If the game wants to put out the last glowing embers from the Superleague war, once and for all, they will admit the Central Coast Bears and the W.A Reds. Here is why. The following teams were sacrificed because of the Superleague war, either directly or indirectly:
Gold Coast (Chargers)
Western Reds
Adelaide
Hunter Mariners
South Queensland
Souths
Wests
Balmain
Norths
Manly
Now, Hunter and Adelaide were both artificial teams created solely to add numbers to Superleague's season draw. Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think there is even a single person on these forums who supported the Rams? As for the Mariners, I have yet to encounter a person from the Hunter who gave up on League because News Ltd. pulled the plug on them.
South Queensland could consider themselves a bit unlucky, but at the same time if a new Brisbane team wants to thrive, it should be an established QRL side, not a new creation with no previous history, if it wants to compete with the Broncos. Furthermore, if having another NRL side in Qld is such top priority, surely Ipswich or Central Qld is more important than cutting in on the Broncos territory (short-term anyway).
Balmain were looking to relocate long before Rupert Murdoch took an interest in our game, even back in the 80's they looked at relocating to the Central Coast or Melbourne. Returning to Leichardt in 1997 after the Sydney Tigers experiment was only a temporary thing. Old Balmain fans should at least feel lucky their team lives on in Sydney, instead of being an interstate side.
Wests were marked down for extinction long before Sewerleague, if people remember they got kicked out along with Newtown back in '83 but won their way back into the comp via the courts. They did little between 1984 and '99 but bring up the rear of the ladder and draw small crowds, save for finals appearances in 1991-92 and 1995-96.
Gold Coast are now back as the Titans and doing great, Manly are back and have won a Premiership since returning as a stand-alone team and Souths are back and a much more professional team than they were under the chook-raffle administration of the Piggins years.
Which leaves us with the Bears and Reds, two teams from either side of the split who were both dudded by the war. Were it not for Sewerleague, the Reds could have built a solid supporter base in W.A and even have a few talented local juniors in their NRL side. They were a team with a promising future who were sacrificed for a short-term deal. As for the Bears- well the people of the North Shore, and then the Central Coast, lost their team. All the shrill "We have too many teams in NSW!!!" brigade should remember that in the games' most successful season (1994), 13 of the 16 teams were from NSW. When it comes to expansion, I care most about what a potential bid can bring to the game. I couldn't give a f**k about how neat and evenly spread out it will look on a map of Australia, and anybody who isn't a complete moron doesn't give a f**k either. You want to use that argument, then the A-League runs circles around us! Half these people think the Central Coast is part of Sydney, hopefully those who are calling the shots are a little more enlightened.
Admitting the Bears and the Reds has the beauty of finally sewing up those two remaning loose ends dangling after the war. We win the established Norths fanbase on the North Shore (as well as the Central Coast) back on our side, while also re-igniting (and growing) interest amongst our cousins west of the Nullabor, which had its' lifeline yanked free last time before it could bear fruit.
