What's new
The Front Row Forums

Register a free account today to become a member of the world's largest Rugby League discussion forum! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Fittler comments

Fangs

Coach
Messages
11,492
Dragons Sharks merger is bound to happen. Either that or they both go to Perth. North/South Perth etc. They have beaches there so really its the same thing.

Only one way to fix the mess that is Western Sydney. Excommunicate the Eels and Tigers from the competition and rename to Western Sydney Panthers. I'm okay with Eels/Tigers still being used as feeder clubs like North Sydney. Also still sell the jerseys for nostalgia purposes. Peter Wynn will make a killing.
 

Dragsters

First Grade
Messages
5,367
Dragons Sharks merger is bound to happen. Either that or they both go to Perth. North/South Perth etc. They have beaches there so really its the same thing.

Only one way to fix the mess that is Western Sydney. Excommunicate the Eels and Tigers from the competition and rename to Western Sydney Panthers. I'm okay with Eels/Tigers still being used as feeder clubs like North Sydney. Also still sell the jerseys for nostalgia purposes. Peter Wynn will make a killing.

How about this, panthers are the most western Sydney team, how about they bugger off to Perth?
 

Fangs

Coach
Messages
11,492
How about this, panthers are the most western Sydney team, how about they bugger off to Perth?

Too crucial to the NRL. The Panthers will be around as long as Rugby League stays alive.

PVL will make the tough decisions and he has already shown he is capable of doing so.
 

Jersey No 14

Juniors
Messages
734
Hey Bradley...
Who put you in charge?
If any teams should merge it should be Souths and Easts.
From me to You - GO F@#K Yourself.
PS... Your analytic views are average at best. Have you ever watched yourself back
I don't even watch Ch 9 anymore - At all
 

matPORTS

Juniors
Messages
555
PVL will make the tough decisions and he has already shown he is capable of doing so.

This.

The tough decision is that a minimum of one, maybe even two Sydney clubs need to go. One to be re-located (Perth) and the second either re-located as well (Central Coast) or disappear to make way for the second Brisbane team. Depends on what the magic number is (17 or 18 teams).

As time has shown with STGI, it's bad enough having two factions on our board, let alone introducing a third.

While I don't think merging any more Sydney clubs is the answer, the next logical merge has to surely be Penrith / Parramatta. For all of the Eels success at the moment, I think they have more Panthers juniors than Eels juniors in their squad this year (in fact you can count the amount of Eels juniors in their latest 21-man squad on one hand).
 

st.phil

Bench
Messages
4,105
Nah - far more likely Sharks relocate and play 6 games Perth / 6 Games in the nulla

we've diluted once, that's enough. The red V is the most marketable jersey in the comp
 

getsmarty

Immortal
Messages
33,485
Brad Fittler puts Sharks, Dragons, Tigers and Panthers in NRL merger debate to solve ‘identity crisis’
NRL Premiership
  • July 30, 2020 11:41am
  • by Staff writers
  • Source: FOX SPORTS
9493a5689c22ce789745a52bf4cf2b7e

Aaron Woods and Tyson Frizell.Source: News Corp Australia
Brad Fittler has thrown the Sharks, Dragons, Wests Tigers and the Panthers in the firing line in a push to club mergers to reduce the number of Sydney based NRL teams.
ARLC Chairman Peter V’landys is keen to expand the NRL with a second Brisbane team, but the coronavirus pandemic has left a number of clubs fighting for survival, which had muddied the waters of previous expansion plans.

“Cronulla to go and join St George Illawarra, make it a really big southern Sydney team that stretches down to Wollongong,” Fittler said on WWOS’ Freddy and the Eighth.


There are currently nine Sydney clubs, which compete in a crowded marketplace for fans and junior sports playing talent.

Fittler believes the Wests Tigers and the Panthers could join forces to create a massive force in the greater western Sydney area.

“The other one’s Wests Tigers,” Fittler said.

“I just don’t know if they’ve done what they’re supposed to do and I feel like maybe if we had a greater west team ... it just feels like, are they at Leichhardt, or Burwood, or Concord, or out at Campbelltown?

“I’m not sure. I don’t think we pay Campbelltown area enough respect. Whether we have an outer-west team and that includes Penrith, and they take up that Penrith-Campbelltown area.

7041a3fd9ac1202aa4a9267dce2a2526

Fittler believes the Wests Tigers could join forces with Penrith.Source: Getty Images
“I’m not really sure who they link with but at the moment, we’ve got a bit of an identity crisis, I think, through a few of those areas.”

Fittler’s colleague and rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns has been a vocal supporter of a 12 NRL team competition and reducing the number of Sydney teams in the past to improve the standard of playing stocks.


https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...e/news-story/977b5e7a1bd4b775b0f24915f46733fb
 

TruSaint

Referee
Messages
20,260
Too crucial to the NRL. The Panthers will be around as long as Rugby League stays alive.

PVL will make the tough decisions and he has already shown he is capable of doing so.

V'Landys has shown to be a force, yes.

HOWEVER, if we take him at his word, he did say early on in his tenure when discussing the expansion of the game, that there would be no culling of Sydney Clubs.

I don't have any link to the article, but i recall him clearly shutting down any talk of Sydney clubs being forced to merge or relocate.

Freddie can say what he wants, luckily for the game, he's way off.

V'Landys said expansion would happen, but it would be staggered and based on research and risk/reward analysis. He mentioned a second Brissy team as a start.

The game needs to consolidate and entrench itself on the east coast, dominate Sydney ( the way AFL does Victoria), ..

Alienating fans in the foreseeable future would be commercial suicide.
 
Top