26 June expansion meeting (Predictions?)

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

I honestly believe the better option would be to allow Perth to stand on its own as it will probably be more stable and then have PNG with the Bears. PNG will probably use the bears colours anyway and it gives them an established resource of developed grassroots players to make them a bit more competitive. I don’t think you’d have as many problems getting Marquee Players to go to Perth as you would have for Port Moresby.

Worst case, if the Government pulls its funding for PNG then the Bears just move back to Sydney/CC and the PNG experiment goes on as a memory like Glebe, the Crushers, Rams or the multiple iterations of Gold Coast.

Your last paragraph demonstrates why the Bears shouldn't be allowed anywhere near PNG. It'll only be a matter of time until they're back as the North Sydney Bears. The other NSWRL clubs will object to it.

PNG is decades away from being able to support an NRL team.

 

[MrE_Assassin]

Your last paragraph demonstrates why the Bears shouldn't be allowed anywhere near PNG. It'll only be a matter of time until they're back as the North Sydney Bears. The other NSWRL clubs will object to it.

PNG is decades away from being able to support an NRL team.

Oh, I wholeheartedly agree. I can’t say that PNG is my fav bid and especially with how it’s being set up as a political tool… it’s a failure waiting to happen…. But at least if it were to fail, an alliance with the Bears would soften the blow on the competition as the bears can realistically stand on their own if it wasn’t for the fact they want to be based out of an over-populated market. Ideally if PNG were to sink then the NRL would surely have a clause in the licence to say that the NRL decides where the team re-establishes itself.

The bears are already the town bike of bids… they may as well be the NRL’s bitch too… maybe they can move from PNG to Adelaide or Vic 2

 

[jim_57]

Yeah Brisbane 3 will happen. Probably around the time of the Brisbane Olympics and fit right in with the media rights cycle from possibly 2033-2037??

From 2028-2032, it is all about nine games a week with Perth coming in. And from 2033-2037, there's a third Brisbane team, second NZ or PNG team and ten games a week.

It would be unfair on the Dolphins to only have a handful of years to establish themselves in the top tier, whilst the Broncos had a monopoly for well over three decades.

Dolphins should definitely be given at least 8-10 years before another competitor in the market is introduced IMO.

I’d like to see 5 SEQ teams one day, current 3 plus a “Western Corridor” team and a Sunshine Coast team. Problem is we might see 3 spots filled in the foreseeable future and those 3 are odds on to be 3 of Perth / PNG / South Island / Brisbane3. Whichever of those misses out will join the likes of SC, Adelaide, Wellington, Fiji waiting for the NRL to go beyond 20 or a team to fold or relocate, either of which may never happen.

 

[blue bags]

Port Moresby Bear's
Papa New guinea Grizzlies Bear's

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Oh, I wholeheartedly agree. I can’t say that PNG is my fav bid and especially with how it’s being set up as a political tool… it’s a failure waiting to happen…. But at least if it were to fail, an alliance with the Bears would soften the blow on the competition as the bears can realistically stand on their own if it wasn’t for the fact they want to be based out of an over-populated market. Ideally if PNG were to sink then the NRL would surely have a clause in the licence to say that the NRL decides where the team re-establishes itself.

The bears are already the town bike of bids… they may as well be the NRL’s bitch too… maybe they can move from PNG to Adelaide or Vic 2

The Bears best chance is to become the Perth Bears and play all twelve home games at PRS. They need to stop insisting on games being held at NSO.

 

[MrE_Assassin]

Dolphins should definitely be given at least 8-10 years before another competitor in the market is introduced IMO.

I’d like to see 5 SEQ teams one day, current 3 plus a “Western Corridor” team and a Sunshine Coast team. Problem is we might see 3 spots filled in the foreseeable future and those 3 are odds on to be 3 of Perth / PNG / South Island / Brisbane3. Whichever of those misses out will join the likes of SC, Adelaide, Wellington, Fiji waiting for the NRL to go beyond 20 or a team to fold or relocate, either of which may never happen.

Or those other expansion teams would need to be part of an NRL 2nd tier to start promotion and relegation. You’d probably grab a few teams from QLD & NSW state comps to round it out…. Let’s say it starts with a 10 team comp; but then 4 underperforming teams drop the following year to make it a 16/14 split and then start promotion and relegation proper with 2 teams from the bottom tier playing off against the 2 lowest from the top tier. Winners either save their ass or get promoted.

 

[Last Week]

My prediction is Perth will be announced, likely as the Bears. (2027)

I think NZ2 is a smokey off the back of the success NZ Rugby League has had the last 18 months. (2032)

I don't think PNG will ever get off the ground. I think most of it was PVL or someone close trying to pressure/lobby the federal government to pay for the team. The 9th game would almost be pure profit for the NRL.

20th team will be in South East Queensland. (2032)

 

[Matt_CBY]

I don’t think we’ll hear anything tomorrow and probably not on Thursday either.

 

[Nuke]

Do we know what time this meeting is taking place? I don't have much access to my phone at work, but I think tomorrow I might be checking it more frequently than I normally might..!

For the record, I don't think any announcements will be forthcoming after the meeting had concluded. Only the corporate-type responses stating that it was a productive meeting and that issues were resolved, blah blah.

As I've said previously, IF Perth is decided and even announced, I'd expect the announcement to come at the Dolphins-Roosters game over here in August.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

An outrageous statement

Souths got back in, Manly got back in, and now the bears will probably live on. Balmain live through the Tigers brand and Leichhardt Oval.

Western Suburbs Magpies seemed to lose their identity the most and obviously (not Sydney, but) the Steelers identity was taken over.

Overall though, we have less teams in Sydney allowing the surviving ones more room which is a good thing and the game has moved forward.

 

[Centy Coast]

The Bears best chance is to become the Perth Bears and play all twelve home games at PRS. They need to stop insisting on games being held at NSO.

Who knows what will happen, I’m not getting my hopes up, been here in 2005, again in 2012, if Perth is given the green light and they do announce they are partnered with the Bears as the 18th team for 2027 NSO would need some major upgrades.
Who knows maybe the Roosters would shift a game to Central Coast Stadium, anyways the focus should be on Perth.

 

[flippikat]

Looking at the state the game was in pre-PVL; I don’t think 30 years is that slow in the end. Greenberg had basically over-inflated head office and the NRL was bleeding money in departments it didn’t need…. They weren’t even in a position to bring in 1 new team; let alone another 4 in 10 years to bring it to 20 teams. TBH, if PVL hadn’t come on board I don’t think the Dolphins would be here now.

Pre-Greenberg, there were multiple clubs that needed to be bailed out by the NRL or were on death’s door, so if new clubs had been brought in at the time, many may not have survived or would have just taken the place of other clubs that had collapsed due to bankruptcy.

Great points, and if the mid-late 1990s had developed without the Superleague war, then maybe the game - NRL head office AND clubs - would've been on a better financial footing to *sustainably* (ie not plonking a team somewhere then closing them within a few seasons) expand earlier.

 

[Diesel]

If Perth gets the tick for 2027, this will give PR 3 years to delete all his anti PVL posts.

PR will do a 180, back flipping akin to a politician caught out and back tracking

 

[Diesel]

In saying this, I hope PR gets a WA team, he was somehow involved with the WA Reds about 12-15 years ago until the ARLC at the time announced the Pirates and then made it clear there was no expansion happening soon. Pre-2013 PR was very positive

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Who knows what will happen, I’m not getting my hopes up, been here in 2005, again in 2012, if Perth is given the green light and they do announce they are partnered with the Bears as the 18th team for 2027 NSO would need some major upgrades.
Who knows maybe the Roosters would shift a game to Central Coast Stadium, anyways the focus should be on Perth.

The only way it can work is if all home games are played in Perth. Brisbane Lions and Sydney Swans don't take home games to Melbourne.

 

[flippikat]

The only way it can work is if all home games are played in Perth. Brisbane Lions and Sydney Swans don't take home games to Melbourne.

Precisely. I mean, it's not like Sydney Bears fans won't get any opportunities to attend games.

There'll be PLENTY of away games in Sydney - in fact, probably all over Sydney.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Precisely. I mean, it's not like Sydney Bears fans won't get any opportunities to attend games.

There'll be PLENTY of away games in Sydney - in fact, probably all over Sydney.

The best outcome for the Bears is to a) retain the black and white colours, b) not have "Perth" in the logo and c) have NSDRLC on the back of the Jersey. If they get that then they're doing better than the Fitzroy Lions, who lost one of their colours when they became the Brisbane Lions.

 

[mongoose]

Who knows what will happen, I’m not getting my hopes up, been here in 2005, again in 2012, if Perth is given the green light and they do announce they are partnered with the Bears as the 18th team for 2027 NSO would need some major upgrades.
Who knows maybe the Roosters would shift a game to Central Coast Stadium, anyways the focus should be on Perth.

Do you really need to play any games at NSO? If you must have 1 or 2 Sydney home games just play them at Allianz - one against Manly and the other either against Souths or Wests. Souths would probably be a better game to have in Perth.

 

[MugaB]

An outrageous statement

No it's not, he us right, we are almost back to where we were in 95, but in a far better position than the clubs were back then, and better positioned to take on more clubs from non heartland areas

 

[shewi6]

NSO is a definite no for regular season games, shouldn't even be a discussion.

It's laughable they think it is up to standard, it is a good little heritage ground for local comps, nsw cup and nrlw.

No perth home games should be played in sydney period. Work with the tenants of accor/allianz/commbank (venuesnsw stadiums) and release a 'sydney' membership for the bears fans.

It is common sense, we shouldn't be trying to cling to a small suburban past especially with an expansion team on the other side of the country.