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Brisbane Tigers make their bid to be 18th team

Brian potter

First Grade
Messages
5,308
Because it’s rugba league. Can’t grow the game so just move the pieces around lol
It would be one thing to move the sharks or dragons to Adelaide but quite another to move a club that doesn’t even exist in the NRL.

That being said I would still move the tigers to Brisbane and keep the magpies in western Sydney followed by entering a team from Perth and another one from either Christchurch or even Adelaide depending on financial backing.
 
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14,822
It would be one thing to move the sharks or dragons to Adelaide but quite another to move a club that doesn’t even exist in the NRL.

That being said I would still move the tigers to Brisbane and keep the magpies in western Sydney followed by entering a team from Perth and another one from either Christchurch or even Adelaide depending on financial backing.
If rebranding the Wests Tigers as Western Sydney Magpies stops the infighting thats holding them back then let's do it.

Brisbane Tigers or Brisbane Bengals would be a good brand. I'd go with Bengals so that Queensland has five teams that share mascots with NFL clubs.
 

MugaB

Coach
Messages
15,303
If rebranding the Wests Tigers as Western Sydney Magpies stops the infighting thats holding them back then let's do it.

Brisbane Tigers or Brisbane Bengals would be a good brand. I'd go with Bengals so that Queensland has five teams that share mascots with NFL clubs.
That doesn't stop the infighting... if anything it makes it worse... besides you only brought that up so you can advocate for another team in seq, which so happens to have the same branding as being the tigers
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
69,812
When it comes to the NRL’s great expansion debate, the sport faces a fundamental philosophical question that must be answered before the 18th team gets a licence.
Does rugby league in Australia want to get larger by breaking new ground in vacant markets or is it better to make the sport stronger in an under-represented heartland area like Brisbane.
Shane Edwards certainly thinks the latter is the way to go.
he former Broncos chief executive is heading up the Brisbane Tigers bid to become the next team when the NRL decides to expand, likely to be sometime in the next 3-5 years.

As is often the case when the league is looking to build its base, various options have been floated from new teams in previous rebel outposts like Adelaide and Perth, another team in Melbourne or New Zealand, a perennial candidate in the Central Coast or a Pasifika team based out of Cairns that would potentially encompass Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa

Brisbane Tigers tried to get into the big league a couple of years ago when they launched a bid under the Firehawks brand which lost out to Redcliffe’s Dolphins proposal.
“There’s been a fair bit of speculation for several months out in the marketplace about where teams should be located. We wanted to show the NRL that we have committed to implementing things we said we would do in our 17th team bid,” he said, pointing to their high-performance and community centre, pathways set-up and youth mentoring programs.

“If you divide Brisbane by the river and a lot of Brisbanites do with a bit of friendly rivalry about which side of the river you live on, there’s 600,000 more people on the south side of Brisbane and both NRL teams at the moment are based on the north side of the river. And our next closest team is 71km away in the Titans.

“We went through the draw this year and there’s nine weekends when neither the Broncos or the Dolphins are playing at Suncorp Stadium in a 27-round competition. That’s a third of the season so we would fit nicely in there. When they said there’s going to be a second team in the Brisbane area they said that there’d be a game at Suncorp every week. That just doesn’t eventuate because of the complexities of the draw, but a third one would certainly assist that.”

“If the NRL saw fit to allocate us the 18th licence we can do a similar role on the south side, which includes Logan, through Ipswich and we would be comfortable to talk to Toowoomba about working with them.”

No professional sporting outfit can survive, especially an expansion team, in the crowded Australian landscape without serious financial clout but Edwards said that would not be a problem.

“We can compete in all terms with the Broncos and the Dolphins in regards to cash assets and capital. We’ve got Easts Leagues Club, which is one of the most profitable in Queensland and provides great funding,” he said.

“We just want to let everyone know that we’re a club that’s 90 years old this year. We’ve been in nine of the last 30 state league grand finals. We’ve got great tradition, a strong financial base behind this and we’ve got great pathways in place.”

Edwards said he didn’t have a problem with the NRL trying to set up teams in AFL markets like Perth or Adelaide … down the track.

“Look at the AFL, they’re doing that but at what cost? They’ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars in Sydney with two teams and one in Brisbane plus the Gold Coast. They’re still contributing to those regions.

“I just see that generating income to put more money back into development (in a traditional area) is a better way to do it than putting money into a club that needs funding for a number of years in either Perth or Adelaide who don’t have the infrastructure.

“You look at Melbourne Storm, for instance. Most of their players are still coming out of Queensland and NSW and I saw the other day their Friday night game was on Gem down there, not even on the main television channel.

“I think the Dolphins has shown south-east Queensland can definitely support another team. We’re underrepresented in the NRL at the moment, and the funds that would be generated would be significant and they can be put back into the development of the game and those other regions.

“As long as we’re No.18, we’re happy.”

It’s hard to get an accurate gauge on how significant the AFL threat is to the NRL in South-East Queensland but Edwards said “it’s very real”.

Edwards said they could be ready for entry into the NRL at the drop of a hat whether it’s fast-tracked in 2025 or ‘26, or held back later to coincide with the next broadcast rights deal.

And for the time being, they are in regular dialogue with the NRL and are ready and waiting for the bid process to officially be declared open.

The ARL Commission will ultimately decide on the best bid based on merit but there will be plenty of debate, before, during and after the process on whether the NRL needs to build from its existing base in an area like Brisbane’s south-west or explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations in Perth and Adelaide.

It’s going to be an epic trek either way.

 

MugaB

Coach
Messages
15,303
When it comes to the NRL’s great expansion debate, the sport faces a fundamental philosophical question that must be answered before the 18th team gets a licence.
Does rugby league in Australia want to get larger by breaking new ground in vacant markets or is it better to make the sport stronger in an under-represented heartland area like Brisbane.
Shane Edwards certainly thinks the latter is the way to go.
he former Broncos chief executive is heading up the Brisbane Tigers bid to become the next team when the NRL decides to expand, likely to be sometime in the next 3-5 years.

As is often the case when the league is looking to build its base, various options have been floated from new teams in previous rebel outposts like Adelaide and Perth, another team in Melbourne or New Zealand, a perennial candidate in the Central Coast or a Pasifika team based out of Cairns that would potentially encompass Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa

Brisbane Tigers tried to get into the big league a couple of years ago when they launched a bid under the Firehawks brand which lost out to Redcliffe’s Dolphins proposal.
“There’s been a fair bit of speculation for several months out in the marketplace about where teams should be located. We wanted to show the NRL that we have committed to implementing things we said we would do in our 17th team bid,” he said, pointing to their high-performance and community centre, pathways set-up and youth mentoring programs.

“If you divide Brisbane by the river and a lot of Brisbanites do with a bit of friendly rivalry about which side of the river you live on, there’s 600,000 more people on the south side of Brisbane and both NRL teams at the moment are based on the north side of the river. And our next closest team is 71km away in the Titans.

“We went through the draw this year and there’s nine weekends when neither the Broncos or the Dolphins are playing at Suncorp Stadium in a 27-round competition. That’s a third of the season so we would fit nicely in there. When they said there’s going to be a second team in the Brisbane area they said that there’d be a game at Suncorp every week. That just doesn’t eventuate because of the complexities of the draw, but a third one would certainly assist that.”

“If the NRL saw fit to allocate us the 18th licence we can do a similar role on the south side, which includes Logan, through Ipswich and we would be comfortable to talk to Toowoomba about working with them.”

No professional sporting outfit can survive, especially an expansion team, in the crowded Australian landscape without serious financial clout but Edwards said that would not be a problem.

“We can compete in all terms with the Broncos and the Dolphins in regards to cash assets and capital. We’ve got Easts Leagues Club, which is one of the most profitable in Queensland and provides great funding,” he said.

“We just want to let everyone know that we’re a club that’s 90 years old this year. We’ve been in nine of the last 30 state league grand finals. We’ve got great tradition, a strong financial base behind this and we’ve got great pathways in place.”

Edwards said he didn’t have a problem with the NRL trying to set up teams in AFL markets like Perth or Adelaide … down the track.

“Look at the AFL, they’re doing that but at what cost? They’ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars in Sydney with two teams and one in Brisbane plus the Gold Coast. They’re still contributing to those regions.

“I just see that generating income to put more money back into development (in a traditional area) is a better way to do it than putting money into a club that needs funding for a number of years in either Perth or Adelaide who don’t have the infrastructure.

“You look at Melbourne Storm, for instance. Most of their players are still coming out of Queensland and NSW and I saw the other day their Friday night game was on Gem down there, not even on the main television channel.

“I think the Dolphins has shown south-east Queensland can definitely support another team. We’re underrepresented in the NRL at the moment, and the funds that would be generated would be significant and they can be put back into the development of the game and those other regions.

“As long as we’re No.18, we’re happy.”

It’s hard to get an accurate gauge on how significant the AFL threat is to the NRL in South-East Queensland but Edwards said “it’s very real”.

Edwards said they could be ready for entry into the NRL at the drop of a hat whether it’s fast-tracked in 2025 or ‘26, or held back later to coincide with the next broadcast rights deal.

And for the time being, they are in regular dialogue with the NRL and are ready and waiting for the bid process to officially be declared open.

The ARL Commission will ultimately decide on the best bid based on merit but there will be plenty of debate, before, during and after the process on whether the NRL needs to build from its existing base in an area like Brisbane’s south-west or explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations in Perth and Adelaide.

It’s going to be an epic trek either way.

South Queensland Sabres...
That takes care of the south of the river rivalry, it can encompass Souths-Logan Magpies, Wynnum Manly Seagulls and Ipwsich Jets as their feeder clubs,
Leaving the rest for the Broncos, Get bronx to play a few games in Toowoomba, leave the rest for the Sabres...
It wont happen tho, the dolphins need more time, something like this is probably no.20, with Pasifika next and Perth straight after for 18 & 19
 

flippikat

First Grade
Messages
5,246
South Queensland Sabres...
That takes care of the south of the river rivalry, it can encompass Souths-Logan Magpies, Wynnum Manly Seagulls and Ipwsich Jets as their feeder clubs,
Leaving the rest for the Broncos, Get bronx to play a few games in Toowoomba, leave the rest for the Sabres...
It wont happen tho, the dolphins need more time, something like this is probably no.20, with Pasifika next and Perth straight after for 18 & 19
Perth as team 18.

Then NZ 2 (where-ever that lands) and this 'Brisbane Tigers'-backed bid - encompassing Logan & Ipswich as you say - as teams 19 and 20, hopefully added at the same time to avoid an uneven sized competition.

Add to that, regular games (at least 2 per year) in Adelaide.. build the game's profile there.. and regular games around NZ & 1 per year in Tasmania too, while they're at it.

There's your expansion strategy
 

flippikat

First Grade
Messages
5,246
Further to my post above...

"But what of the islands?" you may say - well, set up a pathway & funding for Fiji's Silvertails to move from Ron Massey Cup to NSW Cup, and use similar pathways for club teams from Tonga & Samoa (either in NSW or Qld system) using some of that additional TV cash from an expanded top tier.. structure the NSW & Qld Cup as equal-sized conferences of an over-arching 2nd tier, including inter-conference rounds (maybe over the Origin period - as per the State v State theme at that time of the year, and rest the NRL for 3 weekends)
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
69,812
brisbane3 is certainly an Interesting one. Would a club be able to represent significantly different locations like Ipswich Logan and the manly Wynnum areas? Would people of Ipswich travel the long distance to Suncorp regularly? We have seen the dolphins have been unable to bring any local qrl clubs into the fold (?Due to qrl rivalry) would a south brisbane club owned by easts be an acceptable partner for the likes of the jets and seagulls?
 

flippikat

First Grade
Messages
5,246
brisbane3 is certainly an Interesting one. Would a club be able to represent significantly different locations like Ipswich Logan and the manly Wynnum areas? Would people of Ipswich travel the long distance to Suncorp regularly? We have seen the dolphins have been unable to bring any local qrl clubs into the fold (?Due to qrl rivalry) would a south brisbane club owned by easts be an acceptable partner for the likes of the jets and seagulls?
Good question - and I'd add the question "Would a successful Brisbane Easts bid encourage more Qld Cup Brisbane clubs to lobby the NRL to add THEM?"

If a Easts-owned team can appeal to a wide market - especially all points south of the river - then there should be no need to add further teams in SE-Qld for some time.

I await with interest to see how they adapt their branding for their renewed bid.
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
69,812
The Tigers certainly used the whole southern region in their launch last week for population justification. It’ll be interesting to see what the Jets response is.
 

flippikat

First Grade
Messages
5,246
The Tigers certainly used the whole southern region in their launch last week for population justification. It’ll be interesting to see what the Jets response is.
I wonder if it's a case of Easts saying to Ipswich "we'll play a game or two each season in Ipswich, and maybe add green to our colours if you endorse us"?
 
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Perth Red

Post Whore
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69,812
Jets approached them when it was clear they weren’t getting in ahead of dolphins so they may well be open to a joint bid I suppose.
 

flippikat

First Grade
Messages
5,246
Jets approached them when it was clear they weren’t getting in ahead of dolphins so they may well be open to a joint bid I suppose.
I'd be wary of a joint bid, given the issues of our current joint venture clubs, but an agreement where Ipswich/Western Corridor doesn't bid against Easts, in return for something (games? Adding a color? Feeder arrangements?) may be beneficial.

Especially if it doesn't stop Ipswich bidding (in their own right) at some agreed time later.
 

MugaB

Coach
Messages
15,303
I'd be wary of a joint bid, given the issues of our current joint venture clubs, but an agreement where Ipswich/Western Corridor doesn't bid against Easts, in return for something (games? Adding a color? Feeder arrangements?) may be beneficial.

Especially if it doesn't stop Ipswich bidding (in their own right) at some agreed time later.
It wont happen anyway, not until team 20, Pasifika and Perth are next, and SEQ needs to let the dolphins breathe
 

mongoose

Coach
Messages
11,814
Alright Brisbanites, tell me about this friendly rivalry about who lives on what side of the river.
Its honestly like two different cities. Most people stick to the side they live on and rarely cross over, unless its for work or they are using the Bruce/M1 highways. South side is bigger and more spread out. It has way more immigrants too. League and the Broncos are strong all over though, it's not like Sydney where East and North have stronger Union/AFL followings.
 

Pippen94

First Grade
Messages
7,225
Its honestly like two different cities. Most people stick to the side they live on and rarely cross over, unless its for work or they are using the Bruce/M1 highways. South side is bigger and more spread out. It has way more immigrants too. League and the Broncos are strong all over though, it's not like Sydney where East and North have stronger Union/AFL followings.

NRL is stronger than both afl & union in north of sydney
 
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