Who knows if it werent for the bears if the game would have been in the same shape it was for manly to enter into the competition.
History arguments are pathetic.
Moving forward everyone knows manly are to shit of a club to engage anyone outside of the peninsular, anyone going for manly outside of the peninsular generally follows them because of family or because they came from their. Even in the face of the great success they have had throughout their existance and recently they have failed to grow their junior competition, failed to grow their brand, failed to grow the amount of their supporters, and to be honest failed to grow the quality of their juniors.
They are a shit club, some sort of enforced extending of their influence would be madness.
The only rugby league clubs trying to engage the north shore now are bears clubs, not manly ones...
The reason I brought up history was because it has a large role to play in Manly's recent circumstances. The SL war decimated the club- it no longer has the vast amount of cash it used to have to throw at junior programs, advertising and other growth programs. Manly's success onfield is more down to astute player purchases, good culture and raw drive than the ability to throw money around.
The bottom line is that the whole 'war for the west' crap is absolute madness- RL out there is in no real danger, GWS is a total basket case, yet that hasn't stopped the NRL from hitting the panic button and focusing all their attention there while letting the North languish. Parra, Penrith, Canterbury haven't had the same monetary troubles that Manly has had, nor is there a hole out there where a club was killed off. The North is a very valuable area, the NRL should be trying to fix the situation up- whether it's by helping Manly cover it all (which they could do, despite your protests) or by bringing in the Bears, something has to be done. It can't keep sitting there as it is now, with the zombie Bears NSWRL club being able to keep Manly out from developing the area thanks to NSWRL boundaries, with very little development happening there, thanks to the Bears not having much in the way of money or star attraction. The Souths-Bears relationship is a farce, it does nothing for the area.
I think you will find that it was Max Delmege who saved the Sea Eagles from going under not them focussing on the clubs core supporter base WTF. The same Max Delmege who the Sea Eagles and Scott Penn spurned when in bankruptcy.....shame on you Manly.
Yeah, obviously the sponsors and backers were key players there, I was referring to how the club wasn't out there splashing cash on advertising, pushing their way into other areas and the like- the club simply didn't have the funds to do anything like that, so they focused on their core supporter base and worked on bringing them back. Without the sponsors like Delmege, none of that would have been possible, but if Manly went out and started throwing wads of cash on programs on the North Shore (even through they aren't allowed to, thanks to NSWRL boundaries), or wherever else, they'd no longer be around- they simply didn't have the capability.
