18th club, whose next?

[Hartwood]

There's no way the PNG/Cairns bid could work. I'd rather see the Central Coast Bears over a PNG team based in Cairns.

Why do you say that? I don't think they should be next in line, in fact I'd put then below perth, christchurch and adelaide, but I don't see why it can't work. I think it would greatly strengthen PNG rugby league and the kumuls

 

[Butterbeanz]

I’m gonna put out a completely left field option here how about a NZ2 team / Tasmanian joint franchise

so my thinking is Tasmania to Christchurch/ Canterbury nz is like 2.5 hours direct so why not a joint South Island / Tasmania team

I believe Tasmania had a basketball team( the huskies) in nz till COVID hit , then had to relocate to nz, I believe it was to feel out it for the nbl in Australia

no reason that thinking couldn’t expand the NRL that way

 

[AdelaideSharky]

I’m gonna put out a completely left field option here how about a NZ2 team / Tasmanian joint franchise

so my thinking is Tasmania to Christchurch/ Canterbury nz is like 2.5 hours direct so why not a joint South Island / Tasmania team

I believe Tasmania had a basketball team( the huskies) in nz till COVID hit , then had to relocate to nz, I believe it was to feel out it for the nbl in Australia

no reason that thinking couldn’t expand the NRL that way

Not sure if it's true but I once heard Tasmanians have a full blown hatred of rugby league.

All they want is an AFL team.

 

[siv]

Storm should play their "regional" game in Tasmania rather than on the Sunshine Coast

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Why do you say that? I don't think they should be next in line, in fact I'd put then below perth, christchurch and adelaide, but I don't see why it can't work. I think it would greatly strengthen PNG rugby league and the kumuls

I'd rather wait until PNG is able to sustain a team of its own. It might take decades for PNG to have the infrastructure needed to field a team on its shores, but it will be better than creating a Frankenstein team that appeals to no one.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

When Abdo said NZ2 was in the pipeworks for the 18th licence I got the sense that Brisbane 3 and West Coast Pirates were out of the running. The fact he's told the Firehawks, Jets and Pirates they're all a chance suggests that the ARLC have crunched the numbers and found that NZ2 won't be ready within the next 5 years.

If NZ2 is out of the bidding then who becomes the favourite for expansion?

From what I've read in the media and annual reports released by Easts Tigers, the Pirates reckon they can field a team in 2024 or 2025, whereas the Firehawks are still building the infrastructure needed to be a powerhouse like The Dolphins. The Pirates don't have the infrastructure, so once the Firehawks finish the rebuild of Langlands Park it will put them ahead of The Pirates. Part of being a successful NRL franchise is having elite training and recovery facilities.

Broncos and Titans won't want Brisbane 3, but they didn't want Brisbane 2 either. I don't think Brisbane 3 will hurt either club, provided they become more proactive in marketing themselves to fans within a 15KM to 25KM radius of their HQ.

 

[Perth Red]

When Abdo said NZ2 was in the pipeworks for the 18th licence I got the sense that Brisbane 3 and West Coast Pirates were out of the running. The fact he's told the Firehawks, Jets and Pirates they're all a chance suggests that the ARLC have crunched the numbers and found that NZ2 won't be ready within the next 5 years.

If NZ2 is out of the bidding then who becomes the favourite for expansion?

From what I've read in the media and annual reports released by Easts Tigers, the Pirates reckon they can field a team in 2024 or 2025, whereas the Firehawks are still building the infrastructure needed to be a powerhouse like The Dolphins. The Pirates don't have the infrastructure, so once the Firehawks finish the rebuild of Langlands Park it will put them ahead of The Pirates. Part of being a successful NRL franchise is having elite training and recovery facilities.

Broncos and Titans won't want Brisbane 3, but they didn't want Brisbane 2 either. I don't think Brisbane 3 will hurt either club, provided they become more proactive in marketing themselves to fans within a 15KM to 25KM radius of their HQ.

Nrlwa has a strong relationship with Curtin university and has based the elite jnr programmes there in the past, it’s also where the AIS hockey program is including the hockeyroos base of operations. I could see a Perth nrl club being based on campus using their top class facilities and tapping into their sports research and development programs. If that’s the case they dont need to build anything and would have a high performance training base overnight.

Cash Converters WA Reds and Curtin Stadium - NRL WA

The ‘Cash Converters’ WA Reds are proud to announce their partnership with Curtin Stadium for the forthcoming 2012 S.G Ball season. The award winning sport and fitness complex will be the training base for the WA Reds who will train out of the stadium every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, having...

nrlwa.com.au

news ltd wanted brisbane2 if it gave them opportunity to get broncos off fta to drive subscriptions. titans didn’t want them but have no power or influence in the nrl, other clubs just cared about trying to get more money.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Nrlwa has a strong relationship with Curtin university and has based the elite jnr programmes there in the past, it’s also where the AIS hockey program is including the hockeyroos base of operations. I could see a Perth nrl club being based on campus using their top class facilities and tapping into their sports research and development programs. If that’s the case they dont need to build anything and would have a high performance training base overnight.

Cash Converters WA Reds and Curtin Stadium - NRL WA

The ‘Cash Converters’ WA Reds are proud to announce their partnership with Curtin Stadium for the forthcoming 2012 S.G Ball season. The award winning sport and fitness complex will be the training base for the WA Reds who will train out of the stadium every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, having...

nrlwa.com.au

news ltd wanted brisbane2 if it gave them opportunity to get broncos off fta to drive subscriptions. titans didn’t want them but have no power or influence in the nrl, other clubs just cared about trying to get more money.

We all benefit from having the Donkeys off FTA. Bring in the Firehawks and put the Donkeys on FTA just 4 times a year.

 

[The Great Dane]

Apparently Canberra was an Aussie Rules city prior to the Raiders and Brumbies arrival

That's a highly simplistic way of looking at it.

The vast majority of the first people to immigrate to Canberra were public servants from Melbourne. Obviously they brought their culture and Aussie Rules with them and that deeply influenced Canberra's early sporting history, however by the end of WWII Canberra had a well developed and highly competitive sports market where AFL, RU, RL, and Soccer were all popular in the community.

In other words yes Aussie Rules was more popular than RL in Canberra's early days, but no sport really owned the market like Aussie Rules owns Melbourne or RL Brisbane. Which aside from short periods in the 90s and 00s, when RL and RU respectively did dominate the market, very much continues to be the case to this day (though like in the rest of the country RU has died on it's arse in the last decade).

Currently Aussie Rules is probably the most popular sport in Canberra by a small margin, but that margin is growing steadily, and having our own AFL team would give the sport a significant boost not only locally but in most of Southern NSW as well. However that state of affairs would be easily reversible if the NRL actually gave a f**k, which they don't, so yeah...

Another thing that the code wars sorts won't tell you is that a truly unique Canberran culture, and the Canberran identity, didn't really come into being until the 90s and RL and the Raiders were deeply entwined in that. People didn't really refer to themselves as 'Canberrans' until the Raiders won the Winfield Cup in 89.

 

[Vee]

Here are the top population centres in Australian and NZ that can reasonably or do host a professional RL, RU or AFL team:

Sydney 5M
Melbourne 5M
Brisbane 2.5M
Perth 2M
Auckland 1.5M
Adelaide 1.2M
Gold Coast 500k
Canberra 395k
Christchurch 380k
Newcastle 320k
Wollongong 290k
Geelong 220k
Hobart 216k
Wellington 215k
Townsville 196k
Hamilton 178k
Dunedin 105k

The obvious market for team 18 is Perth and they will be the ones that get the nod. Not just because of the population, but because of the investors interested in backing the team and the existing structures. V'landys may talk about not being interested but his administration want financially sound bids and Perth will romp it in when the time comes. Brisbane 3 will not be # 18 so soon on the heels of Redcliffe.

Central Coast?

 

[siv]

Central Coast?

Yes the folk on here dont want to acknowledge that PVL has the CC Bears as the lead candidate

 

[flippikat]

Here are the top population centres in Australian and NZ that can reasonably or do host a professional RL, RU or AFL team:

Sydney 5M
Melbourne 5M
Brisbane 2.5M
Perth 2M
Auckland 1.5M
Adelaide 1.2M
Gold Coast 500k
Canberra 395k
Christchurch 380k
Newcastle 320k
Wollongong 290k
Geelong 220k
Hobart 216k
Wellington 215k
Townsville 196k
Hamilton 178k
Dunedin 105k

The obvious market for team 18 is Perth and they will be the ones that get the nod. Not just because of the population, but because of the investors interested in backing the team and the existing structures. V'landys may talk about not being interested but his administration want financially sound bids and Perth will romp it in when the time comes. Brisbane 3 will not be # 18 so soon on the heels of Redcliffe.

The table kinda undersells Wellington, because 215k is just Wellington City.

When you add the "dormitory cities" of Porirua City (56k) and Hutt City (Lower Hutt, 104k) - both with about half an hour by train/car that brings it up to 375k and roughly on a par with your Christchurch figure.. going closer to an hour away & adding Kapiti Coast and Upper Hutt adds about another 90k.. all serviced by commuter trains, but more of a trek.

Similar sizes, but the key difference is that Christchurch City is far more populated than it's nearest neighbouring councils... which added to the sports culture there, and the new stadium soon to be built still puts it ahead of Wellington IMO.

Territorial authorities of New Zealand - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[AdelaideSharky]

That's a highly simplistic way of looking at it.

The vast majority of the first people to immigrate to Canberra were public servants from Melbourne. Obviously they brought their culture and Aussie Rules with them and that deeply influenced Canberra's early sporting history, however by the end of WWII Canberra had a well developed and highly competitive sports market where AFL, RU, RL, and Soccer were all popular in the community.

In other words yes Aussie Rules was more popular than RL in Canberra's early days, but no sport really owned the market like Aussie Rules owns Melbourne or RL Brisbane. Which aside from short periods in the 90s and 00s, when RL and RU respectively did dominate the market, very much continues to be the case to this day (though like in the rest of the country RU has died on it's arse in the last decade).

Currently Aussie Rules is probably the most popular sport in Canberra by a small margin, but that margin is growing steadily, and having our own AFL team would give the sport a significant boost not only locally but in most of Southern NSW as well. However that state of affairs would be easily reversible if the NRL actually gave a f**k, which they don't, so yeah...

Another thing that the code wars sorts won't tell you is that a truly unique Canberran culture, and the Canberran identity, didn't really come into being until the 90s and RL and the Raiders were deeply entwined in that. People didn't really refer to themselves as 'Canberrans' until the Raiders won the Winfield Cup in 89.

It's part of the reason why I think the AFL has to bite the bullet on the Giants and move them to Canberra full time.

Even after giving them all the concessions in the world and billions poured into them, they've only had one Grand Final appearance to their name where they got annihilated and you can still fit the Giants fanbase into a phone box.

All the money in the world won't change the fact Western Sydney doesn't give a f**k about Aussie Rules, never has never will.

 

[mongoose]

The A League should have put a team in Canberra, instead of the plastic unwanted Macarthur of Western United franchises. Then the rectangle codes could push harder for a brand new fully enclosed stadium in Civic or Woden and maybe that asshat andrew barr would cave in.

 

[AdelaideSharky]

The A League should have put a team in Canberra, instead of the plastic unwanted Macarthur of Western United franchises. Then the rectangle codes could push harder for a brand new fully enclosed stadium in Civic or Woden and maybe that asshat andrew barr would cave in.

Why would they move out of GIO Stadium?

It just needs an upgrade.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

The table kinda undersells Wellington, because 215k is just Wellington City.

When you add the "dormitory cities" of Porirua City (56k) and Hutt City (Lower Hutt, 104k) - both with about half an hour by train/car that brings it up to 375k and roughly on a par with your Christchurch figure.. going closer to an hour away & adding Kapiti Coast and Upper Hutt adds about another 90k.. all serviced by commuter trains, but more of a trek.

Similar sizes, but the key difference is that Christchurch City is far more populated than it's nearest neighbouring councils... which added to the sports culture there, and the new stadium soon to be built still puts it ahead of Wellington IMO.

Territorial authorities of New Zealand - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Thanks mate

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Central Coast?

Yeah good point, missed that one. I think it would come in just after Hamilton on the list

 

[AdelaideSharky]

Central Coast?

I think the NSW Government's announcement of their plan to incorporate the Central Coast as part of Greater Sydney hurts the Bears' chances of coming back.

There's enough bs from league fans outside of NSW who think there's too many Sydney clubs as it is.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

When Abdo said NZ2 was in the pipeworks for the 18th licence I got the sense that Brisbane 3 and West Coast Pirates were out of the running. The fact he's told the Firehawks, Jets and Pirates they're all a chance suggests that the ARLC have crunched the numbers and found that NZ2 won't be ready within the next 5 years.

If NZ2 is out of the bidding then who becomes the favourite for expansion?

From what I've read in the media and annual reports released by Easts Tigers, the Pirates reckon they can field a team in 2024 or 2025, whereas the Firehawks are still building the infrastructure needed to be a powerhouse like The Dolphins. The Pirates don't have the infrastructure, so once the Firehawks finish the rebuild of Langlands Park it will put them ahead of The Pirates. Part of being a successful NRL franchise is having elite training and recovery facilities.

Broncos and Titans won't want Brisbane 3, but they didn't want Brisbane 2 either. I don't think Brisbane 3 will hurt either club, provided they become more proactive in marketing themselves to fans within a 15KM to 25KM radius of their HQ.

Mate, I think Perth has a lot going for it as # 18. The thing that will work against the Firehawks is the fact that it is too soon after the Dolphins admission.

If Brisbane 3 is team 19, and it is the Firehawks we will have three very powerful sporting clubs in the Brisbane market which is great. I do think that to give them the best chance of admission, they need to lean towards the Western Corridor as it is the main growth area now that we have the northern corridor attended to. This will mean we have SEQ sorted with Dolphins (North), Broncos (Brisbane), Jets/Firehawks (West), Titans (South). This will leave the other codes with little room to grow except within their small niche.

What are your thoughts on # 19 being focussed on the Western Corridor? That is where the Lions are focussed on trying to carve a niche out at the moment.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Mate, I think Perth has a lot going for it as # 18. The thing that will work against the Firehawks is the fact that it is too soon after the Dolphins admission.

If Brisbane 3 is team 19, and it is the Firehawks we will have three very powerful sporting clubs in the Brisbane market which is great. I do think that to give them the best chance of admission, they need to lean towards the Western Corridor as it is the main growth area now that we have the northern corridor attended to. This will mean we have SEQ sorted with Dolphins (North), Broncos (Brisbane), Jets/Firehawks (West), Titans (South). This will leave the other codes with little room to grow except within their small niche.

What are your thoughts on # 19 being focussed on the Western Corridor? That is where the Lions are focussed on trying to carve a niche out at the moment.

Ipswich doesn't have as many people as south-eastern Brisbane and Logan. The Lions already have the Lions@Springwood Social Club in the north-eastern suburbs of Logan, collecting about $5m from the locals each year and reinvesting some of it into the Springwood Pumas fumbleball club. It's been over a decade since the Lions@Springwood Social Club was opened.

Lions are based in Easts Tigers territory.

Admitting The Firehawks into the NRL will help weaken The Lions significantly and give RL in the region a major boost. With the South East Busway in the process of being extended to the Logan Hyperdome it will be easier than ever for people from Easts Tigers territory to attend Lang Park.

I think The Broncos have a greater hold over Ipswich than Logan.