17th TEAM

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Not sure what soccer crowds has to do with nrl clubs?
How could you guarantee it? Your asking for something that is impossible to know until it is tried. The only evidence we can go on is the crowds for RL events in Perth and generally they have been very healthy.
That simply not true, we had 39k to the double header, have sold out Souths games, sold out international had a healthy crowd for the England World Cup game, sold out origin, avg’d around 15k for other clubs.
A nsw cup team is a bit pointless unless it is part of a strategy for an nrl club.

In 2017 there were two games held at Perth Oval. The combined total for each event, which were held on separate dates, was 17,691. Broken down, that's an average of 8,846.

Two games were held on separate weekends in 2016. The combined total was 24,251 an average of 12,126.

In 2014 there were 2 games held during the season over separate rounds. Total attendance 32,281, average 16,140.

Sharp decline.

https://www.afltables.com/rl/crowds/perth_o_vn.html

The Nines drew a shit attendance in Perth this year.

Soccer has a higher profile in Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne. Lots of English in Adelaide and Perth to prop up those A-league clubs. Melbourne Victory are strong, but Adelaide GC and Perth Glory are not. If soccer cannot make it there, how can RL?

 

[Perth Red]

I wouldn't be creaming myself over 50,000 plus Tv ratings, considering VFL football has been around Sydney even much longer than 38 years.
GWS as I indicated a parachuted in, commodity unwanted entity, and the TV ratings shows that to be the case.They get coverage in the paper, far in excess of their popularity, which makes me think it's paid via the TV deal.The Suns similar.

The key word is the club being sustainable, being able to be self supporting.From what I've seen neither the GWS or Suns fall into that category ,and the huge sums been and continue to be spent on them is a fair indication they are still struggling.Not much use with juniors if the premier club is a financial blackhole.

Look in 50 years time the NRL may have an Adelaide club ,who knows.But the NRL has been famous over the years for lacking the balls to lobby Govts, waste money and that includes the clubs.If they did that in non heartland areas, heaven help us.

Putting a team in Adelaide in the next few years, would be akin to what is happening with GWS,p*ssing money against the wall, just to put pins on maps.Perth is miles ahead of them, and should be the 18 team, whenever that happens.

The NRL has finally realised there has been waste in head office and the clubs, and they have to tighten their belts.Rest assured the AFL is starting to do that now, and they have had to use part of the $600m loan.I don't believe ,but I could be wrong the nRL has had to use any of their $250 loan guarantee.

V"landys love him or hate him, as an accountant ,would want any expansion club to be long term financially viable.You have a far better chance of achieving that ,in heartland areas(cities).
We all want the Storm to be around for the next 100 years, but the real tests will come ,when they have times like the Dragons are going through.

well that’s your opinion, my opinion is that over 50k on a secondary channel in enemy territory is hardly a disaster, we’d be pretty happy if melbourne or perth where delivering that I suspect.

Totally agree re Adelaide but if we want a team there at some point in time the hard work has to begin ten years prior in my experience of seeing game rebuilt here in WA. At the moment I have seen absolutely zero appetite from the nrl to begin that process. Hell look at all the hard work gone into WA over the last decade and were we now sit and still the nrl has zero appetite to develop an nrl club here. Twenty years time we’ll still be talking about potential expansion areas the way the game is being administered.

no club is immune to poor management, be it heartland or expansion, as well you of all people should know. Storm will have some lean years and it will have some impact but look at broncos, years of averageness on the field yet still streets ahead in revenue of any other club and making a tidy profit. As long as Storm can hold their corporate support then their strong membership base should see them through lean times. Problem with nrl clubs is the margins are so tight that it literally only takes one major sponsor pulling Out and it’s catastrophe. I’d love to see the nrl’s report in possible expansion clubs and what response they got from the Interviews with Cummins and puddy re the amount they’d be willing to support an nrl club in the west. Cummins as for years been putting $400k a year into jnr RL so it’s not like he doesn’t have a long track record of supporting the game here.

 

[Perth Red]

In 2017 there were two games held at Perth Oval. The combined total for each event, which were held on separate dates, was 17,691. Broken down, that's an average of 8,846.

Two games were held on separate weekends in 2016. The combined total was 24,251 an average of 12,126.

In 2014 there were 2 games held during the season over separate rounds. Total attendance 32,281, average 16,140.

Sharp decline.

https://www.afltables.com/rl/crowds/perth_o_vn.html

The Nines drew a shit attendance in Perth this year.

Soccer has a higher profile in Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne. Lots of English in Adelaide and Perth to prop up those A-league clubs. Melbourne Victory are strong, but Adelaide GC and Perth Glory are not. If soccer cannot make it there, how can RL?

2018 we avg’d 19,240 to two games
lies, damn lies and statistics lol

Nines was on par for what you’d expect when you:
Put the opening games on when people are at work on valentines night
The nrl chair tells everyone two weeks prior that the game should stop wasting money on afl states
You charge $70 a ticket for a pre season jolly.

considering it only drew a couple of thousand less than the world nines in the games heartland that has a population 2.5 times bigger it was hardly a disaster lol
if the nrl wanted to fill the place they should have stopped pandering to tv on the east coast and played it Saturday and Sunday.

Soccer fans in Perth are following the EPL not shtty australian football. Having said that the 18-19 season glory still had a better crowd avg than 6 nrl clubs that year lol

2011-15 was when we had real hope the nrl was serious about expanding, after Grant told us to stop wasting our time the momentum died and fans were like ok, we’ll stop wasting our money supporting nrl as well. It was sad as there was a real buzz in the RL community at that time. The fans are here, just need a club to get behind.

 

[taipan]

well that’s your opinion, my opinion is that over 50k on a secondary channel in enemy territory is hardly a disaster, we’d be pretty happy if melbourne or perth where delivering that I suspect.

Totally agree re Adelaide but if we want a team there at some point in time the hard work has to begin ten years prior in my experience of seeing game rebuilt here in WA. At the moment I have seen absolutely zero appetite from the nrl to begin that process. Hell look at all the hard work gone into WA over the last decade and were we now sit and still the nrl has zero appetite to develop an nrl club here. Twenty years time we’ll still be talking about potential expansion areas the way the game is being administered.

no club is immune to poor management, be it heartland or expansion, as well you of all people should know. Storm will have some lean years and it will have some impact but look at broncos, years of averageness on the field yet still streets ahead in revenue of any other club and making a tidy profit. As long as Storm can hold their corporate support then their strong membership base should see them through lean times. Problem with nrl clubs is the margins are so tight that it literally only takes one major sponsor pulling Out and it’s catastrophe. I’d love to see the nrl’s report in possible expansion clubs and what response they got from the Interviews with Cummins and puddy re the amount they’d be willing to support an nrl club in the west. Cummins as for years been putting $400k a year into jnr RL so it’s not like he doesn’t have a long track record of supporting the game here.

50k when the Storm got 96K ,and who gets all the publicity and who has been there far longer.Tally up how much has been spent on Swans or even GWS promotion compared to the Storm.It's chalk and cheese.
FTM we have to get a 2nd Brisbane team up and running ,then an 18th team.That costs a hell of a lot of money, and after the current virus sh*t, our coffers have taken a hit.We need to build up the future fund.Bearing in mind we also have the NRLW comp to fund, which we should never let fold.

I'd say V'Landys has seen the large sums spent on GWS and the Suns ,and is hesitant in Perth at present.Anyway Brisbane2 has to come first.Crazy not having NRL every week in Brisbane.

You're telling me about poor management, as a Shark's supporter,
Broncos are in heartland areas,Storm are in foreign lands.A few poor seasons in one will not kill off that club, but could be disastrous for the other down South.
The problem with NRL clubs ,is ATM most have ordinary facilities to attract more people and more sponsor, the latter providing big coin.

Get decent boutique stadiums in place ,and that will make a hell of a difference.
When the AFL had ordinary grounds their crowds were far less than they get now, in all seater modern stadiums.
You cannot ignore the initial decimation of funds the ARL had in the Bank, which was more than 3 times the amount the AFL had in 1995.That was one hell of a foundation of cash on which to build a huge infrastructure fund.

 

[Perth Red]

50k when the Storm got 96K ,and who gets all the publicity and who has been there far longer.Tally up how much has been spent on Swans or even GWS promotion compared to the Storm.It's chalk and cheese.
FTM we have to get a 2nd Brisbane team up and running ,then an 18th team.That costs a hell of a lot of money, and after the current virus sh*t, our coffers have taken a hit.We need to build up the future fund.Bearing in mind we also have the NRLW comp to fund, which we should never let fold.

I'd say V'Landys has seen the large sums spent on GWS and the Suns ,and is hesitant in Perth at present.Anyway Brisbane2 has to come first.Crazy not having NRL every week in Brisbane.

You're telling me about poor management, as a Shark's supporter,
Broncos are in heartland areas,Storm are in foreign lands.A few poor seasons in one will not kill off that club, but could be disastrous for the other down South.
The problem with NRL clubs ,is ATM most have ordinary facilities to attract more people and more sponsor, the latter providing big coin.

Get decent boutique stadiums in place ,and that will make a hell of a difference.
When the AFL had ordinary grounds their crowds were far less than they get now, in all seater modern stadiums.
You cannot ignore the initial decimation of funds the ARL had in the Bank, which was more than 3 times the amount the AFL had in 1995.That was one hell of a foundation of cash on which to build a huge infrastructure fund.

Storm game was on main channel a good example of the difference between showing games on main channel and secondary channel though as Storm on secondary channel are usually drawing sub 30k.

They could, or it might not, you do love a hypothetical lol I see no reason Storm are at any greater sustainability risk of a bad period than any other club. In fact given their growth in membership, professional ownership and good facilities they are probably at lessor risk than many clubs.

Actually most dont have poor facilities. Of the 16 clubs there are only 4 (all Sydney) clubs who do (Wests could be playing at Bankwest FT if they werent so stuck in the past). So thats 75% of clubs with decent facilities now (though I wouldn't class ANZ as decent fan experience but its also not a sht hole).
How will having 20k stadiums in place boost crowd attendance from the current 14k avg for those clubs? Do you think they will sell out every game? With such low capacity there will be very little opportunity to reduce ticket price or do membership offers to get more people used to attending. AFL boost came from both improved facilities but sharing them so costs came down and people could easily get to the stadiums when their team was playing, home or away games.

What was our excuse pre covid? Ive just about heard them all in the last decade of expansion chatter lol. Covid is just the latest convenient excuse when you dont have a vision and strategy. Even the whole Brisbane2 thing isnt a well thought out constructed strategy, its one bloke coming in saying we should have another team there. Not that I disagree we need another Brisbane club but wheres the strategy and how does it fit into the long term vision for the game? As you say the game is taking a big financial hit, we've just signed a TV deal that could be significantly less than we had thought we would have in revenue for the next 7 years, we want more surplus to build a future fund, so where's the $14million a year coming from for Brisbane2?

 

[taipan]

And how many times will storm be on main channel?
We all live on hypotheticals, none of us are exempt.Sometimes they end up being fact.When you are in business and issues occur that are detrimental ,management tends to look at worse case scenarios, and how to deal with them should they crop up.
Penrith/Cronulla/Dragons/Manly/ for a start are not all seater stadiums. If you want to attract more females to games, seating tends to have far more appeal than standing or sitting on grass.
If you can't see how having better seating, more toilets, more cover is not going to give crowds a boost, then I'm not here.
I use the Storm as an example.When they were at Olympic Park their crowds ,compared to now in an all seater stadium.

They don't have to sell out each game, but by increasing their averages by 2-3k per week, they go some way to making a break even and with more sponsor facilities a profit.That's why the Eels are over the moon for their sponsors.
I am not going into the Sydney/Melbourne comparison.Topography and transport issues done to death, just no comparison.
Our excuse pre covid is the same as it is now(never changed) with clubs and their facilities remaining unchanged.Eels crowds will increase ,as will the Cowboys I feel.Transport issues remain unchanged.You need to live here to understand that fact.

Everyone's excuse now is post covid,because there are businesses and people who will not get back to work.
That indirectly affects sport, eating out etc.Hence smaller modern stadiums needed for suburban grounds.
AFAIK the Brisbane bombers(hate the name) have not just put a pin on the map, but gone into details into the how's,where and when's.Just like Searle did with the Titans.

And the AFL will be taking a financial hit.I read $150m in the Australian FWIW.$50m this year.Bearing in mind their games has more ads.But they won't be gifting their cut like the NRL because it's a necessity LOL.
The Rugby union has had to take a 30% drop in their Fox deal, and even that is short term FTM.Again no figures supplied.
The pain is being felt or will be by all sporting codes.

 

[Perth Red]

And how many times will storm be on main channel?
We all live on hypotheticals, none of us are exempt.Sometimes they end up being fact.When you are in business and issues occur that are detrimental ,management tends to look at worse case scenarios, and how to deal with them should they crop up.
Penrith/Cronulla/Dragons/Manly/ for a start are not all seater stadiums. If you want to attract more females to games, seating tends to have far more appeal than standing or sitting on grass.
If you can't see how having better seating, more toilets, more cover is not going to give crowds a boost, then I'm not here.
I use the Storm as an example.When they were at Olympic Park their crowds ,compared to now in an all seater stadium.

They don't have to sell out each game, but by increasing their averages by 2-3k per week, they go some way to making a break even and with more sponsor facilities a profit.That's why the Eels are over the moon for their sponsors.
I am not going into the Sydney/Melbourne comparison.Topography and transport issues done to death, just no comparison.
Our excuse pre covid is the same as it is now(never changed) with clubs and their facilities remaining unchanged.Eels crowds will increase ,as will the Cowboys I feel.Transport issues remain unchanged.You need to live here to understand that fact.

Everyone's excuse now is post covid,because there are businesses and people who will not get back to work.
That indirectly affects sport, eating out etc.Hence smaller modern stadiums needed for suburban grounds.
AFAIK the Brisbane bombers(hate the name) have not just put a pin on the map, but gone into details into the how's,where and when's.Just like Searle did with the Titans.

And the AFL will be taking a financial hit.I read $150m in the Australian FWIW.$50m this year.Bearing in mind their games has more ads.But they won't be gifting their cut like the NRL because it's a necessity LOL.
The Rugby union has had to take a 30% drop in their Fox deal, and even that is short term FTM.Again no figures supplied.
The pain is being felt or will be by all sporting codes.

lol you prove my point, maybe Swans avg tv audience is a lot more to do with being on a secondary channel, much like the audiences in SA,WA and Vic for NRL? Storm have just shown on a main channel they are nudging up to 100k, three times more than on a secondary channel.
Like I said 4 out of 16 clubs have crap stadiums. That's not the majority as you stated. The majority are playing in decent modern stadiums.
Yes whilst hypothetically it would be great to see those 4 get new stadiums to increase crowds (by 2k lol) the reality is there isnt $800mill on the table, or the political will, to make it happen.
Your hypothetical is Storm are going to be a disaster if they start losing. That's just a hypothetical to try and shore up your argument that somehow expansion clubs are more risky. If anything Id say they are probably one of the safer clubs in regards to revenue hit due to performance. I'd hate to see what your clubs losses are going to be this year.

And your back to the AFL.......

 

[taipan]

lol you prove my point, maybe Swans avg tv audience is a lot more to do with being on a secondary channel, much like the audiences in SA,WA and Vic for NRL? Storm have just shown on a main channel they are nudging up to 100k, three times more than on a secondary channel.
Like I said 4 out of 16 clubs have crap stadiums. That's not the majority as you stated. The majority are playing in decent modern stadiums.
Yes whilst hypothetically it would be great to see those 4 get new stadiums to increase crowds (by 2k lol) the reality is there isnt $800mill on the table, or the political will, to make it happen.
Your hypothetical is Storm are going to be a disaster if they start losing. That's just a hypothetical to try and shore up your argument that somehow expansion clubs are more risky. If anything Id say they are probably one of the safer clubs in regards to revenue hit due to performance. I'd hate to see what your clubs losses are going to be this year.

And your back to the AFL.......

"I proved your point " sorry bud don't let the ego get in the way of a story.The Swan's audience whatever it is and it is still crap after 38 years ,the promotion and monies spent should be double what it is.
The Storm had no competition and curious Vics with no fumbleball on ,would have tried anything.You cannot use that figure in an extraordinary time like we have now, to infer that figure will be some sort of norm.

I'm referring to Sydney ,when I'm discussing majority crap suburban stadiums and ANZ . Manly/Cronulla/Penrith/Dragons/Dogs/and throw in Souths.Oh and Canberra fans find Bruce stadium very dated and open to the weather.

My hypothetical is based on the fact the Storm to date have been just about the most highly successful/competitive team in the NRL.Their fans have had despite salary cap rorts ,a dream run.The real test especially in non heartland areas, is when they have a few seasons of bad runs.
This has been stated even by Swan's honchos for their own club.Difference is Swans is not privately owned, whereas Storm is.So in the case of the latter you have to deal with owners patience and fans' patience.
Well you love to promote the AFL when it suits you, and you do it many times.When it doesn't suit ,you use the "back to the AFL" get out clause.
You won't get an AFL referral ,if you don't constantly cite them as the ultimate.

The thread is about a 17th team, which is planned for heartland.Related to any expansion is also non heartland

 

[Perth Red]

Yes you did thanks, main stream channels attract a lot more viewers. Point is proven lol
What a surprise you’d only be thinkIng about Sydney

 

[taipan]

Yes you did thanks, main stream channels attract a lot more viewers. Point is proven lol
What a surprise you’d only be thinkIng about Sydney

Hello under current circumstances what happened in Melbourne is a one off under current circumstances ,which hopefully CVOVID-19 doesn't happen again.
Never stated main stream don't attract more.
Nice try though.
Well scoop,I live in Sydney, my team is in Sydney.I'm not going to think Albany in WA.I'll leave you to think about WA.

 

[Perth Red]

Hello under current circumstances what happened in Melbourne is a one off under current circumstances ,which hopefully CVOVID-19 doesn't happen again.
Never stated main stream don't attract more.
Nice try though.
Well scoop,I live in Sydney, my team is in Sydney.I'm not going to think Albany in WA.I'll leave you to think about WA.

Generally when making sweeping comments about the NRL like you did re stadium quality it is a good idea to qualify that you mean just a small section of the NRL lol.
Whilst showing the game on main channel was a one off as Ch9 are sht at promoting the game there is no evidence that the tripling of the viewing figure was a one off so your back to hypotheticals. Would be nice to have a FTA partner that showed the games in expansion states on main channel so we could see where it is at and if we can grow the audience given a concerted effort. Starting on a Sunday afternoon game wouldnt be a bad place to give it a go. Having said that Ch9's coverage is so poor that Im not sure we want to expose it to new audiences, could put them off the game for life!

 

[taipan]

Generally when making sweeping comments about the NRL like you did re stadium quality it is a good idea to qualify that you mean just a small section of the NRL lol.
Whilst showing the game on main channel was a one off as Ch9 are sht at promoting the game there is no evidence that the tripling of the viewing figure was a one off so your back to hypotheticals. Would be nice to have a FTA partner that showed the games in expansion states on main channel so we could see where it is at and if we can grow the audience given a concerted effort. Starting on a Sunday afternoon game wouldnt be a bad place to give it a go. Having said that Ch9's coverage is so poor that Im not sure we want to expose it to new audiences, could put them off the game for life!

You're lecturing me about sweeping statements LOL.Something that is commonplace with your commentary.Such as your generalised commentary on V'Landys and the influence of COVID-19

You know full well ,the only stadiums that need either rebuild or refurbishing are those in Sydney.As if they apply outside Sydney. Canberra is one but that is an ACT issue.
You know full well I have brought up issues with not only these stadiums but the transport issues getting to them many time3s in the past.

So to use one example of FTA on main channel ,whilst no AFL being played proves little. WE need it on the main channel in opposition to AFL, to really test the Storm's impact.
TV stations are desperate to achieve ratings ,and as a result ,more ad placements.In non heartland areas, advertisers are going to back the most popular codes before the less popular ones.
Ask yourself why union and the A League are finding it difficult to get decent Tv deals.

 

[The Great Dane]

There's an incredibility interesting phenomena happening here.

Two people, one who longs for a suburban Sydney competition and the other a suburban Brisbane competition, are both ganging together to attack the person who wants the "national competition" to actually be a national competition.

What both the 'suburban advocates' (for lack of a better term) want already exists, but neither are happy with that, they want the premier competition in the country (and world in this case) to be a suburban competition that caters specifically to their cities at the expense of all others, barring some tokens.

It's kind of like the people that fetishize certain periods in time, like the people that long for society to revert to how it was in the 50s, yet their rose tinted image of what the 50s was like isn't actually anything like it actually was.

Anyway, it's very interesting.

 

[Pippen94]

There's an incredibility interesting phenomena happening here.

Two people, one who longs for a suburban Sydney competition and the other a suburban Brisbane competition, are both ganging together to attack the person who wants the "national competition" to actually be a national competition.

What both the 'suburban advocates' (for lack of a better term) want already exists, but neither are happy with that, they want the premier competition in the country (and world in this case) to be a suburban competition that caters specifically to their cities at the expense of all others, barring some tokens.

It's kind of like the people that fetishize certain periods in time, like the people that long for society to revert to how it was in the 50s, yet their rose tinted image of what the 50s was like isn't actually anything like it actually was.

Anyway, it's very interesting.

Heard of the English premier league?
Being national & having suburban teams is not mutually exclusive. Brisbane is strongest rugby league market in the world. NRL reviews into expansion confirm a 3rd Brisbane team more desirable as it would increase ratings / streaming the league's biggest source of income.
Perth is a place on map but game will never have great following there - just like afl here. Just so you can say game is national - we do anyway so who cares?

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Heard of the English premier league?
Being national & having suburban teams is not mutually exclusive. Brisbane is strongest rugby league market in the world. NRL reviews into expansion confirm a 3rd Brisbane team more desirable as it would increase ratings / streaming the league's biggest source of income.
Perth is a place on map but game will never have great following there - just like afl here. Just so you can say game is national - we do anyway so who cares?

The biggest hurdle for Perth in the long run would be distance. If players don't want to make the long flight then that works against Perth getting a team.

The media will not give them a nice run in Perth.

The game will take decades to develop any sort of stable supporter base in that part of the world. Expats who live there probably make up the bulk of the people attending the few games that are played at Perth, but they probably won't adopt the Pirates as their main team. They'll just go to the football when their team is in town. The mining boom is over so many of these people may have gone back home.

 

[Perth Red]

Heard of the English premier league?
Being national & having suburban teams is not mutually exclusive. Brisbane is strongest rugby league market in the world. NRL reviews into expansion confirm a 3rd Brisbane team more desirable as it would increase ratings / streaming the league's biggest source of income.
Perth is a place on map but game will never have great following there - just like afl here. Just so you can say game is national - we do anyway so who cares?

that’s a strange comparison to choose. EPL has 20 teams in 12 cities. NRL has 16 clubs in 8 cities. If we put 4 new clubs in 4 new cities you’d have a point lol

wheres your source that says a third Brisbane club is most preferable?

 

[Perth Red]

The biggest hurdle for Perth in the long run would be distance. If players don't want to make the long flight then that works against Perth getting a team.

The media will not give them a nice run in Perth.

The game will take decades to develop any sort of stable supporter base in that part of the world. Expats who live there probably make up the bulk of the people attending the few games that are played at Perth, but they probably won't adopt the Pirates as their main team. They'll just go to the football when their team is in town. The mining boom is over so many of these people may have gone back home.

the biggest hurdle for perth is a conservative nrl administration with little vision. We have a sports club playing in a national comp in every sport except RL, staggering that other sports can manage the travel but RL can’t?

you do know that RL has been played in Perth since the 50’s Dont you?
That’s not been my experience so far, every fan I’ve come across Is desperate to get a nrl club here and will support them. In 2011 I started a Reds supporters club and had thousands committed to it. You massively underestimate the small but committed group of RL fans over here in the West. It’s no surprise though, I find many people on the East Coast totally ignorant of what’s happening over here.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

the biggest hurdle for perth is a conservative nrl administration with little vision. We have a sports club playing in a national comp in every sport except RL, staggering that other sports can manage the travel but RL can’t?

you do know that RL has been played in Perth since the 50’s Dont you?
That’s not been my experience so far, every fan I’ve come across Is desperate to get a nrl club here and will support them. In 2011 I started a Reds supporters club and had thousands committed to it. You massively underestimate the small but committed group of RL fans over here in the West. It’s no surprise though, I find many people on the East Coast totally ignorant of what’s happening over here.

I know about Perth's long history. I am just trying to think of hurdles the other NRL clubs might put in the way, and travel could be one of them. Rugby league is a brutal game and players need every bit of recovery time they can get. Sitting on a plane for an extended time after a brutal game isn't fun. One of the complaints from the Reds' days was the long flight home.

 

[Perth Red]

I know about Perth's long history. I am just trying to think of hurdles the other NRL clubs might put in the way, and travel could be one of them. Rugby league is a brutal game and players need every bit of recovery time they can get. Sitting on a plane for an extended time after a brutal game isn't fun. One of the complaints from the Reds' days was the long flight home.

no doubt it isn’t easy, and no doubt it makes it harder to attract players,but it isNt a real reason not to do it. It’s just an excuse as we see every other sport managing the travel, some such as netball, much greater travel. Interesting matt fuller reckons the Reds would have been competing for a premiership with 5 years given the squad they assembled and the jnrs they had put together. I still think a very outside the box solution to our lack of player development in the first ten years is to partner with PNG. What PNG 17 year old isn’t going to jump at the chance of coming to live in Perth and try and get an nrl contract?

re decades to etablosh crowds, I call nonsense. The game is much stronger here than in Melbourne and it only took them 12 years to hit nrl avg. I’d be very surprised if we don’t start at around the 14k-15k mark and build, presuming the club is well run.

 

[The Great Dane]

Heard of the English premier league?
Being national & having suburban teams is not mutually exclusive. Brisbane is strongest rugby league market in the world. NRL reviews into expansion confirm a 3rd Brisbane team more desirable as it would increase ratings / streaming the league's biggest source of income.
Perth is a place on map but game will never have great following there - just like afl here. Just so you can say game is national - we do anyway so who cares?

The situation in England and Wales isn't applicable to the situation in Australia, it's comparing apples and oranges.

You say the sport isn't and can't be popular in Perth, so they can't have a club, but the biggest thing setting the growth of the sport back in Perth is that they don't have their own club to support, create a pathway to professionalism, bring more money into the sport locally in Perth, etc.

So you condemn them because the sport isn't popular, then refuse them their best bet at growing the sport. It's a self fulfilling prophecy with only one outcome.

Also I'd love to read these reviews into expansion from the NRL that confirm a 3rd Brisbane team is more desirable, of course I can't read that review because it doesn't exist.