18th club, whose next?

[Colk]

I meant qld


meant Brisbane 3

Oh ok. Got you

 

[Colk]

Agree with all of this

but it’s early days and the storm are very beatable as parra showed

at the start of the year I thought eels vs panthers. Eels have the forward pack to bully Penrith. Nobody else can imo they are so far ahead of the comp it’s a joke

the storm lack the forwards but rely upon their brilliant spine players to win them games

Parra need to put Dylan Brown back at five eighth for one. Can’t believe I’m saying that but Dylan Brown has been probably the most improved player in the competition thus far.

 

[Wb1234]

Oh ok. Got you

Somehow I had titans as a Brisbane team

The government (most likely) would have to tip in a mountain of money for this to have any legs. The reason is because no private investor would likely do it - the investment would have to be large and ongoing with no potential end date and no potential profit.

Now this would be possible, if for example, China became interested in PNG and the government of that time had the same suspicions or concerns about such an investment as they do no

the govt is tipping in money now I think for the hunters

but there are loads of major Aussie mining companies in png im sure getting corporate support wouldn’t be an issue

if it’s a joint bid with cairns then that should help with finances

with all the potential expansion areas png is the one that excites me the most

it would truly transform the nrl if they can make it stack up financially and operationally

 

[Colk]

Somehow I had titans as a Brisbane team


the govt is tipping in money now I think for the hunters

but there are loads of major Aussie mining companies in png im sure getting corporate support wouldn’t be an issue

if it’s a joint bid with cairns then that should help with finances

with all the potential expansion areas png is the one that excites me the most

it would truly transform the nrl if they can make it stack up financially and operationally

Yeah I agree that it would be tremendous if it worked. It would also be good to stick it up AwFuL and other sports through this option.

The PNG economy and society needs a lot of work though and there is no money in this option. Getting player talent there would be a big problem too.

If the government gets involved - I really would leverage the anti Chinese government sentiment to drive it - then it is a possibility.

 

[siv]

What’s the wider point of doing this though? You won’t get any massive investment from these areas (at least ongoing), you’ll cost the teams doing this by reduced memberships and third party corporates and you’ll piss off your own supporters.

Either relocate fully or put teams in these areas. (Btw I’m not suggesting you put a team in Darwin as it’s too small. Adelaide maybe in 10-15 years down the track)

NRL being a TV product means its not needed

So NRL clubs get the cash from venues/governments wanting games locally

It also addresses geographic spread without relocations

Let those locations play in a the Tier 2 NSW Cup or Qld Cup comp in the part-time league

 

[Colk]

It'll need to grow at double that rate to meet 2031 projection. That's why projections are just bullshit.

No it wouldn’t. If the population grows at the same rate (I actually overegged that a little. The population growth has been about 48% on 2000 levels) the population will surpass the projected population of 2031- it will more likely reach around 2.4 million by 2031.

Even if you just addressed the growth based on a simple mean increase per year (which has been roughly 31k per year) the population again would be more than 2.35 million.

Based on the same growth rate, from 2000-2022, a growth rate of 2.2% per annum, you would achieve a growth rate of 61.6% on the 2022 population. This would mean a population of just over 3.2 million.

Most forecasts tend to be conservative. You see in budget estimates all the time

 

[The Penguin #6.]

Yeah I agree that it would be tremendous if it worked. It would also be good to stick it up AwFuL and other sports through this option.

The PNG economy and society needs a lot of work though and there is no money in this option. Getting player talent there would be a big problem too.

If the government gets involved - I really would leverage the anti Chinese government sentiment to drive it - then it is a possibility.

It would take a lot more than a few mining companies, if they were willing, to make PNG a reality, nearly all NRL teams rely on scores if not hundreds of small to medium size businesses sponsoring the team. PNG simply just does not have this.
Ticket sales would be also practically worthless given the value of the PNG currency and as you say getting star players to live there, christ even Canberra can`t attract star players.
PNG is probably 50 years down the track when that country has a first world economy, and the idea of combining it with other nations wouldn`t work, it would be a shit fight.
As someone said fund them more, get the pathways working but they belong in Tier 2 at the moment.

 

[Colk]

NRL being a TV product means its not needed

So NRL clubs get the cash from venues/governments wanting games locally

It also addresses geographic spread without relocations

Let those locations play in a the Tier 2 NSW Cup or Qld Cup comp in the part-time league

That point doesn’t make any sense at all (in the way you’re using it) and actually undermines your argument completely. If it’s a TV product as you contest (well every sport is a TV product in essence) then you would put your teams in markets which have the biggest advertising potential or spread. For example you would have a side in the five TV metro markets, rather than putting in a Central Coast side

 

[siv]

That point doesn’t make any sense at all (in the way you’re using it) and actually undermines your argument completely. If it’s a TV product as you contest (well every sport is a TV product in essence) then you would put your teams in markets which have the biggest advertising potential or spread. For example you would have a side in the five TV metro markets, rather than putting in a Central Coast side

You dont need to

Its about advertising back into the Sydney market always

 

[Colk]

It would take a lot more than a few mining companies, if they were willing, to make PNG a reality, nearly all NRL teams rely on scores if not hundreds of small to medium size businesses sponsoring the team. PNG simply just does not have this.
Ticket sales would be also practically worthless given the value of the PNG currency and as you say getting star players to live there, christ even Canberra can`t attract star players.
PNG is probably 50 years down the track when that country has a first world economy, and the idea of combining it with other nations wouldn`t work, it would be a shit fight.
As someone said fund them more, get the pathways working but they belong in Tier 2 at the moment.

This times a 1,000. The average weekly earning in PNG is like $50 AUD. Anyone advocating a PNG side needs to find a solution that overcomes this massive problem.

Also as you said, how would they attract anybody. Even PNG players would want to move to play at an Australian at the first opportunity considering the country’s problems.

Again wonderful if it happened but I don’t see how you can realistically overcome these problems.

 

[Wb1234]

https://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl/png-and-cairns-investigating-joint-bid-for-nrl-team/news-story/a0638f95489288ed3ebe95746cbfc528?amp&nk=7eb2cce2eaf9dbbc635ab9ec90c6e884-1651662246

 

[The Penguin #6.]

I think some of the arguments on here suggest some of the reasons why. The idea being that we shouldn’t go there because it’s not a RL area.

There are two main problems with this idea.

1. You never achieve anything by not trying.
2. It’s based somewhat on this idea that societies or communities don’t change which is kind of a view stuck in the 1980’s. In a world post globalisation, people move for work/lifestyle opportunities all the time. Perth is made up of people from the east coast, people that have moved from England and other countries etc. Same as Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne is made up from people born in other states/countries. This is something that other sports (AwFuL included) have worked out - everything is a market you can obtain a share of. It just depends whether the reward of obtaining that market is worth the investment in it.

Don’t worry though, I have a feeling that some are working this out and if we wish to pursue more and more expansion they will eventually take on this opportunity as well as NZ 2.

The games are so completely different as well, I`d reckon that like Vic, a Perth team would quickly become a second team to many west Australians.

 

[Colk]

You dont need to

Its about advertising back into the Sydney market always

Pfft it’s not about that at all, particularly if you want to grow the game. How long do you think having just the Sydney market is sustainable against AwFuL (for example) as well as other sports which have a presence in multiple markets.

This is where I think you are stuck in the past mate. Growth will only come from having a presence across multiple markets, not by putting more teams in the same market - that’s the opposite of growth, that’s called splintering or saturating your existing market

 

[The Penguin #6.]

This times a 1,000. The average weekly earning in PNG is like $50 AUD. Anyone advocating a PNG side needs to find a solution that overcomes this massive problem.

Also as you said, how would they attract anybody. Even PNG players would want to move to play at an Australian at the first opportunity considering the country’s problems.

Again wonderful if it happened but I don’t see how you can realistically overcome these problems.

Yeah mate, in the future 30/50 years absolutely fantastic, what a geographical spread, but they are no where near ready yet. And this idea of splitting home bases, Cairns/PNG I`m not sure that would work with anyone.

 

[Colk]

The games are so completely different as well, I`d reckon that like Vic, a Perth team would quickly become a second team to many west Australians.

Exactly. People follow their local teams and also follow multiple sports. Advent of gambling has also assisted this as well.

For example, I follow tennis, cricket, European soccer, baseball and basketball because I enjoy those sports. RL is my favourite but I can watch and enjoy those other sports as well. Lots of people follow those lines, so this idea that people can only follow one sport is a bit stupid (they are AFL or they are League or they are this or that only etc is a bit archaic and not truly representative of a fairly liberal and open modern society)

 

[Colk]

Yeah mate, in the future 30/50 years absolutely fantastic, what a geographical spread, but they are no where near ready yet. And this idea of splitting home bases, Cairns/PNG I`m not sure that would work with anyone.

Look I would love it. Imagine for example, a 30k stadium in Port Moresby packed to the rafters every week. What a sight. Greatest story in PNG and League history

If it did happen it would also mean that PNG’s economy and society have progressed. That would be also brilliant news for the country.

For the sport, it would also mean that we would be truly the biggest competition in Oceania (our supporter base would be double AwFuL’s for example)

The biggest we could short term though is try and get PNG representation in every NRL squad (at least two or three in every squad) That would help PNG and give them something to aspire and improve their standards whilst also benefiting the game in deepening the pool of talent

 

[Perth Red]

Somehow I had titans as a Brisbane team


the govt is tipping in money now I think for the hunters

but there are loads of major Aussie mining companies in png im sure getting corporate support wouldn’t be an issue

if it’s a joint bid with cairns then that should help with finances

with all the potential expansion areas png is the one that excites me the most

it would truly transform the nrl if they can make it stack up financially and operationally

Would be amazing but would need a $15mill a year guarantee payment from govt for 20 years at least to be sustainable.

 

[Colk]

Would be amazing but would need a $15mill a year guarantee payment from govt for 20 years at least to be sustainable.

At least. Probably more than that.

 

[Perth Red]

At least. Probably more than that.

Yeh probably, even if govt gave them the money, and tbh no govt commits to funding for that long, then recruitment. how many players are going to want to live in cairns and travel every game home and away? It’s a bit of a daydream but it’s always nice to dream lol

 

[Colk]

Yeh probably, even if govt gave them the money, and tbh no govt commits to funding for that long, then recruitment. how many players are going to want to live in cairns and travel every game home and away? It’s a bit of a daydream but it’s always nice to dream lol

Well you have to have money for the infrastructure aspect (the ground is not too bad but would still need work plus other things like training facilities etc) the travel costs are huge (and you’re paying it every week), there is no chance of any income from TV advertising, memberships, gate receipts (they might have some corporates from mining) then you have quite rightly the issue of recruitment and retention.

We can and should do a lot more with PNG in terms of player development and funding but a team is not realistic (at least not in the short to medium term)