Based on what? Why would raiders fans hate Storm or Saints? What history? It can't be just geography...
AAMI Park is 6.5 hours away. WIN Stadium is 3 hour away (as close as Sydney).
Also a true rivalry should go both ways.
Saints top rivals: Sharks, Dogs, Souths
Storm's top rivals: Manly, Broncos, Warriors
We did have a rivalry with the Illawarra, but when your lot took over they killed off as much of the Steelers history as possible, We did have rivalries with Brisbane and Penrith in the 90's - early 2000's but the NRL has maligned and over shadowed them so much that they have faded into the past.
In the past decade or so we have had the beginnings of rivalries form with Cronulla, Melbourne and the Warriors, and we had the beginnings of something with the Dragons for almost 15 years, but again the NRL, Nine and Fox all refused to help build on any of that and they've all started to fall off.
The Brumbies crowds are always boosted by a big NSW vs ACT crowd. It's a rivalry that makes sense.
Raiders don't have that.
That's the logical route to go, but it'll nether happen for three reasons:
1. It'd mean spotlighting the Raiders (and Canberra) for more then the very bare minimum, which neither the broadcasters nor the NRL has been willing to do for as long as I can remember.
2. It'd mean admitting that the ACT isn't part of NSW, and the NSWRL and ARLC will never let that happen because it'd f##k the Blues up even more then they are already f##ked up.
3. It'd force the Raiders to embrace the ACT, and the Queanbeyan old boys group that runs the Raiders has been reluctant to do that.
The NRL has missed just about every opportunity that has ever come up in Canberra or involving Canberra, and it shows in the city's response to the NRL in the last 15-20 years, sure the Raiders have screwed up heaps of times and it'd help if we were successful on the pitch again, but at least they try, the NRL seems to not even care unless we rock the boat.
