I’m English so not au fait with the cultural differences between RL fans in the U.K. and Australia, but why exactly do we need to be moving a Sydney side?
I get that Manly or another may not be the most heavily supported side, but if they’re doing well financially, have a pretty stable following and are offering things on the pitch (results and development of young players, for example), do we really need to move them?
They aren't doing pretty well financially (most of the smaller clubs are totally reliant on NRL grants to survive, that's not a good situation), though their following may be stable it's relatively small and there's next to no room for growth as things stand, their junior development isn't anything that another club couldn't takeover and do just as well (if not better in some cases), and on field results should
never come into a business decision like this.
Let me try and explain this to you. The Sydney market is totally over saturated, which is not only stunting the potential of the Sydney clubs that could become huge clubs but the competition as a whole.
We have a situation where we are desperately holding onto some small suburban clubs in the name of tradition (really because of a we were here first mentality) because the NRL is afraid to hurt anybodies feelings when it'd be better for both the NRL and clubs if they were playing in a lower grade more suited to their financial position and popularity, as it'd allow the clubs to thrive in amongst more equal competition and it'd free up the NRL to better invest in projects to grow the sport.
Let's put it this way, imagine that there was no pro® in your part of the world, so when Bradford collapsed there was nowhere for them to go. Now imagine that when they went bankrupt the RFL propped them up because they were scared of the public backlash if they let Bradford die and be replaced, so now the RFL is propping up a carcass of a club that realistically isn't going to grow into anything great or powerful and is just preventing somebody else who does have the potential to grow into something great and powerful, and now you have a close approximation of the situation in Sydney.
Personally I don't think that Manly is a good option for rationalisation, the NRL needs a club north of the bridge in Sydney, but if Manly are going to survive they need to adapt from a Manly club into a North Sydney club, and so far they refuse to do so, and it's not only screwing their club but it's totally screwing the NRL's presence in NS.
