Dragons exploring name change possibility

[westerntiger]

"There (sic) the Saints"

- person in 9 News Facebook comments, probably

 

[Knight76]

The Steel Dragons.

It's the only answer.

 

[The Great Dane]

I don't really care about the potential name change, but the faux outrage about them potentially removing the last token vestige of the Steelers from the club's branding is an absolute joke.

The battle to make sure that the Illawarra was fairly represented in the merger was fought and lost over 15 years ago at this point , so I don't really see the point in people pretending to be outraged about it now.

The Steelers haven't been part of the club for about a decade now, they never had any real say or proportionate representation in club, and the only reason that the Dragons are still based in Wollongong is because it offers cheaper rent and higher government subsidies than being based in Sydney does.

Fighting to keep Illawarra in the name as a token gesture does little to nothing for RL in Wollongong or the Illawarra in real terms, and if people actually cared about RL in the Illawarra and/or the Steelers, then they'd be pushing for the Steelers to return in a fulltime basis as the Dragon's NSW Cup side, or some other similarly achievable goal.

 

[SBD82]

I can see why the Steelers don’t want their name attached to this dumpster fire.

 

[big hit!]

I'd argue the Magpie brand is on par or bigger. Compare Collingwood to Richmond for one.

I heard Collingwood have a couple of decent props and a gun five -eighth.

what the f**k do Collingwood or Richmond have to do with branding in rugby league?

If Wests Ashfield cut the Tiger and become Magpies, then expect to lose tens of thousands of fans.

the only thing keeping old Balmain fans and kids of those fans clinging on is because of the tiger. Apart from Balmain Matts and Ball feeding the pathways system, the club is practically Western Suburbs

 

[Bazal]

I'm confused.

When i shitpost in the gameday threads which name will it be?

St George
Illawarra
Dragons
Steelers
Saints
StMerge
Goons
St George Illawarra
Illawarra Saint George Steelers
Southern Dragons
Greater Sydney Dragons
Stains
Dragqueens
Illasox
The big red v
The Red T


I DON'T KNOW WHO I AM ANYMORE!!

AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!

The Saint Doust Crownies

 

[Marshall_magic]

To be fair, Bazza was a Steeler. If they change their name back to St George Dragons then they can claim Bazza never played for this club.

It’s the only choice they have.

 

[Tigers1986]

I heard Collingwood have a couple of decent props and a gun five -eighth.

what the f**k do Collingwood or Richmond have to do with branding in rugby league?

If Wests Ashfield cut the Tiger and become Magpies, then expect to lose tens of thousands of fans.

the only thing keeping old Balmain fans and kids of those fans clinging on is because of the tiger. Apart from Balmain Matts and Ball feeding the pathways system, the club is practically Western Suburbs

Someone claimed the Tiger is marketable, Collingwood says the magpie is on par if not bigger.

If the tigers brand was dropped, whatever fans were lost would be rekindled by tens of thousands of fans who left the JV at the horrid treatment of the Magpies and went elsewhere.

Maybe if Balmain wasn't broke and had a functioning leagues club and juniors system, they'd be able to help the image?

 

[kiwiwolf43]

I think they will decide to call themselves The Dragons if they do cannot do much about it but it will be silly, may as well call every team The and be done with it, what happened to the good old names for the Dolphins I was hoping for Moreton Bay Dolphins and the New Zealand Warriors etc I love good old fashioned place names and nicknames and alot would agree with me, If I had a pick it would be either Southern Dragons or St George.

 

[Willow]

Based in Wollongong, funded by Illawarra money, jnrs from Illawarra. But yeh calling them St George makes total sense lol

Illawarra went broke and were bailed out by St George and later on by WIN Corp. The JV is 50/50 St George and WIN Corp. Illawarra don't even have representation on the board.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Can Wollongong support a team?

The Illawarra Hawks have struggled in the NBL.

Wollongong Wolves cannot get an A-League licence.

The Steelers side of the merger was always destitute and taken over by Bruce Gordon. There's not a lot of money in Wollongong to support a team. If we're being honest though, there ain't much in Southern Sydney either. A name change won't change their financial predicament.

 

[parrawentyfan]

Edit - quotefail.

 

[Perth Red]

AFL Red, the voice of authority on all things league is here. He has a lunch with the NRL commisioners at 130pm, but before then can offer his years of experience as a top level sports administrator, financial guru and geographic expert to the forum.

Troll done good, are you pippens alt?

 

[Tigers1986]

Illawarra went broke and were bailed out by St George and later on by WIN Corp. The JV is 50/50 St George and WIN Corp. Illawarra don't even have representation on the board.

Would the St George power brokers ever try a Manly move?

It's so much like Wests Tigers (iirc it's 90/10 in Magpies favour) but the original board who crafted the JV agreement were crafty on changing names, colours, logos etc. Wests have the heritage deed, not sure what Saints have.

 

[Perth Red]

Illawarra went broke and were bailed out by St George and later on by WIN Corp. The JV is 50/50 St George and WIN Corp. Illawarra don't even have representation on the board.

Weren’t the st George side bailed out by the nrl with a big loan? Win is Wollongong money.

Would the St George power brokers ever try a Manly move?

It's so much like Wests Tigers (iirc it's 90/10 in Magpies favour) but the original board who crafted the JV agreement were crafty on changing names, colours, logos etc. Wests have the heritage deed, not sure what Saints have.

St George pokie den only contributed $360k to the RL club last year. Doubt they have the money to fund anything.

 

[Perth Red]

Ask a provocative question, surprised at the backlash. Bless the dragons management.

After backlash from fans on Thursday, Dragons CEO Ryan Webb said there was no push from within the club to drop Illawarra from the name. Webb said the survey was standard business practice.

“As a club we often talk about the strength of our brand and the number of connections we have,” he told The Illawarra Mercury. “But we never have anything tangible to show that and work with. So we then commissioned an independent third party to go out and have a look at the club [and] look at how people perceive us as a club and our brand. That’s what we’ve done.

“It’s trying to get a snapshot of what people think we are and what we stand for now. We’ve been around for 23 years now and it’s still not clear right across our fan base. So we’re just looking to see what people think and getting their feedback."

'Makes me sick': NRL fans turn on Dragons over 'disrespectful' move

The St George Illawarra Dragons have been taken to task by their own fans yet again. Read more here.

au.sports.yahoo.com

 

[MugaB]

Ask a provocative question, surprised at the backlash. Bless the dragons management.

After backlash from fans on Thursday, Dragons CEO Ryan Webb said there was no push from within the club to drop Illawarra from the name. Webb said the survey was standard business practice.

“As a club we often talk about the strength of our brand and the number of connections we have,” he told The Illawarra Mercury. “But we never have anything tangible to show that and work with. So we then commissioned an independent third party to go out and have a look at the club [and] look at how people perceive us as a club and our brand. That’s what we’ve done.

“It’s trying to get a snapshot of what people think we are and what we stand for now. We’ve been around for 23 years now and it’s still not clear right across our fan base. So we’re just looking to see what people think and getting their feedback."

'Makes me sick': NRL fans turn on Dragons over 'disrespectful' move

The St George Illawarra Dragons have been taken to task by their own fans yet again. Read more here.

au.sports.yahoo.com

Well since they'd outlined why they did the survey, they now won't be touching it, dependant on how far the names go on percentages that aren't close to what they are using now... seems to be quite an uproar from most of the fans either from illawarra or sydney, trust the media outlets to pin point one of many questions on a random fan survey, and run with a certian narrative of doom and gloom... sells papers and gets us all talking about league...

Next it'll be how the Dolphins missed out on using the name Redcliffe-Moreton Bay Dolphins, and how inept that board is compared to the wisdom of the dragons board for sticking with the StGeorge-illawarra Dragons

 

[Perth Red]

Well since they'd outlined why they did the survey, they now won't be touching it, dependant on how far the names go on percentages that aren't close to what they are using now... seems to be quite an uproar from most of the fans either from illawarra or sydney, trust the media outlets to pin point one of many questions on a random fan survey, and run with a certian narrative of doom and gloom

No smoke without fire, you dont ask a branding question that provocative unless youre considering change.

 

[MugaB]

No smoke without fire, you dont ask a branding question that provocative unless youre considering change.

Is there a full list of all the questions in the public somewhere, or just the blurb from the initial article.. i did see a few other questions, but Im sure there was 40 something of them mentioned.. to pin point just one fmd

 

[MugaB]

To borrow a song from The Burrow, most apt given this news and the fact that it's sung to the tune of Oh Christmas Tree...

1 premiership, 1 premiership
The Dragons have 1 premiership

1 premiership, 1 premiership
The Dragons have 1 premiership

You merged away your history
20 behind SSFC

1 premiership 1 premiership
The Dragons have 1 premiership

Souths only have one premiership in the NRL era, before that they were booted out...
I don't see how the "Dragons" are any different from Souths in that respect, regardless if they merged with Illawarra... Dragons have always been in the comp since 1921... they (premierships) should all count..
Fancy saying they don't when the Roosters, Bulldogs & Tigers, all changed their name to "Sydney" at one stage or another through out the 90s... does the roosters premierships not count pre "Sydney City"?
Then what about Manly dropping warringah, or becoming Northern Eagles, then reverting?
are we discounting all their premierships prior to that...