NRL can't let Melbourne fold!!

[ME SO HORNBY!]

We need a team in Melbourne. Fullstop. Period.

With all this talk of folding, will the NRL let the Storm go under? Surely not after all the work that has been put in and it finally looks like we are getting somewhere (not to mention AAMI stadium). No team in Melbourne would set the NRL back 15 years imo and open the door for the AFL to be the number one code in Australia with their new teams coming into Rugby League heartland.

Thats just what I think. Yes I hate Melbourne and part of me wants them to fail. But an even bigger part of me loves Rugby League and wants it to prosper with a national competition.

 

[Mofra]

The AFL is already the no 1 sporting code in Australia, League can only hope to hold onto a spot in the top few in the coming years.

Melbourne Heart will overtake Storm as the second favourite non-AFL team of choice by the end of their second season, if not their first (Melbourne Victory is doing very well).

 

[ME SO HORNBY!]

The AFL is already the no 1 sporting code in Australia, League can only hope to hold onto a spot in the top few in the coming years.

Melbourne Heart will overtake Storm as the second favourite non-AFL team of choice by the end of their second season, if not their first (Melbourne Victory is doing very well).

Im not saying AFL isn't number 1 but the NRL and AFL are easily numbers 1 and 2. The NRL in terms of TV ratings and increasing crowds and memberships were hot on the AFL's tale and looking at a huge tv deal for 2013. If the Storm folds the AFL will streak ahead of us and be a national competition while the NRL will be a minor sport played in NSW and QLD.

 

[Panfas]

We need a team in Melbourne. Fullstop. Period.

With all this talk of folding, will the NRL let the Storm go under? Surely not after all the work that has been put in and it finally looks like we are getting somewhere (not to mention AAMI stadium). No team in Melbourne would set the NRL back 15 years imo and open the door for the AFL to be the number one code in Australia with their new teams coming into Rugby League heartland.

Thats just what I think. Yes I hate Melbourne and part of me wants them to fail. But an even bigger part of me loves Rugby League and wants it to prosper with a national competition.

Agree 100%

 

[perverse]

i agree, we need melbourne... not that the games admin has done it's best to get a true foothold down there. the broadcast times for FTA matches are a joke.

i honestly don't see how the storm can come out the other side of this... the damage done is extreme. i hope they have some shrewd operators down there, because they're going to need every little idea and display of effort to get out of this one.

 

[Mofra]

Im not saying AFL isn't number 1 but the NRL and AFL are easily numbers 1 and 2. The NRL in terms of TV ratings and increasing crowds and memberships were hot on the AFL's tale and looking at a huge tv deal for 2013. If the Storm folds the AFL will streak ahead of us and be a national competition while the NRL will be a minor sport played in NSW and QLD.

It's hard to think of NRL being a minor sport in NSW & QLD (even many AFL supporters admit they are only trying to capture market share in NSW & QLD, not "take-over" - if you ignore the DT's war-rantings) but soccer is the no 1 junior sport played in Australia and there are many stories of talented young sportsmen having to choose between two or more codes (GC17 in the AFL has a young guy on their books who may be offered a CA contract).

Union will try to attract the same niche market-share League has in Melbourne too, and right now the Storm saga gives them an advantage (provided they can find a suitable replacement CEO).

Soccer is a big concern - 2nd team in Melbourne due in months, World Cup only months away. All other sports should be worried.

 

[Dr Crane]

there's zero sense in losing the presence in melbourne.

the current storm franchise may be untenable, but to surrender an entire city to the other codes and run sooking back to new south wales is geniused, although geniused is a pretty good way to describe those wanting to reduce the games presence outside of inner sydney.

 

[Pierced Soul]

unfortunately by basically removing the storm form this years premiership the NRL have contributed to what i believe will ultimately be the end of the storm. I agree we need them for rugby league and i believe in the next 10 years we would have seen decent juniors coming through but come 2011, the storm's supporter base will be torn to shreds, any success will be met with skepticism and they'll be struggling for sponsorship

only reason bulldogs survived is they had decades of fans behind them and a large and strong supporter base

 

[Goddo]

What will be the final cost of this?
It will cost probably around $100m after leagal fees, lost revenue, damages, lost fans to the Storm this year.

It will possibly cost the game an independant commission, maybe as much as $100m off our next TV deal, sponsorships, viewers, free to air into Victoria, possibly expansion will be now canned.

Who will pick up the tab? the NRL, the other NRL clubs, News Ltd, and the fans.

I am p!ssed. The Storm was an investment, the main nest egg the game has been working on over the last 10 years, something all clubs agreed was a good idea.

After $60m over 10 years from the NRL through News Ltd (not to mention any top ups News have paid) and the cost of taking rep footy there, it was just starting to mature into something credable with long term value, and it has now been destroyed. It is devistating for the game.

All this damage for a lousy $1.7m rort so they could keep Cronk, Smith, Slater and Inglis. Waldron and co should be put against a wall...

I was thinking only a week ago how good Melbourne were going, and how much progress the game has made down there.

AAMI Stadium
Toyota Cup side full of Victorians and an untapped junior nursery
Membership larger than half the comp
Most valuable sponsorship deals in the comp
Growing crowds (finally) 25k v Dragons, 14k v Manly on a monday night
Massive boost to interest in the game in Victoria
Sold out State of Origins and Tests in Melbourne
potential gold mine for TV viewers and sponsorships for the NRL

They were well on their way to becoming a one team town powerhouse club like the Broncos. Ruined because of a few corupt administrators (and possibly players and managers).

 

[matt]

Fold the merkins immeadiately,f**k em.

 

[Goddo]

Fold the merkins immeadiately,f**k em.

May have to, but can you see how hard the NRL has worked over the last 10 years, and that we were starting to see some results, only for some fkwits to ruin it?

We need to be in Melbourne, but the Storm have pretty much killed themselves.

 

[matt]

That sh*t don't wash with me mate,Tell someone more gullible.

 

[Jason_(Is_our_King)_Smith]

Only the enemies of rugby league would want the Storm to fold.

And as for soccer being a "threat".... it's not even game to compete in the winter against any of the more popular codes.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Fold the merkins immeadiately,f**k em.

Is that you Hadley?


If the Bulldogs were allowed to continue after 2002, and the other things they put the game through soon after, I can't see how the NRL could justify cutting the Storm - not to mention all the other reasons why it's a sh*t idea. If they fold it will be because they are not financial.

But the Storm can survive. Get new management and re-invent the club with a new logo and a new image and it can work again. The Bulldogs are an example again. A club that had its reputation ruined but fought through the drama and hysteria with a good management team. The Storm need to reinvent themselves and forge a stronger link with the game in Victoria, become a community club and focus on that role. If that means running on a smller budget and investment from the NRL I think that's fair enough.

 

[matt]

Did you go into bat for the bears or the rabbits,You News LTD fanbois.

 

[Stewie]

Definately not having a dig here but would like answers as there is all this talk of Melbourne being a huge loss to the game. Although I feel very disappointed for Melbourne Storm supporters and their players in all this mess I can't help but feel that they are only treading water in the state of Victoria.

In 14 odd years(off the top of my head),Three Premierships and a large number of minor premierships, some of the games best ever players, massive corporate backing and yet as far as I know they still had yet to have a local junior crack the ranks of Toyota cup(although they claimed Gareth Widdop as their own). Crowd numbers haven't really rose is accordance to the great success they have had on the field so I would hate to see what was to happen if they were to have a year in the competition where they were to miss the top 8.

If someone can correct me please do but it seams to me that Melbourne and its administration cared nothing for developing local juniors in Victoria and would have been happy to keep shipping them in from feeder clubs in NSW and QLD for another 14 years. Having an NRL team based in Victoria with no locals doesn't make it a national competition in my eyes.

 

[Hanscholo]

I want them to stay, but only if they are like the rest of us. On their own two feet, they have earnt that right now...it can no longer be argued - the subsidising of them to beat my side and your side has to stop.

RL was great before melbourne and will be great after melbourne, its nice to have them there but not at the expense of the NSW and QLD sides...not anymore.

 

[matt]

Love to see the Molly Meldrum leading the charge of celebs slung by News LTD and the three other fans they have marching the streets to have them re-instated.

and BTW can one of you news LTD Fanbois giveme my last 5 years back because i have been watching a Myth.

 

[SaintNewy]

Melbourne Storm can get stuffed.
They just take, take, take.
They have no juniors & instead have to rely on raping the junior talent of true clubs. They're not a club. They are a franchise.
Their fan base is made up of ex pat NSWmen QLDers & Kiwis. How many AFL supporters have actually been converted?

Teams like the Sharks are copping a floggin & are doin it tough cos the Storm are rorting the system & taking the lions share of rep players. Its totally unjust.
The Melbourne Storm concept was an experiment that worked for a few years until it committed suicide. Let it die. Lets not pump more bloody money into Melbournestan just so we can say that we are the #2 game in Aust. It will only cost more money trying to repair the damage that has been done & again shafting the other clubs out of financial support.
The sooner the NRL includes dispensations for retaining juniors within the salary cap the better.

Bring back the Bears & pump the money in to a team that actually has a place in our game & fans who want to see it.

Those cretins in Vic are a bunch of fair weather friends & will bail like rats on a sinking ship after this disgraceful fiasco.

Thank god its Friday.

 

[Jason_(Is_our_King)_Smith]

Geez Molly looked pissed/stoned on TV this morning!