Phil Rothfield: Wests Tigers facing biggest challenges of Sydney NRL clubs
IN the next few years the NRL is going to have to make some tough calls on expansion and the survival of nine clubs in the saturated Sydney market.
I love the traditional teams more than any others but the fact remains Sydney cannot host nine clubs in a national competition forever.
Not if they are to be competitive long term for sponsorship and crowds against the likes of Brisbane and North Queensland, the two clubs that fought out last weekend’s greatest grand final ever.
Rugby league has an average crowd of around 15,000 and it has not grown for more than a decade.
To get to 20,000, the game needs to expand into growth areas.
A second Brisbane team, Perth or a second New Zealand side are the obvious areas.
So where does that leave the Sydney clubs? Who is most vulnerable?
My team the Cronulla Sharks were once the obvious danger but they have got their act together under chairman Damian Keogh, with the property development income, a competitive football side and the fact they still own their home ground.
In my view the team facing the biggest challenges is without question the Wests Tigers.
NRL chief executive Dave Smith told me in an interview last week that the club was not his problem.
The NRL lent them money to prop up the Balmain side of the joint venture but had absolutely no say in the operations of the club.
This is a shame because even the NRL would do a better job of running the Wests Tigers than the current management.
Weekend reports that personality player Marty Taupau wants out is the latest of a series of blows that proves the administration is not up to the standards required.
The fact they are still supporting coach Jason Taylor when it is so obvious he is the main cause of their problems is bordering on a scandal.
This has nothing to do about the fact the person running the club is a woman. I’d be saying exactly the same if it was male chairman.
Other females in the game are doing are making great contributions.
I believe Bulldogs CEO Raelene Castle is good enough to run the NRL one day.
Rebecca Frizelle at the Gold Coast Titans is up there with the best chairs in the game.
The fact of the matter is Wests Tigers are struggling in all the key performance indicators.
It would be a blow to lose Campbelltown but the western suburbs of Sydney is already well covered.
Parramatta and Penrith are power forces that will be around forever.
The Canterbury Bulldogs and South Sydney both play out of Olympic Park.
That’s four strong clubs for the people of western Sydney.
Four clubs with much stronger and more appealing credentials than the Wests Tigers.
