I bet you'd see it differently if there was a proposal to move all games to leichhardt.
Wests is basically dead. Playing in a different region isn't going to make a difference.
You preach about becoming one club but your only idea on doing this is to completely alienate the Balmain side of the merger and fully accommodate the Wests side.
You're putting forward a strong argument for us to follow the one side, Wests Magpies.
What rubbish. You can accommodate both sides of the merger regardless of where you play. That's been pretty clearly established over the last couple of years, with up to four home grounds per season... and as many outside of our traditional home bases as there have been within them.
The issue is not where you play - it's where you call home, where you train, where you have a presence.
The west versus the inner-west. One of the city's biggest growth markets for affordable housing versus one of the city's most unaffordable housing markets. Now, this wont have any great impact on your supporter base, but you can bet it will play a major role in junior development and involvement in the club over the coming years. We want to attract families to the club whose kids will aspire to great heights, and one day play in the same colours as their local heroes... Whereas at the moment all we are is just another employer of professional rugby league players - another 'franchise' without a soul.
The club's relationship with the Balmain area will still need to be nurtured but not for the same reasons. Maintaining a presence in the area by playing a minimum of four games a year at Leichhardt Oval is a must. But the reality is that area is populated more by young professionals than young home-makers with kids who might one day play rugby league. Rather than pretend it's not we should embrace this... We can (mostly) take our players from the west, and our money from the inner-west. Leichhardt Oval should be seen as a 'boutique' stadium in as real a sense as possible - and it should be upgraded to appeal more specifically to the suits and casual pant types of inner-suburban Sydney. This would perfectly compliment a purpose built stadium in Campbelltown, out of which the rest of our home games should be played, and which we should align as closely as possible with our regular training facility.
Both the Balmain and Western Suburbs clubs can better maintain their relevance to rugby league and the NRL by working to their strengths, and clearly defining their roles in the joint venture. If FIFA wants a stadium in Campbelltown, there's plenty in it for us all, and we should think very carefully before we write it off as "the death of Balmain"...
