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NZ2 - Which city/cities/region?

NZ2 - Best Location

  • Christchurch

    Votes: 7 24.1%
  • Wellington

    Votes: 6 20.7%
  • Auckland 2

    Votes: 2 6.9%
  • Christchurch/Wellington split

    Votes: 3 10.3%
  • South Island

    Votes: 4 13.8%
  • Hamilton

    Votes: 2 6.9%
  • “Pacific” based in Auckland with links to Tonga/Samoa

    Votes: 2 6.9%
  • Other

    Votes: 3 10.3%

  • Total voters
    29

jim_57

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
4,290
Title says it all. A lot of talk about NZ2 but in your mind where should they be based and what should the model be? Lots of different options, favourite seems to be Christchurch on here.

Personally I think Christchurch stand alone or “South Island” based in Christchurch with 1-2 games in Dunedin. I’m not sure how the latter would go down with local fans though. Could people from Dunedin, Nelson or Invercargill get behind a Christchurch based team like Cairns & Mackay get behind the Cowboys?

Team Name ideas welcome as well.
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
65,411
Wellington - sht stadium, small population, 1 potential bid
Christchurch - great stadium, small population, union dominated, no bid
Auckland - decent population, one basket case club needing to rebuild, no bid

take your pick!
 
Messages
12,413
I voted for Wellington. Having a team in the capital can only be a good thing for the game. We need to establish a strong relationship with the NZ Gov so we can get more funding and positive media coverage to compete with RU.

Christchurch for NZ3.
 

jim_57

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
4,290
Wellington - sht stadium, small population, 1 potential bid
Christchurch - great stadium, small population, union dominated, no bid
Auckland - decent population, one basket case club needing to rebuild, no bid

take your pick!

To be fair how many current “bids” are there? It depends on whether NRL opens up to bids from everywhere for team 18 like they did with team 16 or pick a region and only open it to bids from there like team 17.

I would say the NRL would have a fair idea of interested parties in NZ, making a public bid isn’t necessary at this point. We won’t really know until the NRL announces team 18 is open for bids.

In one of those Bears updates they mentioned they had been contacted by “people in Christchurch”, could be made up but could mean there are interested parties there.
 

jim_57

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
4,290
I voted for South Island, Christchurch would be the base for at least 10 games with 1-2 games spread around to other areas, mainly Dunedin.

Population of South Island is roughly 1.2m for a team to target. Places like Dunedin or Nelson will never have their own NRL team so makes sense to try and make a team for the area not just Christchurch.
 

Ozzi_78

First Grade
Messages
6,237
I voted for Wellington. Having a team in the capital can only be a good thing for the game. We need to establish a strong relationship with the NZ Gov so we can get more funding and positive media coverage to compete with RU.

Christchurch for NZ3.
Wellington population 216,000
Sutherland shire population 234,000

They don’t get a team at all based on your own opinion of what areas deserve a team.

The NZ2 concept is about 4th or 5th in line. Forget about it.
 

Wb1234

Referee
Messages
21,765
Mainly based in Christchurch. New amazing stadium successful rugby culture.

wellington 2 games then Dunedin and Hamilton 1 game each

warriors go back to being Auckland

new team taps into we hate Auckland theme lol

or warriors take two games to Wellington and new team is just South Island representation
 

flippikat

Bench
Messages
4,378
Ahh.. as a Kiwi in this thread, I have a bit to say on this - as I'm in the middle of work now, I shall have to post later tonight.

But for now, here's a link to the Statistics Department's official NZ regional population projections - may be useful for us here.

 
Messages
12,413
Ahh.. as a Kiwi in this thread, I have a bit to say on this - as I'm in the middle of work now, I shall have to post later tonight.

But for now, here's a link to the Statistics Department's official NZ regional population projections - may be useful for us here.

Going by those statistics it would make sense to push for Auckland 2 at some stage.
 

MugaB

Coach
Messages
11,807
Going by those statistics it would make sense to push for Auckland 2 at some stage.
I voted "Pacific" it would be crazy not to do what is being done in SEQ with "THE 2nd brisbane" team, one stadium, every week in the largest city in that country and already Rugby League affectionate, the reason i preferred the Pacific angle, as it creates a point of difference to the existing Warriors, and it gets Tonga/Samoa involved (maybe even Fiji) of which has a massive population in Auckland of both countries, as long as its a team that states its FOR them, and has representatives on their board and pathways from each country aswell as the local NZ, it could be a very powerful club, it would have to have colors and an emblem/mascot that aren't connected to any of the country's involved but still shows/represents them separately, i came up with a team called the "Halos" colors of Gold and White (looking a bit like the first radiers jersey but gold not lime), then a you can add three sleeve stripes red for tonga, blue for samoa, black for fiji

20220727_145854.pngScreenshot_20220727-151550_Samsung Internet.jpg
 
Last edited:

Colk

First Grade
Messages
6,331
Wellington population 216,000
Sutherland shire population 234,000

They don’t get a team at all based on your own opinion of what areas deserve a team.

The NZ2 concept is about 4th or 5th in line. Forget about it.

4th or 5th? Who is ahead of NZ 2?
 

Ozzi_78

First Grade
Messages
6,237
4th or 5th? Who is ahead of NZ 2?
Ok maybe 3rd/4th

Dolphins (1) , Perth (2), Another brisbane (3) then NZ

The current warriors situation would make the nrl nervous about another team and the above would be Considered first imo.
 

mongoose

Coach
Messages
11,215
Probably a Christchurch/south island team... I think a 2nd NZ side would be tough going though. I'm surprised the NRL even wants another NZ team with the way they treat the Warriors...

Auckland is covered
Wellington isn't a sports city really, its an Arts/foodie place from my experience. I just can't see them caring about an NRL side.
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
65,411
I voted "Pacific" it would be crazy not to do what is being done in SEQ with "THE 2nd brisbane" team, one stadium, every week in the largest city in that country and already Rugby League affectionate, the reason i preferred the Pacific angle, as it creates a point of difference to the existing Warriors, and it gets Tonga/Samoa involved (maybe even Fiji) of which has a massive population in Auckland of both countries, as long as its a team that states its FOR them, and has representatives on their board and pathways from each country aswell as the local NZ, it could be a very powerful club, it would have to have colors and an emblem/mascot that aren't connected to any of the country's involved but still shows/represents them separately, i came up with a team called the "Halos" colors of Gold and White (looking a bit like the first radiers jersey but gold not lime), then a you can add three sleeve stripes red for tonga, blue for samoa, black for fiji

View attachment 64213View attachment 64214
Would they support pride round? :)
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
65,411
The notion of a team that represents the whole South Island is fanciful. South Island AND Wellington even more so. Warriors have tried it as nz team and it has t worked looking at their membership base (pre covid of course). Rl fans won’t travel 20kms across a couple of suburbs to support their team, yet somehow this team is going to connect with a land mass of 150k sqkm?
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
65,411
To be fair how many current “bids” are there? It depends on whether NRL opens up to bids from everywhere for team 18 like they did with team 16 or pick a region and only open it to bids from there like team 17.

I would say the NRL would have a fair idea of interested parties in NZ, making a public bid isn’t necessary at this point. We won’t really know until the NRL announces team 18 is open for bids.

In one of those Bears updates they mentioned they had been contacted by “people in Christchurch”, could be made up but could mean there are interested parties there.
I meant expression of interest in bidding. There are no bids at moment as they haven’t been called for. At moment in regsrds to public expressions of interest there are:

WA 3
nsw (or wherever will have them) 1
wellington 1
png 1
plus the 2 in brisbane who missed out
 

flippikat

Bench
Messages
4,378
Ok, here's my assessment of those options - trying to be holistic, looking across as many factors as I can, from my Kiwi perspective.

Note: I wanna stay out of the "we can't have NZ until ..." or "maybe we should have ... before another NZ team" as that's a totally different topic.

My assumption in this analysis is the scenario where NRL have decided on a 2nd NZ team, regardless of all that, and looking at the options for THAT team's base.

For ease of quoting, I'll go over these in a series of posts, so let's look at the first mentioned.

CHRISTCHURCH
Pros:
When you look at Christchurch city and the next-door Waimakariri & Selwyn districts to the west, the population is more than Wellington's "group of cities" together,and second only to Auckland. The soon to be built indoor stadium is a big plus (especially for night games in cold NZ winters), especially being right downtown too. Christchurch & the Canterbury province have a proud history of sporting success, and a huge rivalry with all things Auckland.

Cons:
The shadow of the Crusaders looms large. Is there an appetite for a pro league team when the union team is so damn successful? Public transport less developed in Christchurch than Auckland & Wellington - especially to and from those neighboring districts, so getting to games would be bus or car, with no commuter rail network like Wellington or Auckland.
Branding is a conundrum too - does the team skew towards a traditional Christchurch/Canterbury feel (red and black) or something wider to make outreach to the whole South Island or wider? The sheer sporting success of teams in red and black over here can rankle fans in other locations. Lots of places love to hate Canterbury (NZ) teams, because they're so damn relentless.
 
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