Mate, the only way you are ever going to develop the grassroots in markets new to the sport (relatively speaking) to the point where they are producing enough juniors to independently support a club is if you have big professional clubs to push that growth.
In other words, if you want to see enough interest in RL in WA and SA that they regularly produce NRL quality talent then you need to take a top down approach where local NRL clubs provide enough exposure for the sport that it creates interest in the sport at the grassroots. If you don't have that RL will simply be smothered out by the AFL, and other popular sports in the region, and stay a niche interest forever.
Even once you start that process it will take generations of investment, growth, and improvement before they will start producing talent regularly, and that is if we assume that the clubs will have a focus on junior develop and the NRL will assist in facilitating that growth from day one, neither of which happened in the Storm's case until very recently.
Who really gives a f**k about local juniors anymore anyway. I mean take a look at the major sports around the world; RL (if we can honestly claim it is a major sport on the world stage) is just about the last one that is reliant on the handful of professional clubs to facilitate the develop of players, and the only one where anybody actually gives a f**k where a club's players are from anymore.
The whole local juniors and catchments way of thinking is archaic and a stupid way of doing things, it's also the whole reason why there's been little to no support for the grassroots outside of the NRL clubs catchments, and thus why the grassroots in places like Vic, WA, SA, etc, are in such bad shape to begin with.
Well we are talking about rugby league, not the other sporting codes of the world, but i don't see what Melbourne storm has done for junior participation in Victoria, not with ALF and its 9+ clubs there.
Yes i agree there needs to be a start at some point in perth, but is that soon within the next 5-10 years, or should we first expand in SEQ, like they've been saying and get enough first grade talent to spread into WA or SA, coz all i see is if we do expand there, it'll just be cannon fodder for a decade, regardless of how many marquee signings they bring from interstate. I don't see a top down approach unless a current successfully run team relocates there.
I'm not saying they need to be finalists first year, but they can't be spooners either, with all the crap that gold coast titans have gotten over the years, at least they weren't cellar dwellers when they started as the titans, that came later, when the bulk of their side were overpaid journeymen, and players that were at the arse end of their career looking for their last contract payday.
What they've done these past few years is used there juniors plus a few key signings to bolster that 1st grade side.
That will need to happen for Perth or whoever is next to pick up a licence, remember you need 30 man roster minimum, perth might get 10 imports from outer state or overseas, but wheres the other 20 coming from, they'll be from their area, their catchment, and as they are playing SG ball, they aren't winning many games over the past 5 years, and not comparable to the sides who have established junior leagues.
So say whatever about the archaic nature of that line of thought, but its reality, i could easily see a team from PNG (hunters) put the cleaners thru, the dogs at the moment, what chance would the Pirates have?
Don't get me wrong I want a Perth and Adelaide team, but we can't rush it, just coz the game overall needs those markets.
They have to be somewhat successful, maybe not top8, but can't be bottom 4 either.
Canberra was a great example of what these cities need to go through till they can match it with the rest of the league, it wasn't till they started grabbing the QLD talent, that they became a powerhouse some 5 years after inception, today's sporting world is a lot different from back in the 80s, you need to have some success to attract the calibre of talent to make both those cities worth expanding to.
Melbourne started out over a few teams rosters being pooled from the mariners and reds, unless something similar happens again (which i hope not) or relocation of a well run side, not a broke down run out of money struggling, last resort port over club, that will only suffer in wherever they came from aswell as the new city not wanting them either, thinking they are the scraps they've been given.
