The Bondi Sharks return! Wasn't there a story going on 2-3 years ago about this being a possibility? Surely must've been before the development got the nod.
Roosters IMO are a wasted spot in any future footprint, they're a successful club on/off the field, have bucketloads of tradition, have a sugar daddy millionaire, just won a premiership but struggle to get crowds
They need to expand their fanbase and market reach else risk being cut off in their little enclave.
They're not the worst supported club in Sydney (they're arguably more supported than the Sea Eagles, Sharks & Panthers) but they risk being left behind by the Big 5.
Here we go again.. Easts averaged 20 000 last year, a figure most sydney clubs could only dream of. Yes this year they went down however with only 1 day home game fans were sick of going to night games in the pouring rain with the terrible weather sydney had this winter. Not the clubs fault they don't have a small stadium like parra,Sharks and Manly and penrith which make crowds look better on TV.
Like it or not the Roosters are a strong foundation club that are very important to the game, esp being up against other codes more than any other club, and are here too stay.
And yet the year before that they averaged only 12,482.
But again you look at long term trends their average since the NRL began is 14,270 which is 6th out of the 9 Sydney clubs which is exactly where I've said they'd be ranked in terms of support. That overall though equates to the bottom third of the league.
Nobody's arguing the foundation club stuff but for a century old club that's always been in the competition they should be doing a lot better than that. I'd hate to see them axed or relocated, that would be death knell for their fan base (if they're not interested now, they won't be interested if they're playing out of Adelaide...).
It may be prudent then that if an option needed to be taken that a merger is better than the other alternatives.
At least the club would still be based in Sydney with games at the SFS. If they kept even half the fanbase they would obviously still be ranked 6th in Sydney. But as the Tigers & Dragons show (ranked 2nd & 4th) they'll keep more than that and probably end up ranked in the Top 4.
Ideally though the Tigers would shift out of South-West over time and the Roosters would start to spread out into the Inner-West. At the same time Manly --> North Sydney & Panthers --> North West.
