The Rumours Thread

[Gareth67]

Billy Smith nearly ran me down one Saturday at Cumberland Oval just as he was entering the parking area reserved for the players . He was driving a red and white Ford Fairlane and and I was about to become his bonnet emblem , but just mentioned to step out of the way .

But getting back to Dennis Preston’s comment about returning to a 1 city comp has merit , as I believe it would indeed prosper. Unfortunately it raises the question - what to do with the other teams ? That’s a curly one and would require a brains trust that is better than what is currently running the NRL .

 

[Warabrook saint]

If we paid our players 100,000 a year in a one city comp, and afl, union and soccer paid 500,000 to 1,000,000 who would attract the best athletes

 

[Brutalitops]

If we paid our players 100,000 a year in a one city comp, and afl, union and soccer paid 500,000 to 1,000,000 who would attract the best athletes

Fair dinkum mate

The NRL has its problems but regressing to a small one town comp would be a massive goodbye to the elite players, broadcast deals, sponsorship money, just endless cash streams dead in the water. If I was a moderately skilled player, why would I stay in this one city comp when I could go to union and earn so much more?

An argument can be made that the NRL has been incompetent with expansion so far. It's damn true. But what's needed now is less Sydney teams, not exclusively Sydney teams.

 

[Warabrook saint]

Fair dinkum mate

The NRL has its problems but regressing to a small one town comp would be a massive goodbye to the elite players, broadcast deals, sponsorship money, just endless cash streams dead in the water. If I was a moderately skilled player, why would I stay in this one city comp when I could go to union and earn so much more?

An argument can be made that the NRL has been incompetent with expansion so far. It's damn true. But what's needed now is less Sydney teams, not exclusively Sydney teams.

I think that's the point I was trying to make

 

[Frank Facer]

If they expand the comp and then split it into 2 blocks. We could end up with a NSW comp and the rest. A NSW comp would probably prosper. Sydney fans would be able to travel to Woolongong, Newcastle, Canberra and Gosford if they put a team there.

It would actually be similar scenario to what happened during the Super League war. Most of the ARL clubs were NSW clubs. The ARL comp was superior to the Superleague one and had much better support from fans.

 

[Brutalitops]

I think that's the point I was trying to make

Oh I know I was agreeing with you, reading back I now realise I may have worded it like I was disagreeing but that's not the case.

 

[Dragonsamy]

Them hot dogs, Once you smothered them in sauce & mustard they still tasted ok

And the old bloke ( he had less teeth than a hen has) who would be out the front on Jubilee Avenue always trying to sell them on the way to the pub or the train. Saying get your hot doggies. More like salmonella than the doggies

 

[BLM01]

If we paid our players 100,000 a year in a one city comp, and afl, union and soccer paid 500,000 to 1,000,000 who would attract the best athletes

Hypothetically forget the one city comp, since when did it all become about money and athletes only. What about the culture of kids wanting to play rugby league as juniors for ther club for free with their mates..and moving on to the area club and beyond to a higher level!
Back when wages were 100K a year for an elite (not that long ago) you could earn 20 x times that as a tennis, golf pro or racing car driver but it does not mean no one plays the sport
Rugby league would still exist and that is what we lined up outside gates at Kogarah for an hour before kick off while living as a kid in Sydney to watch 3 grades of grown men now still playing what they know and love earning some part time wage, some sweet FA because that was the culture and we loved it.
Who cared about athletes and the elite, just the guy in the jersey was good enough.
Of course it wont happen but I would still go and watch it. I do every week at Group 6 as hold an executive committee position in our club and live down in Wollongong and watch occassional games there in Group 7 and girls. Then I watch more Dragons NSW Cup games a year in Wollongong as there are more than I do elite grade. But thats just me it is my blood and was not good enough but did not care and earned little money from the game.
We have tried and embraced the American way and models for our sport and yes the elite only benefit.

 

[Warabrook saint]

Hypothetically forget the one city comp, since when did it all become about money and athletes only. What about the culture of kids wanting to play rugby league as juniors for ther club for free with their mates..and moving on to the area club and beyond to a higher level!
Back when wages were 100K a year for an elite (not that long ago) you could earn 20 x times that as a tennis, golf pro or racing car driver but it does not mean no one plays the sport
Rugby league would still exist and that is what we lined up outside gates at Kogarah for an hour before kick off while living as a kid in Sydney to watch 3 grades of grown men now still playing what they know and love earning some part time wage, some sweet FA because that was the culture and we loved it.
Who cared about athletes and the elite, just the guy in the jersey was good enough.
Of course it wont happen but I would still go and watch it. I do every week at Group 6 as hold an executive committee position in our club and live down in Wollongong and watch occassional games there in Group 7 and girls. Then I watch more Dragons NSW Cup games a year in Wollongong as there are more than I do elite grade. But thats just me it is my blood and was not good enough but did not care and earned little money from the game.
We have tried and embraced the American way and models for our sport and yes the elite only benefit.

They were the days the other codes payed around the same as rugby league, we just wouldn't be able to keep our best athletes because things have changed. Society has changed, I'd love to go back to the way it was in the seventies

 

[Old Kogarah Boy 1]

And the old bloke ( he had less teeth than a hen has) who would be out the front on Jubilee Avenue always trying to sell them on the way to the pub or the train. Saying get your hot doggies. More like salmonella than the doggies

DA, we never got sick back in those days.
I don't know whether its because they had higher standards ...........or that we drank more back then!

 

[Gareth67]

DA, we never got sick back in those days.
I don't know whether its because they had higher standards ...........or that we drank more back then!

The reason being OKB1 is that you probably had / have a cast iron stomach.

 

[LINESPEED]

DA, we never got sick back in those days.
I don't know whether its because they had higher standards ...........or that we drank more back then!

I remember Dad taking me to the 58 Grand Final and getting
into trouble for what mum called being ‘pickled’ when we got home.
So yeah they drank - and why wouldn’t they after such bloodthirsty grand finals.
We’d sit in the car outside the Carlton pub & Dad would bring us out lemon squashes
Tough men & tough days

 

[Old Kogarah Boy 1]

I remember Dad taking me to the 58 Grand Final and getting
into trouble for what mum called being ‘pickled’ when we got home.
So yeah they drank - and why wouldn’t they after such bloodthirsty grand finals.
We’d sit in the car outside the Carlton pub & Dad would bring us out lemon squashes
Tough men & tough days

LS,
l bet the lemon squashes were properly made back then with separate ingredients .......... none of this premix stuff of today. Real lemon barley cordial. A properly made lemon squash is superb, especially is you can find a paper straw!

These pretzels are making me thirsty!

 

[LINESPEED]

LS,
l bet the lemon squashes were properly made back then with separate ingredients .......... none of this premix stuff of today. Real lemon barley cordial. A properly made lemon squash is superb, especially is you can find a paper straw!

These pretzels are making me thirsty!

Yeah they came with lemon pieces & mum used to tell us to eat the rind to stop colds.

She went to the school across the road from Jubilee Oval when the Great Depression was on

 

[Slippery Morris]

Apparently Saints may be in for Herman Ese'Ese at the Knights. He is a big unit and will add some size that is for sure. Can't remember where I saw this rumour, I think it was on Twitter "Reading the Play".

 

[Willow]

I remember the days when you roll up to Saints Leagues club on game day, members were allowed to park there.
A few quite ones at the bar, then over to Kogarah get a couple of those hot dogs which have been boiling from the last home game get your copy of Rugby League week, find your spot on the hill get your saints gear on and watch all grades.
Those were great days. Those days are sadly missed

Members can still park in the Leagues Club carpark.

Reschs is still on tap in the back bar. When they told me it was no longer on sale in the Premiers Lounge, I said, "that's the only reason I come here!" lol. They soon found me some.

The old hotdog fella has been replaced by some pretty good hotdogs in the ground, they're actually getting better. Big League is on sale, although I must admit I don't buy it anymore. The doubles are still there.

Last weekend we had two grades.

More women, more families from what I remember, and a greater mix of people from different backgrounds.

I agree they were the good old days with three grades and a home game every second weekend. But we haven't lost it all.

 

[Frank Facer]

Apparently Saints may be in for Herman Ese'Ese at the Knights. He is a big unit and will add some size that is for sure. Can't remember where I saw this rumour, I think it was on Twitter "Reading the Play".

I read or heard the idea of Ese"Ese too, not sure where, it may have been on this forum. They also said that Newcastle didn't want to release him.

 

[Ritzley]

I read or heard the idea of Ese"Ese too, not sure where, it may have been on this forum. They also said that Newcastle didn't want to release him.

This was mentioned on ABC's Grandstand a few weeks ago when he was 18th man for newcs v us.

 

[Slippery Morris]

This weekend I am sure once the De Belin case is done Saints will have Merrin or Ese Ese signed up if he loses his case. Looks like he won't lose the case though. If De Belin wins his case I hope the Greenburg and Beattie are sacked for their poor management of this situation. They make the NRL look so amateurish.

 

[Old Kogarah Boy 1]

This weekend I am sure once the De Belin case is done Saints will have Merrin or Ese Ese signed up if he loses his case. Looks like he won't lose the case though. If De Belin wins his case I hope the Greenburg and Beattie are sacked for their poor management of this situation. They make the NRL look so amateurish.

I think Beattie will leave either way of whatever the decision will be.

That what he does.
He's a loud mouth quitter who fails at everything he does.
History will confirm that.
He always leaves wherever he is in a shambles.... then pops up in another place or town.
He's like rust..... only more corrosive.