Enough talent for expansion?

[Tone83]

Mal is right, too many loser nobodies in the comp as is, I want expansion but after a purge of the shit clubs. 16 teams is good, maybe even less could work. That said I want to see another brisbane team, a central coast team, a west coast team, an nt team, a png team, another nz team.

4 sydney
2 brisbane
2 nz
2 nsw regional
2 qld regional
1 nt
1 wa
1 png
1 act

 

[Tone83]

Btw my 4 sydney teams would be sydney city roosters, north sydney bears, south sydney rabbitohs and west sydney eeldogs or magpies, undecided on the last one.

 

[Sans Souci Sainter]

Why does it have to jump straight to 18 teams?

Players complain about burnout through the rep season, which is fair enough.

Bring in one team at a time and have a bye.

This way the dilution of talent won't be so drastic.

I think having a team in Perth is a must. Having a live game broadcast from the Perth time slot would be awesome.

More live football coverage is a good thing and will help pay for itself, and gradually increase the talent pool.

 

[flamin]

Catch 22. Talent base doesn't currently exist for expansion, quality of the game will suffer if we do expand. But if we don't expand, the talent base will never grow.

The talent base for expansion didn't exist for AFL either. Their competition has suffered immensly because of this dilution, and AFL boffins I work with are of the view it'll remain that way for many more years yet. Only time will tell if it was all worth it for them.

Difference with AFL's situation is that they have no where else to get players from (besides 2 NRL players). On the other hand we have ready-to-go talent we could take from Europe and Union, and that's before we see the results of improved systems in PNG/the Pacific Islands and before grass roots expansion in WA/VIC.

 

[flamin]

If anything more English NRL players improves the standard of the national side, which will lead to more English juniors joining the game in the long run. Besides if it was purely about who could pay the most money the NRL would have been a feeder league ages ago. But most players prefer to stay in the homeland if they can still get paid decent money.

 

[The Mad Hatter]

Why not decide which two teams you want to bring in.

Then get both those sides playing in the NSW and/or QLD cup.

Hypothetically, if they combined / improved the QLD and NSW cup(s) into the 2nd tier/division [discussed elsewhere]...both 'new' expansion areas could get acquainted to having a team, travelling, and blood some locals in to their sides. Also gets them time to build a sponsor / fan base with eyes on joining the NRL at a fixed point.

Just means no team joins the comp cold.

I know West Coast is doing this already with their jr teams.

And that way, the club is only 'new' to the NRL in 2018/2020 but has been around for 4-6 years or so and then is promoted.

It also gives the NRL time to see if there is any movement on the merger side of things, the relocation side of things or death of a club already existing in the NRL.

The ARLC need a plan. I hope they have one.

 

[Diesel]

Mal is right, too many loser nobodies in the comp as is, I want expansion but after a purge of the shit clubs. 16 teams is good, maybe even less could work. That said I want to see another brisbane team, a central coast team, a west coast team, an nt team, a png team, another nz team.

4 sydney
2 brisbane
2 nz
2 nsw regional
2 qld regional
1 nt
1 wa
1 png
1 act

You make some good points and we know what the comp looked like in 1994 with 16 teams and then 1995/96 with 20, or even 22 teams in 1997.

Then in reverse from the joining of the 2 comps in 1998 of 20 teams to 14 in 2000.

TBH, the jump from 16-20 was a strain however I don't know if the comp was any better with 14 teams either.

 

[The Great Dane]

Why not decide which two teams you want to bring in.

Then get both those sides playing in the NSW and/or QLD cup.

Hypothetically, if they combined / improved the QLD and NSW cup(s) into the 2nd tier/division [discussed elsewhere]...both 'new' expansion areas could get acquainted to having a team, travelling, and blood some locals in to their sides. Also gets them time to build a sponsor / fan base with eyes on joining the NRL at a fixed point.

Just means no team joins the comp cold.

I know West Coast is doing this already with their jr teams.

And that way, the club is only 'new' to the NRL in 2018/2020 but has been around for 4-6 years or so and then is promoted.

It also gives the NRL time to see if there is any movement on the merger side of things, the relocation side of things or death of a club already existing in the NRL.

The ARLC need a plan. I hope they have one.

Pretty much my thoughts on the subject.

I'm pretty sure that the ARLC would have an expansion plan, so for mine it is more of a case of whether they have it in place yet.

 

[Diesel]

I'm interested to see what Jim Doyle comes up with after looking into the second tier comps.

I rely like what the Pirates are doing with the SG Ball team and formerly the Reds in the Bundy Cup and this should be the path of using the existing comps to bring in new teams.

I'd like the ARLC to come out soon and tell us what the plan is for the comp and Sydney so many bids and teams are not throwing good money after bad

 

[The Mad Hatter]

They need a plan AND a business model.

But anything that grows the pie is good in my mind.

 

[Warrior@Heart]

I think there is enough talent for expansion but the talent isn't spread evenly throughout the current clubs. The salary cap doesn't necessarily make all teams even. Some teams have bench players who would be walk up starters for other clubs. Maybe a pre season internal draft should be implemented. Players who are let's say ineligible for NYC and don't make the top 25 of their club are placed into a draft where teams recruit where their playing stocks are weak.

 

[Misanthrope]

You're never going to create enough talent for more clubs without adding more clubs. Players need exposure to top quality opposition to develop fully, and they aren't going to get that playing QLD Cup and NYC behind the established first graders.

You endure a few seasons of pastings to further develop your talent pool.

 

[Tone83]

Its hard to imagine there's a wealth of untapped talent in qld and nsw cups when you've seen what clubs pull out of those pools after dragging their nets through. The likes of corrigan and steve michaels. I mean you can't explain the amateurs playing at the top level. Untapped talent in png and fiji? Absolutely, would love to see talented guys from those places come and replace our talentless duds and improve the comp but I still see 16 teams being enough.

I love the idea of a second tier comp where clubs compete to join the big boys, think this would work well with no salary cap. You have some goliath rich clubs and then a bunch of little davids trying to claw their way in and be heard. Would encourage fans to support their clubs, their support would help make their club richer and thus better and maybe one day compete for a championship.

 

[Paullyboy]

It's a nice idea but that concept doesn't work in Australia as we don't have the history or population for there to be enough support for lots of smaller clubs on top of professional clubs.

 

[Tone83]

Survival of the fittest, teams without support are getting zero wins at the bottom of the 2nd tier ladder, maybe folding completely, tough titties, there will always be survivors. It's a free constantly evolving system where rugby league strongholds are rewarded with success in accordance with their support of rugby league. Communities that don't give a shit get the shit team they deserve, there's no injustice, your team sucks you only have yourself to blame.

 

[byrner]

I think there is enough talent for expansion but the talent isn't spread evenly throughout the current clubs. The salary cap doesn't necessarily make all teams even. Some teams have bench players who would be walk up starters for other clubs. Maybe a pre season internal draft should be implemented. Players who are let's say ineligible for NYC and don't make the top 25 of their club are placed into a draft where teams recruit where their playing stocks are weak.

The Salary Cap does work when.clubs dont cheat it. It is just that some clubs are better at developing their non starting players than others. Also some clubs have a beter employee value propasition, meaning people will go.there for less.


And a pre season draft is silly.