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Time to restructure the JV

Messages
199
Why would you return the club to where it failed last time? All this talk of relocation to Wollongong is just plain stupidity. The history of this club is in Kogarah not Wollongong- we took over a failed NRL team. Seems to be a lot of short memories here. If Wollongong is such a good future , then break up the joint venture, and see how long Wollongong lasts. Its St George "the Saints" who've won all the titles and the 11 in a row. The Steelers cupboard is bone dry. And lastly, me and im sure thousands of other fans would cease following if we moved to Wollongong.
If it isnt at Kogarah count me out. How about we just return to when we were the Saints, and we played everything at Kogarah. Easy to park,easy to get to-try saying that about the Gong
 

Rod Coil

Juniors
Messages
220
Sorry Kogarah has to stay, wasn't a problem during 2009-2011, you know when we had a coach, who put the CEO in his place, where we packed out Kogarah, success on the field fixes the issues we currently have, playing 6 games at Kogarah doesnt impact the players lifestyle one iota, why would you give up territory to the sharks, rabbits and bulldogs, why give up potential sponsors from the area, why give up potential new supporters from the area and why give up on your current supporters/business from your area.
100% this.

Best post on this site in a long long time!!!
 

muzby

Village Idiot
Staff member
Messages
45,712
Because they’re St George legends. Not St George Illawarra nor Illawarra legends.
This is very shortsighted*

They are legendary players who form an important part of the history of the club as it stands today.

Including statues of players who have donned the red v would help to grow the stories & legends in the Wollongong community..

The St George history is a good one, why wouldn’t we embrace it?


*this type of thinking would also say that we only have 1 premiership.
 
Messages
1,529
To me, if there's no "St. George" in the title and no Jubilee Oval at least a couple of times a year then I'm out. That's the only thing that keeps me watching rugby league these days. Maybe I'm just a sad, middle-aged sentimentalist who hangs on to memories of being taken into the sheds after a game at Jubilee and meeting Billy, Changa etc as a small - these idols that I looked up to who busted their bodies each weekend and turned up to work on Monday. They were superhuman - not muscle-bound dickheads, swanning around like they were carried on the breath of God but don't really have anything like a full rugby league skillset and can't make a tackle without knocking themselves out! It's bad enough that we don't have a single player in the NRL squad who comes from the St George district teams. We had a couple- but hey weren't good enough for us, unlike Tautau Moga, Aaron Woods and Moses Mbye. FMS!

I remember when Brian Smith said we had the smell of Newtown about us. I despised him for that at the time. But, in hindsight, he was bloody well right.
 

Walpole

Juniors
Messages
2,420
As part of this return to being the "St George Dragons" will we also be playing games at the SCG at 3pm on a Saturday?

In 1963 we only played 5 games at Kogarah all year. In '64 it was 4 games. The '64 games were against Wests, Easts, Newtown and Canterbury. I guess we could still play Canterbury.
 
Messages
3,612
As part of this return to being the "St George Dragons" will we also be playing games at the SCG at 3pm on a Saturday?

In 1963 we only played 5 games at Kogarah all year. In '64 it was 4 games. The '64 games were against Wests, Easts, Newtown and Canterbury. I guess we could still play Canterbury.
Match of the day

St George and SCG synonymous

SCG was our home ground in that period
 

Inisai Toga

Juniors
Messages
1,444
Yes but we got rid of those days for those wonderful Friday 6:00 and Sunday games (not)! Despite the TV sell to the contrary the big match atmosphere that the 3:00 MOTD (whoever played) used to bring is really only rivalled by Origin games and they’re over hyped nowadays.

Still prefer my football at 3:00 Sat or Sunday; crowds parents and kids can get there home in time ready for dinner and school week. All a bit over the top watching football at 10:00 at night ..lost something…
 
Messages
1,529
Yes but we got rid of those days for those wonderful Friday 6:00 and Sunday games (not)! Despite the TV sell to the contrary the big match atmosphere that the 3:00 MOTD (whoever played) used to bring is really only rivalled by Origin games and they’re over hyped nowadays.

Still prefer my football at 3:00 Sat or Sunday; crowds parents and kids can get there home in time ready for dinner and school week. All a bit over the top watching football at 10:00 at night ..lost something…
Not to mention Thursday night football.
It might work for some but I'm not a fan. Neither would any Thursday night coach whose team played at 6pm Sunday the previous week.
 

possm

Coach
Messages
15,591
The joint venture idea has failed three times, Saints and Illawarra, Wests and Balmain. Manly and Norths. Manly has de coupled and the other two have proved the experiment has failed.

Illawarra as a club failed twice financially and did not rise to great heights consistently on the field. The West Tigers are a basket case and Manly only kicked on once decoupled from Norths.

I would:
Have Saints retain the NRL license and have Illawarra as the Saints pathways and junior development club. Illawarra could also be the feeder club for St George.

The West Tigers should be decoupled and each club dropped to the NSW Cup Competition.

Manly and Noth Sydney stay as they are.

Canterbury to be renamed The South West Bulldogs (District Canterbury to Campbelltown).
 

shiloh dc

Juniors
Messages
320
The joint venture idea has failed three times, Saints and Illawarra, Wests and Balmain. Manly and Norths. Manly has de coupled and the other two have proved the experiment has failed.

Illawarra as a club failed twice financially and did not rise to great heights consistently on the field. The West Tigers are a basket case and Manly only kicked on once decoupled from Norths.

I would:
Have Saints retain the NRL license and have Illawarra as the Saints pathways and junior development club. Illawarra could also be the feeder club for St George.

The West Tigers should be decoupled and each club dropped to the NSW Cup Competition.

Manly and Noth Sydney stay as they are.

Canterbury to be renamed The South West Bulldogs (District Canterbury to Campbelltown).
That will never happen possm!
 

Steel Saints

Juniors
Messages
845
The joint venture idea has failed three times, Saints and Illawarra, Wests and Balmain. Manly and Norths. Manly has de coupled and the other two have proved the experiment has failed.

Illawarra as a club failed twice financially and did not rise to great heights consistently on the field. The West Tigers are a basket case and Manly only kicked on once decoupled from Norths.

I would:
Have Saints retain the NRL license and have Illawarra as the Saints pathways and junior development club. Illawarra could also be the feeder club for St George.

The West Tigers should be decoupled and each club dropped to the NSW Cup Competition.

Manly and Noth Sydney stay as they are.

Canterbury to be renamed The Soguth West Bulldogs (District Canterbury to Campbelltown).
Steelers were only around for 17 seasons, the last four were Super League effected. Sure in it's first seven or eight seasons the Steelers did struggle. But that's not unusual for a new club.

Making the mid week Panasonic Cup final in '89 was a turning point. From there, the Steelers were slowly starting to become competitive. From 1990 to 1994, the Steelers on the ladder came 9th, 8th, 3rd, 7th and 6th.

Steelers best ever coach was Graham Murray. But when all hell broke loose with Super League in '95, Murray was sacked, where apparently he was trying to facilitate negotiations between Steelers players and Super League.

He was replaced by Alan Fitzgibbon and came 12th that year in a 20 team comp.

IMO the Steelers and Bob Millward gaved up too easily, especially when you compare it with Souths. The Rabbits were a basketcase for a longer period than the Steelers entire existence in the top flight. And look what Souths have done over the last decade. Won a premiership and been in numerous prelim finals and another GF.

I always wondered what rugby league would look like if there wasn't a Super League.
 
Last edited:

Nich

Juniors
Messages
36
It wasn't just a name survey, it was a bunch of questions about the future of the club, home grounds, what we thought of the joint venture, how we saw the club going forward. It also gave the opportunity to comment on the clubs performance, what we liked and what we didn't like. The name change was obviously the most controversial question but there was plenty of other stuff in there.

Anyway I thought we were already based in Wollongong, it's just that we have our home games at different places. Which, personally I think is a good thing. As an interstate supporter, Wollongong is absolutely the worst home ground to try and get to. Newcastle, Canberra, Townsville, all a plane flight and cab ride. Same with most Sydney grounds. Jubilee Oval, no problem. Wollongong you are obliged to hire a car and battle Sydney traffic. I once tried to catch the train but it turned out it was actually a bus and took close on 3 hours. Never again.
1.5 hrs on the train from the airport can be less. Easy as.
 

smi962

First Grade
Messages
5,703
The joint venture idea has failed three times, Saints and Illawarra, Wests and Balmain. Manly and Norths. Manly has de coupled and the other two have proved the experiment has failed.

Illawarra as a club failed twice financially and did not rise to great heights consistently on the field. The West Tigers are a basket case and Manly only kicked on once decoupled from Norths.

I would:
Have Saints retain the NRL license and have Illawarra as the Saints pathways and junior development club. Illawarra could also be the feeder club for St George.

The West Tigers should be decoupled and each club dropped to the NSW Cup Competition.

Manly and Noth Sydney stay as they are.

Canterbury to be renamed The South West Bulldogs (District Canterbury to Campbelltown).
Why would steeler/illawarra accept that if you are suggesting all games are played at jubilee. What are they getting out of it? Being a feeder club to the great dragons name, that really hasn't been great since the 60s.
 

AyiosYiorgos

Coach
Messages
13,596
Why would steeler/illawarra accept that if you are suggesting all games are played at jubilee. What are they getting out of it? Being a feeder club to the great dragons name, that really hasn't been great since the 60s.
StGeorge Since 1970 to 1998
Runners Up 1971, 75, 85, 92, 93, 96
Premiers 1977, 79
Illawarra Since 1982-1998
Runners Up 0
Premiers 0

Not that i think we will split, i can live with 6 games each and having both St George and Illawarra juniors teams.
 
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