18th club, whose next?

[AdelaideSharky]

Should be Perth and second NZ (Wellington) imo. Gives us new markets.

 

[bad boy bubby]

i thought all West Coast Eagles and Dockers games are shown FTA into WA? which would probably mean a low rate of subscribers.

I never mentioned their teams, I said the AFL.
Have you ever been to WA?
I used to live there, there are plenty of other teams supporters besides those two, and I reckon they would watch other games just like NRL supporters do.

 

[flippikat]

Should be Perth and second NZ (Wellington) imo. Gives us new markets.

Christchurch, not Wellington - and I say that as a proud Wellingtonian.

Wellington - art city, useless at sports, exposed oval stadium that's rubbish for footy games on a cold, rainy NZ night.

Christchurch - sports-mad city, great record in a lot of sports, new rectangular & covered stadium being built in the city centre that probably would be keen for another tenant... AND a long & storied rivalry with all things Auckland.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

The Norh Sydney club got more media attention , because they have continually tried to do something about it. So stop trying to blame Sydney for QL 'Ders own inadequacies.

North Sydney get attention because Sydneysiders suffer from the same entitlement complex that is rampant amongst Melbournians.

When North Sydney said they wanted to buy the Titans and rebrand them as the Gold Coast Bears there were one-eyed fans from all over Sydney going on about great it would be and acting as if it was a fait accompli.

The "bring back the Bears bid" was stupid and flawed when it first came around in the 2000s, but it's gotten progressively stupider over the years. If it was a non-Sydney club then it wouldn't have been given any airtime or credibility by the media.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

It's a business, but they can't ONLY ever think about the bottom dollar (TV subscriptions). Sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture (Perth in, games in Adelaide ongoing, and such).

Would I be wrong in thinking that a Perth-based team creates a fortnightly timeslot that will help the NRL muscle in on the emerging SE Asian market?

It won't add money inyo the game from SE Asia right away, but if we can get games played in Perth at 7.30pm WAST, then give the broadcast rights away for free to major networks in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, then in 10 or 20 years time there might be a small but dedicated group of fans from these countries who sign up as non-ticketed members and buy merchandise.

It's not unheard of for companies to let people trial their product for free to build up a customer base.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

If you look at that final Reds squad, there was the makings of a club that could have been contenders in the late '90s-early 2000s. Just look how many went on to bigger success in the early years of the Storm.

On your 2nd point, you're absolutely right.

It's time the top tier was bold, truly bold.. just as it was 20 years ago.

We should go to 20 teams again - but rather than the "big bang" approach of 1995, maybe a staged plan over the next 10 years with a clear timetable set in place.

If relocation or replacement of Sydney clubs is unlikely to happen (to accommodate expansion into Perth/NZ /Brisbane 3/Adelaide), then the NRL should step up and just add clubs to open up those pathways and commercial opportunities.

I know adding those 4 takes us to 21, but we could do it with 20 teams if ONE Sydney club is relocated or demoted.. and if an expansion roadmap starts, the opportunity could be left open for a club if the pressures caused by expansion creates an opportunity there.

I agree with all of this. There's no reason to not relocate a Sydney club to Adelaide. If Sydney can't remain an RL city with 8 teams then everyone at the NSWRL should get 5 to 10 years for gross incompetence at their job.

 

[Perth Red]

Because they won't pick up any new conscriptions for Fox/Kayo.
Every Rugby League fan would already have them, plus new supporters probably already have them as well due to the AFL.

If AFL managed to sell the concept of Western Sydney and GC to their TV partners, selling Perth to go alongside Brisbane2 should not be difficult for NRL! End of day selling an extra time slot, therefore new content audience should be pretty easy regardless of the club that makes up the 18th side. NRL needs to decide what it wants its future to be. Stronger in NZ, just a consolidated mostly East coast comp or a national Australian comp. You'd hope they'd actually know that!!

 

[MugaB]

Most likely because they have no newspaper presence in WA as Seven owns WA's main newspaper and they're not picking up any new subscribers to Fox.

This is correct, i do the mailhouse work for news, and they have no presence there, they however do have all other major metropolitan areas on the east coast plus Geelong, Adelaide and drumroll folks.... Cairns

 

[bad boy bubby]

If AFL managed to sell the concept of Western Sydney and GC to their TV partners, selling Perth to go alongside Brisbane2 should not be difficult for NRL! End of day selling an extra time slot, therefore new content audience should be pretty easy regardless of the club that makes up the 18th side. NRL needs to decide what it wants its future to be. Stronger in NZ, just a consolidated mostly East coast comp or a national Australian comp. You'd hope they'd actually know that!!

You know that I want a team in Perth. I was just answering someone's question as to why News have an agenda against a Perth team. I took a stab at it. Its the only reason I can think of, even though I think it's not a good enough reason if true.
In other words, I'm actually on your side in this one!! Haha

 

[Santino Patane]

The Norh Sydney club got more media attention , because they have continually tried to do something about it. So stop trying to blame Sydney for QL 'Ders own inadequacies.

Umm, it was done back in the mid 2000’s. The Gold Coast has been back in the comp for 15 seasons now- if that’s not doing something about it, I don’t know what is…. Might be time to shine that “inadequacies” mirror a little closer to home champ.

 

[tri_colours]

Umm, it was done back in the mid 2000’s. The Gold Coast has been back in the comp for 15 seasons now- if that’s not doing something about it, I don’t know what is…. Might be time to shine that “inadequacies” mirror a little closer to home champ.

The History of the Gold Coast Titans begins with the formation of the Titans club, an entirely separate entity to the Chargers club

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Umm, it was done back in the mid 2000’s. The Gold Coast has been back in the comp for 15 seasons now- if that’s not doing something about it, I don’t know what is…. Might be time to shine that “inadequacies” mirror a little closer to home champ.

I remember John Singleton saying all sorts of nasty shit about the Gold Coast bid.

I think one of the stipulations of the Super League/ARL merger was that the Broncos would be the sole team in Queensland for 5 years.

I see the new Titans logo looks a little bit like the one I created last year?

 

[MugaB]

Correct, but u wanted them to also be called the diehards too

I remember John Singleton saying all sorts of nasty shit about the Gold Coast bid.

I think one of the stipulations of the Super League/ARL merger was that the Broncos would be the sole team in Queensland for 5 years.

I see the new Titans logo looks a little bit like the one I created last year?

Also john singleton was pushing the bears bid in at central coast

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Correct, but u wanted them to also be called the diehards too

Also john singleton was pushing the bears bid in at central coast

I still think Diehards could work a treat as there's history between Gold Coast and Valleys. In 1988, the Fortitude Valley Diehards merged with the Tweed Heads Seagulls to become the Seagulls-Diehards and won the Woolies Pre-Season competition, beating Logan City Scorpions in the final at Lang Park and backing it up with a win over the Ipswich Jets to become the BRL Premiers later that year. It's the only Gold Coast club that has ever been successful. The Fortitude Valley Diehards are the most iconic and prestigious rugby league club in all of Queensland. The Titans and Diehards both use the gladiator mascot. It would be great for the Titans to embrace all of this under their brand so that they can become a glamour club in their own right, with history dating back to 1909.

 

[AdelaideSharky]

This is correct, i do the mailhouse work for news, and they have no presence there, they however do have all other major metropolitan areas on the east coast plus Geelong, Adelaide and drumroll folks.... Cairns

I've long suspected the South Australian Government of either party has sat on their hands about building a rectangular stadium in the city or a full blown upgrade (instead of the half assed one they're doing at Coopers atm for the women's football World Cup) of Coopers Stadium in the hopes of the NRL come calling.

I went to Roosters vs Storm games at Adelaide Oval when they were on and while it was good, the oval shaped ground killed the atmosphere.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

If AFL managed to sell the concept of Western Sydney and GC to their TV partners, selling Perth to go alongside Brisbane2 should not be difficult for NRL! End of day selling an extra time slot, therefore new content audience should be pretty easy regardless of the club that makes up the 18th side. NRL needs to decide what it wants its future to be. Stronger in NZ, just a consolidated mostly East coast comp or a national Australian comp. You'd hope they'd actually know that!!

Despite the concerning comments from NRL HQ about AFL states, I think Perth will be overwhelmingly the best bid when they call for them for team 18. Once Perth are in place, we will be back to where we were in 1995 with the additional bonus of a Melbourne team that have carved a nice niche for themselves. That is a pretty good spread for the NRL considering we have a foothold in the NZ market too and potential to expand further in that country.

The future is bright for the NRL. The AFL have pretty much grown as much as they can and we are going to start gaining back the momentum very soon that we had in the early-to-mid 90's.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

# 18 Perth - makes so much sense for so many reasons

# 19 Jets - Then we have all corners of the growing SEQ market sorted and will put the squeeze on rival codes big time. Northern Corridor (Dolphins), Brisbane (Broncos), Western Corridor (Jets), Southern Corridor & Gold Coast (Titans). Cowboys look after NQ and QLD is done at NRL level.

# 20 NZ2 - As @flippikat points out, Christchurch is the place for it.

Now, what to do about Adelaide? Leave it open for a future relocation, failed Sydney team or for a future time where it is possible to go past 20 teams?

 

[AdelaideSharky]

# 18 Perth - makes so much sense for so many reasons

# 19 Jets - Then we have all corners of the growing SEQ market sorted and will put the squeeze on rival codes big time. Northern Corridor (Dolphins), Brisbane (Broncos), Western Corridor (Jets), Southern Corridor & Gold Coast (Titans). Cowboys look after NQ and QLD is done at NRL level.

# 20 NZ2 - As @flippikat points out, Christchurch is the place for it.

Now, what to do about Adelaide? Leave it open for a future relocation, failed Sydney team or for a future time where it is possible to go past 20 teams?

As I said in here a few days ago, I live in Adelaide and nobody would want a reject club from Sydney down here, it would want it's own club.

There is a small fanbase down here spread among the existing clubs and would any of those ditch their club for a relocated club from Sydney? I don't think so.

If it was a fresh expansion team like the Rams were then that's a different story.

 

[AdelaideSharky]

Despite the concerning comments from NRL HQ about AFL states, I think Perth will be overwhelming the best bid when they call for them for team 18. Once Perth are in place, we will be back to where we were in 1995 with the additional bonus of a Melbourne team that have carved a nice niche for themselves. That is a pretty good spread for the NRL considering we have a foothold in the NZ market too and potential to expand further in that country.

The future is bright for the NRL. The AFL have pretty much grown as much as they can and we are going to start gaining back the momentum very soon that we had in the early-to-mid 90's.

AFL is still looking at expanding into Tasmania as far as I know.

 

[MugaB]

As I said in here a few days ago, I live in Adelaide and nobody would want a reject club from Sydney down here, it would want it's own club.

There is a small fanbase down here spread among the existing clubs and would any of those ditch their club for a relocated club from Sydney? I don't think so.

If it was a fresh expansion team like the Rams were then that's a different story.

That to me says, yes to a relocated team, as long as it's not a current one... its why i think the bears could make a fist of it... as far as licences go, 20 is a great rounded number, but it doesn't have to be if they are all viable, as long as they all are producing talent, and competetive at NRL level, (which won't always be the case as there will always be a bottom 4) then the number can reach 22... it won't happen tho