Geographically, which teams in the NRL don't make sense?

[bobmar28]

In an ideal world, the NRL needs in NSW:

1. "Sydney" city and Eastern Suburbs club (Rabbitohs and Roosters)
2. North Shore/Northern Beaches/Central Coast club (Sea Eagles and Bears)
3. An Inner west club - Ryde, Five Dock, Leichhardt, Balmain, Glebe area (Tigers and Magpies)
4. Parramatta geographic centre, transport and economic hub (Eels)
5. Somewhere along the Campbelltown-Liverpool-Bankstown coridor, Liverpool ideal (Bulldogs)
6. Southern districts club - St George, the Shire (Dragons and Sharks)
7. Maybe an outer west side, Penrith-Blacktown (Panthers)
8. Wollongong (Dragons)
9. Newcastle (Knights)

But it isn't an ideal world, so we have to work with what we have got. If we need to, shuffle the current deck.

In an ideal world I would rather see a stand alone Steelers in Wollongong.

 

[bobmar28]

alienating around 70% (my guess) of the games fans is not really a great idea.

There's no need to cull any more teams. There are enough players around and we don't have the residential rule in play anymore.

This type of discussion is plain dopey and pointless and is usually kept alive by bitter f**kwits who have a personal gripe against some team/region for some petty bullshit reason.

My only gripe is seeing images of near empty stadiums in a city of 4.6 million.

 

[ozjet1]

Tigers are based in Campbelltown ... 50km from Bunnies/Roosters.

Ideally, but you are incorrect. Tigers are based at Concord and they play home games in 3 areas of the metropolitan region - Moore Park (South Sydney - east), Leichhardt (inner west) & Leumeah (greater south-west).

Moore Park is Souths or Easts turf.

 

[bobmar28]

It's funny, Liverpool should very much be Tigers (Magpies) territory but I've lived in the area for about a year and I'm yet to see a Tigers jersey at Liverpool station, though I've seen many dozens of Bulldogs jerseys there. Perhaps it's just because the dogs get lots of Friday night games at Homebush and this combined with the train situation favours them over Wests.[/QUOTEB

Bulldogs were going to build a leagues club and 40k seat stadium in Liverpool in 2000. That's when this family jumped on board. The whole thing fell over which is a shame but I would say Liverpool is Dogs territory. We are probably on the border of Dogs/Tigers as some juniors around here are aligned with the Tigers.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Ideally, but you are incorrect. Tigers are based at Concord and they play home games in 3 areas of the metropolitan region - Moore Park (South Sydney - east), Leichhardt (inner west) & Leumeah (greater south-west).

Moore Park is Souths or Easts turf.

Why don't the Tigers ever play at Concord? It looks like a pretty tidy ground to me.

 

[firechild]

Because it's only good enough for club rugby, parking is shocking and the I'm not sure it could hold more than about 12,000 people.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Because it's only good enough for club rugby, parking is shocking and the I'm not sure it could hold more than about 12,000 people.

capacity is actually 20k, but fair enough on parking, though Leichhardt is hardly brilliant in that dept. I just noticed that it doesn't have floodlights though, so it'd be no use for anything other than a sunday 2pm game.

It still seems like a waste of a good suburban stadium though.

 

[RedVee]

It's funny, Liverpool should very much be Tigers (Magpies) territory but I've lived in the area for about a year and I'm yet to see a Tigers jersey at Liverpool station, though I've seen many dozens of Bulldogs jerseys there. Perhaps it's just because the dogs get lots of Friday night games at Homebush and this combined with the train situation favours them over Wests.[/QUOTEB

Bulldogs were going to build a leagues club and 40k seat stadium in Liverpool in 2000. That's when this family jumped on board. The whole thing fell over which is a shame but I would say Liverpool is Dogs territory. We are probably on the border of Dogs/Tigers as some juniors around here are aligned with the Tigers.

Liverpool may be Dogs territory based on supporter numbers but the ground on the cnr of Hoxton Park Rd that is next to the old pool hosts Wests junior games.
Hitchenbrook, Green Valley, Ashcroft, All Saints all play in the Wests Magpies junior league.
Thats why I figure Liverpool is Wests area.

 

[Deacon]

In an ideal world I would rather see a stand alone Steelers in Wollongong.

But Wollongong couldn't support it's own team, the current situation/position is perfect for the region. In saying this in 20-30 years this may be different with the local growth of the area

 

[firechild]

capacity is actually 20k, but fair enough on parking, though Leichhardt is hardly brilliant in that dept. I just noticed that it doesn't have floodlights though, so it'd be no use for anything other than a sunday 2pm game.

It still seems like a waste of a good suburban stadium though.

Fair enough, it looks smaller than it is then. I've never actually been in there, just played hockey at the adjacent fields. I'm not sure what the corporate facilities are like, they also need to facilitate the tv and radio commentators. I have no doubt they could fill the place on a sunday afternoon but would it be a financially viable option?

 

[POPEYE]

If you remove the conjecture and judge the validity of teams in a long term advancement of the game it becomes a pretty cruel world.

If criteria was to become a team must represent a population area, not success, there would have to be changes.

It would mean that no team could simply buy players to survive. Teams that were not successful could not use sponsorship as an excuse because they represented a population big enough to secure it.

I'm not familiar with population figures but I'm sure some of you are. The only downside is that some populations are more interested in league than others.

On paper, a required density in Brisbane should yield more than the same in Melbourne. If the eastern suburbs of Sydney have the required density to support a team it is not evident in crowd figures.

People watching the game now can justify the team makeup the way it is but the future is bleak with the population having to move away from saturation

 

[SpaceMonkey]

But Wollongong couldn't support it's own team, the current situation/position is perfect for the region. In saying this in 20-30 years this may be different with the local growth of the area

It's not just about population, corporate support is just as important. Thats where places like Wollongong and Newcastle (pre-Tinkler) struggle, they don't have the corporate pulling power of teams like Easts and Souths, who can attract strong backers due to their Inner City locations.

 

[Steel Dragon]

Personally I think the NZ Warriors doesnt make sense to be in a "NATIONAL" Rugby League competition.

I have no problem with the Warriors per se, but the name of the comp seems redundant considering its participants are somewhat "International"...

 

[POPEYE]

It's not just about population, corporate support is just as important. Thats where places like Wollongong and Newcastle (pre-Tinkler) struggle, they don't have the corporate pulling power of teams like Easts and Souths, who can attract strong backers due to their Inner City locations.

Don't confuse corporate pulling power with the ability to attract national sponsors. Tinkler would have nothing over a team with a sponsor that has world wide interests.

A team could move to an area such as central west NSW where there is an abundant supply of players and a big enough population, admittedly widespread, to support a team.

Mining companies are starting to saturate the area and writing off tax in a rugby league team would be possible.

If players that normally would have no choice than to leave home to play NRL were recruited the game would prosper.

Sponsors such as the big car companies don't really care which team they sponsor or where it is as long as they see jerseys every day in the media.

 

[Joker's Wild]

In an ideal world I would rather see a stand alone Steelers in Wollongong.

The Steelers are dead and gone in terms of senior football. The Dragons rule there now and plonking a stand alone team there now or in the near future would be going backwards.

But Wollongong couldn't support it's own team, the current situation/position is perfect for the region. In saying this in 20-30 years this may be different with the local growth of the area

It's not just about population, corporate support is just as important. Thats where places like Wollongong and Newcastle (pre-Tinkler) struggle, they don't have the corporate pulling power of teams like Easts and Souths, who can attract strong backers due to their Inner City locations.

Wollongong needs to change its industry base if it wants to become more than just a place for Sydney commuters to sleep. BHP is looking at cutting way back on its steel production and as it is arguably the biggest employer in the region, the flow on effect into the community will be massive. The place wont be ready to support its own RL side for a very long time if things dont change

 

[oval]

capacity is actually 20k, but fair enough on parking, though Leichhardt is hardly brilliant in that dept. I just noticed that it doesn't have floodlights though, so it'd be no use for anything other than a sunday 2pm game.

It still seems like a waste of a good suburban stadium though.

Maybe Manly should play there...

 

[VodafoneWarriors1995]

Personally I think the NZ Warriors doesnt make sense to be in a "NATIONAL" Rugby League competition.

I have no problem with the Warriors per se, but the name of the comp seems redundant considering its participants are somewhat "International"...

That's why i wouldn't mind the NRL changing it's name to the ARL (Australasian Rugby League).

 

[BunniesMan]

Maybe Manly should play there...

:crazy::crazy::crazy:
MANLY should play at Leichardt? And people think I say stupid things sometimes....

Do you not see the problem with a team from the northern beaches playing in the inner west? It would be like telling Penrith to play in Cronulla.

Dumbest post ever.

 

[POPEYE]

The Kiwis are our brothers in everything else, why not in sport. Even the Kumuls deserve that right considering how they idolise us and we still owe them

 

[bottle]

move cronulla to adelaide...

That's a lot of sand to move.