Brothers NRL bid

[RLOffsider]

Thought I'd create a dedicated forum to discussing the merits of the Brothers NRL bid compared to Redcliffe and Western Corridor.

They certainly have a lot going for them, their IP is as strong as the likes of St George and South Sydney in rugby league and they have well over 40 clubs not just in Brisbane but throughout regional Queensland, Northern Territory, New South Wales and Papua New Guinea.

In 2018, there were 38 players who played their junior footy for Brothers including the likes of Cameron Smith, Daly Cherry-Evans, Josh Papalii and Billy Slater.

Brothers is the ultimate anti-Broncos bid as it has a strong connection to the BRL without alienating fans based on geographic divides unlike Redcliffe and Western Corridor.

Would be interested to here everyone's thoughts on Brothers and who they think deserves to be the second Brisbane team in the next round of expansion?

 

[Stallion]

Thought I'd create a dedicated forum to discussing the merits of the Brothers NRL bid compared to Redcliffe and Western Corridor.

They certainly have a lot going for them, their IP is as strong as the likes of St George and South Sydney in rugby league and they have well over 40 clubs not just in Brisbane but throughout regional Queensland, Northern Territory, New South Wales and Papua New Guinea.

In 2018, there were 38 players who played their junior footy for Brothers including the likes of Cameron Smith, Daly Cherry-Evans, Josh Papalii and Billy Slater.

Brothers is the ultimate anti-Broncos bid as it has a strong connection to the BRL without alienating fans based on geographic divides unlike Redcliffe and Western Corridor.

Would be interested to here everyone's thoughts on Brothers and who they think deserves to be the second Brisbane team in the next round of expansion?

Interesting. Never realised Brothers was a widespread fraternity! I'm thinking Brisbane Brothers sounds good. And as its a generic type background it bodes well for harnessing support. Especially the anti Broncos part of Queensland. Wonder what colours this club would use?

 

[flippikat]

Interesting. Never realised Brothers was a widespread fraternity! I'm thinking Brisbane Brothers sounds good. And as its a generic type background it bodes well for harnessing support. Especially the anti Broncos part of Queensland. Wonder what colours this club would use?

Traditionally, the club played in navy blue & white butcher stripes.. but I imagine they may choose something else for an NRL bid to create a distinctive look - maybe green & white?

 

[Stallion]

Traditionally, the club played in navy blue & white butcher stripes.. but I imagine they may choose something else for an NRL bid to create a distinctive look - maybe green & white?

Maybe navy blue, green & white?

 

[flippikat]

Maybe navy blue, green & white?

Well Port Adelaide in the AFL added light blue to their traditional (SA competition) black & white colours, so yeah.. adding a colour to the jersey could be a go.

 

[The Great Dane]

Thought I'd create a dedicated forum to discussing the merits of the Brothers NRL bid compared to Redcliffe and Western Corridor.

They certainly have a lot going for them, their IP is as strong as the likes of St George and South Sydney in rugby league and they have well over 40 clubs not just in Brisbane but throughout regional Queensland, Northern Territory, New South Wales and Papua New Guinea.

In 2018, there were 38 players who played their junior footy for Brothers including the likes of Cameron Smith, Daly Cherry-Evans, Josh Papalii and Billy Slater.

Brothers is the ultimate anti-Broncos bid as it has a strong connection to the BRL without alienating fans based on geographic divides unlike Redcliffe and Western Corridor.

Would be interested to here everyone's thoughts on Brothers and who they think deserves to be the second Brisbane team in the next round of expansion?

There a few threads on here about the Brothers bid, here's the first one I could find-
https://forums.leagueunlimited.com/threads/combined-brothers-bid.416265/

You're also misinformed on the Brothers bid...

The Brothers bid was never intended to be a Brisbane bid, if they got a license the team was to be based in Brisbane but it wasn't intended to represent Brisbane it was intended to represent as many of the markets that the Confraternity's already has a presence in as possible, for example they intended to call the NRL club the Brothers RLFC or Brothers Leprechauns and not the Brisbane Brothers which was never officially their name and is only a name that the media started referring to them as which stuck, they also intended to play more then half their home games a year outside of Brisbane, they had intentions to play games right across Queensland, in Darwin, and were even talking about potentially playing games in Wagga and Northern Sydney.

So yeah they aren't and never were a "Brisbane bid" and if the NRL intended to expand in Brisbane then picking the Brothers bid would be a bad idea, however in saying that that doesn't mean that their bid is a bad bid or that their bid shouldn't be considered, as the idea of a team with the express purpose of representing a geographically diverse group of fans based on a shared identity of being part of the local satellites of the club is a very interesting concept for a bid, however I can see a lot potential pitfalls in that concept (like the assumption that Brothers members will be inclined to support the NRL team based on their support for the local Brothers club, and that the other NRL clubs will be happy with a club that theoretically could suck juniors and other resources from all of their markets with impunity, etc), but still it's an interesting concept and one that should be considered.

BTW, I was going to link you their bid documents and plans so you could have a look for yourself but it seems that the bids website is down, which may mean that the bid is either dead or in hibernation.

 

[The Great Dane]

Traditionally, the club played in navy blue & white butcher stripes.. but I imagine they may choose something else for an NRL bid to create a distinctive look - maybe green & white?

Actually it depends on the individual club what colours they had, yes the most famous Brothers scheme and the Brisbane Brothers clubs traditional colours were navy and white, but for example Ipswich Brothers is green, yellow, and white, and others have all sorts of colour schemes with schemes including the aforementioned colours and orange, red, black, light blues, etc.

So theoretically the club could be any combination of those colours and it'd be representative of their history, the NRL would probably push them towards greens, yellows, and oranges based on the amount of blue and white teams already in the comp though.

 

[Diesel]

There a few threads on here about the Brothers bid, here's the first one I could find-
https://forums.leagueunlimited.com/threads/combined-brothers-bid.416265/

You're also misinformed on the Brothers bid...

The Brothers bid was never intended to be a Brisbane bid, if they got a license the team was to be based in Brisbane but it wasn't intended to represent Brisbane it was intended to represent as many of the markets that the Confraternity's already has a presence in as possible, for example they intended to call the NRL club the Brothers RLFC or Brothers Leprechauns and not the Brisbane Brothers which was never officially their name and is only a name that the media started referring to them as which stuck, they also intended to play more then half their home games a year outside of Brisbane, they had intentions to play games right across Queensland, in Darwin, and were even talking about potentially playing games in Wagga and Northern Sydney.

So yeah they aren't and never were a "Brisbane bid" and if the NRL intended to expand in Brisbane then picking the Brothers bid would be a bad idea, however in saying that that doesn't mean that their bid is a bad bid or that their bid shouldn't be considered, as the idea of a team with the express purpose of representing a geographically diverse group of fans based on a shared identity of being part of the local satellites of the club is a very interesting concept for a bid, however I can see a lot potential pitfalls in that concept (like the assumption that Brothers members will be inclined to support the NRL team based on their support for the local Brothers club, and that the other NRL clubs will be happy with a club that theoretically could suck juniors and other resources from all of their markets with impunity, etc), but still it's an interesting concept and one that should be considered.

BTW, I was going to link you their bid documents and plans so you could have a look for yourself but it seems that the bids website is down, which may mean that the bid is either dead or in hibernation.

They update on Facebook every so often https://m.facebook.com/BrothersFC/

 

[RLOffsider]

You're also misinformed on the Brothers bid...

The Brothers bid was never intended to be a Brisbane bid, if they got a license the team was to be based in Brisbane but it wasn't intended to represent Brisbane it was intended to represent as many of the markets that the Confraternity's already has a presence in as possible, for example they intended to call the NRL club the Brothers RLFC or Brothers Leprechauns and not the Brisbane Brothers which was never officially their name and is only a name that the media started referring to them as which stuck, they also intended to play more then half their home games a year outside of Brisbane, they had intentions to play games right across Queensland, in Darwin, and were even talking about potentially playing games in Wagga and Northern Sydney.

So yeah they aren't and never were a "Brisbane bid" and if the NRL intended to expand in Brisbane then picking the Brothers bid would be a bad idea, however in saying that that doesn't mean that their bid is a bad bid or that their bid shouldn't be considered, as the idea of a team with the express purpose of representing a geographically diverse group of fans based on a shared identity of being part of the local satellites of the club is a very interesting concept for a bid, however I can see a lot potential pitfalls in that concept (like the assumption that Brothers members will be inclined to support the NRL team based on their support for the local Brothers club, and that the other NRL clubs will be happy with a club that theoretically could suck juniors and other resources from all of their markets with impunity, etc), but still it's an interesting concept and one that should be considered.

BTW, I was going to link you their bid documents and plans so you could have a look for yourself but it seems that the bids website is down, which may mean that the bid is either dead or in hibernation.

I never said they were a ‘Brisbane bid’. Yes, they would be based in Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium as well as their training and administration facilities, and would are in contention for the Brisbane 2 expansion slot however, I do expect them to take between 3-4 games on the road to Mackay, Cairns, Toowoomba, Wagga Wagga, Darwin, etc. as well as playing ‘away’ games on the Gold Coast and in Townsville.

Of course they will keep the brand as broad as possible ‘Brothers RLFC’ not ‘Brisbane Brothers’, but it would be cynical of them not to capitalise on breaking the Brisbane market while also casting the net across markets where the Brothers confraternity currently exists.

The bid doc can be found here: http://web.archive.org/web/20180314...com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Bid-Doc.pdf

The Brothers RLFC bid is still active however, with expansion not officially on the agenda they are quiet just as South Pacific, West Coast, Bombers, etc are.

 

[The Great Dane]

I never said they were a ‘Brisbane bid’. Yes, they would be based in Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium as well as their training and administration facilities, and would are in contention for the Brisbane 2 expansion slot however, I do expect them to take between 3-4 games on the road to Mackay, Cairns, Toowoomba, Wagga Wagga, Darwin, etc. as well as playing ‘away’ games on the Gold Coast and in Townsville.

Of course they will keep the brand as broad as possible ‘Brothers RLFC’ not ‘Brisbane Brothers’, but it would be cynical of them not to capitalise on breaking the Brisbane market while also casting the net across markets where the Brothers confraternity currently exists.

The bid doc can be found here: http://web.archive.org/web/20180314...com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Bid-Doc.pdf

The Brothers RLFC bid is still active however, with expansion not officially on the agenda they are quiet just as South Pacific, West Coast, Bombers, etc are.

It'd be dumb to consider them for the second spot in Brisbane, the NRL needs another team in Brisbane full time so that they have a match in Brisbane every week, Brothers doesn't provide that, but again that's not to say that the Brothers bid is a bad bid or shouldn't be considered, just that it shouldn't be considered for the second spot in Brisbane, and if Brothers does get a license then Brisbane will still need a second full time club.

On which Brisbane bid should get the license, in my opinion none of the current bids are ideal, Western corridor is probably the best of a bad lot, but I'd expect that once the NRL actually calls for bids a few more will come out of the wood works and hopefully one of those is a better fit or one of the bids can be shaped into a better fit.

In my opinion the NRL's goal in Brisbane should be to split the city down two axis, a geographical axis and a philosophical axis. They should try to manufacture a situation where the Broncos represent 'North Brisbane' (roughly north of the river up to Morton bay) and the brutal corporate enterprise big end of town image that the Broncos already have, and the new club represents 'South Brisbane' (roughly south of the river and down through Logan and Ipswich) with an image of representing the exact opposite of the Broncos by embracing a rebellious little brother oppressed by the giant unstoppable corporation big brother image while embracing all the history that the Broncos represent the destruction of.

The other goal that the NRL should have in Brisbane is to try to replicate a Man utd and Man city style big city split down the middle by two huge clubs style derby and then leave it at that. In a perfect world there's hopefully no need for more than two teams in Brisbane and no need to risk overcrowding the market and wasting precious spots in the competition when it's unnecessary.

BTW, there were other documents on the Brothers bid then just that one, some were more detailed then that one as well, and as you say Brothers did plan to take games on the road but not just 3-4 a year, the Brothers planned to start off with 4-6 games outside Brisbane with the intention of slowly increasing that number potentially right up 10 games outside of Brisbane, which again isn't ideal for a second Brisbane club.

 

[Stallion]

It'd be dumb to consider them for the second spot in Brisbane, the NRL needs another team in Brisbane full time so that they have a match in Brisbane every week, Brothers doesn't provide that, but again that's not to say that the Brothers bid is a bad bid or shouldn't be considered, just that it shouldn't be considered for the second spot in Brisbane, and if Brothers does get a license then Brisbane will still need a second full time club.

On which Brisbane bid should get the license, in my opinion none of the current bids are ideal, Western corridor is probably the best of a bad lot, but I'd expect that once the NRL actually calls for bids a few more will come out of the wood works and hopefully one of those is a better fit or one of the bids can be shaped into a better fit.

In my opinion the NRL's goal in Brisbane should be to split the city down two axis, a geographical axis and a philosophical axis. They should try to manufacture a situation where the Broncos represent 'North Brisbane' (roughly north of the river up to Morton bay) and the brutal corporate enterprise big end of town image that the Broncos already have, and the new club represents 'South Brisbane' (roughly south of the river and down through Logan and Ipswich) with an image of representing the exact opposite of the Broncos by embracing a rebellious little brother oppressed by the giant unstoppable corporation big brother image while embracing all the history that the Broncos represent the destruction of.

The other goal that the NRL should have in Brisbane is to try to replicate a Man utd and Man city style big city split down the middle by two huge clubs style derby and then leave it at that. In a perfect world there's hopefully no need for more than two teams in Brisbane and no need to risk overcrowding the market and wasting precious spots in the competition when it's unnecessary.

BTW, there were other documents on the Brothers bid then just that one, some were more detailed then that one as well, and as you say Brothers did plan to take games on the road but not just 3-4 a year, the Brothers planned to start off with 4-6 games outside Brisbane with the intention of slowly increasing that number potentially right up 10 games outside of Brisbane, which again isn't ideal for a second Brisbane club.

Amazingly we agree this time Great Dane. A second club based in Brisbane is essential and long overdue.

 

[Marlins]

A Brothers Leprechaun Team would be interesting. I would base the side in SQLD.
6 games @ Suncorp
2 games @ Cbus
While rotating their other 4 games each year, at places like -
Mackay
Sunshine Coast
Rockhampton
Cairns
Darwin
Toowoomba

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

There a few threads on here about the Brothers bid, here's the first one I could find-
https://forums.leagueunlimited.com/threads/combined-brothers-bid.416265/

You're also misinformed on the Brothers bid...

The Brothers bid was never intended to be a Brisbane bid, if they got a license the team was to be based in Brisbane but it wasn't intended to represent Brisbane it was intended to represent as many of the markets that the Confraternity's already has a presence in as possible, for example they intended to call the NRL club the Brothers RLFC or Brothers Leprechauns and not the Brisbane Brothers which was never officially their name and is only a name that the media started referring to them as which stuck, they also intended to play more then half their home games a year outside of Brisbane, they had intentions to play games right across Queensland, in Darwin, and were even talking about potentially playing games in Wagga and Northern Sydney.

So yeah they aren't and never were a "Brisbane bid" and if the NRL intended to expand in Brisbane then picking the Brothers bid would be a bad idea, however in saying that that doesn't mean that their bid is a bad bid or that their bid shouldn't be considered, as the idea of a team with the express purpose of representing a geographically diverse group of fans based on a shared identity of being part of the local satellites of the club is a very interesting concept for a bid, however I can see a lot potential pitfalls in that concept (like the assumption that Brothers members will be inclined to support the NRL team based on their support for the local Brothers club, and that the other NRL clubs will be happy with a club that theoretically could suck juniors and other resources from all of their markets with impunity, etc), but still it's an interesting concept and one that should be considered.

BTW, I was going to link you their bid documents and plans so you could have a look for yourself but it seems that the bids website is down, which may mean that the bid is either dead or in hibernation.

Yeh, the next Brisbane team should be 12 games at Suncorp (i still think the best brand would be BRL First/United, a revival of the rep team for the BRL comp. Perfect counterpoint to the NSWRL Broncos and they dont suffer from local rivalries like BRL clubs would)

If ANOTHER Brisbane team was introduced after that, the Brothers structure would be great. These smaller markets (Rocky, Mackey, etc) will never have their own team, so a properly dedicated regional team would be good

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

On which Brisbane bid should get the license, in my opinion none of the current bids are ideal, Western corridor is probably the best of a bad lot, but I'd expect that once the NRL actually calls for bids a few more will come out of the wood works and hopefully one of those is a better fit or one of the bids can be shaped into a better fit.

I dont see why the ARLC need to just accept what is put in front of them.

Id much rather see them build what they think is the best bid (in terms of branding) and put that out to tender. And specifically write into the licence deal that the brand is untouchable.

In my opinion the NRL's goal in Brisbane should be to split the city down two axis, a geographical axis and a philosophical axis. They should try to manufacture a situation where the Broncos represent 'North Brisbane' (roughly north of the river up to Morton bay) and the brutal corporate enterprise big end of town image that the Broncos already have, and the new club represents 'South Brisbane' (roughly south of the river and down through Logan and Ipswich) with an image of representing the exact opposite of the Broncos by embracing a rebellious little brother oppressed by the giant unstoppable corporation big brother image while embracing all the history that the Broncos represent the destruction of.
.

I dont know much about the geography of Brisbane, but the philosophical angle is exactly right.

Broncos killed the BRL and subjugated the QRL to second tier. The next Brisbane team needs to represent that pre-1988 history and RL as it grew locally.

 

[The Great Dane]

I dont see why the ARLC need to just accept what is put in front of them.

Id much rather see them build what they think is the best bid (in terms of branding) and put that out to tender. And specifically write into the licence deal that the brand is untouchable.

I'd have no problem with the NRL setting up their own expansion franchises then selling them on once they are established, it's a little more risky (cause they don't get license fees up front, and if they can't shift the club on as quickly as they'd like or if things go tits up before they can shift the club on then they are the ones out of pocket) but it's a very good way to make sure you get exactly what you want.

Just got to make sure that there's lots of local engagement (especially when it comes to the branding and the clubs target markets), otherwise they have a tenancy to become a corporate nightmare that was dreamed up in some marketing firm on the other side of the country, like GWS.

I dont know much about the geography of Brisbane, but the philosophical angle is exactly right.

Broncos killed the BRL and subjugated the QRL to second tier. The next Brisbane team needs to represent that pre-1988 history and RL as it grew locally.

The problem is that you have to do that while alienating as few people as possible, which is extremely difficult. For example if you started a new club and called them the Brisbane Diehards then you're going to alienate large parts of your target audience cause though they may be interested in following a new NRL team they hate the Diehards so much that there's no way that they'll be associated with them.

The FFA hit the nail right on the head with the Wanderers, it was a historic brand with links to the region that ran deep, but everybody had forgotten about their existence for so long that even if there was any hatred for the brand by rivals historically it'd been forgotten.

Whether or not the NRL will be able to replicate the WSW success in Brisbane I don't know, maybe your idea of calling them Brisbane United and running with that old brand will work (it's a bit bland though), or maybe there's some old BRL brand from the early days that was only around for a short while that would be suitable...

 

[Perth Red]

Like freo did by choosing a working class geographically appropriate brand to differentiate it from the silver spoon Eagles a brsibane2 could go that way. Is there any dominant industry in that south/sw region of Brisbane and outer areas?

 

[Diesel]

My understanding is when the NRL put out bids for expansion, this time they’ll be saying we want a team from X,Y or Z which is the opposite of the last major expansion bidding in1992 for the ‘95 season

 

[Stallion]

My understanding is when the NRL put out bids for expansion, this time they’ll be saying we want a team from X,Y or Z which is the opposite of the last major expansion bidding in1992 for the ‘95 season

That approach seems proactive and promising.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

I'd have no problem with the NRL setting up their own expansion franchises then selling them on once they are established, it's a little more risky (cause they don't get license fees up front, and if they can't shift the club on as quickly as they'd like or if things go tits up before they can shift the club on then they are the ones out of pocket) but it's a very good way to make sure you get exactly what you want.

Just got to make sure that there's lots of local engagement (especially when it comes to the branding and the clubs target markets), otherwise they have a tenancy to become a corporate nightmare that was dreamed up in some marketing firm on the other side of the country, like GWS.

In that case, an early partnership might be the go...

Work with several of the bids to build proposals the the ARLC want (the branding, the location, the governance structure). They will be happy hearing exactly what would get them closer to the licence and the ARLC is actively molding the club they want.

The problem is that you have to do that while alienating as few people as possible, which is extremely difficult. For example if you started a new club and called them the Brisbane Diehards then you're going to alienate large parts of your target audience cause though they may be interested in following a new NRL team they hate the Diehards so much that there's no way that they'll be associated with them.

The FFA hit the nail right on the head with the Wanderers, it was a historic brand with links to the region that ran deep, but everybody had forgotten about their existence for so long that even if there was any hatred for the brand by rivals historically it'd been forgotten.

Whether or not the NRL will be able to replicate the WSW success in Brisbane I don't know, maybe your idea of calling them Brisbane United and running with that old brand will work (it's a bit bland though), or maybe there's some old BRL brand from the early days that was only around for a short while that would be suitable...

My no.1 team is the NSW Blues. I have always loved that they can cut across club loyalties and bring all of Sydney together (they totally disprove the idea that Sydney cant follow one team)....

Rep teams hit this perfect sweet spot; they inspire emotion, they are rich in history, but they dont suffer from local rivalries. While the BRL brand might be forgotten by most young fans, it is still a storied jumper. You dont need to have SEEN these stories to feel their magnitude, these stories are passed down and live on in the retelling. (How many Souths fans saw Clive Churchill running around or saw Sattler play on with the broken jaw? It doesnt matter that the number is small and shrinking every year, the stories live on in the retelling and give character to the club)

The BRL United rep jumper represents all the stories of the BRL comp and the rep team itself. All the club needs to do is retell their stories and intertwine their brand with the patriotic history of Brisbane RL and locals will care...

 

[Dogs Of War]

Like freo did by choosing a working class geographically appropriate brand to differentiate it from the silver spoon Eagles a brsibane2 could go that way. Is there any dominant industry in that south/sw region of Brisbane and outer areas?

Ice Dealers.