The Unusual Suspects - Case for Teams 21/22 in 2040 & Beyond.

[titoelcolombiano]

Maybe but what if PVL likes the idea?

Love PVL but QLD RL doesn't need or want NSW sloppy seconds.

 

[Jonty]

Love PVL but QLD RL doesn't need or want NSW sloppy seconds.

100%

are the firehawks still a thing?

 

[titoelcolombiano]

100%

are the firehawks still a thing?

Brisbane Easts are a big club and are still a thing, they've probably rightly retired the awful Firehawks name for their NRL bid though

 

[BuffaloRules]

Love PVL but QLD RL doesn't need or want NSW sloppy seconds.

If Ipswich come in… they are already called the Jets … don’t think the agreement needs to be any more than giving them a blue jersey to wear once a year, as one of their 6 alternate jerseys , at an away game at Leichhardt oval or Belmore to try to sell a few memberships in Sydney .. It’s all about the $$$$ these days ..

 

[flippikat]

Love PVL but QLD RL doesn't need or want NSW sloppy seconds.

Yeah, there's a big difference between Perth hooking up with an old Sydney club & a Brisbane/Ipswich-based bid doing likewise.

The baked-on rivalry between NSW & Qld makes it a tougher sell - no matter how successful the Perth Bears are.

Besides, we don't need any more teams in blue... and the chances are that a Newtown faction will lobby for that.

 

[cinders7]

Brisbane 3 needs to be done right, even though it's in the heartland.

I really hope the NRL don't see the success of Redcliffe and assume they can half-arse the next QLD club. If they do it'll underperform and never reach potential.

Fans love tradition and history of their clubs. The NRL cannot create a new franchise or joint-venture or try to shoe-horn in a Sydney club. It won't work in QLD.

If we're moving to a national academy system then I think it's a great opportunity to save some BRL history and promote Easts or Ipswich directly into the NRL. No changes to names, colours or mascots. Those are the key things to keep, it's the club's identity and it's what resonates with fans.

If it was up to me we'd promote Easts/Brisbane Tigers, they're the richest club not in the NRL and are one of the most famous BRL clubs. It'd also mean we'd have representation of the BRL across all eras: A foundation club (Tigers), a 'new' post-war club (Redcliffe), the post-Origin superclub in the Broncos and the two modern franchises in NQ and the GC.

To do this we'd need to undo one of the great travesties in our game and allow Wests Tigers to finally de-merge.

We'd have Wests Magpies taking back their name and playing in their famous B&W Magpies strip. The JV is Magpies in all but name anyway. This way they can take total control of their own future without any of the infighting. It'd resurrect a 'dead' club from the ashes of that horrible merger. Wests would have direction and an actual identity again.

The Balmain fans can jump onboard a professionally run club called the Tigers who actually wear the famous orange & black jersey, that is still worn everywhere by fans except on the field where it belongs. While the Balmain club is basically gone these days at least this way fans can still see the Tigers play half a dozen games in Sydney every year. When in Sydney the Brisbane Tigers can base themselves out of Leichhardt and fans can watch the captain's run.

By my reckoning we'd be resurrecting three traditional clubs each with century old histories and rivalries; instead hiding two of them behind an ugly/broken merger with no identity, no soul and no future, and a third left to wither and die as the sport consolidates at the top level.

It would be a sea-change moment for RL in Australia and show the the last scars of the SL War have finally been healed.

 

[flippikat]

If it was up to me we'd promote Easts/Brisbane Tigers, they're the richest club not in the NRL and are one of the most famous BRL clubs. It'd also mean we'd have representation of the BRL across all eras: A foundation club (Tigers), a 'new' post-war club (Redcliffe), the post-Origin superclub in the Broncos and the two modern franchises in NQ and the GC.

To do this we'd need to undo one of the great travesties in our game and allow Wests Tigers to finally de-merge.

Your scenario is assuming several parties would buy into it, which is a stretch.

While there may be some appeal to the Magpies majority-owners of Wests Tigers to rebrand as Magpies, can they unilaterally dump the Balmain faction? (I ask that because there's surely no way the Tigers contingent would willingly jump basically into an abyss)

Would the NRL even entertain such a rebrand?

Would Brisbane Easts seriously want to have anything to do with a shell of an old Sydney club?

Plus, if Brisbane Easts Tigers are the next Brisbane NRL team, where does that leave the much-discussed & Ipswich/Western Corridor prospects for an NRL team of their own?

 

[cinders7]

Your scenario is assuming several parties would buy into it, which is a stretch.

While there may be some appeal to the Magpies majority-owners of Wests Tigers to rebrand as Magpies, can they unilaterally dump the Balmain faction? (I ask that because there's surely no way the Tigers contingent would willingly jump basically into an abyss)

Would the NRL even entertain such a rebrand?

Would Brisbane Easts seriously want to have anything to do with a shell of an old Sydney club?

Plus, if Brisbane Easts Tigers are the next Brisbane NRL team, where does that leave the much-discussed & Ipswich/Western Corridor prospects for an NRL team of their own?

We've done it before with the Northern Eagles license reverting to Manly.

That's all this would be, WT reverting to the club that holds the license, and then the following season the Brisbane Tigers enter the comp.

It'd ultimately be simpler than the proposal for 'The Jets'.
Playing in Green&White in QLD and Royal Blue in NSW, with all of it bankrolled by Easts Tigers who have no identity to show for their money at all. It's what Ikin proposed and it'd be a mess of conflicting interests.

To me the options are night and day. Magpies back, Tigers back, BRL history restored vs the WT infighting continuing forever and now we also have a similar WT mess in BNE.

 

[Bobby DIGital]

Just bring in the East Brisbane Tiger-Snakes.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

We've done it before with the Northern Eagles license reverting to Manly.

That's all this would be, WT reverting to the club that holds the license, and then the following season the Brisbane Tigers enter the comp.

It'd ultimately be simpler than the proposal for 'The Jets'.
Playing in Green&White in QLD and Royal Blue in NSW, with all of it bankrolled by Easts Tigers who have no identity to show for their money at all. It's what Ikin proposed and it'd be a mess of conflicting interests.

To me the options are night and day. Magpies back, Tigers back, BRL history restored vs the WT infighting continuing forever and now we also have a similar WT mess in BNE.

I actually don't mind this idea, Brisbane Easts used the Balmain jersey and logo for years and even today is much closer to it than the Wests Tigers.

Wests Magpies back at Campbeltown
Brisbane Tigers could come in and represent SEQ's western corridor (which is the area any new QLD team must represent) and use the Wests Tigers name (completely owned by Brisbane Tigers though)

Surely the Balmain jersey, logo and name would get some traction with Tigers fans in Sydney. And won't feel foreign to Brisbane Tigers people.

The one trick with this move would be getting the people of Ipswich and the West to buy into the Tigers brand.

 

[Red&BlackBear]

I actually don't mind this idea, Brisbane Easts used the Balmain jersey and logo for years and even today is much closer to it than the Wests Tigers.

Wests Magpies back at Campbeltown
Brisbane Tigers could come in and represent SEQ's western corridor (which is the area any new QLD team must represent) and use the Wests Tigers name (completely owned by Brisbane Tigers though)

Surely the Balmain jersey, logo and name would get some traction with Tigers fans in Sydney. And won't feel foreign to Brisbane Tigers people.

The one trick with this move would be getting the people of Ipswich and the West to buy into the Tigers brand.

There is greater value in bringing in the Jets than Easts. Yes, Easts as a commercially run operation, have cash and assets, however there is far more appeal to invest in Ipswich and the western suburbs as its growing at a very fast rate (that includes industrial sectors too).

QRL are very pro-Ipswich/Jets brand as the next potential QLD based NRL team. There’s a lot happening behind the scenes. I started having some offline conversations about how to approach this last week.

Can’t rule anything out at the moment ie Easts jumping onto Jets as partners etc. This was previously done in 2021 when Jets, Tigers as Firehawks & Bombers all joined together to form Brisbane Jets to bid against Dolphins. This was when the individual bids knew they couldn’t compete against the Dolphins bid.

Jets also joined with Newtown last year for a last ditch random bid to compete against Perth Bears and PNG.

All cards are on the table. There’s a lot to consider in the coming months and next few years. Jets for #20. I will try update members on here in the coming months.

 

[flippikat]

There is greater value in bringing in the Jets than Easts. Yes, Easts as a commercially run operation, have cash and assets, however there is far more appeal to invest in Ipswich and the western suburbs as its growing at a very fast rate (that includes industrial sectors too).

QRL are very pro-Ipswich/Jets brand as the next potential QLD based NRL team. There’s a lot happening behind the scenes. I started having some offline conversations about how to approach this last week.

Can’t rule anything out at the moment ie Easts jumping onto Jets as partners etc. This was previously done in 2021 when Jets, Tigers as Firehawks & Bombers all joined together to form Brisbane Jets to bid against Dolphins. This was when the individual bids knew they couldn’t compete against the Dolphins bid.

Jets also joined with Newtown last year for a last ditch random bid to compete against Perth Bears and PNG.

All cards are on the table. There’s a lot to consider in the coming months and next few years. Jets for #20. I will try update members on here in the coming months.

Given that Ipaswivh Jets wear green, white & yellow, pivoting to green, white, black & orange (a mix of Jets and Tigers) isn't entirely crazy.

 

[Pippen94]

I actually don't mind this idea, Brisbane Easts used the Balmain jersey and logo for years and even today is much closer to it than the Wests Tigers.

Wests Magpies back at Campbeltown
Brisbane Tigers could come in and represent SEQ's western corridor (which is the area any new QLD team must represent) and use the Wests Tigers name (completely owned by Brisbane Tigers though)

Surely the Balmain jersey, logo and name would get some traction with Tigers fans in Sydney. And won't feel foreign to Brisbane Tigers people.

The one trick with this move would be getting the people of Ipswich and the West to buy into the Tigers brand.

all the tigers fans in south west Sydney will become magpie supporters?!

 

[Pippen94]

We've done it before with the Northern Eagles license reverting to Manly.

That's all this would be, WT reverting to the club that holds the license, and then the following season the Brisbane Tigers enter the comp.

It'd ultimately be simpler than the proposal for 'The Jets'.
Playing in Green&White in QLD and Royal Blue in NSW, with all of it bankrolled by Easts Tigers who have no identity to show for their money at all. It's what Ikin proposed and it'd be a mess of conflicting interests.

To me the options are night and day. Magpies back, Tigers back, BRL history restored vs the WT infighting continuing forever and now we also have a similar WT mess in BNE.

..and fans gained by west tigers over past 25 years will be lost.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

all the tigers fans in south west Sydney will become magpie supporters?!

They can follow a properly run Tigers team out of Brisbane

 

[Pippen94]

They can follow a properly run Tigers team out of Brisbane

NSW people don't want to follow Qld teams

 

[titoelcolombiano]

NSW people don't want to follow Qld teams

Fair, but at least the Tigers wouldn't be a basket case if we took over the brand