Back to the future

[LeagueXIII]

Are the NRL taking a leaf out of Arko and Quayle's book of expansion from the late 80's and early 90's:

- SOO in Victoria
- games in WA, SA and Alice Springs
- games in Christchurch and Wellington

Can we expect teams in WA and NZ? Or is it just a cash grab by clubs?

I can't see why 2 more clubs in 2012 can't be added. I don't believe the bS about not enough money or players. With an effective salary cap etc the game can sustain it.

 

[groggo]

one in perth and one adelaide again would be good

 

[wittyfan]

I don't believe the bS about not enough money or players. With an effective salary cap etc the game can sustain it.

The money is definitely there, but playing talent is already stretched enough as it is.

 

[LeagueXIII]

We don't need Adelaide.

 

[innsaneink]

The money is definitely there, but playing talent is already stretched enough as it is.

This has been my concern as well.......Titans next July will be an indicator of how this stands.
But even then it wont be a true indicator......we'll see what happens here and with any new teams if anything it'll be worse.

 

[t-ba]

We don't need Adelaide.

Bingo.

It's a dying city.

 

[TiLLs]

I'm not too sure about the spread of players accross the comp, and whether we'd have enough to fill another two teams, but to me SA & WA are two very hard markets to crack. Deffinately AFL dominated states which would struggle for a real supporter base. I seriously couldn't see them doing any better than the Storm have done in Melbourne. I know the Storm aren't doing all that badly, but they are hardly setting the world on fire either.

 

[b&wdynamite]

i agree with the player ranks, and also referee's too. If we are going to sell this game to them properly you want all aspects of the package to be top notch.

I just wonder though if the introduction of those teams would give rise to a rivalry that already exists between the states. Imagine a game where the storm were playing adelaide - even though the hard core fans would probably still be from NSW/QLD/NZ, it would probably be the easist game to convince their local mates to come and watch the game. I think a similar thing exists with the lions/swans in the AFL already, because as a Qlder I love watching NSW get flogged at anything!

 

[Green Machine]

I think the State of Origin game and future Test matches in Melbourne are quite different to staging of NRL games in Alice Springs, Adelaide, Perth, Christchurch, Hamilton and Gosford. The games in Melbourne are being staged to increase the profile of Rugby League in Victoria. The Tigers playing a home game in Christchurch or Penrith playing a home game in Adelaide or Parramatta playing a home game in Hamilton are commercial agreements between the NRL clubs and the City or stadium managements. If there was any logic to playing matches in development areas, the NRL would be pushing for a follow up match in Perth to follow on from the Rabbitohs/Bulldogs Trial and Sharks/Warriors premiership match last season.

The NRL don’t have an expansion plan because the NRL clubs don’t want expansion. It will be interesting what kind of a crowd Penrith V Storm draws in Adelaide next season,

 

[sharkadelic]

The money is definitely there, but playing talent is already stretched enough as it is.

I don't believe that. The trick is a club needs sufficient notice to set up a network of contracted juniors and time to hunt the experience and skill in key positions to guarantee a competitive club. This whole "You've got one year, Make it work" is what leaves a club in dissaray. It is literally last minute scraps and discards available.

 

[ucantseeme]

I think having a team in Perth would be a good idea if the Super 14 side "Western Force" takes off. It would allow an NRL side to piggy back on the Union teams' success (if any) and also the Super 14 season is very short. I think their season finished in May this year. So maybe if the Force are successful, and an NRL expansion team is approved (ie. the Reds), they could play a bunch of away games early in the year then have the majority of home games after Super 14 finishes.

I am not sure about Adelaide either, given that I read somewhere that population growth there is basically static, which is not a good sign.

 

[Iafeta]

As far as depth goes, these were some of the players listed on NRL club benches for the last round of the NRL (not inclusive of players outside the 17).

Sam Thaiday
Neville Costigan
PJ Marsh
Dean Widders
Michael Vella
Fui Fui Moi Moi
Keith Galloway
Michael Sullivan
Beau Champion
Scott Logan
Carl Webb
Rod Jensen
Greg Inglis
Dennis Scott
Andrew Lomu
Brent Kite
Kylie Leuluai
Michael Crocker
Nate Myles
Chris Armit
Ashton Sims
Justin Poore
Dene Halatau
Chris Heinington
Liam Fulton
Joe Gulavao
Luke Swain

The Warriors had the bye that weekend, their bench for their last appearance included Iafeta Paleaaesina, Jerome Ropati and Louis Anderson.

There's a fair few representative players in that mix.

The following players left their clubs to go to the ESL/France for season 2006:-

Ben Harris
David Myles
Alex Chan
Stacey Jones
Iafeta Paleaaesina
Monty Betham
Karl Te Mata
Francis Meli
Ian Hindmarsh
David Peachey
Scott Donald
Paul Rauhihi
Ian Henderson
Paul Franze
Bryan Fletcher
Scott Logan
Jason Cayless
John Wilson

Out of those you have a world class test match halfback, you have Cayless who's a test front rower, you have Fletcher who's a former test/NSW star, Rauhihi is a test front rower, Paleaaesina is a terrific impact man who played test football this year, John Wilson is a journeyman who seems to know his way to the try line, Alex Chan is a former test front rower, Peachey is a former NSW fullback, Meli/Betham had played test football, Ben Harris had big wraps prior to his injury... there's a whole lot of top players lost right there. You take a combination of a few of those players wanting to stay in Australasia but not finding a contract here due to the salary cap, and some of those bench players and added depth players who are of decent quality who also want regular first XIII action and you come up with the fact that the comment there's not enough depth is a fallacy.

 

[wittyfan]

Sully has left our shores for the ESL as well.

There's little depth out there. The standard of play in 2005 overall was quite poor.

 

[Iafeta]

You say there's little depth, well let's take just the players leaving for overseas and form a 17.

1 Peachey
2 Donald
3 Harris
4 Franze
5 Meli
6 Myles
7 Jones
8 Jason Cayless
9 Sullivan
10 Rauhihi
11 Fletcher
12 Hindmarsh
13 Meyers

Bench

Paleaaesina
Betham
Logan
Henderson

Bear in mind, you're likely to pick up 2-3 marquee players when you draft your initial squad ala Gold Coast with Bailey, Campbell, Carney etc., even the Auckland Warriors did with Dean Bell, Greg Alexander, Phil Blake, Dennis Betts and Andy Platt. Then you mix in the local talent of the region, a few more disgruntled benchies and I think there's ample player talent to garner another NRL team, or perhaps even two NRL teams.

Even look at some of the players who regularly were outside their club's top 17, Berrick Barnes, Tame Tupou, Charlie Tonga, Brenton Bowen, Neil Sweeney, Aaron Gorrell, Daniel Holdsworth, Chris Shepperd, Reece Simmonds, Nick Youngquest, Jack Afamasaga, Brett Delaney, Luke O'Dwyer, Henry and Marcus Perenara, Ray Cashmere, Bronson Harrison - thats only looking through half the squads, I really couldn't be ar$ed going through the rest of them. And then you read half the posts in here, this bloke is a gun, ya ya ya, but the coach says there's nowhere to put him... and we're short of depth?

Short of depth is a reference you use for the A-League IMO.

 

[LeagueXIII]

If there isn't enough depth, and I don't think there is, what about putting more money into development rather than saying, "oh well it's too hard, forget it" which seems to be the way in league way too often. A strategic plan, you know one similarto what other sports have to grow their games.
Adelaide's population is expected to grow by only 127,000 people in the next 50 years ie 1,114.30 million to 1,241.70 million.
Whilst SA is expected to grow by only 95,000 in the same length of time from 1,520.20 million to 1,615.50 million.

 

[wittyfan]

You say there's little depth, well let's take just the players leaving for overseas and form a 17.

1 Peachey
2 Donald
3 Harris
4 Franze
5 Meli
6 Myles
7 Jones
8 Jason Cayless
9 Sullivan
10 Rauhihi
11 Fletcher
12 Hindmarsh
13 Meyers

Bench

Paleaaesina
Betham
Logan
Henderson

Bear in mind, you're likely to pick up 2-3 marquee players when you draft your initial squad ala Gold Coast with Bailey, Campbell, Carney etc., even the Auckland Warriors did with Dean Bell, Greg Alexander, Phil Blake, Dennis Betts and Andy Platt. Then you mix in the local talent of the region, a few more disgruntled benchies and I think there's ample player talent to garner another NRL team, or perhaps even two NRL teams.

Even look at some of the players who regularly were outside their club's top 17, Berrick Barnes, Tame Tupou, Charlie Tonga, Brenton Bowen, Neil Sweeney, Aaron Gorrell, Daniel Holdsworth, Chris Shepperd, Reece Simmonds, Nick Youngquest, Jack Afamasaga, Brett Delaney, Luke O'Dwyer, Henry and Marcus Perenara, Ray Cashmere, Bronson Harrison - thats only looking through half the squads, I really couldn't be ar$ed going through the rest of them. And then you read half the posts in here, this bloke is a gun, ya ya ya, but the coach says there's nowhere to put him... and we're short of depth?

Short of depth is a reference you use for the A-League IMO.

That team would barely win a game.

Who is Ray Cashmere? And Aaron Gorrell? Nuffies.

 

[Redback71]

theres more than enough depth you could easly make a team just out of the players in the dragons, eels and roosters lowers grades, you could make another team out of the players currently playing in the uk , anotherout of the players leaving our shores in 06, then youve got local tallant plus the injured.

taking all this into consideration theres more than enough for 2 or 3 teams.

the thing is what would the length of the season be?

 

[Iafeta]

Ray Cashmere was quite impressive for the Tiges, and if the Sharkies had have picked him up you'd have been tonking yourself over him and telling us what a spunk he is. If you don't know who Aaron Gorrell is you've had your head in a Cleo magazine all your life.

LeagueXIII, watching a bit of Queensland Cup, and a little bit of Bartercard Cup, two feeder comps not alligned to supposedly the best second grade league, the Premier League, its my opinion there's more than enough quality coming through. There's players coming through left right and centre from various sources, look at the last two or so years worth of debutants - Sonny Bill Williams, Benji Marshall, Greg Inglis, Louis Anderson, Tim Smith, Brett Delaney, Ben Smith, Matthew Head, Jarred Mullen, Sia Soliola, Manu Vatuvei, Beau Champion, Kevin Kingston, Todd Carney, Nathan Smith, Marshall Chalk, Cooper Cronk, Brett White, Matt King, Brett Stewart - there's been a load of good quality players coming through recently, there's more coming through in the various comps (Premier League/Queensland Cup/Bartercard Cup), to think we're short of talent IMO is not accurate.

 

[wittyfan]

Ray Cashmere was quite impressive for the Tiges, and if the Sharkies had have picked him up you'd have been tonking yourself over him and telling us what a spunk he is. If you don't know who Aaron Gorrell is you've had your head in a Cleo magazine all your life.

I apologise for not having intricate knowledge of various nuffies in the game.

 

[Balmain_Boy]

Even if we are short of talent initially, you put a team in Perth and another in Wellington, they will begin to develop their own players. Not only will more juniors join the game, but they will convert players that may have only ever been reserve graders into first graders by exposing them to that standard. That's my opinion anyway.