Mass Expansion possible with de- mergers

[Gobsmacked]

Well, the verdict is in and it's time to admit mergers aren't working. While the Tigers and dragons are constantly changing dressing rooms and wearing kit that is neither here nor there, the Rabbitohs have formed a strong identity ,one of the biggest clubs in the league and Manly regularly sell out their home ground .
The clear winners are the clubs that rejected the opportunity or lack of opportunity in teaming up with another club.

So here's the solution:
Illawarra Steelers - South Australia Dragons.
Wests Magpies- Central Coast Tigers.

After the inclusion of hopefully Christchurch will be a 22 team league.

Perth 18
PNG 19
Christchurch 20
De- mergers:
Magpies 21
Steelers 22

We have too many Sydney clubs and the identity around those Sydney clubs are no longer the working class rugby league supporting backbone they once were. The Tigers and Dragons could host the odd traditional rival at the SFS however.

 

[cinders7]

WT need to de-merge, that JV will never improve and it's honestly a blight on the game.
Everyone would be better off with West Magpies and Brisbane Tigers competing in the NRL instead.

However St George without the playerbase in the south coast cannot survive, and regional teams struggle compared to metro teams so moving St George-Illawarra to Wollongong permanently is a death sentence.

The best thing the NRL could do to help is to relocate Cronulla's branding/history to Adelaide and give the Sutherland shire back to StG as their territory.
We'd have St George go back to covering that entire swathe of Sydney from St George, through the Shire and down to the south coast.

It'd strengthen a traditional club and it'd give the Sharks an entire city to start afresh.

We shouldn't forget that the Sharks only existed in the first place to weaken St George's dominance. Now that St George is weak what is the point, especially when Cronulla are the weakest team off the field?

Ideally you'd end up with:
-Wests Magpies
-Brisbane Tigers
-Adelaide Sharks
-St George mirroring Redcliffe Dolphins, a key foothold in the city supported by a strong regional base.

Each one of those teams has the ability to be successful on and off the field; compared to WT, Saints and Sharks constantly bringing up the rear in most metrics and no signs of that ever changing.

 

[Gobsmacked]

WT need to de-merge, that JV will never improve and it's honestly a blight on the game.
Everyone would be better off with West Magpies and Brisbane Tigers competing in the NRL instead.

However St George without the playerbase in the south coast cannot survive, and regional teams struggle compared to metro teams so moving St George-Illawarra to Wollongong permanently is a death sentence.

The best thing the NRL could do to help is to relocate Cronulla's branding/history to Adelaide and give the Sutherland shire back to StG as their territory.
We'd have St George go back to covering that entire swathe of Sydney from St George, through the Shire and down to the south coast.

It'd strengthen a traditional club and it'd give the Sharks an entire city to start afresh.

We shouldn't forget that the Sharks only existed in the first place to weaken St George's dominance. Now that St George is weak what is the point, especially when Cronulla are the weakest team off the field?

Ideally you'd end up with:
-Wests Magpies
-Brisbane Tigers
-Adelaide Sharks
-St George mirroring Redcliffe Dolphins, a key foothold in the city supported by a strong regional base.

Each one of those teams has the ability to be successful on and off the field; compared to WT, Saints and Sharks constantly bringing up the rear in most metrics and no signs of that ever changing.

Cronulla will never assume the role of Dragons supporters and Brisbane will never support a Sydney club.

 

[Trifili13]

The Steelers struggled on their own and then the merged team has struggled for the past decade. Can't see a stand alone Steelers not struggling again.

 

[Vlad59]

When would this happen because right at this moment Adelaide is a rugby league vacant block? It would take well over ten years to create any sort of rugby league existence in the state let alone the following for a discarded Sydney team.

 

[cinders7]

Cronulla will never assume the role of Dragons supporters and Brisbane will never support a Sydney club.

Easts Tigers aren't a Sydney club, they're a historic BRL club.

The suburban Sydney regions have changed in the past, there's no reason they can't change again. The Shire used to be St George's treasure-trove of talent in the past...

The reality is that the WT and Sharks are not working and something needs to happen.
We've been hearing excuses from both for decades and unless some big calls are made we'll continue to hear excuses for decades to come.

In a franchised system you can't have clubs dragging the chain decade after decade after decade.

It's unfair for unrepresented cities & also unfair for clubs like Easts Tigers (and NorthSyd/Redcliffe before them) that miss out.

 

[Vlad59]

Easts Tigers aren't a Sydney club, they're a historic BRL club.

The suburban Sydney regions have changed in the past, there's no reason they can't change again. The Shire used to be St George's treasure-trove of talent in the past...

The reality is that the WT and Sharks are not working and something needs to happen.
We've been hearing excuses from both for decades and unless some big calls are made we'll continue to hear excuses for decades to come.

In a franchised system you can't have clubs dragging the chain decade after decade after decade.

It's unfair for unrepresented cities & also unfair for clubs like Easts Tigers (and NorthSyd/Redcliffe before them) that miss out.

Oh dear. I’ve got to avoid these new pointless expansion threads.

 

[Steel Saints]

Currently with St.George Illawarra, I'd like to see all Sydney games at Allianz. Maybe one heritage game at Kogarah. But allocation of home games could become messy with Magic Round and Vegas. You could end up with four or five different home grounds.

As for the Steelers, they were only in the comp for 13 years, then Super League hit. Steelers never had the chance to evolve as a club. So the Steelers merged. Administrators wanted clubs to merge, yet decades later, to this day, they still have no idea on how to run a merged club. With merged clubs there is politics where not everyone is on the same page.

Hypothetically if Illawarra did stand alone today, they would have WIN Corp as the owner. Win stadium is under VenusNSW. With a full allocation of home games, Steelers would push for half the ground to be upgraded and become an all seater.

Then WIN Corp should set out a blueprint to develop an asset portfolio for the club. Have a 20 year timeline to accumulate assets, and maybe after the time duration, Win could walk away, and the Steelers could live off their assets.

 

[AdelaideSharky]

Oh dear. I’ve got to avoid these new pointless expansion threads.

The idiot also doesn't realise St George hasn't been a RL area for decades bar the octagenerians and boomers.

With the mass migration of Chinese into places like Hurstville, Kogarah etc the area lost its RL identity a long time ago.

Like Leichhardt with its Italian identity, most of the St George area is now Asian and more into soccer, the area is home to large swathes of Sydney FC's supporter base.

 

[AdelaideSharky]

Oh dear. I’ve got to avoid these new pointless expansion threads.

They also invariably turn into the boring predictable anti-Cronulla rhetoric.

 

[BuffaloRules]

Easts Tigers aren't a Sydney club, they're a historic BRL club.

The suburban Sydney regions have changed in the past, there's no reason they can't change again. The Shire used to be St George's treasure-trove of talent in the past...

The reality is that the WT and Sharks are not working and something needs to happen.
We've been hearing excuses from both for decades and unless some big calls are made we'll continue to hear excuses for decades to come.

In a franchised system you can't have clubs dragging the chain decade after decade after decade.

It's unfair for unrepresented cities & also unfair for clubs like Easts Tigers (and NorthSyd/Redcliffe before them) that miss out.

If this is campaign to get rid of poorly performing clubs …add the Titans to the list …they are clearly not working either

There has never been a successful sporting team based on the GC either …something in the water up there ?

The Tigers, Sharks and Dragons have all won premierships in the past 20 years … the Titans have never been close

 

[Bukowski]

If this is campaign to get rid of poorly performing clubs …add the Titans to the list …they are clearly not working either

There has never been a successful sporting team based on the GC either …something in the water up there ?

The Tigers, Sharks and Dragons have all won premierships in the past 20 years … the Titans have never been close

The NRL and AFL need to agree to pull both their teams from the Gold coast. Neither looses 'face' and both stop wasting resources and time there.
I wouldn't care if my club split and we ended up with wests magpies and Brisbane Tigers

 

[Vlad59]

The NRL and AFL need to agree to pull both their teams from the Gold coast. Neither looses 'face' and both stop wasting resources and time there.
I wouldn't care if my club split and we ended up with wests magpies and Brisbane Tigers

The Gold Coast catchment is huge for rugby league. The area is riddled with rugby league competitions and rugby league people in and outside the zone. We do need a club there imho

 

[BuffaloRules]

The NRL and AFL need to agree to pull both their teams from the Gold coast. Neither looses 'face' and both stop wasting resources and time there.
I wouldn't care if my club split and we ended up with wests magpies and Brisbane Tigers

The Gold Coast seems cursed …:I was watching a YouTube Doco about the history of Gold Coast United in the A League… owned by Clive Palmer … absolute clown show

 

[Bukowski]

The Gold Coast seems cursed …:I was watching a YouTube Doco about the history of Gold Coast United in the A League… owned by Clive Palmer … absolute clown show

Yeah, I remember at the time he was flying the players around in private jets but only opening sections of the stadium to save costs. Imagine him in league

 

[Bukowski]

The Gold Coast catchment is huge for rugby league. The area is riddled with rugby league competitions and rugby league people in and outside the zone. We do need a club there imho

That true, bit surely that can be serviced by 3 Brisbane teams. I just can't see them getting their act together , been around since '88 with a few seasons out.

 

[BuffaloRules]

That true, bit surely that can be serviced by 3 Brisbane teams. I just can't see them getting their act together , been around since '88 with a few seasons out.

Apart than their performance on the field …there also doesn’t seem any interest in them on the national sports shows ,,.. they are barely mentioned ,,. Going worse than the Tigers this year but hardly a peep about them ..they just seem to exist

 

[Bukowski]

Apart than their performance on the field …there also doesn’t seem any interest in them on the national sports shows ,,.. they are barely mentioned ,,. Going worse than the Tigers this year but hardly a peep about them ..they just seem to exist

That's true, is there even a rivalry with the Broncos? You think it would be huge as they both came in the same time

 

[Pippen94]

WT need to de-merge, that JV will never improve and it's honestly a blight on the game.
Everyone would be better off with West Magpies and Brisbane Tigers competing in the NRL instead.

However St George without the playerbase in the south coast cannot survive, and regional teams struggle compared to metro teams so moving St George-Illawarra to Wollongong permanently is a death sentence.

The best thing the NRL could do to help is to relocate Cronulla's branding/history to Adelaide and give the Sutherland shire back to StG as their territory.
We'd have St George go back to covering that entire swathe of Sydney from St George, through the Shire and down to the south coast.

It'd strengthen a traditional club and it'd give the Sharks an entire city to start afresh.

We shouldn't forget that the Sharks only existed in the first place to weaken St George's dominance. Now that St George is weak what is the point, especially when Cronulla are the weakest team off the field?

Ideally you'd end up with:
-Wests Magpies
-Brisbane Tigers
-Adelaide Sharks
-St George mirroring Redcliffe Dolphins, a key foothold in the city supported by a strong regional base.

Each one of those teams has the ability to be successful on and off the field; compared to WT, Saints and Sharks constantly bringing up the rear in most metrics and no signs of that ever changing.

Who do wests magpies appeal to?!

 

[Pippen94]

Well, the verdict is in and it's time to admit mergers aren't working. While the Tigers and dragons are constantly changing dressing rooms and wearing kit that is neither here nor there, the Rabbitohs have formed a strong identity ,one of the biggest clubs in the league and Manly regularly sell out their home ground .
The clear winners are the clubs that rejected the opportunity or lack of opportunity in teaming up with another club.

So here's the solution:
Illawarra Steelers - South Australia Dragons.
Wests Magpies- Central Coast Tigers.

After the inclusion of hopefully Christchurch will be a 22 team league.

Perth 18
PNG 19
Christchurch 20
De- mergers:
Magpies 21
Steelers 22

We have too many Sydney clubs and the identity around those Sydney clubs are no longer the working class rugby league supporting backbone they once were. The Tigers and Dragons could host the odd traditional rival at the SFS however.

Too messy