Brisbane Tigers make their bid to be 18th team

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Good player Treigh Stewart, easily the Tigers best player in 2024, they will struggle even more so now as they have been hit hard with injuries this season.
It’s like the Bears losing their Captain from last season Jesse Marschke to the Dragons, he has played 5 NRL games and been 18th man once whereas if he had stayed at the Bears he may have played more NRL games with Jahrome Hughes, Cameron Munster and even Harry Grant out injured.

It's frustrating how the NRL decimates the state cups. The NRL season is way too long.

 

[Centy Coast]

It's frustrating how the NRL decimates the state cups. The NRL season is way too long.

The NRL season is definately way too long, I’ll never understand why they don’t stop it for Origin, I know it is all about $$$, good opportunities though for the 2nd tier players when they arise.
This year the Bears have had both Jesse Marschke (St George) and Reuben Porter (Wests Tigers) go on to make their NRL debuts.

 

[docbrown]

The NRL season is definately way too long, I’ll never understand why they don’t stop it for Origin

Considering that we're about to average 24k crowds for a post-origin round the argument is kind of moot these days. Few sports can legitimately say that they dominate the media landscape for 8 months of a year.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

The NRL season is definately way too long, I’ll never understand why they don’t stop it for Origin, I know it is all about $$$, good opportunities though for the 2nd tier players when they arise.
This year the Bears have had both Jesse Marschke (St George) and Reuben Porter (Wests Tigers) go on to make their NRL debuts.

I would stop the season for three weeks and play the following three game series.

Queensland vs New South Wales (Men and Women)
Samoa vs Tonga
PNG vs Fiji

That's four games per week. More than enough content for the broadcasters. If a deal can be worked with the RFL to run the Baskerville Shield in England at the same time then it's great for representative football.

 

[flippikat]

I would stop the season for three weeks and play the following three game series.

Queensland vs New South Wales (Men and Women)
Samoa vs Tonga
PNG vs Fiji

That's four games per week. More than enough content for the broadcasters. If a deal can be worked with the RFL to run the Baskerville Shield in England at the same time then it's great for representative football.

Not just that, I'd also work towards getting NSW & Queensland Cup to the same number of teams - so that you could run THREE "inter-league" rounds.

I'd base them around hubs - so if there's (say) 15 interleague games, you could have triple headers at 5 different grounds, and make a Saturday or Sunday of it at places like Ipswich, or Henson Park, or Dolphins Stadium for instance.. maybe even screening selected matches or hubs on a channel (if the content is needed).

Another option is getting both NSW & Queensland Cup up to 16 teams each, and running a 2nd tier "knockout cup" running into & over Origin/rep window.

Weekend 1 - 32 teams, 16 games, maybe 4 games per venue at 4 venues? Select few games televised - two weeks before Origin, while NRL is running.

Weekend 2 - 16 remaining teams, 8 games. Select few games televised. Last weekend that NRL runs before being paused for Origin.

Weekend 3 - 8 remaining teams, 4 games (Quarter finals, during first weekend of stand-alone Origjn, all games televised)

Weekend 4 - 4 remaining teams, 2 games (Semi-finals, during second weekend of stand-alone Origin, both games televised)

Weekend 5 - 2 teams left, 2nd tier Knockout final - game played as curtainraiser to Origin 3.

 

[Santino Patane]

Not just that, I'd also work towards getting NSW & Queensland Cup to the same number of teams - so that you could run THREE "inter-league" rounds.

I'd base them around hubs - so if there's (say) 15 interleague games, you could have triple headers at 5 different grounds, and make a Saturday or Sunday of it at places like Ipswich, or Henson Park, or Dolphins Stadium for instance.. maybe even screening selected matches or hubs on a channel (if the content is needed).

Another option is getting both NSW & Queensland Cup up to 16 teams each, and running a 2nd tier "knockout cup" running into & over Origin/rep window.

Weekend 1 - 32 teams, 16 games, maybe 4 games per venue at 4 venues? Select few games televised - two weeks before Origin, while NRL is running.

Weekend 2 - 16 remaining teams, 8 games. Select few games televised. Last weekend that NRL runs before being paused for Origin.

Weekend 3 - 8 remaining teams, 4 games (Quarter finals, during first weekend of stand-alone Origjn, all games televised)

Weekend 4 - 4 remaining teams, 2 games (Semi-finals, during second weekend of stand-alone Origin, both games televised)

Weekend 5 - 2 teams left, 2nd tier Knockout final - game played as curtainraiser to Origin 3.

For me this would be awesome but would there be widespread desire for such an idea?? Or would it be our version of the NRC and fold in a few goes??

 

[flippikat]

For me this would be awesome but would there be widespread desire for such an idea?? Or would it be our version of the NRC and fold in a few goes??

Sure, a 2nd tier knockout cup starting from 32 teams is a tough sell.. but there's a number of ways you could slice it.

The first round of the knockout cup COULD be run in the pre-season.

You know that week before round 1 of the NRL when there's no NRL trials?
Play the first week of 2nd tier knockout cup (32 teams, 16 games) then, and the 2nd week (16 teams, 8 games) maybe halfway between NRL round 1 and Origin 1.

Honestly though, I think the simplest thing to implement from a 2nd tier perspective is just good old inter-league rounds during stand-alone Origin.

All that takes is getting NSW Cup and Qld Cup to the same number of teams, then coming up with an inter-league schedule for those 3 weekends - again, probably using hubs to host games to save on travel/accommodation. Very do-able.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Not just that, I'd also work towards getting NSW & Queensland Cup to the same number of teams - so that you could run THREE "inter-league" rounds.

I'd base them around hubs - so if there's (say) 15 interleague games, you could have triple headers at 5 different grounds, and make a Saturday or Sunday of it at places like Ipswich, or Henson Park, or Dolphins Stadium for instance.. maybe even screening selected matches or hubs on a channel (if the content is needed).

Another option is getting both NSW & Queensland Cup up to 16 teams each, and running a 2nd tier "knockout cup" running into & over Origin/rep window.

Weekend 1 - 32 teams, 16 games, maybe 4 games per venue at 4 venues? Select few games televised - two weeks before Origin, while NRL is running.

Weekend 2 - 16 remaining teams, 8 games. Select few games televised. Last weekend that NRL runs before being paused for Origin.

Weekend 3 - 8 remaining teams, 4 games (Quarter finals, during first weekend of stand-alone Origjn, all games televised)

Weekend 4 - 4 remaining teams, 2 games (Semi-finals, during second weekend of stand-alone Origin, both games televised)

Weekend 5 - 2 teams left, 2nd tier Knockout final - game played as curtainraiser to Origin 3.

I'd love to know how much it would cost to replicate the Queensland and NSW Cup competitions in New Zealand and PNG?

The game has a lot of money. It would be wise to invest some of it on the junior and senior competitions in NZ and PNG.

It would be better to get the Aus Gov to put money towards this sort of thing than waste it on an NRL team. Especially now since its been revealed the 17 NRL clubs want $230m of the $600m to be spent on them.

If the goal is provide Papuans with a pathway to the NRL so they can escape poverty then this is arguably a more efficient and productive way than squandering $25m on one club.

 

[Centy Coast]

Not just that, I'd also work towards getting NSW & Queensland Cup to the same number of teams - so that you could run THREE "inter-league" rounds.

I'd base them around hubs - so if there's (say) 15 interleague games, you could have triple headers at 5 different grounds, and make a Saturday or Sunday of it at places like Ipswich, or Henson Park, or Dolphins Stadium for instance.. maybe even screening selected matches or hubs on a channel (if the content is needed).

Another option is getting both NSW & Queensland Cup up to 16 teams each, and running a 2nd tier "knockout cup" running into & over Origin/rep window.

Weekend 1 - 32 teams, 16 games, maybe 4 games per venue at 4 venues? Select few games televised - two weeks before Origin, while NRL is running.

Weekend 2 - 16 remaining teams, 8 games. Select few games televised. Last weekend that NRL runs before being paused for Origin.

Weekend 3 - 8 remaining teams, 4 games (Quarter finals, during first weekend of stand-alone Origjn, all games televised)

Weekend 4 - 4 remaining teams, 2 games (Semi-finals, during second weekend of stand-alone Origin, both games televised)

Weekend 5 - 2 teams left, 2nd tier Knockout final - game played as curtainraiser to Origin 3.

Great idea, I have never thought of that before, there are 13 NSW Cup teams and 15 QLD Cup teams, you could add the WA CAS and VIC CAS representative teams to even out the numbers.
Maybe you could limit the amount of NRL talent in each squad to games played that year.

 

[Perth Red]

Good to see him going to the right Hull club. The other one is shit.

Glory days

 

[MugaB]

Glory days

View attachment 89452

Brisbane thread

 

[Perth Red]

Brisbane thread

Yes it is

Good to see him going to the right Hull club. The other one is shit.

 

[flippikat]

Great idea, I have never thought of that before, there are 13 NSW Cup teams and 15 QLD Cup teams, you could add the WA CAS and VIC CAS representative teams to even out the numbers.
Maybe you could limit the amount of NRL talent in each squad to games played that year.

You could even create a regular rivalry against similarly branded or namesake teams.

Just imagine Ipswich Jets v Newtown Jets in a regular (annual?) Inter-league match.

Or Blacktown Workers Sea-Eagles (Manly-Warringah feeder team) vs Wynnum-Manly Seagulls.

Or Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks (assuming they end up having their own branded NSW Cup team) vs Redcliffe Dolphins.

Or Western Suburbs Magpies v Brisbane (Easts) Tigers - given how Wests Tigers was formed as a joint venture of Balmain Tigers & Wests Magpies.

 

[Canard]

You could even create a regular rivalry against similarly branded or namesake teams.

Just imagine Ipswich Jets v Newtown Jets in a regular (annual?) Inter-league match.

Or Blacktown Workers Sea-Eagles (Manly-Warringah feeder team) vs Wynnum-Manly Seagulls.

Or Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks (assuming they end up having their own branded NSW Cup team) vs Redcliffe Dolphins.

Or Western Suburbs Magpies v Brisbane (Easts) Tigers - given how Wests Tigers was formed as a joint venture of Balmain Tigers & Wests Magpies.

Honestly, I dont think anyone would give two shits.

 

[The Man Shake]

What V'landys said is how I feel about a 5th Queensland team coming in for now. We need to give the Dolphins a few more years' breathing space before another Brisbane bid is considered.

I can tell you as a Brisbane resident the support for the Dolphins is fever pitch. They knocked off a supposed contender in the Sharks last night, they've been all over the local news up here for most of this year, they have a genuine bona fide star in the Hammer, I even hear my colleagues talking about them in the office.

Let the Dolphins enjoy their time in the sun, let them continue to build a massive following. Don't let anything come in locally that will detract from the magnificent achievements their club has made in such a short space of time.

But what GROTD has said about the financials stacking up for a Brisbane bid team is true as well. But I would urge caution. Let the people of Perth and the south island of NZ celebrate the arrival of their own NRL teams, and then come back to Brisbane. Patience is the key for a 5th Queensland team.

 

[Vlad59]

What V'landys said is how I feel about a 5th Queensland team coming in for now. We need to give the Dolphins a few more years' breathing space before another Brisbane bid is considered.

I can tell you as a Brisbane resident the support for the Dolphins is fever pitch. They knocked off a supposed contender in the Sharks last night, they've been all over the local news up here for most of this year, they have a genuine bona fide star in the Hammer, I even hear my colleagues talking about them in the office.

Let the Dolphins enjoy their time in the sun, let them continue to build a massive following. Don't let anything come in locally that will detract from the magnificent achievements their club has made in such a short space of time.

But what GROTD has said about the financials stacking up for a Brisbane bid team is true as well. But I would urge caution. Let the people of Perth and the south island of NZ celebrate the arrival of their own NRL teams, and then come back to Brisbane. Patience is the key for a 5th Queensland team.

These forums have been mangled almost to the point of disrepair for months and you waltz in and post borderline brilliant posts of common sense? Damn your impertinence! Damn you!

 

[The Man Shake]

These forums have been mangled almost to the point of disrepair for months and you waltz in and post borderline brilliant posts of common sense? Damn your impertinence! Damn you!

Well it's not hard you just need to come in here with the mindset of what's best for the great game of rugby league. And yet in a lot of posts I read...

1. You have posters who are pro-Perth to the exclusion of all other bids, and even to the detriment of current NRL clubs.

2. You have posters who are pro-Queensland to the exclusion of all other bids, and even to the detriment of current NRL clubs.

3. You have posters who are pro-Bears and think that any potential expansion bid MUST include them in the discussion, and MUST bow down to their "non-negotiables".

4. You have posters who have a pro-traditional "rugby league is a NSW and QLD game only" mindset and don't think we should consider expansion at all, with the usual excuse being "we don't have enough players for the current clubs". Note I'm being nice say pro-traditional, really it should read insular and conservative.

I think if you can avoid being like one of the 4 posters above, you can be impertinent like me.

 

[Wb1234]

What V'landys said is how I feel about a 5th Queensland team coming in for now. We need to give the Dolphins a few more years' breathing space before another Brisbane bid is considered.

I can tell you as a Brisbane resident the support for the Dolphins is fever pitch. They knocked off a supposed contender in the Sharks last night, they've been all over the local news up here for most of this year, they have a genuine bona fide star in the Hammer, I even hear my colleagues talking about them in the office.

Let the Dolphins enjoy their time in the sun, let them continue to build a massive following. Don't let anything come in locally that will detract from the magnificent achievements their club has made in such a short space of time.

But what GROTD has said about the financials stacking up for a Brisbane bid team is true as well. But I would urge caution. Let the people of Perth and the south island of NZ celebrate the arrival of their own NRL teams, and then come back to Brisbane. Patience is the key for a 5th Queensland team.

Easts Brisbane will be team 21

would’ve given the dolphins ten years of clear air

 

[Vlad59]

Well it's not hard you just need to come in here with the mindset of what's best for the great game of rugby league. And yet in a lot of posts I read...

1. You have posters who are pro-Perth to the exclusion of all other bids, and even to the detriment of current NRL clubs.

2. You have posters who are pro-Queensland to the exclusion of all other bids, and even to the detriment of current NRL clubs.

3. You have posters who are pro-Bears and think that any potential expansion bid MUST include them in the discussion, and MUST bow down to their "non-negotiables".

4. You have posters who have a pro-traditional "rugby league is a NSW and QLD game only" mindset and don't think we should consider expansion at all, with the usual excuse being "we don't have enough players for the current clubs". Note I'm being nice say pro-traditional, really it should read insular and conservative.

I think if you can avoid being like one of the 4 posters above, you can be impertinent like me.

That is gold

 

[docbrown]

What V'landys said is how I feel about a 5th Queensland team coming in for now. We need to give the Dolphins a few more years' breathing space before another Brisbane bid is considered.

I can tell you as a Brisbane resident the support for the Dolphins is fever pitch. They knocked off a supposed contender in the Sharks last night, they've been all over the local news up here for most of this year, they have a genuine bona fide star in the Hammer, I even hear my colleagues talking about them in the office.

Let the Dolphins enjoy their time in the sun, let them continue to build a massive following. Don't let anything come in locally that will detract from the magnificent achievements their club has made in such a short space of time.

But what GROTD has said about the financials stacking up for a Brisbane bid team is true as well. But I would urge caution. Let the people of Perth and the south island of NZ celebrate the arrival of their own NRL teams, and then come back to Brisbane. Patience is the key for a 5th Queensland team.

Fantastic post. From the sounds of it this is what the NRL also think. There's also no reason why the comp can't be 21 teams with Perth, NZ2, PNG & Brisbane 3 all getting a club at some point if all the financials are in place.

South East Queensland has 4 million people now and will have 6 million people by 2045. Sydney has 5.5 million now and has 9 teams.

4 teams is less than half the current Sydney saturation quantity. Just let the Dolphins have more time to build their base and the area will be ready.