17 teams and a bye every week

[MrE_Assassin]

However in saying that, if progress stopped to wait for everybody to catch up we'd never make any progress, and besides that these issues are part and parcel of being a regional club playing alongside bigger metropolitan clubs.

Isn't that what the NRL has already been doing with the "No expansion" stance for so many years?

 

[The Great Dane]

Isn't that what the NRL has already been doing with the "No expansion" stance for so many years?

Yeah, and it's just as bad now as it would be if they stalled everything for the Titans.

 

[The Great Dane]

Sydney clubs too. In an over-saturated market, clubs in Sydney have to find ways to differentiate themselves from the pack. 3 top tier clubs in SE Queensland is a long way from that.

They're similar challenges, but different as well.

For example a Sydney club will never have to fork out extra just to convince a player from Sydney to relocate to their city, regional clubs have no choice but to do that.

 

[TheFrog]

Any Brisbane/SEQ team would encroach on them in some way, it's just part of being competitors in a market.

So who encroaches least? Redcliffe I reckon. Titans need to do more work in north-eastern NSW.

 

[The Great Dane]

So who encroaches least? Redcliffe I reckon. Titans need to do more work in north-eastern NSW.

I don't think it really matters which club in Brisbane the NRL go with, the impact on the Titans will more or less be the same.

Unless it's going to totally cripple them we really shouldn't be making decisions based on there impact on the Titans anyway, and, frankly, the only reason that expansion in Brisbane could seriously impact the Titans at all is because of 13 years of their own mismanagement and mistakes.

 

[Perth Red]

They’ve been using the nsw clubs perilous financial state for years as an excuse not to expand. Wouldn’t surprise me if they use the Titans as a reason not to do anything again until 2028.

 

[Perth Red]

The Brisbane media might have gone off a bit early? Sounds like still lots of reviewing happening and decision not likely to end of year.

There are also ongoing discussions about whether to include a 17th NRL team in 2023 — when the new broadcast deal will kick in — and Greenberg said a decision will be made by the end of the year.

“We have been talking to every club, every level of government, New Zealand, Perth, Adelaide, Queensland, broadcasters,” he said. “We have been getting everyone’s views. We have another report in the middle of this year. We have two more reports to the commission for their review.

“We debate them again and we have to land on a position by the end (of 2020).”

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/st...l/news-story/208d95b53a2a493ea5aeb96040878309

 

[The Great Dane]

The Brisbane media might have gone off a bit early? Sounds like still lots of reviewing happening and decision not likely to end of year.

There are also ongoing discussions about whether to include a 17th NRL team in 2023 — when the new broadcast deal will kick in — and Greenberg said a decision will be made by the end of the year.

“We have been talking to every club, every level of government, New Zealand, Perth, Adelaide, Queensland, broadcasters,” he said. “We have been getting everyone’s views. We have another report in the middle of this year. We have two more reports to the commission for their review.

“We debate them again and we have to land on a position by the end (of 2020).”

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/st...l/news-story/208d95b53a2a493ea5aeb96040878309

Wouldn't it be amazing if by some miracle the NRL were like "f**k it" and just brought in Perth and Adelaide.

It'd be a huge step in the right direction, and the screeching from Brisbane and Sydney would be amazing.

 

[flippikat]

Wouldn't it be amazing if by some miracle the NRL were like "f**k it" and just brought in Perth and Adelaide.

It'd be a huge step in the right direction, and the screeching from Brisbane and Sydney would be amazing.

Add in salary cap concessions for the first 5 years, and see the reaction.

 

[jim_57]

Wouldn't it be amazing if by some miracle the NRL were like "f**k it" and just brought in Perth and Adelaide.

It'd be a huge step in the right direction, and the screeching from Brisbane and Sydney would be amazing.

The most frustrating part about the NRL holding off expansion for so long is that they really aren't that far off having a set-up that covers all bases for the foreseeable future.

In no particular order if/when Brisbane 2, Perth, Adelaide & NZ2 are all in the comp expansion probably won't be needed for a very long time.

That pretty much covers anywhere that has the resources for an NRL team. As well as this to add the icing on top offer money for clubs to move games to strategic locations like Central Coast, Darwin, Regional NSW, Regional QLD, PNG etc.

 

[flippikat]

The most frustrating part about the NRL holding off expansion for so long is that they really aren't that far off having a set-up that covers all bases for the foreseeable future.

In no particular order if/when Brisbane 2, Perth, Adelaide & NZ2 are all in the comp expansion probably won't be needed for a very long time.

That pretty much covers anywhere that has the resources for an NRL team. As well as this to add the icing on top offer money for clubs to move games to strategic locations like Central Coast, Darwin, Regional NSW, Regional QLD, PNG etc.

The REALLY frustrating thing is that we had Brisbane 2, Perth & Adelaide. They were there - sure, on life-support by 1998.. but they could have been salvaged.

Alas no.. we lost them all to a horribly bungled & self-interest driven peace settlement after the Superleague war. The only one that we've never had was a 2nd NZ club.

 

[jim_57]

The REALLY frustrating thing is that we had Brisbane 2, Perth & Adelaide. They were there - sure, on life-support by 1998.. but they could have been salvaged.

Alas no.. we lost them all to a horribly bungled & self-interest driven peace settlement after the Superleague war. The only one that we've never had was a 2nd NZ club.

There is also that. At least a 17th team brings us 1 closer, I wonder what a new successful expansion team could do to change the perception after the Titans have tainted it somewhat. Titans have been their own worst enemy but plenty of people still use them as an excuse as to why we shouldn't expand again.

 

[flippikat]

There is also that. At least a 17th team brings us 1 closer, I wonder what a new successful expansion team could do to change the perception after the Titans have tainted it somewhat. Titans have been their own worst enemy but plenty of people still use them as an excuse as to why we shouldn't expand again.

I can understand the Titans as a reaction to the AFL sniffing around that region in the mid-2000s, and it got a decent stadium built.. HOWEVER Perth would have added a lot more (an extra timeslot, for one). I still have doubts over the GCs ability to support a major sports league team.. and I think a 2nd Brisbane team (with occasional game on the Gold Coast) may have been a better option in the mid 2000s, if the NRL was set on another SEQ team.

 

[The Great Dane]

The REALLY frustrating thing is that we had Brisbane 2, Perth & Adelaide. They were there - sure, on life-support by 1998.. but they could have been salvaged.

Alas no.. we lost them all to a horribly bungled & self-interest driven peace settlement after the Superleague war. The only one that we've never had was a 2nd NZ club.

I don't think there was any saving the Crushers or Reds to be fair. I mean maybe if you could convince News, or somebody else, to bankroll them Storm style, but that was extremely unlikely to happen, and it was never going to happen in the Crushers case.

The Rams on the other hand were one of the clubs that came through "the war" better than most, sure they would have struggled at times, but that's no different than a lot of clubs, and there was plenty of potential there.

 

[The Great Dane]

Add in salary cap concessions for the first 5 years, and see the reaction.

Add on top of that the NRL helping them sign a couple of the best "free agents" each as their first players.

 

[The Great Dane]

I can understand the Titans as a reaction to the AFL sniffing around that region in the mid-2000s, and it got a decent stadium built.. HOWEVER Perth would have added a lot more (an extra timeslot, for one). I still have doubts over the GCs ability to support a major sports league team.. and I think a 2nd Brisbane team (with occasional game on the Gold Coast) may have been a better option in the mid 2000s, if the NRL was set on another SEQ team.

Perth and Brisbane weren't really options back then.

At the time the only realistic options were the CC Bears, Wellington Orca, and Gold Coast Titans.

The Titans really did seem to have the best bid at the time as well, but their business plan was screwed by the GFC and they've never really recovered.

Controversial take, but the NRL wasn't ready to expand back then and what should have happened was the Rabbitohs should have been booted straight back out of the competition as soon as the restraint of trade ruling was overturned. In hindsight that would have been the best outcome for the NRL and everybody that's not a Rabbitohs or Titans fan.

 

[Perth Red]

I don't think there was any saving the Crushers or Reds to be fair. I mean maybe if you could convince News, or somebody else, to bankroll them Storm style, but that was extremely unlikely to happen, and it was never going to happen in the Crushers case.

The Rams on the other hand were one of the clubs that came through "the war" better than most, sure they would have struggled at times, but that's no different than a lot of clubs, and there was plenty of potential there.

if the ARL had picked up the tab for the travel costs Reds would have been fine.

 

[The Great Dane]

if the ARL had picked up the tab for the travel costs Reds would have been fine.

That ship had well and truly sailed by the end of the war.

 

[mongoose]

Controversial take, but the NRL wasn't ready to expand back then and what should have happened was the Rabbitohs should have been booted straight back out of the competition as soon as the restraint of trade ruling was overturned. In hindsight that would have been the best outcome for the NRL and everybody that's not a Rabbitohs or Titans fan.

In hindsight they probably should never have kicked the Rabbitohs out in the first place and cut a couple of other Sydney clubs... Out of all the Sydney clubs Souths have done the best to grow their fanbase and rely on memberships for revenue rather than Leagues club money. They should get some credit for that.

 

[flippikat]

I don't think there was any saving the Crushers or Reds to be fair. I mean maybe if you could convince News, or somebody else, to bankroll them Storm style, but that was extremely unlikely to happen, and it was never going to happen in the Crushers case.

That's kinda what I was thinking. NRL/News buying the frontier clubs, getting them up to pace then privatising them.

It needed money, and the will to see past the "here and now" to do it, but not utterly impossible.