The Sharks should wake up and realise it's all over in Sydney and relocate fast

[WireMan]

If the sharks folded and a new team was created anywhere, surely they would need to recruit NRL standard players, most of which would come from the sharks as they would all be out of contract?

No point putting the youngsters in because they would lose every week (a bit like the sharks i suppose ), which would hinder growth.

Without knowing much about the area, i'd have thought Brisbane being the biggest city in the biggest rugby league in the world should be able to handle more than one team? and the Derby created would be a big game!

Relocating may put off supporters though, if a team from Yorkshire relocated over to Lancashire few of the locals would support them. If a new team was created with a lot of players from Yorkshire then the support would be there.

 

[bobmar28]

relocation wont work, IMO.

those areas deserve new teams.

Sharks should merge with Roosters to become the East Coast Sharks super club. That way their fans don't have to travel to Perth or where ever to see them play and Shark park would get one game a month.

 

[bobmar28]

whats with the fascination of the sunshine coast?

there is 260K people there , down the road there is 1.8 million people with one team and a stadium that isnt being used enough.


Surely any knew team in SEQ must be based in brisbane.

Brisbane already has a team.

 

[joshreading]

Sharks should merge with Roosters to become the East Coast Sharks super club. That way their fans don't have to travel to Perth or where ever to see them play and Shark park would get one game a month.

If the Southern Sharks did not come off this would possibly be the next best option - I would probably call them East City Sharks though.

 

[mik01]

If the sharks folded and a new team was created anywhere, surely they would need to recruit NRL standard players, most of which would come from the sharks as they would all be out of contract?

No point putting the youngsters in because they would lose every week (a bit like the sharks i suppose ), which would hinder growth.

Without knowing much about the area, i'd have thought Brisbane being the biggest city in the biggest rugby league in the world should be able to handle more than one team? and the Derby created would be a big game!

Relocating may put off supporters though, if a team from Yorkshire relocated over to Lancashire few of the locals would support them. If a new team was created with a lot of players from Yorkshire then the support would be there.

finally - a voice of reason.

it sounds like some of you don't really appreciate the demographics of the region - sorry.

Sunny coast has a sh*tload of growing up to do before it can even be considered a chance - try another 10-20 years maybe. tapping into the huge population base of Bris is the best way forward.

Seriously - another Brisbane team, Nth or West is the best poss scenario for another team in Qld. A northern based team would attract the Sunny coast fans - better for a small amount of them to travel sth than expect a heap of Brisbanites to travel north.

at any rate - I think CC is the frontrunner for the next team and talk of Sunny Coast and CQ is way too premature.

sorry if you don't like it - but anyone with commercial sense would avoid this as a serious thought for some time.

 

[Brycey]

Agree with Nulla boy.

How does Cronulla dieing benefit RL? Oh is it the same way the Bears demise benefited Manly? As far as I can see it only benefited every other code and basically damaged league in the ir area. Gain for Manly, zero.

How is Cronulla alive benefitting RL?

They have crap crowds, and their place in the NRL could better be served to a region that deserves it and wants it more.

Its a spit in the face to fans from Perth and CC who could muster up better crowd averages then Cronulla are spitting out and somehow they deserve their place because they're in a city that already has 8 other teams.

 

[Surely]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]1998 turned out to be a disaster for the Rams. By the end of the season there were few positive points to reflect upon. The on-field performances were at times so bad, that it is surprising that the Rams managed to hold their home crowd average to 7,500 faithful fans.[/FONT]

The Adelaide club was shut down at the end of the 1998 season as a result of poor on-field performances, dwindling crowd numbers, financial losses and a reduction in the number of teams in the NRL

​

The Western Reds changed their name to the Perth Reds for the 1997 Super League season, and adopted a jersey of Red, White and Black. Although the club had made some promising signings, such as Rodney Howe and Robbie Kearns, the crushing $10 million debt that hung over the club (from having to pay the airfares for all visiting teams) at the end of the season led to Super League axing the Perth Reds on October 1, 1997.

yeah adelaide and perth look like great places for an NRL team :sarcasm:
[/FONT]

 

[babyg]

If the Sunshine Coast was guaranteed a team with the Sharks relocating, and then bleed there juniors into it they would jump on it.

They are not guaranteed a team otherwise

The same goes for Central coast IMO.

Anyway the NRL have got a plan, its perfect game theory, and although some dont like the way its being played have no mistake that pieces are being placed to move the sharks out of Cronulla, one way or another.

and I think Queenslanders might take some quiet satisfaction of taking a young basket case problem child and nurturing it into a strong succesfull team.

 

[carcharias]

How is Cronulla alive benefitting RL?

They have crap crowds, and their place in the NRL could better be served to a region that deserves it and wants it more.

Its a spit in the face to fans from Perth and CC who could muster up better crowd averages then Cronulla are spitting out and somehow they deserve their place because they're in a city that already has 8 other teams.

fug that is a bit rich coming from a rorters supporter.

At least there are people in the background at shark park during tv games.
All I ever see at roosters games is 98% empty light blue seats and the odd geniused boy and his carer .

 

[ramble_on]

the crushing $10 million debt that hung over the club (from having to pay the airfares for all visiting teams)

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]yeah adelaide and perth look like great places for an NRL team :sarcasm:[/FONT]

Out of curiosity, how much did airfare cost in 1998? Pretty sure it was considerably more than it is now.....

 

[Surely]

Out of curiosity, how much did airfare cost in 1998? Pretty sure it was considerably more than it is now.....

What you think footy teams can book the last minute specials ?

 

[***MH***]

Out of curiosity, how much did airfare cost in 1998? Pretty sure it was considerably more than it is now.....

I'm pretty sure that the Reds were sleeve sponsored by Ansett at the time. I'm pretty sure that would have helped out with costs. (Look how well that turned out)

 

[gallagher]

Out of curiosity, how much did airfare cost in 1998? Pretty sure it was considerably more than it is now.....

Do interstate teams still have to pay the airfare costs of visiting teams?

 

[Perth Red]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]yeah adelaide and perth look like great places for an NRL team :sarcasm:[/FONT]

You have to put it in the context of the times though. All clubs were running with massive debts due to player payments going through the roof, The Reds were saddled with the ridiculous situation of having to pay for all clubs travel costs, now clubs travel costs are covered by the NRL, and a combination of fans disgust at the Reds joining with SL and the constant death bell ringing around the club at that time meant that fans were turned off the club massively. Add into the fact that Perth has grown massively since 1997 and it is all pretty much irrelevant to the situation come 2013, same as the Gold Coast, or are you suggesting we should never have let them back after all their failures?

You might like to note that over their two year existence the Rams had a better crowd average than the majority of clubs in 97/98. Who knows what may have happened if they had been given time to grow and develop, its taken alot of teams decades to get crowds more than what the Rams achieved in their first year, and in fact some are still way off doing it!

 

[ramble_on]

Fair enough. It was a question. However I'm sure the new bid team will have considered this as well. Last time I lived in Perth was '85-'86. When I came back over here 2 years ago I could not find a single place I remembered apart from the skeleton of the old aborttoirs at Coogee. The difference astounded me.... I'm pretty sure the demographics from '98 have also changed considerably....

I don't think the chances of success should be judged on what happened 14 years prior.....

 

[Perth Red]

Totally agree, the Perth landscape has changed massively. Dumping the Reds gave a green light to other codes to reap the harvest of what Perth has to offer.

In population alone the state has grown by 900,000+ since the Reds were cut!

 

[***MH***]

The Sharks have fallen to a new low....

Accepting donations from pensioners.

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,25524222-5001023,00.html

Pensioner donates $10,000 to Sharks

By Josh Massoud
May 23, 2009 12:00am

IT WON'T necessarily save Cronulla, but this humble pensioner's $10,000 cheque should buy the heart of every fan who wishes to keep the Sharks from extinction.
Grim-faced amid the club's darkest hour, Cronulla officials managed a rare smile when 60-year-old retiree Wayne Campbell tottered into Sharkies Leagues Club yesterday afternoon. In his pocket was a hand-written cheque for $10,000, drawn from Campbell's personal Commonwealth Bank account and payable to Cronulla Sutherland DRLFC.
Making the Jannali resident's personal contribution even more stunning is the fact he is not a Sharks member nor has he even attended a game this season. His late sister Lynette, however, was one of the club's staunchest supporters.
After visiting her gravesite at Woronora Cemetery on Tuesday, Campbell walked away knowing what to do in Lynette's honour. "It was almost as if the idea came to me from above," Campbell said.
"Lynette lived for the Sharks and they are going through such a rough trot at the moment. I always have regrets that I didn't do enough for her in life, so I thought this was something I could do to make up for it.
"I thought, 'I'm going to give them $10,000' - and now I've done it." Coming in the wake of the most traumatic week of his life, the gesture left Cronulla CEO Tony Zappia speechless.
Zappia has struggled personally through Reni Maitua's positive drugs test, the resurfacing of an incident involving a female employee being accidentally punched and incorrect accusations of the club storing sex toys on behalf of players. But his demons were momentarily exorcised when Campbell introduced himself over the phone yesterday.
"Wayne just rang the switch and the receptionist contacted me to say he had something to drop off to the club," Zappia said. "I spoke to Wayne and he told me it was a $10,000 cheque. My heart skipped a beat. After what everyone's been through, it seemed unbelievable one person could do such a thing."
Campbell, who formerly worked in computers, said the money represented about "10 percent of my bank account".
"I've walked into a little bit of money and I've grown sick and tired of hearing all these negative things about the club," he said.
"Although I haven't been to a game in a few years, I'll definitely become a season ticket holder now."
The Sharks will get no better gauge of the people power rallying to save them than this evening's local derby against the Dragons.

 

[Dogs Of War]

Well at least the board will have the bar tab covered tonight with that 10K.

 

[Flapper]

Perth and Adelaide look a lot better than Cronulla at the moment. Anyone who cannot see that Perth is ripe for inclusion is just deathriding the entire NRL.

 

[Dogs Of War]

Hmm, just reading on the updates before I head out to the pub to watch the Dogs play and saw this...

11 min: A definite sense of urgency in the Shark's side tonight. Good to see, as it sets things up nicely for a good game in front of a small but vocal crowd.

Disappointing. Seems the fans don't want a team. Hopefully the NRL helps make that happen.