NRL Expansion. Ideas and opinions.

[Diesel]

I know but there're ways around that, namely branding, marketing and advertising.

There's no way that the Bears can stop the Eagles renting billboards, giving out signed jerseys to pubs to hang up, or whatever in rest of NS. They also can't stop them re-branding to the North Sydney Sea Eagles or from renting NS Oval (though the later might not be a good idea). The point is the Sea Eagles could and should go above the Bears heads.

Anyhow I meant that the NRL should pressure them into expanding their reach in NS, if the NRL was backing them (like they should've been for 15 years now) then the Bears could bitch and moan all they like but there wouldn't be a great deal they could do about it.

I was going to post something similar.
North Shore/North Sydney Sea Eagles their reach would be from Manly to the CC

 

[Diesel]

Geographically speaking could Penrith and parramatta not merge to form the parramatta panthers? And cronulla and st George to form the St George Sutherland sharks? This could free up 2 places in the NRL seeing a return of the Illawarra steelers and maybe Perth?

No, no and no.

Parra and Penrith don’t need to merge. They’re big wealthy clubs and have a rivalry much like Sharks and Dragons. Both mergers would be the shit fight that the Northern Eagles were, all over again

 

[Walter sobchak]

No, no and no.

Parra and Penrith don’t need to merge. They’re big wealthy clubs and have a rivalry much like Sharks and Dragons. Both mergers would be the shit fight that the Northern Eagles were, all over again

Fair play mate. Penrith are a well run club and do produce a lot of players not only for the panthers but other teams as well. Mergers are a tricky subject and I can appreciate how fans of both teams feel being against them.

 

[The Great Dane]

Mergers never work as intended either, definitely something to avoid.

 

[TheFrog]

Dare I say it: Any chance of a Manly-North Sydney reunification?
The Bears are reasonably cashed-up aren't they?

They won't stay that way if they get back into bed with the Manly shysters.

 

[parrawentyfan]

We missed a big chance with the mergers.

Personally I would have preferred:
Merge Penrith and Wests. Western Sydney Panthers. Already have similar colours. Campbelltown and Penrith are a much easier link to make than Campbelltown and Leichhardt. Plus you can't get more west than both areas.

Merge Balmain and Canterbury. Both Inner-Westish teams much more closer in geography. No massive rivalry with eachother.

An alternative would be to merge Wests and Bulldogs with a common base in Liverpool. And merge Parra and Balmain. Leaving Penrith on own. But I think Parra are more central and from a future perspective better placed to stand on their own.

Also Saints and Bulldogs are reasonably close geographically.

Balmain and Roosters would have also been a decent inner city merger leaving a rivalry with Souths.

Probably ended up with one of the worst options available.

 

[Perth Red]

Ideally we would have a much stronger second tier comp and a much stronger national profile and revenue for the game meaning these small clubs like titans, panthers, sharks etc could play in a high profile second tier leaving the top,tier for clubs with the best opportunity to become mega clubs. But RL is historically a small minded game with little ambition so never going to happen.

 

[taipan]

We missed a big chance with the mergers.

Personally I would have preferred:
Merge Penrith and Wests. Western Sydney Panthers. Already have similar colours. Campbelltown and Penrith are a much easier link to make than Campbelltown and Leichhardt. Plus you can't get more west than both areas.

Merge Balmain and Canterbury. Both Inner-Westish teams much more closer in geography. No massive rivalry with eachother.

An alternative would be to merge Wests and Bulldogs with a common base in Liverpool. And merge Parra and Balmain. Leaving Penrith on own. But I think Parra are more central and from a future perspective better placed to stand on their own.

Also Saints and Bulldogs are reasonably close geographically.

Balmain and Roosters would have also been a decent inner city merger leaving a rivalry with Souths.

Probably ended up with one of the worst options available.

The merged sides are going great guns this year.Oh wait.

 

[taipan]

Ideally we would have a much stronger second tier comp and a much stronger national profile and revenue for the game meaning these small clubs like titans, panthers, sharks etc could play in a high profile second tier leaving the top,tier for clubs with the best opportunity to become mega clubs. But RL is historically a small minded game with little ambition so never going to happen.

The problem is where would that leave Perth.As a 3rd tier club?

Sydney 4 teams,2 from Brisbane,2 NZ,Nth Qld,Canberra.10 team national comp,areas that really care about rugby league and Melbourne the 2nd largest city.That should do it.

Perth in a 3rd tier -2 teams,1 from Adelaide 1 from Darwin.The Nullabor Cup.
The winner of that 4 team comp,plays the winner of the 2nd tier comp.That's the way you do it.

 

[T-Boon]

I think the right amount of teams in the NRL is as many as possible. I think 20 teams would be good. More teams, less rounds.
Look at American football.
There is the NFL which has 32 teams and then there is College Football which has 132 first division teams. Arguably College football is the better spectacle to watch because there is imperfection and a variance in playing styles (spread offence, triple option etc).
Rugby League looks better when there is creativity, errors and missed tackles etc.

 

[siv]

Well all you need to do is darken the Navy Blue to Black and you can gave the Northern Sydney Roosters next year

 

[flippikat]

An alternative would be to merge Wests and Bulldogs with a common base in Liverpool. And merge Parra and Balmain. Leaving Penrith on own. But I think Parra are more central and from a future perspective better placed to stand on their own.

I seem to recall that in the late 1990s Wests/Bulldogs and Parra/Balmain joint ventures were being negotiated, but the talks broke down - resulting in Wests & Balmain going to each other.

I can't remember why Bulldogs/Magpies fell through, but I think Parra/Balmain never happened because Parra weren't keen on the Tigers name for the joint venture.

Someone will no doubt correct me if I'm wrong there, but geographically those two ideas made a hell of a lot more sense geographically than Wests Tigers.

 

[Loose Cannon]

They were ideal mergers. Not sure about Parra not wanting to be Tigers, may well be true. Although, there were some media reports at the time that there was a faction recognising the marketing limitations of the Eel.

Purely based on what I can recall of media reports, Parramatta Tigers and Western Bulldogs were vetoed by Balmain and Wests who feared it wouldn’t be an equal merger, but more likely a takeover. Can’t say they would have been wrong based on the relative strengths of each organisation.

 

[flippikat]

Purely based on what I can recall of media reports, Parramatta Tigers and Western Bulldogs were vetoed by Balmain and Wests who feared it wouldn’t be an equal merger, but more likely a takeover. Can’t say they would have been wrong based on the relative strengths of each organisation.

Yeah, it just makes sense having Parramatta Tigers (inner-west), and Bulldogs at Campbelltown (more south-west). A big opportunity lost to have well defined & logical zones, right there.

 

[Diesel]

They were ideal mergers. Not sure about Parra not wanting to be Tigers, may well be true. Although, there were some media reports at the time that there was a faction recognising the marketing limitations of the Eel.

Purely based on what I can recall of media reports, Parramatta Tigers and Western Bulldogs were vetoed by Balmain and Wests who feared it wouldn’t be an equal merger, but more likely a takeover. Can’t say they would have been wrong based on the relative strengths of each organisation.

Yep, that’s exactly how I remember it being reported.

What was a perfect merger for 4 clubs. Now you have Manly cannibalising Norths, Wests with a majority share over Balmain and Dragons contemplating buying out Steelers if they can’t pay the deal.

What a balls up it was from 96-99

 

[Walter sobchak]

Is it a safe bet that mergers in the NRL are completely off the table now??

 

[Marlins]

This is something how it should’ve looked after Super League.

Western Reds
Adelaide Rams
Melbourne Roosters (relocation)
Penrith Panthers
Western Sydney Eels (Merge With Magpies)
Canterbury - Bankstown Bulldogs
South Sydney Rabbitohs
St.George Sutherland shire Dragons (Merge with Sharks)
Newcastle Knights
Central Coast Bears (Relocation)
Illawarra Steelers
Gold Coast Chargers
South Qld Crushers
Brisbane Broncos
North Qld Cowboys
Auckland Warriors

 

[Walter sobchak]

This is something how it should’ve looked after Super League.

Western Reds
Adelaide Rams
Melbourne Roosters (relocation)
Penrith Panthers
Western Sydney Eels (Merge With Magpies)
Canterbury - Bankstown Bulldogs
South Sydney Rabbitohs
St.George Sutherland shire Dragons (Merge with Sharks)
Newcastle Knights
Central Coast Bears (Relocation)
Illawarra Steelers
Gold Coast Chargers
South Qld Crushers
Brisbane Broncos
North Qld Cowboys
Auckland Warriors

I agree with nearly all of that although I would call the sharks&dragons mergered team st. George Sutherland sharks and base them in the shire.

Also what happened to manly?

 

[Marlins]

I agree with nearly all of that although I would call the sharks&dragons mergered team st. George Sutherland sharks and base them in the shire.

Also what happened to manly?

Manly and Tigers in Nsw Cup.

 

[Walter sobchak]

Manly and Tigers in Nsw Cup.

Ok.

Out of interest do you think that expansion franchises like Perth, Adelaide and the crushers etc should be new entities and not re-locations?