The Preacher said:
That's absolute BULLSIHT. The editor of the Herald Sun is an avid league fan, born and bred in Sydney, and is related to one of Balmains best remembered footballing families.
He has a full time league writer and also sources from the other News publications where needed.
He attends as many Storm games as possible, and comes to games with me when in Sydney.
What you have written is nothing short of SIHT !!
Good on you Preacher...Herald Sun has given the Storm support when other media organisations (and I'm looking at your The Age) continued to turn their noses up and flock to covering the AFL until well past saturation point.
Karl de Kroo everyday has well written articles on the Storm and I know many people who read the Herald Sun and become familiar with the Storm, despite not having any chance to watch their games on TV.
Could they do more, possibly, but you should not overdo it. Building RL in Victoria is not a sprint, like many thought back in 98 and 99. Careful planning, and grass roots development are needed, but most importantly, they need Channel 9 to get off their asses, and show RL at a decent time slot. This does NOT need to be live (like they did in 01/02 I believe which killed attendances), just reasonable. 9.30pm or 10.30pm is better than 1am. Why not replay the game at midday on Sundays instead of showing Tarzan etc etc.
Lets not beat ourselves up though at the moment. This week is to be enjoyed by all NRL fans, particularly those of the Storm and Broncos. It will be a classic game, and if people dont turn up, or tune in, its their loss.