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

[TheFrog]

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)

So we need to start getting into specifics of which five Sydney teams would be vaporized, taking with them a huge portion of the game's supporter base. And honestly, which of them don't have a stronger claim than the Central Coast, who had their chance with the Northern Eagles and weren't interested, or Illawarra, who were unable to continue 20 years ago. Or a second Melbourne side. Or a second NZ side. Or Adelaide.

 

[MugaB]

So we need to start getting into specifics of which five Sydney teams would be vaporized, taking with them a huge portion of the game's supporter base. And honestly, which of them don't have a stronger claim than the Central Coast, who had their chance with the Northern Eagles and weren't interested, or Illawarra, who were unable to continue 20 years ago. Or a second Melbourne side. Or a second NZ side. Or Adelaide.

Like Newcastle and their love for clubs of sydney aswell as their own knights, central coast weren't intrested in the eagles, coz most rugby league fans hate manly, had the merger been called bears, i guarantee central coast would still be around.
In the hypothetical dream world of geographicaly club placment for sydney teams, i'd look at Norths (CCbears)
Souths (rabbits), Easts (roosters), Wests (tigers) at WSS, and Cronulla.
Then NSW Penrith (being far,far west, with 4 country town games, 8 in penrith. Newcastle & Dragons (8 games in Wollongong, with 4 at kogarah)
Canberra, Melbourne, Auckland, Brisbane, Nth Qld, Sth Qld (titans)
And new teams in Perth, and a Sunshine Coast/Redcliffe team (dolphins)

Parramatta, Canterbury, would be for me the sydney sides that would fall aside, as wests tigers and souths takes a lot of these two areas
And if bears are back Manly would not need to be a priority either, maybe even Easts and Cronulla merger would strengthen that side of the city in participation (but again all hypothetical not on my wish list)
Or relocations for parra, dogs, manly, but to me those are the weakest links geographicaly.
But in all honesty i'd preferably pick my previous post on 20 teams playing certain venues, in the 4 conferences
This wouldn't lose fans nor cull any existing clubs, but strengthen the competition as a whole
Plus 2 conferences just highlights one to be better than the other, and how do you choose which goes where, 4 is a better number and evens out in regards to regions of north south east and west divisions

 

[Timmah]

So we need to start getting into specifics of which five Sydney teams would be vaporized

The thread proposes a hypothetical, as though the competition was starting from scratch.

Argue demographics and shit all you like, not about whose club support would be "vaporised".

 

[TheFrog]

The thread proposes a hypothetical, as though the competition was starting from scratch.

Argue demographics and shit all you like, not about whose club support would be "vaporised".

I did see that, but really, what is the point of it other than to advocate getting rid of Sydney clubs?

 

[Timmah]

I did see that, but really, what is the point of it other than to advocate getting rid of Sydney clubs?

To discuss what the ideal breakdown of clubs would be nationally if we weren't lugged down with the current number. It's not about advocating for the eradication of Sydney clubs lol

 

[TheFrog]

central coast weren't intrested in the eagles, coz most rugby league fans hate manly, had the merger been called bears, i guarantee central coast would still be around.

The problem wasn't the name of the merged team, which was a pretty obvious choice I'd suggest, but the fact that Manly were able to just snafu it at will after taking the NRL's money for merging. The Bears needed to pay more attention to the wording of the legal documents at the time the deal was done. As it turns out, a northern beaches- central coast entity was as close as they would ever come to getting a team. Because of the area's proximity to Sydney and the fact Sydney has too many teams already, the horse has well and truly bolted on them and the Bears.

 

[Timmah]

As it turns out, a northern beaches- central coast entity was as close as they would ever come to getting a team. Because of the area's proximity to Sydney and the fact Sydney has too many teams already, the horse has well and truly bolted on them and the Bears.

The failed merger is certainly to me the main reason there's no permanent NRL presence on the Coast.

The proximity to Sydney IMO isn't as much of an issue as has been made out. A far less popular sport (at elite level) in soccer has been able to sustain a side in the region for some 15 years now.

 

[TheFrog]

A far less popular sport (at elite level) in soccer has been able to sustain a side in the region for some 15 years now.

They don't have too many Sydney teams though. The sport did in fact start with a clean slate when starting a national comp. I think we all agree RL cannot do that without serious problems.

 

[Timmah]

They don't have too many Sydney teams though.

Not sure why that's relevant though? Sydney teams don't really plug into the region for any corporate support.

 

[TheFrog]

Not sure why that's relevant though?

Well it is the entire basis of this discussion, isn't it?

 

[Timmah]

Well it is the entire basis of this discussion, isn't it?

No, you're the one obsessed with Sydney teams and trying to make it into something it's not.

 

[Perth Red]

So we need to start getting into specifics of which five Sydney teams would be vaporized, taking with them a huge portion of the game's supporter base. And honestly, which of them don't have a stronger claim than the Central Coast, who had their chance with the Northern Eagles and weren't interested, or Illawarra, who were unable to continue 20 years ago. Or a second Melbourne side. Or a second NZ side. Or Adelaide.

Its interesting you see the Cc not wanting the Northern eagles, their avg attendance in 2000 was bigger than Canberra, Canterbury, NZ, and Wests. Although it dropped by their demise a lot of that was probably due to the very public fighting of the two owners and the impending demise of the club during 2001and2002

 

[Stallion]

Its interesting you see the Cc not wanting the Northern eagles, their avg attendance in 2000 was bigger than Canberra, Canterbury, NZ, and Wests. Although it dropped by their demise a lot of that was probably due to the very public fighting of the two owners and the impending demise of the club during 2001and2002

Quite simply and rightly: Both Manly Warringah and the Bears (as a Central Coast/Nth Sydney club) should have there place in the sun. Along with their fans whom you continue to ignore.

 

[Perth Red]

On the sun is probably best place for them lol. They might draw a crowd there

 

[titoelcolombiano]

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!

By implosion, I assume you mean expansion

My God 1.6 million for one team - pass the tissues. I'll have to correct you there though anyone that lives in Sydney has 8.5 teams to choose from. Perth and Adelaide are populations centres of 1.8m and 1.6m respectively and have zero teams because there are too many in Sydney.

We agree on Manly - we really need to return the derby with the Bears to RL. Considering the venues that both play out of and the crowd numbers for Manly recently, the NSW Cup would be a perfect fit for it

 

[titoelcolombiano]

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 know we are talking longer term here so Melbourne two makes sense in a couple of decades. If we spent the next decade getting a club in Perth, Adelaide, another in Brisbane and another in NZ our next focus should be Melbourne 2 it is soon to be our countries largest city and the locals have taken to the game through the storm very well.

The new Melbourne club wouldn't be anytime within the next 20 years so as to allow the storm to put down stronger roots (similar to the Swans in Sydney)

 

[MugaB]

By implosion, I assume you mean expansion

My God 1.6 million for one team - pass the tissues. I'll have to correct you there though anyone that lives in Sydney has 8.5 teams to choose from. Perth and Adelaide are populations centres of 1.8m and 1.6m respectively and have zero teams because there are too many in Sydney.

We agree on Manly - we really need to return the derby with the Bears to RL. Considering the venues that both play out of and the crowd numbers for Manly recently, the NSW Cup would be a perfect fit for it

The reason Perth and Adelaide dont have a team in NRL isnt coz 8.5 teams are in sydney, it was shit management from the superleague/ARL merger.
If the Perth Reds, Adelaide Rams and South Queensland Crushers weren't culled or folded, they'd be over 25 years old (23 for rams tho) just like the cowboys and warriors, sure they weren't all successful, but who knows if they could have been, and now we're trying to explore these very same markets all over again, we've wasted 25 years NOT having these teams there

 

[Perth Red]

The reason Perth and Adelaide dont have a team in NRL isnt coz 8.5 teams are in sydney, it was shit management from the superleague/ARL merger.
If the Perth Reds, Adelaide Rams and South Queensland Crushers weren't culled or folded, they'd be over 25 years old (23 for rams tho) just like the cowboys and warriors, sure they weren't all successful, but who knows if they could have been, and now we're trying to explore these very same markets all over again, we've wasted 25 years NOT having these teams there

That was the reason we lost them. The reason we haven't reinstated them is the shit state of the current clubs and a risk averse leadership.
There is an argument that part of the weakness of the current club performance, which is directly making the NRL nervous about adding more mouths, is due to what should be our strongest clubs in the games heartland city under performing financially and this is partly due to over saturation and too thin a spread of fans and corporates to support that many teams.
The NRL has tried to address this with a MASSIVE grant increase, but we are hearing that still hasn't stopped some clubs from being in the red.
Until the majority of the current 16 clubs are financially strong and the NRL has the confidence they can stand on their own two feet we wont see a Perth or Adelaide team readmitted.

 

[T-Boon]

So we need to start getting into specifics of which five Sydney teams would be vaporized, taking with them a huge portion of the game's supporter base.

I would cleverly relocated 5 Sydney teams and cleverly introduce 1 brand new team (firstly introduced into the Queensland cup so that they are Sydney's representative in the Qld Cup and therefore everyone in Sydney's second team).

The 5 I would relocate to other Cities would be:
Sharks
Roosters
Panthers
Sea Eagles
Tigers

The only team that isnt open for discussion in terms of relocation is Parra because of the great new stadium (and they are my team).

 

[flippikat]

The thread proposes a hypothetical, as though the competition was starting from scratch.

Argue demographics and shit all you like, not about whose club support would be "vaporised".

Precisely.

4 Sydney teams - a team each in Western Sydney Stadium, ANZ Stadium & SFS (or it's replacement).. with the 4th team sharing one of those grounds.

Or if it's 5 teams, then 2 of those 3 venues have shared tenants.

Simple as that, really.