Are The Dragons Relocating?

[alien]

Perth Red will be changing his name to Perth Red V

Lol!

 

[alien]

For that matter is St George even a place?

it's a district in sydney

 

[alien]

I the dragons were to move to Adelaide/Perth would they still be called ST.Geroge Dragons if not what would they be called

I doubt it because St George is a district in Sydney. If the Dragons relocated to Perth then it would probably be called the Perth Dragons. The Sharks would probably take over the Illawarra region.

 

[RoosTah]

Strategically, the Dragons should relocate full time to the Illawarra - it's a growth area larger than Newcastle and there are significant developments in the region thanks to Sydney becoming more and more expensive.

By having all their home games down there you'd cement their place in the community whilst the St George fans in Sydney could watch them play plenty of Sydney teams with ease.

 

[RoosTah]

Too late for relocation, with the NRL being so heartland oriented post super-league war and anti-expanison. Heartland basket-case clubs such as Sharks held the game down from expanding for so long, it's 2016 and by now there should of been teams in WA/Brisbane 2 for a while now.

The team that should of been relocated along time ago is the Roosters instead of the Rams being formed relocate them to Adelaide while have the 'away' games at SFS so it's the best of both worlds. Roosters had all that success the past few years and still couldn't average 20k despite being an 100 year plus club all that time and still no growth.

Also, the best players from the Rams/Mariners squad would of join the Roosters instead of being formed so that would of got a concession of sort.

So ideally, we would of had a truly national competition for 20 years plus by now if that occurred and the likes of Mariners/Rams wouldn't of been formed in the first place and the money from those two clubs can be placed to Western Reds/Adelaide Roosters.

Getting rid of the Roosters would completely cede the east to the AFL and Union, and what's more is we're a rich club that don't need any help from the NRL so how are you going to convince Politis and the board we should go to a shitty place like Adelaide?

In my view organic growth is better - The Rams were ok and you want an identity that doesn't mark your side as outsiders from the start. The Swans have worked in Sydney, but they're about the only relocation success story out there and it took 30 years.

 

[CowboyFuriousFury]

Getting rid of the Roosters would completely cede the east to the AFL and Union, and what's more is we're a rich club that don't need any help from the NRL so how are you going to convince Politis and the board we should go to a shitty place like Adelaide?

In my view organic growth is better - The Rams were ok and you want an identity that doesn't mark your side as outsiders from the start. The Swans have worked in Sydney, but they're about the only relocation success story out there and it took 30 years.

Considering the Roosters crowds, the east may have well ceded to AFL/Union, the Swans crowds compared to Roosters is enough evidence. All that success and crowds went down in those years after the 2013 premiership that's inexcusable. But, cue excuses.

http://afltables.com/rl/crowds/easts.htm

 

[flippikat]

Strategically, the Dragons should relocate full time to the Illawarra - it's a growth area larger than Newcastle and there are significant developments in the region thanks to Sydney becoming more and more expensive.

By having all their home games down there you'd cement their place in the community whilst the St George fans in Sydney could watch them play plenty of Sydney teams with ease.

It makes sense, probably too much sense for the NRL & Dragons to actually follow through with.

It's the sort of relocation that will still cater to the Sydney fans, given the number of Sydney "away" games, and the fact their home games aren't terribly far away.

 

[RoosTah]

For all the comments that our knockers make of us, the Roosters still have a fan base and membership base that is around the average and again we're f**king loaded, so how are you gonna give us a big enough carrot to consider watering down our identity by shipping it off?

 

[alien]

The Swans have worked in Sydney, but they're about the only relocation success story out there and it took 30 years.

There haven't been many relocations.

 

[RoosTah]

There haven't been many relocations.

With good reason. They had to pump a shit tonne of money into the Swans and Lions to get them stable, and the Lions still managed to fall apart, whilst in the NRL the closest thing we have is our mergers and they've been pretty patchy too.

 

[alien]

Relocations can work with the right management. We should have a team in Perth, a team in Adelaide, and a second Brisbane team, and there isn't enough talent for more than 16 teams. So having 9 Sydney clubs is stopping expansion. The NRL need to make some tough decisions.

We should only have 6 Sydney clubs that represent these areas:
- Sydney Central (inner city)
- Northern Beaches / North Shore / Central Coast
- Cronulla Sutherland / Illawarra
- Parramatta
- Penrith
- Liverpool Macarthur

 

[RoosTah]

Relocations can work with the right management. We should have a team in Perth, a team in Adelaide, and a second Brisbane team, and there isn't enough talent for more than 16 teams. So having 9 Sydney clubs is stopping expansion. The NRL need to make some tough decisions.

We should only have 6 Sydney clubs that represent these areas:
- Sydney Central (inner city)
- Northern Beaches / North Shore / Central Coast
- Cronulla Sutherland / Illawarra
- Parramatta
- Penrith
- Liverpool Macarthur

I can't agree with Cronulla suddenly being the Illawarra - they've merged them with St George already, so you can't just suddenly tell them to support their rivals. It makes more sense to just make St George a dedicated Illawarra side given the Illawarra is a growing region with half a million people that in time will likely be bigger than Adelaide on its own (and its in our heartland).

I like the idea of limiting Sydney to effectively 5-6 sides, but wonder about how you do relocation successfully in the current environment - particularly when most of the Sydney sides apart from Wests are pretty financially stable now.

TBH, whilst I don't like the system, I think a more organic way to cut the number of sides in Sydney is to introduce promotion and relegation - that way a consortium like the one in Christchurch or those in Perth can just start a side at their own behest like what Toronto are doing in the Super League and just work their way into the NRL. The trick would be to give "development regions" concessions like the AFL do, but the challenge would be huge as you'd need to completely restructure the way the developmental pathways work.

 

[bobmar28]

It would be cool as the Dragons have many fans that actually live a long way from the suburb of Kogarah (is that even a town?). For that matter is St George even a place?

St George is not a place but Kogarah is a suburb.

 

[The Mad Hatter]

I wrote this in another thread:::

....

I truly believe if distribution was right you'd have:

North shore and peninsula - Manly
South - Cronulla
City - roosters
ANZ - Souths, dogs
Parramatta
Penrith
Wollongong / South coast - Saints
Macarthur, Campbelltown - Tigers.

But the nrl and clubs need to lock these in and support, nurture, grow.

Get it right nrl ffs.

Brisbane def needs a 2Nd team. If a Sydney club relocated there, I reckon they'd have supporters there and be able to grow new fan base.

Perth, Adelaide, ideally Brisbane 2, cc, nz2 should have their own identity.

...

You have to fish where the fish are.

And the NRL need to galvanise casual supporters. There were at least 60,000 sharks supporters at anz last night. More at the club/ground gf party. Souths and Roosters had plenty at their gf's. Manly have more too. Yes, I know the bandwagon effect is in play but NRL must tap in to these passions in to attendances and memberships.

I think an 18 team comp at 22 weeks and stand alone rep weekends gives more games than 16 teams over 26 weeks with byes.

I'm not on the arlc. I'm not privy to their plans.

But my priorities would be:
Scheduling
Membership
Attendances
Grassroots - national
Expansion
Women in league; women's comp

We can all discuss and argue all we like but get the code right, get the models right, get behaviours right and the money will come.

In my dream world, Adelaide, Perth, NZ2, PNG, Central Coast and Brisbane 2 are in the comp. Where the balance and compromise happens, I can't say.

But we need to plan for it to happen even if pipe dreams now.

 

[Perth Red]

Both merged teams have won a title since merging so not too bad. The fact they are both run by poor leagues club management is a significant issue and the inability to turn two sets of supporters into one big one was very badly handled. Even though supporters are split into two geo regions Dragons should have a 20k membership across those two fanbases easily. Hopefully they get a new BoD to sort them out and the NRL needs to be pushing for reform rather than just handed them blank cheques to get out of trouble.

 

[alien]

St George is not a place but Kogarah is a suburb.

I'm pretty sure Kogarah and surrounding suburbs are in the St George district.

 

[Pommy]

The only relocations that should happen aren't even real relocations.
Shift dragons to the gong and tigers to Campbeltown. They are both areas with huge growth that the NRL should be focusing on them. Magpies failure 20 years ago isn't relevant to what's going on there today.
Then have a new team in Perth and NZ South Island. Perhaps there isn't enough talent to go around but if AFL can manage it with no real source of foreign talent then surely with the SL and union the NRL can.
If the NRL doesent try to expand there's never going to be any more talent.

 

[TheFrog]

For that matter is St George even a place?

No, and neither is Illawarra.

 

[TheFrog]

The Swans have worked in Sydney, but they're about the only relocation success story out there and it took 30 years.

The Swans only work so long as they are making the finals every year.

 

[alien]

No, and neither is Illawarra.

Illawarra is a region.