WA BEARS

[The Great Dane]

That comment was based on the bears being owned by a WA consortium, not by the nsfc. They want a game in Sydney, then like other teams who take games on the road it needs to be paid for.

I dont think they will at all, it’s incredibly unlikely based on what we’ve heard so far from them. They would need to change dramatically to make it happen, maybe as they realise it’s not going to happen otherwise it might, but I doubt it.

that’s why the license and majority ownership must sit with the WA consortium. Not the nsfc. It will be a recipe for disaster if it ends up being owned by NS and why I wouldn’t bother supporting them With any fervour.

Tbf I don’t think we’ve had this scenario before in rl so Bit unfair to predict what may or may not happen. I can see it could work and tbh no business is going to turn away the opportunity for a potential 10k customers. Swans and lions still hold a healthy membership base in melbourne and are no longer seen as a split city club.

The Swans and Lions haven't played any games in Melbourne since relocating or being bought out respectively.

The closest situation to what is being proposed would be clubs that split significant amounts of games between venues, Wests Tigers, Dragons, GWS, North Melbourne, etc, and it's had major negative impacts pretty much universally. Even then nobody has split games between such a large geographical and cultural gap as Sydney and Perth, and frankly that's because it would be an absolute farce.

Besides, as far as we know from what's publicly available the Bears have had no serious discussions with any entities from WA about merging. They've only had initial discussions with the WA government about what they'd offer the Bears to base an NRL side in Perth. Hypothetically, the possibility of a merger could have been brought up in those discussions, who knows for sure, but I can guarantee that that was not the gist of the Bears proposal.

 

[The Great Dane]

I`m starting to wonder whether this is at the heart of the problem with our two merged Sydney teams. Even that god-awful Wests Tigers jumper never looks right, just some bastard hybridisation of two once iconic jumpers.

I don't know about the heart, but it's definitely a significant factor, especially in the Tigers case.

They're trying to juggle too many vested interests, and it's impossible to keep all of those vested interests happy all of the time, which leads to significant amounts of disunity in the club on multiple levels.

Relatively small things like picking a single home ground and sticking to it, making their minds up about whether they're the Tigers or the Magpies and getting the other logo off the jersey, etc, etc, would have major benefits for them. It's going to piss people off in the short term, but once they're pissed off you don't have to worry about them anymore and can place all your effort into growing your fanbase and maximising profit from your chosen target audience.

 

[The Great Dane]

Issue number 1. You’d wait 25+ years for a team and then not watch it for petty reasons.

That is all.

Damn straight, and there's nothing petty about it either.

The AFL and Giants can proclaim themselves "Canberra's team" all they like, it doesn't make it true, and doesn't mean that I'm obliged to support them, and any merkin in Melbourne or Sydney that disagrees can go pleasure themselves for all I care.

Given what we know of the Bears expansion proposals it's highly likely that any Bears side that plays games in Perth would end up similarly tokenistic to the AFL's presence in Canberra and Tasmania, and I wouldn't begrudge any Western Australian that had the same response to it that full blooded Tasmanians and Canberrans have to "their" AFL sides.

Respect is earnt, not given, and you don't earn respect by maliciously using people for your own ends.

 

[MugaB]

I don't know about the heart, but it's definitely a significant factor, especially in the Tigers case.

They're trying to juggle too many vested interests, and it's impossible to keep all of those vested interests happy all of the time, which leads to significant amounts of disunity in the club on multiple levels.

Relatively small things like picking a single home ground and sticking to it, making their minds up about whether they're the Tigers or the Magpies and getting the other logo off the jersey, etc, etc, would have major benefits for them. It's going to piss people off in the short term, but once they're pissed off you don't have to worry about them anymore and can place all your effort into growing your fanbase and maximising profit from your chosen target audience.

So true, they need to fk that magpie off, and become the best tiger brand they can be

 

[The Great Dane]

So true, they need to fk that magpie off, and become the best tiger brand they can be

I don't have a strong opinion on that to be honest. Tigers, Magpies, it's all the same to me, just pick one and stick to it.

What should have happened is when they first merged Balmain should have got the name and mascot, and the Magpies should have got the colours and geographical identifier (it should have been Western Sydney BTW). That way you end up with a unique and logical brand that respects both club's history without being totally bound by it. It's probably too late for that now though.

f**king off Leichhardt and Campbelltown, and playing all their games out of CommBank would have an even larger positive impact than any brand change could have as well.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

If the Bears had any sense then they would remain in the NSW Cup as a feeder team to a Perth-based NRL club called the West Coast Bears. Let a Perth-based consortium own the NRL club. Unfortunately I cannot see Dickson and company accepting this arrangement.

 

[Wb1234]

So true, they need to fk that magpie off, and become the best tiger brand they can be

Opposite. Leave the tiger for an expansion club and become the magpies

 

[Wb1234]

I don't have a strong opinion on that to be honest. Tigers, Magpies, it's all the same to me, just pick one and stick to it.

What should have happened is when they first merged Balmain should have got the name and mascot, and the Magpies should have got the colours and geographical identifier (it should have been Western Sydney BTW). That way you end up with a unique and logical brand that respects both club's history without being totally bound by it. It's probably too late for that now though.

f**king off Leichhardt and Campbelltown, and playing all their games out of CommBank would have an even larger positive impact than any brand change could have as well.

Campbelltown not commbank

but it’s nowhere near wests Ashfield

 

[MugaB]

Opposite. Leave the tiger for an expansion club and become the magpies

Don't be stufid, the Magpies have been the most wooden spooned club ever to exist, Balmain were last only a handful of times,(4 i think) the brand sells, and is in the heart of sydney, but yeah lets revert to a boring bird of no colors, and schlep them off to macarthur, which was what basically made them merge..

If we want another expansion team then just become something else, the QRL East Tigers can go as the Brisbane Firehawks as they wanted to last bid or change it to Brisbane City Sabres

 

[Wb1234]

Don't be stufid, the Magpies have been the most wooden spooned club ever to exist, Balmain were last only a handful of times,(4 i think) the brand sells, and is in the heart of sydney, but yeah lets revert to a boring bird of no colors, and schlep them off to macarthur, which was what basically made them merge..

If we want another expansion team then just become something else, the QRL East Tigers can go as the Brisbane Firehawks as they wanted to last bid or change it to Brisbane City Sabres

They own 95 percent of the jv

 

[MugaB]

They own 95 percent of the jv

So what, they are still a bunch of losers

 

[Wb1234]

So what, they are still a bunch of losers

So was Penrith for 50 years so what

money talks

 

[MugaB]

So was Penrith for 50 years so what

money talks

Hahahaha, money talks... but theyve just spent it all on plodders, upgrades on brooks and duhiehi, and the golden parachute for both apisai and bateman

 

[Wb1234]

Hahahaha, money talks... but theyve just spent it all on plodders, upgrades on brooks and duhiehi, and the golden parachute for both apisai and bateman

Joint ventures don’t work

lucky parra and Penrith never merged

 

[The Great Dane]

Campbelltown not commbank

but it’s nowhere near wests Ashfield

The Tigers average attendance in Campbelltown is crap, Campbelltown stadium is crap, and it’s in an outer suburb that’s relatively difficult for the majority of the city to get to.

Parra on the other hand is state of the art, centrally located compared to the other options, relatively easy for a much larger percentage of the population to get to, has better infrastructure around the stadium, etc, etc, it’s basically superior in every way.

The people of Campbelltown have had multiple chances to support a side and have failed every time.

 

[Wb1234]

The Tigers average attendance in Campbelltown is crap, Campbelltown stadium is crap, and it’s in an outer suburb that’s relatively difficult for the majority of the city to get to.

Parra on the other hand is state of the art, centrally located compared to the other options, relatively easy for a much larger percentage of the population to get to, has better infrastructure around the stadium, etc, etc, it’s basically superior in every way.

The people of Campbelltown have had multiple chances to support a side and have failed every time.

Nobody has set up there full time

ideal rugby league area would take in Liverpool all the way to dogs territory

 

[MugaB]

Joint ventures don’t work

lucky parra and Penrith never merged

They never were... balmain and parra struck up a deal tho

 

[Wb1234]

They never were... balmain and parra struck up a deal tho

Oh yeh I forgot you guys went to super league and we’re protected from that nasty stuff

 

[MugaB]

Oh yeh I forgot you guys went to super league and we’re protected from that nasty stuff

Supplying the league with players for over 50 miserable years

 

[Wb1234]

Supplying the league with players for over 50 miserable years

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