NRL: Expansion back on the cards after first-year profit of $50m

[Perth Red]

Bombers seem to be making a big effort connecting with grass roots clubs. Ultimately Brisbane needs a rich sustainable club with the financial muscle to compete with the richest RL club in the world. At the moment Bombers are a long way in front of the other Brisbane bids in this regard.

 

[Perth Red]

Reg says no!
http://www.triplem.com.au/sydney/sp...-that-nrl-expansion-would-be-a-grave-mistake/

 

[The Great Dane]

Reg says no!
http://www.triplem.com.au/sydney/sp...-that-nrl-expansion-would-be-a-grave-mistake/

Meh, Matty doesn't know what he's talking about at the best of times but when it comes to expansion he hasn't got a clue.

Anyway it's not really these people in the medias jobs to pass judgement on possible expansion (especially ex-players), so they're not well informed on all the information around expansion, so I don't blame them for not taking everything into account and placing on-field performance over off-field because their job is to talk about the on-field performance of teams.

So I'm not to worried about their opinions.

PK on the other hand should probably know more about expansion, since his job is to write (preferably informed) opinion pieces on the game after all.

Suggesting that CQ would have good corporate backing isn't wrong but he doesn't take into account the other important factors behind expansion when saying that is why CQ should get a team over Perth, Brisbane, Wellington, etc. for example he ignores TV ratings and time slots, the teams value to broadcasters, plausible membership, attendance and ratings numbers for the team, the affect on the grassroots of the game by adding a team in that particular area, whether the team will actually expand the NRL's national (and global) footprint and market, etc, etc, etc, for a guy that is supposedly an expert on the game and the workings behind the game it is quite shocking that he put forward CQ as the best and indeed only option for expansion in the NRL.

I mean even Gorden Tallis was better informed then him, and he was suggesting that we relocate the Bulldogs!

 

[Springs]

Perth has to be first.

The other bids need to be judged on more than just where they are on the map. Both Central Queensland and Central Coast offer more in terms of support. All the SE QLD bids are crap. The only thing they have going for them is 'Brisbane needs more teams'.

If we want a 'national' competition (because for some reason people think it's not national already' then eventually we need 20 teams.

NSW:
Eastern Suburbs
South Sydney
West Tigers
Canterbury-Bankstown
Parramatta
Manly/Cronulla/Penrith
Manly/Cronulla/Penrith
St George-Illawarra
Central Coast
Newcastle

Other:
Brisbane Broncos
Brisbane 2
Gold Coast
North Queensland
Central Queensland
Canberra
Melbourne
Perth
New Zealand
New Zealand 2

 

[georgesnmith]

perth and brisbane next time.

then rock the world PNG and 2nd NZ side.

lets blow AFL and union off the park.

 

[TheRam]

perth and brisbane next time.

then rock the world PNG and 2nd NZ side.

lets blow AFL and union off the park.

Exactly what I would love to see.

 

[Springs]

perth and brisbane next time.

then rock the world PNG and 2nd NZ side.

lets blow AFL and union off the park.

How would PNG and NZ blow AFL and Union off the park? Neither is anywhere near league in PNG and don't have a chance. And in NZ AFL has no presence at all and Union is way ahead. We are looking to confirm and consolidate our place in Australia first, if we want to 'blow AFL and Union off the park' how would 2 teams out of the country do that?

 

[georgesnmith]

How would PNG and NZ blow AFL and Union off the park? Neither is anywhere near league in PNG and don't have a chance. And in NZ AFL has no presence at all and Union is way ahead. We are looking to confirm and consolidate our place in Australia first, if we want to 'blow AFL and Union off the park' how would 2 teams out of the country do that?

2nd nz team > marginalise union in nz

team in png and team 2nd team in nz > grow beyond our closest competitor

Growing the game into nations with 10 million people. PNG for example if they built a stadium big enough could be getting 50k to home games. and they would provide loads more juniors

 

[Springs]

Yes but that's not your point of 'blowing AFL and Union off the park'. We are never going to 'marginalise' Union in NZ. And in both countries we are so far in front of AFL as to not need a pro team to compete.

What we should be focusing on is marginalising AFL and Union in Sydney and QLD and gaining a presence in Perth.

 

[georgesnmith]

Yes but that's not your point of 'blowing AFL and Union off the park'. We are never going to 'marginalise' Union in NZ. And in both countries we are so far in front of AFL as to not need a pro team to compete.

What we should be focusing on is marginalising AFL and Union in Sydney and QLD and gaining a presence in Perth.

growing the game internationally like that is blowing away your major competitors.

by your logic having the warriors in the nrl does nothing to make league bigger than AFL

of course it does

you think by adding NRL teams in adelaide and perth we can simply outflank AFL?

its with NZ and PNG we do that

 

[The Great Dane]

its with NZ and PNG we do that

Wellington makes sense after Brisbane and Perth get teams, but PNG wont happen for a long time (at least 30 years) for a multitude of reasons that people have gone over about a million times on this forum.

The money and resources alone that it would take to keep them up and running would negate any value to having them in the comp, and even then there'd be the problems that are outside the NRL's control.

If you want to hurt the AFL then your better off spending the money that would be spent on a PNG team on the grass roots across the country.

 

[The Great Dane]

NSW:
Eastern Suburbs
South Sydney
West Tigers
Canterbury-Bankstown
Parramatta
Manly/Cronulla/Penrith
Manly/Cronulla/Penrith
St George-Illawarra
Central Coast
Newcastle

Other:
Brisbane Broncos
Brisbane 2
Gold Coast
North Queensland
Central Queensland
Canberra
Melbourne
Perth
New Zealand
New Zealand 2

If your going for a twenty team comp within the next say 20-25 years, then there is no way that the CC and CQ make the cut while larger more strategic markets are without teams here's how I'd rewrite it for the maximum value long run.

Orange means expansion/rationalized/redefined club
Red means they'll likely be in danger of rationalization during or after the time period.
Green means they'll likely be still be in the competition with little to no danger of rationalization.
Purple means might be in danger of rationalization sometime in the future, but not it's not serious during the time frame.

NSW:
Eastern Suburbs
South Sydney
West Tigers
Canterbury-Bankstown
Parramatta
Penrith
North Shore (Sea Eagles)
St George-Illawarra
Newcastle

Other:
Brisbane Broncos
Brisbane 2
Gold Coast
North Queensland
Canberra
Melbourne
Perth
New Zealand
New Zealand 2
Adelaide
Brothers ( Brothers will represent everywhere that there is a Brothers club, a Gypsy club of sorts, but they'll be based and play the majority of their games in Brisbane and Queensland).

That's a much better more sustainable spread of clubs, the only one that is outside the box and a bit risky (well more risky then the normal risk associated with expansion) is Brothers, but if their plans come to fruition then I think that the way they run their club could be revolutionary.

 

[georgesnmith]

Wellington makes sense after Brisbane and Perth get teams, but PNG wont happen for a long time (at least 30 years) for a multitude of reasons that people have gone over about a million times on this forum.

The money and resources alone that it would take to keep them up and running would negate any value to having them in the comp, and even then there'd be the problems that are outside the NRL's control.

If you want to hurt the AFL then your better off spending the money that would be spent on a PNG team on the grass roots across the country.

i dont buy into the whole third world country stuff re png

there are a stack of mining companies over there and apparently the PNG Qld Cup team has had no problems securing corporate sponsors

if they keep doing well in the Qld Cup it will set them up for an nrl spot

6 million people who love league? its a slam dunk

 

[georgesnmith]

a PNG NRL team can add a whole lot of juniors for all NRL clubs

and a stronger PNG int. team helps our world cup

 

[The Great Dane]

i dont buy into the whole third world country stuff re png

there are a stack of mining companies over there and apparently the PNG Qld Cup team has had no problems securing corporate sponsors

if they keep doing well in the Qld Cup it will set them up for an nrl spot

6 million people who love league? its a slam dunk

Nobody doubts that they could get large amounts of corporate backing, it's other things like the fact that PNG is a dangerous place and sending NRL players over there on a regular basis would be expensive and inviting trouble, the fact that it adds almost nothing to the broadcasting rights, the fact that of those 6 million people the majority could not afford the price of membership or a ticket to a game more then a few times a year, the facilities in PNG would need a huge and expensive upgrade before they are NRL standard, etc, etc.

The problem with a PNG team at the moment is that for it to be viable it'd need to have almost 100% financial backing from their government, who'd probably more then happy to pay the bill, but that money shouldn't be going into an NRL club it should be going in to trying to fix their problems. And honestly even if we did agree to give them a team back by their government.

As has been said time and time again PNG will inevitably get a team in the NRL, they've just got to figure out some things first and that will take some time.

 

[georgesnmith]

i dont agree it wouldnt be financially viable at all (on its own, without large government backing)

let the success of the PNG Hunters in Qld Cup be a guide

i agree they wont add much to TV rights which is why i want brisbane and perth in first

by then our TV rights might be 2 billion so we can afford to look at other things than simply growing TV ratings

there didnt seem to be an issue for the team that traveled there last week

they are the one team who can change the sport of rugby league more so than any other potential expansion team

the ALRC has to grow the game in australia, but its also the standard bearer for the sport as a whole

if we can develop PNG properly it will be massive for us

 

[georgesnmith]

if AFL can try and put a 2nd team in sydney then we sure should be trying to make a PNG NRL team work

 

[Rodney]

the closest PNG will get could be maybe a trial or even a real NRL game being shipped over there
A team isn't possible in such a poor country, no professional player would want to live there.

QLD cup is still a pretty prestigious competition, with a pretty high standard of play. It suits the current capabilities of PNG quite nicely and I don't think PNG are ready to take the step up required to be admitted into the nrl.

 

[georgesnmith]

the closest PNG will get could be maybe a trial or even a real NRL game being shipped over there
A team isn't possible in such a poor country, no professional player would want to live there.

QLD cup is still a pretty prestigious competition, with a pretty high standard of play. It suits the current capabilities of PNG quite nicely and I don't think PNG are ready to take the step up required to be admitted into the nrl.

not now

10 years if they stay in the Qld Cup and do well in it?

immediate focus anyway is perth and brisbane

they are certainties anyway

 

[Timbo]

if AFL can try and put a 2nd team in sydney then we sure should be trying to make a PNG NRL team work

Interesting logic there. The comparison you'd be looking for is a second Melbourne NRL team.

PNG is a third world country. No way will a team be in the NRL any time soon.