Ideal team/city representation if comp was starting from scratch first few year

[flippikat]

North Qld
3 Brisbane teams
Gold Coast (so that's 5 in Qld)

Newcastle
4 Sydney teams *or* 3 Sydney teams & 1 Central Coast team
Illawarra (Basically move the Dragons to the 'Gong with reciprocal ticketing & "away" memberships for Sydney based fans)
Canberra (so 7 NSW/ACT teams)

2 Melbourne teams
Adelaide
Perth
2 NZ teams (6 interstate/international teams)

18 teams, and not a bad competition

 

[flippikat]

NRL Telstra Premiership

QLD
North QLD Cowboys (NQ Stadium)
Redcliffe Dolphins (Dolphin Oval with derbies and major rivalries at Suncorp)
Brisbane (Suncorp)
Ipswich Jets (Botique 20k stadium at Ipswich)
Gold Coast Titans (Robina)

NZ
Auckland Warriors
NZ Orcas (based out of either Wellington but doing the job that the warriors currently do and repping the whole country (except Auckland in this case))

NSW
Newcastle Knights
North Sydney (based in and representing the entire North Sydney area - playing out of Allianz)
Sydney (Allianz - representing the Eastern Suburbs)
South Sydney (based at Redfern, playing out of WSS)
St George Illawarra Dragons (based at Wollongong, playing at WIN)
Canterbury Bulldogs (based at Belmore playing out of WSS)
Parramatta Eels (based and playing out of WSS)

Rest of Australia
Melbourne
Perth
Canberra
Adelaide

NRL Intrust Super Cup (Fully Professional 2nd Division - no direct P&R)
Central QLD
Sunshine Coast
North Brisbane
East Brisbane
South Brisbane-Logan
Wynnum Manly
PNG Hunters
Fiji
Toowoomba Mustangs
Tweed Seagulls
Balmain Tigers
Cronulla Sharks
Manly Sea Eagles
Penrith Panthers
Western Sydney Magpies
Newtown Jets

I really like this idea *but* I'm not sure about having the 2nd and 3rd Brisbane teams playing most of their home games away from Suncorp. It's a great stadium, why wouldn't we try to have a game there every weekend? Maybe to begin with the teams could all play out of Suncorp, but *if* funds become available for a rival stadium in Brisbane (10, 20 years down the track), one of those teams could move then...

 

[Walter sobchak]

I personally wouldn’t have a 2nd Melbourne team before Perth, NZ2 and Adelaide etc. Is there really an appetite in Melbourne for a 2nd team??

 

[Walter sobchak]

What’s the deal with the old ANZ stadium in Brisbane? Does anybody use it other than athletics and what’s its proximity to Suncorp?

 

[Diesel]

What’s the deal with the old ANZ stadium in Brisbane? Does anybody use it other than athletics and what’s its proximity to Suncorp?

No and 12-15km south of Lang Park.

It’s a shithole for spectator sports

 

[Walter sobchak]

No and 12-15km south of Lang Park.

It’s a shithole for spectator sports

Because of the running track??

What about an audacious bid to buy ballymore or Belmore(not sure of the name) The home of Queensland RU??

 

[Diesel]

Ballymore is RU owned or at least the home of union in Qld, it can rot like Union is in this country.

North Ipswich Reserve close to Ippy CBD or something over at Springfield, (Ipswich’s defacto CBD) have been previously mentioned as a place for a new stadium while a 2nd Brisbane based A-League bid which never got up mentioned building a 25000 boutique stadium at Breakfast Creek/Albion recently. These 3 options along with an upgrade of Dolphin Stadium at Redcliffe are the top 4 options in Brisbane.

 

[Diesel]

Because of the running track??

What about an audacious bid to buy ballymore or Belmore(not sure of the name) The home of Queensland RU??

The running track does add to the negative viewing from the stadium

 

[Perth Red]

I personally wouldn’t have a 2nd Melbourne team before Perth, NZ2 and Adelaide etc. Is there really an appetite in Melbourne for a 2nd team??

No there isnt, it would be an even poorer version of gws!

 

[flippikat]

I personally wouldn’t have a 2nd Melbourne team before Perth, NZ2 and Adelaide etc. Is there really an appetite in Melbourne for a 2nd team??

To be honest, the way the grassroots work on the game is going, a 2nd Perth team is more likely to happen before a 2nd Melbourne team - and that's before you factor in the extra "late timeslot" games that a 2nd Perth teams would also bring to the table.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

I really like this idea *but* I'm not sure about having the 2nd and 3rd Brisbane teams playing most of their home games away from Suncorp. It's a great stadium, why wouldn't we try to have a game there every weekend? Maybe to begin with the teams could all play out of Suncorp, but *if* funds become available for a rival stadium in Brisbane (10, 20 years down the track), one of those teams could move then...

That is the point in my post that I agonised over the most. The funny thing with South East QLD is that our strongest QRL brands are not from Brisbane (Redcliffe & Ipswich) and they are passionately not from Brisbane so their fans would not cop their team being called Brisbane or playing in Brisbane. They have a long proud history in the area that they are from. I could see Redcliffe fans allowing four marquee games to go to Suncorp each year to maximise crowds and memberships but not Ipswich. They would want a botique stadium in Ipswich. It would be like telling the Gold Coast to play out of Suncorp.

So the trouble is, you either take a) an historic RL brand from the QRL but accept that they are not a Brisbane team or b) take a new bid with no history behind it and play them out of Suncorp as a city team. I'm happy with either as long as it is done well but I agree that Suncorp should be utilised as much as possible so I would lean towards Redcliffe or a new bid altogether.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

North Qld
3 Brisbane teams
Gold Coast (so that's 5 in Qld)

Newcastle
4 Sydney teams *or* 3 Sydney teams & 1 Central Coast team
Illawarra (Basically move the Dragons to the 'Gong with reciprocal ticketing & "away" memberships for Sydney based fans)
Canberra (so 7 NSW/ACT teams)

2 Melbourne teams
Adelaide
Perth
2 NZ teams (6 interstate/international teams)

18 teams, and not a bad competition

Ambitious and a good spread - I like it

 

[flippikat]

Ambitious and a good spread - I like it

Cheers. To be honest, I think it's a close call between 2 Melbourne teams & 1 Perth team.. or 1 Melbourne team and 2 Perth teams.

While Melbourne had a bigger population, Perth has a far better developed grassroots setup - and WA often take out the senior 'Affiliated States' title, plus 2 teams in Perth pretty much nails-down the late TV timeslot *every week* instead of every 2nd week.

 

[Walter sobchak]

Cheers. To be honest, I think it's a close call between 2 Melbourne teams & 1 Perth team.. or 1 Melbourne team and 2 Perth teams.

While Melbourne had a bigger population, Perth has a far better developed grassroots setup - and WA often take out the senior 'Affiliated States' title, plus 2 teams in Perth pretty much nails-down the late TV timeslot *every week* instead of every 2nd week.

I just can’t see Perth and Melbourne being 2 team cities. Getting 1 team in Perth is hard enough!!!

Expansion cities like Melbourne, Auckland, pert and Adelaide etc should really be stand alone cities. I team only.

 

[Perth Red]

Yes I agree, maybe in 30 years but who knows what the country will be like by then! Perth is tipped to still reach 3.5million people by 2050, if the world hasn't flooded, burnt or destroyed itself by then.

Lets concentrate getting one team in Adelaide and Perth before worrying about second city teams!

 

[Walter sobchak]

Yes I agree, maybe in 30 years but who knows what the country will be like by then! Perth is tipped to still reach 3.5million people by 2050, if the world hasn't flooded, burnt or destroyed itself by then.

Lets concentrate getting one team in Adelaide and Perth before worrying about second city teams!

This. It also brings up the debate of having 1 top heavy league of say 20+ teams or splitting into conferences of say 2 conferences of 12 teams.

 

[flippikat]

Well, in the absence of a 2nd Perth or 2nd Melbourne team.. under my plan team 18 could be another Queensland team (Central Qld? Sunshine Coast? Cairns?) or a 3rd NZ team (Maybe Auckland Warriors, Wellington Orcas & Canterbury Bulls as the 3 NZ teams...)

 

[Stallion]

Your proposed name changes show disrespect to longstanding traditional clubs with widespread support throughout the country.

Your whole stance shows disrespect for the competition. The names were a flow on from your ridicule. It seems to be a penchant of the so called implosion people who purport to support genuine expansion that northern Sydney (and I'll include the Central Coast ) should be entertained by only one team? 1.6million people for one team. My word you guys need a Maths lesson. Looks like the knives are out for Manly Warringah (a team many dislike? ) So instead of having a vibrant and socially relevant local derby between Manly-Warringah and the Central Coast Bears your 'wisdom' chooses no local derby and social relevance. How dumb!? In fact another derby with Newcastle would be gained with the CC Bears. My word we have some "click finger" geniuses here!

 

[Walter sobchak]

Well, in the absence of a 2nd Perth or 2nd Melbourne team.. under my plan team 18 could be another Queensland team (Central Qld? Sunshine Coast? Cairns?) or a 3rd NZ team (Maybe Auckland Warriors, Wellington Orcas & Canterbury Bulls as the 3 NZ teams...)

Not a fan of rewarding small cities/provincial state teams like cairns, Darwin and central Queensland franchises over big cities like wellington and Christchurch.

3 NZ teams should be the goal over the next 10-15 years. Auckland, wellington and Christchurch covers NZ well geographically and population wise.

 

[Walter sobchak]

I’ll throw the cat among the pigeons and float the idea of 2 nrl conferences of 12 teams to include franchises from the west coast of North America including LA, San Francisco and Vancouver in the next 10-15 years.

Especially if the Toronto Wolfpack succeed and the purposed New York team gets off the ground in super league.