NRL Expansion. Ideas and opinions.

[titoelcolombiano]

The best outcome in my opinion would have been:

North QLD
Brisbane
SQ Crushers
Gold Coast
Auckland
Newcastle
Central Coast Eagles
Sydney Roosters
South Sydney Rabbitohs
Cronulla Sharks
St George Illawarra Dragons out of Wollongong
Penrith Panthers
Western Sydney Tigers
Parramatta Eels
Canterbury Bulldogs
Canberra Raiders
Adelaide Rams
Melbourne Storm
Perth Reds

And here we go again. When is school back?

@Stallion someone has changed your battery and wound you back up so you can give us your usual catch phrases - lol

 

[Peet]

We would most likely get a new rectangular stadium. Adelaide United have been pushing for one for a few years now but their biggest problem has been that it would be left empty in the winter. Our own NRL club would fix that. Adelaide Oval only got redeveloped like it did because the two AFL clubs agreed to move from Football Park.

Why would Adelaide United want to move from Hindmarsh?

 

[Stallion]

The best outcome in my opinion would have been:

North QLD
Brisbane
SQ Crushers
Gold Coast
Auckland
Newcastle
Central Coast Eagles
Sydney Roosters
South Sydney Rabbitohs
Cronulla Sharks
St George Illawarra Dragons out of Wollongong
Penrith Panthers
Western Sydney Tigers
Parramatta Eels
Canterbury Bulldogs
Canberra Raiders
Adelaide Rams
Melbourne Storm
Perth Reds


@Stallion someone has changed your battery and wound you back up so you can give us your usual catch phrases - lol

Yes . But some bigots still run/moderate so it's all in vein!

 

[T-Boon]

SQ Crushers

The Wesleys.

 

[Travitoh]

Why would Adelaide United want to move from Hindmarsh?

They want a stadium in the city, believing having it in a more central location will attract more fans.
Hindmarsh itself while not too far outside of the city, is on the fringe of an industrial area with very little to offer outside of the ground, has poor public transport access and worse parking.
The move to AO has boosted crowd numbers for the Crows and the Power and when AU have played there, it has been their highest attended fixture.
There are also issues with the stadium agreement though i don't know much more about it than that.

 

[The Great Dane]

The best outcome in my opinion would have been:

North QLD
Brisbane
SQ Crushers
Gold Coast
Auckland
Newcastle
Central Coast Eagles
Sydney Roosters
South Sydney Rabbitohs
Cronulla Sharks
St George Illawarra Dragons out of Wollongong
Penrith Panthers
Western Sydney Tigers
Parramatta Eels
Canterbury Bulldogs
Canberra Raiders
Adelaide Rams
Melbourne Storm
Perth Reds

Maybe that would have been the best outcome, but the above list was basically impossible at the time...

Even if we ignore the fact that many of those clubs were basically bankrupt or insolvent and would have needed huge investment (that would have had to come from a third party) to keep their heads above water, the broadcasters would never have agreed to a weekly bye, there's no way that the ARL or News were having more than 14 or so clubs (and that wasn't just an arbitrary number, it had a lot to do with funding, the talent pool, sponsorship dollars, broadcasters wishes, season length, etc), there's no way that either the Broncos or News would have allowed any other clubs to continue in Brisbane or maybe even SE Queensland, and it's extremely unlikely that the Dragons would have relocated to Wollongong of their own accord as they had no intention of being based there full time and playing all there games there, the merger, the Steelers, and the Gong were just a means to an end...

So ignoring potential mergers, in a realistic best case scenario the comp would have looked something like:

Adelaide
Brisbane
Canberra
Central Coast Bears
Gold Coast
Melbourne
Newcastle
New Zealand
Parramatta
North Sydney- Sea Eagles
East Sydney- Roosters
South Sydney- Dragons
Inner West- Bulldogs
Western Sydney- Panthers

Even then it may have been necessary to swap out GC for another Sydney club to keep News on board, and maybe if you held a gun to the clubs heads you might have forced one of the Sydney clubs to relocate to Wollongong, but then using that logic you could have forced them to relocate to anywhere...
Anyhow I'm sure you get the idea.

 

[Stallion]

Maybe that would have been the best outcome, but the above list was basically impossible at the time...

Even if we ignore the fact that many of those clubs were basically bankrupt or insolvent and would have needed huge investment (that would have had to come from a third party) to keep their heads above water, the broadcasters would never have agreed to a weekly bye, there's no way that the ARL or News were having more than 14 or so clubs (and that wasn't just an arbitrary number, it had a lot to do with funding, the talent pool, sponsorship dollars, broadcasters wishes, season length, etc), there's no way that either the Broncos or News would have allowed any other clubs to continue in Brisbane or maybe even SE Queensland, and it's extremely unlikely that the Dragons would have relocated to Wollongong of their own accord as they had no intention of being based there full time and playing all there games there, the merger, the Steelers, and the Gong were just a means to an end...

So ignoring potential mergers, in a realistic best case scenario the comp would have looked something like:

Adelaide
Brisbane
Canberra
Central Coast Bears
Gold Coast
Melbourne
Newcastle
New Zealand
Parramatta
North Sydney- Sea Eagles
East Sydney- Roosters
South Sydney- Dragons
Inner West- Bulldogs
Western Sydney- Panthers

Even then it may have been necessary to swap out GC for another Sydney club to keep News on board, and maybe if you held a gun to the clubs heads you might have forced one of the Sydney clubs to relocate to Wollongong, but then using that logic you could have forced them to relocate to anywhere...
Anyhow I'm sure you get the idea.

Funding? *multi billion dollar " News Ltd? and the not enough talent pool argument? What absolute crap! There were 22 teams in 1997! Junior numbers were increasing as their were more opportunities. And you seriously didn't' think News Ltd had the funds! ? We are talking about the best rugby league competition on earth with immense potential growth. And you purport this company to penny pinch on such a potentially lucrative scenario? Ultimately their motives were destructive and not genuinely proactive and sincere for this underachieving and constrained code.

 

[The Great Dane]

Funding? *multi billion dollar " News Ltd?

They'd already sunk hundreds of millions into RL, they weren't going to sink anymore in (Rupert wouldn't let them lol).

Either way take it up with them, it was their position not mine...

and the not enough talent pool argument? What absolute crap! There were 22 teams in 1997! Junior numbers were increasing as their were more opportunities.

Again take it up with News and the ARL contingent of the peace talks, as it was their position not mine.

Though to be fair the talent was spread really thin in those days, and some teams were just absolute shit (Mariners, Rams, Magpies, Crushers, Cowboys, etc, etc), so yeah it was definitely effecting the quality of the overall competition...
Whether or not something needed to be done about it though is another question, but honestly I don't really have an opinion on that.

 

[Stallion]

They'd already sunk hundreds of millions into RL, they weren't going to sink anymore in (Rupert wouldn't let them lol).

Either way take it up with them, it was their position not mine...

Again take it up with News and the ARL contingent of the peace talks, as it was their position not mine.

Though to be fair the talent was spread really thin in those days, and some teams were just absolute shit (Mariners, Rams, Magpies, Crushers, Cowboys, etc, etc), so yeah it was definitely effecting the quality of the overall competition...
Whether or not something needed to be done about it though is another question, but honestly I don't really have an opinion on that.

The not enough "talent" theme is a furfy! If the clubs are there the players will have a go. Think you don't consider we are discussing the best (rugby-union or league) competition in the world. This was a worthy investment and News Ltd didn't give anywhere near the funding to properly make this great competition better. Instead they chose to destabilize, split and ruin it's very foundations? Go figure.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Yes . But some bigots still run/moderate so it's all in vein!

Good to have you back mate

 

[Perth Red]

Have to remember as well that both the ARL and News ltd took $8mill each out of the pot every year as part of the peace deal. Given the tv deal in 1997-2011 was pretty low, losing $16mill a year also meant not enough money generated to sustain the clubs we really should have kept. Better if they had offered ownership of Reds and Adelaide to News ltd and used the $8mill to support them.

 

[The Great Dane]

The not enough "talent" theme is a furfy! If the clubs are there the players will have a go. Think you don't consider we are discussing the best (rugby-union or league) competition in the world.

No not me.

I'm only relaying the opinions of News and the ARL at the time, don't shoot the messenger and all that.

This was a worthy investment and News Ltd didn't give anywhere near the funding to properly make this great competition better. Instead they chose to destabilize, split and ruin it's very foundations? Go figure.

Actually from 95-97 they probably sunk enough into the sport to more than sustain it for a decade, unfortunately that investment was wasted during the "war" instead of being spent on the sports growth...

To be fair to News though they didn't want it that way, they did come to the ARL and ARL clubs with plans for part ownership in the sport and sustained long term investment in the sport and the ARL and mainly Sydney based ARL clubs basically turned it down out of hand without even considering it or negotiating the terms of the deal at all... So yeah you can't say that they didn't try.

 

[Stallion]

No not me.

I'm only relaying the opinions of News and the ARL at the time, don't shoot the messenger and all that.

Actually from 95-97 they probably sunk enough into the sport to more than sustain it for a decade, unfortunately that investment was wasted during the "war" instead of being spent on the sports growth...

To be fair to News though they didn't want it that way, they did come to the ARL and ARL clubs with plans for part ownership in the sport and sustained long term investment in the sport and the ARL and mainly Sydney based ARL clubs basically turned it down out of hand without even considering it or negotiating the terms of the deal at all... So yeah you can't say that they didn't try.

The smiling assassin approach would not sit well with established and well known clubs. Perhaps if they didn't project a sledgehammer approach to the most successful and popular rugby competition on Earth things may have turned out different?

 

[Perth Red]

The not enough talent remains a myth. Look at last round Storm v dragons, 11 players missing. Should have been a bludger with all that first grade talent out? Nope turned into the most open attacking entertaining game of footy of the year (unless your into 6-4 scoreline tackleathons).

 

[The Great Dane]

The smiling assassin approach would not sit well with established and well known clubs. Perhaps if they didn't project a sledgehammer approach to the most successful and popular rugby competition on Earth things may have turned out different?

They didn't in the beginning...

The not enough talent remains a myth. Look at last round Storm v dragons, 11 players missing. Should have been a bludger with all that first grade talent out? Nope turned into the most open attacking entertaining game of footy of the year (unless your into 6-4 scoreline tackleathons).

Yeah but how would that game have gone if that those depth players were spread across another 4-6 teams...

Though I agree that the lack of talent stuff is massively overly blown in the NRLs case, but in saying that spreading talent to thin is definitely not a myth, it can happen, just look at the AFL there're multiple teams in that competition that have absolutely no hope even before the season starts, in the NRL there're normally one maybe two clubs where that is the case.

We should be trying to avoid getting into a situation similar to the AFLs.

 

[Travitoh]

The gap of talent in all the major American leagues is huge but it doesn't seem to hinder them.

 

[Stallion]

They didn't in the beginning...



Yeah but how would that game have gone if that those depth players were spread across another 4-6 teams...

Though I agree that the lack of talent stuff is massively overly blown in the NRLs case, but in saying that spreading talent to thin is definitely not a myth, it can happen, just look at the AFL there're multiple teams in that competition that have absolutely no hope even before the season starts, in the NRL there're normally one maybe two clubs where that is the case.

We should be trying to avoid getting into a situation similar to the AFLs.

The player talent pool is bolstered with news of more clubs not the other way? Using AFL as a comparison is not wise. It's basically a glorified training run (I've played AFL for training whilst on tour with NSW tertiary students ).I'm yet to see AFL players try rugby league for their training run? Hope you get the point. Myths can be perpetuated and propagated.

 

[Pommy]

They didn't in the beginning...



Yeah but how would that game have gone if that those depth players were spread across another 4-6 teams...

Though I agree that the lack of talent stuff is massively overly blown in the NRLs case, but in saying that spreading talent to thin is definitely not a myth, it can happen, just look at the AFL there're multiple teams in that competition that have absolutely no hope even before the season starts, in the NRL there're normally one maybe two clubs where that is the case.

We should be trying to avoid getting into a situation similar to the AFLs.

How many EPL sides have a chance before the season starts? La liga has even less yet it doesn’t stop anyone watching or paying money to enjoy it.
The hope would also be that new money is drawn in to the sport which would allow for players from union to be brought in which may go someway to increasing the talent pool.

 

[The Great Dane]

The gap of talent in all the major American leagues is huge but it doesn't seem to hinder them.

How many EPL sides have a chance before the season starts? La liga has even less yet it doesn’t stop anyone watching or paying money to enjoy it.
The hope would also be that new money is drawn in to the sport which would allow for players from union to be brought in which may go someway to increasing the talent pool.

I'm not denying any of that, I'm not even saying that there isn't enough talent to expand or anything of the sort, all I'm saying is that A. it's not a myth and B. if it is avoidable we should try to avoid it.

We definitely shouldn't let a perceived lack of talent hinder growth, but if it is at all possible to maintain or even improve the standard of play while still growing the sport why wouldn't you?

 

[The Great Dane]

The player talent pool is bolstered with news of more clubs not the other way? Using AFL as a comparison is not wise. It's basically a glorified training run (I've played AFL for training whilst on tour with NSW tertiary students ).I'm yet to see AFL players try rugby league for their training run? Hope you get the point. Myths can be perpetuated and propagated.

You know it doesn't really support your point to say that Aussie rules is a "glorified training run", when they can't find enough players to keep a high standard of play in said "training run".

If they can't find enough quality talent to support 18 teams of good quality to play a game that is a "glorified training run", then the NRL will be buggered if they can find enough quality players to support a real big boys game won't they!

However I understand what you were trying to say, and as my previous post shows I don't disagree.