Sigh.
The NSWRL's dominance between 1909 and 1918 was based on a fair chunk of the NSWRU's best players defecting to the NSWRL.
The QRU's players remained loyal until their competition shut down during WWI.
The interstate series between Queensland and NSW was heavily one-sided in the latter's favour until the former gained access to seasoned players from the QRU. Between 1918 and 1930 there was no rugby union competition in Brisbane. During this period Queensland were successful in the interstate series. At the time, players from Brisbane were just as likely to play in the Ipswich and Toowoomba competitions as they were to play in the NSWRL. Queensland was very decentralised back then.
Queensland experienced another period of success during the 1950s. Then the NSW Gov legalised gaming machines in the late 1950s and Queensland struggled until the BRL produced a golden generation of players in the late 1970s. It led to the advent of State of Origin.
The game in Queensland was struggling due to NSWRL raiding the shit out of the BRL. It made the interstate series a boring one-sided contest.
Two things saved the game in Queensland.
1. A golden generation of players from Queensland made their way through the grades in the BRL during the 1970s.
2. The introduction of State of Origin in 1980.
The Sydney media and NSWRL laughed at the concept and called it a "non-event". That's right mate, if it was up to the NSWRL and Sydney media then Origin would have never been played and the game wouldn't be as big as it is today. But keep telling yourself that the game is in the position it is in due to the NSWRL.
The NSWRL clubs went into overdrive plundering the Origin stars from the BRL in the 1980s. BRL clubs went bankrupt trying to hold onto them because these players drew fans to club games. Unfortunately, they didn't have access to pokie machine revenue. Players defected to NSWRL clubs that had gaming machine revenue. Crowds for BRL games declined. Interest in BRL declined. It was a death spiral that the BRL couldn't survive. One that was caused by NSWRL taking advantage of their access to gaming machine revenue. To argue that gaming machines was not responsible for what happened in 1988 is just plain dumb and makes it impossible to take you seriously.
The NSWRL and Sydney RL fans were quite disgusting during the 1980s. In one instance the Australian Kangaroos coach refused to select players from the Queensland State of Origin team that smashed NSW. Australia lost as a result. Feral fans from Sydney booed Australian captain Wally Lewis as he led the Kangaroos onto the SCG and held up the trophy on stsge. There's no justification for that sort of narrow-minded pettiness. New South Welshmen were throwing a tantrum because the Queenslanders were better than them at rugby league, so they used their influence behind the scenes to punish them. They still do it today. It wasn't that long ago that the ARL sent a shit Sydney Roosters SG Ball team to Scotland to represent Australia at the Commonwealth Games RL Nines trial tournament, despite the Townsville Stingers defeating them in the national championships. Australia lost that tournament to PNG.
The Sydney-centric ARLC will always place the interests of Sydney RL ahead of the good of the game. Don't whinge when it creates apathy and resentment in Queensland and New Zealand. You cannot expect me to be an avid active supporter of the game when it is rigged in favour of Sydney RL clubs. Sadly, you and your mates on here only care about controlling the balance of power and couldn't care less about the long-term health of the game.
V'landys didn't bring in Brisbane 2 out of kindness for Queenslanders.
The Broncos, Cowboys and Titans were struggling on the field and it had an adverse impact on TV ratings. The broadcast rights were up for negotiation. Balance of power was in the hands of the broadcasters due to COVID-19. He had no choice but to strengthen the amount of content in Brisbane.
