BRAD Fittler joined Andrew Johns in calling for radical changes in the NRL which would reshape the game as we know it.
RUGBY league legends Brad Fittler and Andrew Johns have offered some out of the box thinking to revolutionise the NRL.
Speaking to the Wide World of Sports, NSW State of Origin coach Brad Fittler believes the Manly Sea Eagles should merge with the North Sydney Bears to form a “behemoth” of a club, while Andrew Johns shared a renewed call for a 12-team competition in which “only the strong survive”.
Fittler said the “time is right” for the merger between the clubs, which would cover an area including from the northern beaches up to the Central Coast.
Fittler said he thinks the Sea Eagles and Bears “would be crazy not to make that work”.
“Anywhere from the Harbour Bridge — take in the Central Coast — that would be such a powerful area and if they could come to some sense you could encapsulate Brookvale Oval, North Sydney Oval and Gosford and have a wonderful, strong club,” he said.
“You’ve got the big business of North Sydney, you’ve got the Peninsula, then you’ve got the people of the Central Coast, the numbers, it would be nearly a behemoth of a club if it had the right administration and the right people behind it,” Fittler said.
“Not only would it be good I think it’s a must for the NRL to look at and this is the time, the time is right now.”
The teams had previously merged as the Northern Eagles in 2002, a venture which lasted just three seasons with out tasting finals action.
But after a horror season which saw Manly finish 15th and
endure a tumultuous time off the field, it may be the time for the return of a joint venture in northern Sydney.
Fittler’s solution fits with Andrew John’s solution to increase the salary cap but cut four teams from the NRL.
Johns originally floated the plan in early August but doubled down on the idea.
He said nine teams is too many in Sydney and advocated for a second team in Brisbane.
“I’ve got a theory that whatever the salary cap is now, say it’s $9 million; put it up to $12 million and then only the strong survive,” Johns said.
“I’ve said publicly I think we should have a 12-team competition, there’s too many teams in Sydney.
“So if that’s the way you put it up then only the strong survive. The ones that are administered strong, the ones with strong sponsorship, the ones that develop well, and then we get down eventually to 12 teams.
“(The current competition structure) suits the Broncos because they’ve got all that corporate support — that’s why we need another team in Brisbane. We need a derby in the major cities.
