20 Team Comp with Perth, Adelaide, NZ2 and QLD5

[docbrown]

Northern Division:
North Queensland Cowboys, Sunshine State Dolphins, Brisbane Broncos, South Queensland Jets, Gold Coast Titans

Cowboys play 9 games in Townsville and 5 in Cairns
Dolphins play 9 games in Brisbane and 5 on the Sunshine Coast
Jets play 12 games in Brisbane and 2 in Toowoomba

Southern Division:
West Australian Swans, Adelaide Sharks, Melbourne Storm, New Zealand Warriors, New Zealand Bears

Warriors play 12 games in Auckland, 2 games in Hamilton and 2 games in Wellington
Bears play 11 games in Christchurch and 3 games in Dunedin

Eastern Division:
Newcastle Knights, Manly-Gosford Sea Eagles, St George-Illawarra Dragons, Canberra Raiders, Sydney Roosters

Manly play 9 games in Brookvale and 6 games in Gosford
Dragons play 8 games in Wollongong and 4 games at SFS

Central Division:
South Sydney Rabbitohs, Parramatta Eels, Canterbury Bulldogs, Western Sydney Tigers, Penrith Panthers

Rabbitohs play 11 games at SFS and 4 games at Homebush
Bulldogs play at new Liverpool stadium and 2 games at Homebush
Tigers play at new Liverpool stadium and 4 games at SFS

Schedule
25 games over 27 rounds. Play own division twice. Play two rivals in other divisions twice. Play other division teams once. Two byes on Origin weeks.

Finals.
Week 1: Division winners get bye. Division runner ups vs 4 wild cards.
Week 2: Division winners vs Week 1 winners
Week 3: Week 2 winner match ups
Week 4: Grand final

Future expansion:
Wellington, Melbourne 2, PNG and Sunshine Coast

 

[Ideas Man Stephen]

Why are the Sharks in Adelaide? Maybe move your team there?

Why are Manly now Manly-Gosford?

what is the Liverpool Stadium?

A lot of flying for those Southern conference clubs.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

A lot of flying for those Southern conference clubs.

yeah I reckon it’s fairer to split the non-Sydney and non-QLD teams between at least two of the NSW conferences. NZ shouldn’t be in the same conference as WA and SA because it creates too much time zone difference for those clubs. QLD kinda takes care of itself with a northern conference and they’d still be doing a fair bit of travel, for the the others I’d put NZ/Newcastle teams in with East, Melbourne/Canberra/Illawarra with south and WA/SA with West. That way everyone shares the travel load.

 

[footyfan4life]

New Zealand Bears No chance that is happening

 

[Ideas Man Stephen]

T

New Zealand Bears No chance that is happening

The Bears will no doubt express their interest though

 

[docbrown]

Why are the Sharks in Adelaide? Maybe move your team there?

Why are Manly now Manly-Gosford?

what is the Liverpool Stadium?

A lot of flying for those Southern conference clubs.

I was more so curious about how divisions could work after a discussion about a Queensland division on another post.

Why are the Sharks in Adelaide? Because to have Perth, Adelaide, NZ2 and QLD5 a Sydney club had to relocate or merge. I have no ill will against them but they’ll always be the smallest or second smallest Sydney club. The rest of Sydney is growing but Sutherland shire will remain stagnant. Similarly for the Northern Beaches. See the population thread for the numbers.

Liverpool was the proposed stadium the Bulldogs were going to build years ago.

Just comparing the Storm‘s travel in the Southern Division:

Melbourne home games 2022: 11, This: 12
New Zealand away games 2022: 1, This: 2
Perth/Adelaide/Wagga Wagga away games 2022: 1, This: 2
Brisbane/Townsville away games 2022: 3, This: 3
Newcastle/Canberra away games 2022: 1, This: 1
Sydney away games: 2022: 7, This: 4

The amount of travel interstate is basically the same. It’s just that instead of going to Sydney they go Christchurch or Perth.

 

[Colk]

Interesting about the Swans. Although it is perfect for a WA side considering it’s their state symbol, I don’t think the name would pass muster because of the fumblers. Too much brand recognition in any case with the Sydney side.

The Sharks to Adelaide? I get your reasoning perhaps but honestly I don’t think a relocation will happen. If we get a second NZ side and Perth then that’s a good thing. You then just determine whether a third Brisbane or Adelaide side would get the approval.

 

[docbrown]

Interesting about the Swans. Although it is perfect for a WA side considering it’s their state symbol, I don’t think the name would pass muster because of the fumblers. Too much brand recognition in any case with the Sydney side.

The Sharks to Adelaide? I get your reasoning perhaps but honestly I don’t think a relocation will happen. If we get a second NZ side and Perth then that’s a good thing. You then just determine whether a third Brisbane or Adelaide side would get the approval.

What are the fumblers going to do about it?

I think taking back the Swans brand will inspire a lot of West vs East Coast parochialism. Just look at the Port Adelaide vs Collingwood issue. I'd have them play in yellow and black too. The Perth franchise would have a strong trademark case given the state's history.

Re: Sharks like I said I have no ill will towards them. I just think they need a game plan to survive when the rest of Sydney grows by 3.3 million and Sutherland only grows by 100,000.

 

[Colk]

What are the fumblers going to do about it?

I think taking back the Swans brand will inspire a lot of West vs East Coast parochialism. Just look at the Port Adelaide vs Collingwood issue. I'd have them play in yellow and black too. The Perth franchise would have a strong trademark case given the state's history.

Re: Sharks like I said I have no ill will towards them. I just think they need a game plan to survive when the rest of Sydney grows by 3.3 million and Sutherland only grows by 100,000.

Maybe. It could go both ways. Think of it this way what would be the reaction if the fumblers came up with a new team and called them I don’t know the Broncos, Knights or the Cowboys. They would get a fair bit of derision I think. I totally agree with the yellow and black and the emphasis of finding something that is parochial of local; although, I would say the same thing for wherever we go. For example I like the name Kea for another NZ team.

I am not criticising at all. Ideally you would probably have a team relocate somewhere because as you stated there are four good options on the table. I am just not sure that if push came to shove that they would do it that’s all. Like if a team collapsed I would think that the NRL would probably bail them out.

 

[docbrown]

Maybe. It could go both ways. Think of it this way what would be the reaction if the fumblers came up with a new team and called them I don’t know the Broncos, Knights or the Cowboys. They would get a fair bit of derision I think. I totally agree with the yellow and black and the emphasis of finding something that is parochial of local; although, I would say the same thing for wherever we go. For example I like the name Kea for another NZ team.

I am not criticising at all. Ideally you would probably have a team relocate somewhere because as you stated there are four good options on the table. I am just not sure that if push came to shove that they would do it that’s all. Like if a team collapsed I would think that the NRL would probably bail them out.

I'd love to see a bunch of people from Sydney tell a bunch of people from Perth that they can represent themselves with Swans.

As for the AFL they might not have been bold enough to say use the Blues or Canetoads etc, but they definitely chose to Tigers colours on purpose, similar to how the Wanderers picked Norths' colours.

 

[greenBV4]

I was more so curious about how divisions could work after a discussion about a Queensland division on another post.

Why are the Sharks in Adelaide? Because to have Perth, Adelaide, NZ2 and QLD5 a Sydney club had to relocate or merge. I have no ill will against them but they’ll always be the smallest or second smallest Sydney club. The rest of Sydney is growing but Sutherland shire will remain stagnant. Similarly for the Northern Beaches. See the population thread for the numbers.

Liverpool was the proposed stadium the Bulldogs were going to build years ago.

Just comparing the Storm‘s travel in the Southern Division:

Melbourne home games 2022: 11, This: 12
New Zealand away games 2022: 1, This: 2
Perth/Adelaide/Wagga Wagga away games 2022: 1, This: 2
Brisbane/Townsville away games 2022: 3, This: 3
Newcastle/Canberra away games 2022: 1, This: 1
Sydney away games: 2022: 7, This: 4

The amount of travel interstate is basically the same. It’s just that instead of going to Sydney they go Christchurch or Perth.

Sydney to Melbourne is one of the easiest flight routes in the world to catch
Perth is a continent and 2 time zones away and NZ involves customs - its not comparable

the only way divisions will ever work in the NRL is to split the teams north south through Sydney (ie Sydney teams half half) and an even number of international/perth teams either side

 

[Ideas Man Stephen]

the only way divisions will ever work in the NRL is to split the teams north south through Sydney (ie Sydney teams half half) and an even number of international/perth teams either side

I agree and for that very reason I can’t see conferencing working. There is no logical solution that would work.

 

[flippikat]

The Sharks to Adelaide? I get your reasoning perhaps but honestly I don’t think a relocation will happen. If we get a second NZ side and Perth then that’s a good thing. You then just determine whether a third Brisbane or Adelaide side would get the approval.

To be honest, I'd be surprised if teams 18, 19 & 20 weren't Brisbane 3, NZ 2 and Perth - the order of entry being the big question.

That leaves Adelaide as the one big Australian city without a place in the NRL - and how that's tackled will become one of the game's big questions once we get to 20 teams.. even though some groundwork should be happening NOW.

 

[Colk]

To be honest, I'd be surprised if teams 18, 19 & 20 weren't Brisbane 3, NZ 2 and Perth - the order of entry being the big question.

That leaves Adelaide as the one big Australian city without a place in the NRL - and how that's tackled will become one of the game's big questions once we get to 20 teams.. even though some groundwork should be happening NOW.

Are you ignoring the possibility of this PNG thing?

 

[flippikat]

Are you ignoring the possibility of this PNG thing?

It's not something I'd entertain before we get a (preferably) 20-team footprint with Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane 3 & NZ 2.

In a nutshell, yeah - I am.

 

[Colk]

It's not something I'd entertain before we get a (preferably) 20-team footprint with Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane 3 & NZ 2.

In a nutshell, yeah - I am.

I agree but I’m thinking that it is a strong chance of happening.

Hopefully we go down the route of Perth and NZ 2 and Adelaide/Brisbane 3

 

[Western_Eel]

i think the sunshine coast deserve a team, they have shown great support over the last few years at their ground.
the problem is they would need a new stadium

 

[SpaceMonkey]

i think the sunshine coast deserve a team, they have shown great support over the last few years at their ground.
the problem is they would need a new stadium

Wont happen now the Dolphins are in.

 

[flippikat]

I agree but I’m thinking that it is a strong chance of happening.

Hopefully we go down the route of Perth and NZ 2 and Adelaide/Brisbane 3

I don't want to re-hash all the arguments that have been made here by others (far more eloquently than I ever could), but suffice to say - I FIRMLY believe PI & PNG club teams coming into the NRL before those 4 markets (Perth, Adelaide, NZ 2, Brisbane 3) would be a huge mis-step.

 

[docbrown]

Sydney to Melbourne is one of the easiest flight routes in the world to catch
Perth is a continent and 2 time zones away and NZ involves customs - its not comparable

the only way divisions will ever work in the NRL is to split the teams north south through Sydney (ie Sydney teams half half) and an even number of international/perth teams either side

If Perth comes into the competition, regardless of whether or not we end up with divisions, they're going to be playing 12 or more games outside of Perth every year. So they're travelling no matter what, similar to what the Cowboys and Storm do already. And at least one of those away games will likely be in Auckland against the Warriors. Unless you're suggesting that they never play the Warriors in Auckland or vice versa, which if so is kind of odd.

Of one of those 12+ away trips to the East Coast for Perth that they will have to do no matter what happens, instead of flying to Sydney, all I'm suggesting is that for just one more of those games, they will fly 2 hours further to Christchurch instead of Sydney. It's really not the end of the world. As for customs, other NRL teams handle it well enough.

Also whenever East Coast NFL teams play West Coast NFL teams, it's usually a 5 or 6 hour flight depending on the location and they're usually doing at least once or twice a season. Miami and Dallas are in divisions where the rest of the teams are all in the North-East, so they're travelling like Perth would have to every other week. The Seahawks and Buccaneers played in Germany last year and it was probably at least a 12 hour flight for Seattle. This is just what happens when competitions are played across continents.