The De-Merge Thread

[muzby]

Not sure what you mean by that, so apologies in advance if I misinterpret.

Our history is priceless. Young supporters and players should be looking at our heritage with wonder and pride.

Without it, we lose our future.

But we still have the heritage.

It’s possible to have heritage whilst building for the future too..

 

[Willow]

But we still have the heritage.

It’s possible to have heritage whilst building for the future too..

Pretty sure that was my point.

100 years.

 

[independent]

Sorry, but I don't believe we are a 'joint venture'. The joint venture ended the day that Illawarra sold their shares to a non leagues club entity, WIN Corp. Our St George Club is no longer joined to the Illawarra Club, it is joined to WIN Corp a non rugby league entity.

I suppose another club is in a similar position to us. South Sydney has a private company in joint ownership but is not considered to be a 'joint venture'. Manly are in a similar situation and all though I do not know the arrangements of other clubs, it is possible that others like the Broncos, and the Storm are in a similar structure.

Using a Club name to reflect the district/s that they represent is nothing new. For example Canterbury-Bankstown, Manly-Warringa and Cronulla-Southerland all use a double barrel name to reflect the districts they represent however, I doubt very much and any of these three clubs consider themselves to be a joint venture. Also a mere change of names should not and has not erased the history of a club, for example Eastern Suburbs to Sydney Rooster and Canterbury-Bankstown to Sydney Bulldogs. Even South Sydney who were deemed to be unviable and then allowed to re-enter the NRL Competition did not not have any of their history erased.

I'd say the easiest way to amalgamate some Sydney clubs to make room for expansion in other regions, would be to identify such clubs and introduce a bidding system to have one of these clubs hold the NRL licence and for all of the clubs in the newly joined district hold a licence to play in the NSW or Qld Cup Competitions. For example:

• Join St George, Cronulla and Illawarra, with the current licence holders St George and Cronulla bidding for the ownership.
• Join Canterbury and Parramatta and have them each of them bid for the licence.
• Insist that Manly incorporate both North Sydney and Central Coast into their district.
• Insist that Eastern Suburbs and South Sydney join together with each club bidding for the licence.
• In the same way Penrith and Wests join together and each bid for the licence.

Such a restructure would release 5 new NRL licences without increasing the number of teams in the competition (16 teams). So the NRL could expand with 5 stronger Sydney clubs. As in the past, all clubs that co-operate with this joining will be given salary cap and other financial incentives.

My suggested new NRL licenses to be allocated are:
1. Darwin / PNG
2. Sunshine Coast / Brisbane North
3. South Island NZ
4. Adelaide
5. Perth

There will be some NRL players that will become available from Sydney who will no doubt be snapped up by the new clubs located outside of Sydney.

With regards to SGI, we have had a partial cleanout in 2020. Further work in this area needs to be conducted starting at Board level and including some left overs at football club management level (Horan and Millward). Mary has gone but the two men most responsible for the decline of our once great club (Doust and Craig Young) still remain and so, for us to move on from this horrible past, these two also need to be let go.

Wow you really took some time in writing this , well done, I never looked at it this way regarding the joint venture and now it makes me feel better.
I wouldn't have anything against joint ventures but all the clubs have to do it not only 4, I am sure none of the other clubs supporters would want their team to merge and thats were the league went wrong, all in or none.......

 

[toomuchsoup]

Yeah split em up, send them to Adelaide

 

[SaintPauli]

Cronk chose to Roosters because he wanted to win. They are a club that wins. If the Dragons were as successful as the Roosters have been the past decade, we would have been a chance of signing anyone.

McInnes moved to Wollongong when he came to the Dragons. So he will likely move back to Sydney. moot point really.

Cronk chose,
1.Rorters made same $ offer as dragons and got their man!
2.Mosman over Wollongong. Lets be honest!
3.Retired and now living in Mosman, his new career at fox is a stone throw away.

Players don't just look at a successful club. $ are most important, followed by future prospects such as media.

How much did Fifita go to struggling Titans for?
I cant remember the last time the titans made the 8.

 

[Willow]

Manly got it right and ended their merger very quickly. At the Tigers we still have a small percentage who want to go backwards and end the merger.

The way other clubs debate matters and make decisions is their business. I never thought it right for me to tell West Tigers supporters what to think about their club.

It’s not only far too late, as now a whole generation of supporters have grown up with the JV, but financially it would be suicide. Surely Saints couldn’t afford to go it alone

With respect, this is where you are totally wrong and commenting on something you know nothing about. St George are in a Joint Venture with WIN Corp, both St George and WIN are financially able to meet the demands of managing a Football Club in the NRL. If it wasn't WIN, it might be another corporation or backer. Plenty of other Clubs have backers - it's just business. As a business, St George are financially sound.

and, like a lot of Sydney, the dwindling juniors is a major concern.

We are not living in the old days where juniors were picked from the local area or the League had residential rules in place. If those rules were still in place, how would the Roosters survive? Last count, there was only four junior clubs in the eastern suburbs and yet, this doesn't seem to affect their ability to field a NRL team.

Easts actually get some juniors from the Illawarra. For that matter, St George have a long history of having country players in their squad, including players from the Illawarra, and this predates the Joint Venture.

So the juniors argument isn't valid. Graeme Langlands, Wollongong's favourite son, once referred to the Illawarra as a great "backyard", ie full of juniors. Chang also approved of the Joint Venture but said the team should just be called "St George".

Who needs who the most is the question you have to ask. I would say Illawarra is now the stronger of the two.

Mate, the Illawarra Steelers do not have a financial stake in the Joint Venture. They are there in name only.

Just out of curiosity, why is it still the St George Dragons and not the St George Steelers?

The Steelers were never financially strong enough and the name would not have been accepted anyway. The Steelers were without sponsors, and after the Super League wars they were about to be cut loose. St George had the money to set up the JV with the Steelers, in fact St George loaned the Steelers a ton of money, which was only fully paid back when WIN bought out the Steelers' shares. Plus, the St George Dragons had the history, and as a 'brand' was always easier to sell.

Is it true the club’s real name is The St. George - Illawarra Steeler Dragons?

No. lol. On which beer coaster did you read that? It's already a mouthful now, please let's not add to it.

Not sure what the Illawarra side got out of the deal in the first place.

As mentioned, they were gone - a casualty of Super League. The JV provided the Illawarra with a team in the NRL. Also, home games in Wollongong. A lion's share in fact, an inequity in the Illawarra's favour that is only being redressed in recent times.

 

[muzby]

The JV provided the Illawarra with a team in the NRL. Also, home games in Wollongong. A lion's share in fact, an inequity in the Illawarra's favour that is only being redressed in recent times.

Swap you training @ Kogarah for the jersey & emblem

 

[Willow]

Swap you training @ Kogarah for the jersey & emblem

It would be nice if the players trained at Kogarah a bit more often. Under McGregor, home ground advantage was tossed aside for whatever kicking game they were trying on.

 

[muzby]

It would be nice if the players trained at Kogarah a bit more often. Under McGregor, home ground advantage was tossed aside for whatever kicking game they were trying on.

So it’s deal?

Where’s that logo I mocked up a few years back?

 

[Eion]

For all those separatists I feel like it’s worthwhile reminding them that St George didn’t win one premiership in the 18 seasons they decided to try and go it alone without Illawarra.

Every one of the 16 premierships has come whilst the regions were together..

You did manage to win 1 of the 16 without Cronulla though.

 

[muzby]

You did manage to win 1 of the 16 without Cronulla though.

Correction, 3 of the 16 were without Cronulla.

With maths like that, no wonder the sharks are always broke.


But further goes to highlight the importance of Illawarra to St George.

 

[Willow]

You did manage to win 1 of the 16 without Cronulla though.

Counting not one of your strong points I see. Or history.

 

[muzby]

Counting not one of your strong points I see. Or history.

Don’t be so hard on the guy..

Sharks fans can’t count past 1.




And even that is only a recent achievement..

 

[Eion]

Just don’t make any drastic demerge decisions until after round 1. Would really like y’all to stay shit until at least then

 

[Maddragon99]

Just don’t make any drastic demerge decisions until after round 1. Would really like y’all to stay shit until at least then

Let’s party like it’s 1979!

 

[muzby]

Actually just on the whole “gIvE uS bAcK oUr PrEmIeRsHiPz” thing..

I’m no legal expert.. But..

The NRL constantly have “est 1921” on their official merchandise..

This is NRL merch I’m talking, not the classic / club produced stuff..

Given they’re making a commercial profit by trading off the team being around since 1921, they should be acknowledging any premierships won since that point too...

It’s misleading to consumers of the merchandise to say otherwise..

There would be a legal case in that for anyone with the time/cash/care to take that on..


You’re welcome, St George.

Don’t say I never do anything for you.

 

[Willow]

Don’t be so hard on the guy..

Sharks fans can’t count past 1.




And even that is only a recent achievement..

1*
*Pep talk required.

 

[possm]

Pep talk or pep tide

 

[muzby]

Pep talk or pep tide

 

[boardlumps62]

OK, demerging is not the answer. But then what the hell is? Because our best players are happy to leave. Our highest paid players are happy to do bugger all. We have to pay overs for decent players. We have bugger all TPA's despite being based in the third biggest city in the state. A promising junior leaves because of the commute. The previous coach had to paint the changerooms. The whole thing stinks of mediocrity, lack of pride and lack of care. Meanwhile the Bulldogs who finished second last seem able to attract new players.

I'm only an outsider looking in but we just seem so un-professional.

We need a shake up start at the top apparently there are moves afoot to get a toe hold in the boardroom door. Something from Mark Levy on Face Book.