How far away is a national comp?

[Misty Bee]

Tucjked away in the bottom of the SMH's article re manly paying at Gosford is this paragraph:

And the Australian Rugby League has released positive player participation figures for Victoria. According to the ARL's annual participation report, numbers in Victoria have increased by 138.7 per cent (8587 in 2005 up to 20,495 this year). Victorian school registrations have also risen 161 per cent.

Link for El Diablo: http://www.smh.com.au/news/league/manly-head-up-coast-hoping-for-different-result/2006/12/21/1166290678561.html

This sounds like Melbourne is very close to being self sufficient - the only drawback being the quality of competition in Victoria at present. Compared to NZ's alleged massive 30k player registration - and given Perth's entry to the national young fella's comp, this is fantastic. Well done NRL/ARL/Storm

With that in mind:

Should the Storm have a team in the Jim beam Cup or Under 20's comp in '07?

Should the Brisbane test have gone to Docklands?

Should the NRL/ARL bite the bullet and announce a SA team in the junior comp - with a view to add Adelaide and Perth back in in, say 2010 - pending, of course, on the sucess of the junior teams, local reaction/support in the stands and in business, and the NRL's pathetic insistance on 16 teams?

 

[Timmah]

Should the Storm have a team in the Jim beam Cup or Under 20's comp in '07?

Should the Brisbane test have gone to Docklands?

Should the NRL/ARL bite the bullet and announce a SA team in the junior comp - with a view to add Adelaide and Perth back in in, say 2010 - pending, of course, on the sucess of the junior teams, local reaction/support in the stands and in business, and the NRL's pathetic insistance on 16 teams?

1. Central Coast Storm... they already do ;-)

2. No. Suncorp will sell out. Docklands may not.

3. I agree Adel/Perth should get teams, but I really think the NRL would look more seriously at CC & Perth as viable entities.

 

[ledzep]

Adelaide is not a worthwhile investment expansion-wise
Perth and the Central Coast should both be looking at inclusion in 2012 at the latest

 

[LESStar58]

As surandy and UndertakerMike have said, it's only been in recent times that ARL development officers have been allowed into schools to show the kids the Greatest game of All.

Still work to be done with better television coverage in, not only Melbourne, but all of Victoria. Games at a decent hour and all Origin and Tests live! They need to take their exhibition games to regional Victoria eg Ballarat, Bendigo, Swan Hill, Geelong etc rather than going to Coffs Harbour. I support bush footy in NSW and QLD but having a QLD team and a VIC team play in NSW?????

Theres also a need for greater television, newspaper and media coverage. They need to promote the bejesus out of Greg Ingliss. He's the sort of player that RL ignorant people will go to a Storm game just to see play. He's by far the most naturally talented young athlete in any sport in this country. Put billboards up all around the city of him. Victorians obviously see nothing more in either rugby codes than big blokes with no necks running into each other. They need to be shown that one man in a RL side possesses more natural athletic ability than an entire AFL side!

Sponsorship is no problem. The storm jersey is the most valuable in the leage or close to it and almost as valuable as most of the AwFuL teams sponsorship deals.

The goal has to be bigger crowds. 15K average would be nice!

As for Perth: the right noises are being made with their entry into JB/QLD Cup in 08/09. The sooner they are back in the comp the better bt if we have to wait another 5 or 6 years so be it. It's probably better we don't rush into it with Perth this time!

Adelaide? Dunno about that. The only reason the Rams existed was because News Ltd needed a side in their spiritual home for the SL comp. I'd love to see 'em back bt I think the Central Coast deserves a team before Adelaide.

Perth and Central Coast by 2011 or 2012 for mine.

 

[LESStar58]

As for Tests and Origins.....more work needed. By 2009, the ARL hope to have the Origin at the MCG again.

Tests I'm all for but maybe look at having them at a smaller stadium and have it packed. Maybe use Princes Park/Opts OVal if it's up to RL standards. It doesn't get used for much these days!

Brisbane seems to care more for test footy that anywhere else. If it ain't broke why fix it? Keep the ANZAC test at Lang PArk.

 

[t-ba]

Adelaide isn't required. It's insignificant in the long term. By 2050 The GC-TH will be larger than it and Newcastle will be breathing down its neck.

We're 1800 members for the new WA club and 5 years away from a national comp. Once Perth is back in, We're there.

 

[LESStar58]

Yep.....theres also the growth factor. Adelaide doesn't have much potential growth.

 

[t-ba]

Yep.....theres also the growth factor. Adelaide doesn't have much potential growth.

It's also poor. There's more money in Sydney's North Shore and the Sunny Coast-Wide Bay-Capricorn Coast region.

 

[LeagueXIII]

Why can't tests be rotated around the country there is no reason why games against NZ, GB, France and minor nations could not draw decent crowds in Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra etc. Take the team to the nation.

 

[Lockyer4President!]

Why can't tests be rotated around the country there is no reason why games against NZ, GB, France and minor nations could not draw decent crowds in Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra etc. Take the team to the nation.

We don't have enough Tests hosted in Australia to be able to spread them around like that.

 

[Quidgybo]

Well done NRL/ARL/Storm

Agreed. While the AFL huff and puff over the millions they're spending in NSW, the ARL is getting on with actually doing something and making quiet but real progress.

With that in mind:

Should the Storm have a team in the Jim beam Cup or Under 20's comp in '07?

Ideally they'd be in both. A junior Storm team in NRL U/20 and a senior Melbourne or country based team (eg. Albury/Woodonga) in a second tier comp with the Storm's senior overflow players.

Should the Brisbane test have gone to Docklands?

I think I'm in deep enough in other threads about this matter without kicking it off here too!

Should the NRL/ARL bite the bullet and announce a SA team in the junior comp - with a view to add Adelaide and Perth back in in, say 2010 - pending, of course, on the sucess of the junior teams, local reaction/support in the stands and in business, and the NRL's pathetic insistance on 16 teams?

It really depends on how much spare cash the ARL have with the new funding arrangements from 2007. Adelaide is attractive as a major market that is signifcantly closer to the eastern states than Perth and also one less saturated with major professional sporting teams. From that point of view it''d be nice to get a foothold before too many other sports try to move in. But that said, I think Perth and Wellington must be the short term priorities for expansion. And the incentives for existing teams to relocate to the Central Coast need to be dramatically increased.

Leigh.

 

[LeagueXIII]

Why should teams move from Sydney? Clubs are averaging 15-16,000 in Sydney depending on their table position. They would pull the same crowds on the CC. We once had 12 teams in Sydney and no-one complained, then we had 11 and it was too many, now we have 8.5 and it's still too many. How many do we want? I know let's get rid of two Sydney teams so AFL and union can bring another team in. It's such a BS arguement that has no fact.

How about we grow the pie in Sydney so all our clubs are strong?

 

[Lockyer4President!]

Why should teams move from Sydney? Clubs are averaging 15-16,000 in Sydney depending on their table position. They would pull the same crowds on the CC. We once had 12 teams in Sydney and no-one complained, then we had 11 and it was too many, now we have 8.5 and it's still too many. How many do we want? I know let's get rid of two Sydney teams so AFL and union can bring another team in. It's such a BS arguement that has no fact.

How about we grow the pie in Sydney so all our clubs are strong?

Well what else is supposed to happen? The NRL wants to keep expanding but we can't just add more teams without diluting the quality of the comp, which means we have to cut some teams.

At the moment Sydney is the only city that has more than one team representing it whereas every other team in the comp is either representing a whole city, region or even a country. It makes sense that a team from Sydney would be the first to go.

 

[Quidgybo]

How about we grow the pie in Sydney so all our clubs are strong?

How about we properly use the 10 teams we've already got allocated between Newcastle and Wollongong instead of throwing an 11th at the region and denying another area a team altogether?

Leigh

 

[Papa_smurf]

give canberra another team and lets c if they can get this 1 right

 

[Misty Bee]

Well what else is supposed to happen? The NRL wants to keep expanding but we can't just add more teams without diluting the quality of the comp, which means we have to cut some teams.

At the moment Sydney is the only city that has more than one team representing it whereas every other team in the comp is either representing a whole city, region or even a country. It makes sense that a team from Sydney would be the first to go.

That's right, Locky. We will never increase our juniors numbers, so we will never get more players to nurture. 20 000 in Melbourne obviously means 20 000 kids from Kempsey did a Greg Inglis and moved interstate.

You dickhead. If we add Perth in 2010-12, they will already have an established junior base. Melbourne's numbers mean that self sufficiency is achievable. And it's arguable that the quality of the comp is directly linked to the average quality of the available players. If that was the case, Origin would be 8 times better than the GF, because there are 8 times the teams in the NRL as in SOO.

Oh, and don't let the fact that the districts that the average Sydney team represents is bigger than most non Sydney teams.

 

[Lockyer4President!]

That's right, Locky. We will never increase our juniors numbers, so we will never get more players to nurture. 20 000 in Melbourne obviously means 20 000 kids from Kempsey did a Greg Inglis and moved interstate.

You dickhead. If we add Perth in 2010-12, they will already have an established junior base. Melbourne's numbers mean that self sufficiency is achievable. And it's arguable that the quality of the comp is directly linked to the average quality of the available players. If that was the case, Origin would be 8 times better than the GF, because there are 8 times the teams in the NRL as in SOO.

Oh, and don't let the fact that the districts that the average Sydney team represents is bigger than most non Sydney teams.

What are you even trying to say here misty?

Writing stream-of-conscious style is not recommended to anyone at the best of times, let alone crackheads with a massive chip on their shoulder.

 

[LeagueXIII]

You just want to tick cities off on a map. Why should Adelaide get a team over the CC, what do they offer that the CC doesn't?

 

[Lockyer4President!]

You just want to tick cities off on a map. Why should Adelaide get a team over the CC, what do they offer that the CC doesn't?

Did I ever mention Adelaide or the Central Coast? No I didn't. What I said was that if the NRL keeps expanding the new teams will come at the expense of Sydney teams. It's just common sense.

edit: Sydney has 9 teams. Brisbane, Melbourne, Newcastle, Canberra, North Queensland, the Gold Coast and New Zealand all have one each. It's a question of which market can handle losing a team the best.

 

[Ziggy the God]

For those that want to reduce the number of Sydney clubs:

There are plenty of people who still do not follow the game after their teams where cut or merged. If you had lived here over at least the past 15 years, you would know that. Cutting/moving/merging anymore clubs will only reduce the number of people that follow the game.

We all know that the Swans got their big kick during SL, many of those people have not come back. Why would you give them another kick again????

In terms of dilution of talent, the fact that only 1% of League scholarship holders make the big time, says alot. Increase that to 2%, get kids playing other sports opportunities to play our professional sport, get a few suitable Union players to switch and I am sure you could make up a few more sides.

Go and have some Egg Nog, Merry Xmas.