pressure on them, can set about to be the entertainers of this years competition by releasing the 'shackles' and playing Harlem Globetrotters style football, introducing new attacking initiatives. Sounds good to me. Hope they do it..will add imagination to the game, and certainly create plenty of interest. It could get a whole lot of new fans to the game in the Southern Capital, and be the spark that ignites the Storm to rise like the phoenix from the ashes of this debacle.
I respect Matt, and I like his style of thinking. Good bloke.

 

[barney gumble]

As much a i hate Melbourne the team and everything they have done to the game we need a strong and competitive Melbourne. They are crucial to our next TV which should be around the Billion dollar mark. Apparently they are one of the most watched teams on Fox every week.

That team deserve to be anywhere but Melbourne. That Storm team based on the central coast or as a second team in Brissy or anywhere in QLD would be outrageously successful.

The team has been in Melbourne for 12 years, 3 GFs (2 tainted) 3 minor premierships. Yet channel 9 in Melbourne still show their games at midnight and they average less than 10,000 to home games of which a couple of thousand are opposition fans travelling down.
You watch that small amount of support drop right off when the team starts to struggle.

I keep hearing "we need a team in Melbourne" but no one can really say why? A true national rugby league competition is a pipe dream. Rugby League in Melbourne or Adelaide or Perth is like trying to play beach volley ball in the antarctic, it will have superficial support but will never catch on.

The AFL can have their national competion. I'll stick with rugby league with a great semi-national competition. But we have state of origin and test matches, which the AFL have tried to copy but without success.

That team in Melbourne has damaged rugby league by taking those players and coaching staff away from areas where they would be appreciated.

 

[Eelectrica]

Was very interested to listen to Matt Elliott's thoughts on the Storm on the Footy Show.
Matt said the Storm, with no pressure on them, can set about to be the entertainers of this years competition by releasing the 'shackles' and playing Harlem Globetrotters style football, introducing new attacking initiatives. Sounds good to me. Hope they do it..will add imagination to the game, and certainly create plenty of interest. It could get a whole lot of new fans to the game in the Southern Capital, and be the spark that ignites the Storm to rise like the phoenix from the ashes of this debacle.
I respect Matt, and I like his style of thinking. Good bloke.

That's pretty much what they did last night. It was entertaining to watch. How bizarre they have their worst week ever and turn up and play their best football all year.

Although the warriors would have struggled to beat a B grade high school team with the way they played.

 

[strider]

Was very interested to listen to Matt Elliott's thoughts on the Storm on the Footy Show.
Matt said the Storm, with no pressure on them, can set about to be the entertainers of this years competition by releasing the 'shackles' and playing Harlem Globetrotters style football, introducing new attacking initiatives. Sounds good to me. Hope they do it..will add imagination to the game, and certainly create plenty of interest. It could get a whole lot of new fans to the game in the Southern Capital, and be the spark that ignites the Storm to rise like the phoenix from the ashes of this debacle.
I respect Matt, and I like his style of thinking. Good bloke.

have to agree - the few times he's been on the footy show panel he's impressed me with his views

 

[Craig Johnston]

agree with sentiments re: elliot, most noticeable was him diplomatically telling gould to stop speculating with "plucking pie in the sky" hypotheticals.

pull your head in gus

 

[hineyrulz]

That team deserve to be anywhere but Melbourne. That Storm team based on the central coast or as a second team in Brissy or anywhere in QLD would be outrageously successful.

The team has been in Melbourne for 12 years, 3 GFs (2 tainted) 3 minor premierships. Yet channel 9 in Melbourne still show their games at midnight and they average less than 10,000 to home games of which a couple of thousand are opposition fans travelling down.
You watch that small amount of support drop right off when the team starts to struggle.

I keep hearing "we need a team in Melbourne" but no one can really say why? A true national rugby league competition is a pipe dream. Rugby League in Melbourne or Adelaide or Perth is like trying to play beach volley ball in the antarctic, it will have superficial support but will never catch on.

The AFL can have their national competion. I'll stick with rugby league with a great semi-national competition. But we have state of origin and test matches, which the AFL have tried to copy but without success.

That team in Melbourne has damaged rugby league by taking those players and coaching staff away from areas where they would be appreciated.

See this is the blinkered sort of thinking that will keep league in the dark ages, No wonder why the AFL keep taking our lunch money. How much do you think a team in Gosford will add to our next TV deal????? Nothing thats what same as another team in Brisbane we already have that market covered.

The next TV will be the making or breaking of the great game of RL, if we can get what the game is worth we can pay our marquee players what they are worth and raise the minimum wage. Otherwise we will continue to lose top liners to Yawnion,England and even AFL. As much as i dislike the the Storm and what they have done their survival is vital to the code.

 

[Gronk]

News Ltd will prop them up and that's a shame. They should go down the plug hole a re-emerge in Central Qld supported by that squillionaire that's meeting Gallop this week. Qld premier Anna Bligh has already stated that she will build a 20k seat stadium @ Rockhampton.

These merkins need to be punished and we cannot allow their (and Gould's) victim card tactics to prevail.

 

[Haynzy]

Kill off the Storm and re-launch them as another team in Melb...
We need teams in melb, adelaide, perth and the N.T./Port Moresby
A small percentage of those markets is still plenty of people in new areas..sure League will never be number 1 there but it's growth in new markets which means more dollars.

Consolidating NSW and Qld is a waste of money and time when you already hold the majority (by a mile) there.

 

[parra pete]

Kill off the Storm and re-launch them as another team in Melb...
We need teams in melb, adelaide, perth and the N.T./Port Moresby
A small percentage of those markets is still plenty of people in new areas..sure League will never be number 1 there but it's growth in new markets which means more dollars.

Consolidating NSW and Qld is a waste of money and time when you already hold the majority (by a mile) there.

That's what happened in the Old Group 17. Euabalong was kicked out came back as Lachlan Warriors - kicked out, came back as MurrenBridge- kicked out came back as MurrenBridge/Euabalong;

Maybe Melbourne Storm could comeback as Melbourne Thunder with White and Purple as their colors.