WA- did we miss the boat ?

[Perth Red]

Perth does generally get behind its clubs. Eagles sold out 60k every game with thousands on waitlist for memberships, Dockers now up to 40k avg, Wildcats biggest crowds in Basketball, Glory despite having no Glory in top half of Aleague crowds, Force were on par with Super Rugby in Australia despite terrible on field and off it, BBL selling out the WACA. We do love our live sport over here.

Does make you wonder if Perth can sell 60k and 40k tickets for its main sport why Brisbane can only sell 32k for RL despite a bigger population?

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Perth does generally get behind its clubs. Eagles sold out 60k every game with thousands on waitlist for memberships, Dockers now up to 40k avg, Wildcats biggest crowds in Basketball, Glory despite having no Glory in top half of Aleague crowds, Force were on par with Super Rugby in Australia despite terrible on field and off it, BBL selling out the WACA. We do love our live sport over here.

Does make you wonder if Perth can sell 60k and 40k tickets for its main sport why Brisbane can only sell 32k for RL despite a bigger population?

I've explained this before. There are plenty of BRL fans who are angry with how their teams were sacrificed by the Broncos.

Before my physical health took a turn for the worse I went to the State Library to read about rhe BRL, in particular the Scorpions. John Barber wrote a weekly column in thr Albert and Logan Times in 1988. He mentioned the horrible things the Broncos did to the BRL during that season. For me it was a real eye opener and made me hate the Broncos.

Don't forget the Super League War that was speaeheaded by the Broncos. Crowds in Brisbane went from almost 60,000 across 2 teams in 1995 to about 19,000 for 1 in 1998. It left a sour taste in many people's mouths. A new generation has come along who don't remember that period, but the olser folk who were appalled by it have never come back.

Broncos games are played on Thursday and Friday nights, which is not fan friendly. Perth's fumbleball teams usually play during the early evening, don't they?

 

[Dragonwest]

That was from last week. Rockingham beat South Perth yesterday & will play Joondalup next week at North Beach.

Pete the current Pirates coach has done a great job in getting the Sharks to the GF this year. A couple of Pirates boys from this summer have been scoring tries for fun on their left edge.

 

[Pippen94]

Perth does generally get behind its clubs. Eagles sold out 60k every game with thousands on waitlist for memberships, Dockers now up to 40k avg, Wildcats biggest crowds in Basketball, Glory despite having no Glory in top half of Aleague crowds, Force were on par with Super Rugby in Australia despite terrible on field and off it, BBL selling out the WACA. We do love our live sport over here.

Does make you wonder if Perth can sell 60k and 40k tickets for its main sport why Brisbane can only sell 32k for RL despite a bigger population?

Perth has derby which push up crowd average

 

[Perth Red]

Perth has derby which push up crowd average

one game a year? Lol. How’s all them sydney derbies doing for pushing up crowds? Eagles sold out every game. Derby probably adds less than 2k to the dockers season avg Given capacity is only 60k and they are getting 40k avg.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

I don't have a problem with Perth getting a team once Brisbane and NZ have been adequately covered. But to put a team in Adelaide and Perth while Brisbane and NZ are under served would be a massive insult towards two of the game's biggest heartland areas.

PR said himself that Perth would need to poach talent from NZ just to compete because Melbourne has bled Queensland dry. Half the reason the Broncos were created and followed was to allow Queenslanders the chance to see their stars play at Lang Park every fortnight. Melbourne have taken that away and it could go on to have disastrous effects on Queensland's future Origin stocks, with the sons (if they have any) of legends such as Cam Smith, Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk spending the best part of their lives in Victoria.

How are the sons of such men expected to indentify as Queenslanders and go on to forge their own RL careers?

It won't be good for NZ RL to have their stars raise their children in Australia. That would weaken international RL severely, which would be a huge step backwards and a massive win foe NZRU. If we want New Zealand's public to give RL a serious show of support then we need to start treating New Zealanders like equals. New Zealand has done a lot for the game and it's time we repaid their contributions by giving them a second team and providing better funding to the NZRL.

 

[mongoose]

if the Storm have "bled QLD dry" then there mustn't be much talent coming through QLD, how can it call itself a heartland.

 

[Perth Red]

It’s not the 1950’s lol. It’s professional sport and sportsmen, and women, will go where the opportunities are. No one cares where your team is born.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

if the Storm have "bled QLD dry" then there mustn't be much talent coming through QLD, how can it call itself a heartland.

They hoard all of the best talent and have more resources than anyone else, courtesy of the extra $100M funnelled into their coffers by News Ltd and ARLC between 98-18.

It’s not the 1950’s lol. It’s professional sport and sportsmen, and women, will go where the opportunities are. No one cares where your team is born.

This is a really stupid post and intentionally dishonest.

It's incredibly selfish of you to say it's okay for expansion clubs in non-RL areas to poach players from the heartland. You will be the beneficiary of the practice because the clubs you support, Melbourne and prospective Perth, will be reliant on NZ, NSW, PNG and QLD for the best part of 50-100 years. Possibly forever.

Every talented junior you take away from a heartland area, especially a smaller regional one that doesn't have $100M funnelled into it by the game over 20 years to buy the best scouts, coaches and bribe players through illegal payments, will not be able to compete. Fans of these teams will not accept it. Some will complain but support them through thick and thin. Others will give the game away as they know they're being taken for mugs by HQ.

Only an idiot or a prick with malicious intent would advocate for that to happen.

If you want to destroy the game so that it is reduced to a minor sport, like in England, then weaken Origin and Test Football. The one advantage our game has over fumbleball is representative football. I just explained to you how NZ and QLD will be weakened by your proposal. You deliberately sidestepped the problem, like you always do, by saying some irrelevant BS.

 

[MugaB]

They hoard all of the best talent and have more resources than anyone else, courtesy of the extra $100M funnelled into their coffers by News Ltd and ARLC between 98-18.


This is a really stupid post and intentionally dishonest.

It's incredibly selfish of you to say it's okay for expansion clubs in non-RL areas to poach players from the heartland. You will be the beneficiary of the practice because the clubs you support, Melbourne and prospective Perth, will be reliant on NZ, NSW, PNG and QLD for the best part of 50-100 years. Possibly forever.

Every talented junior you take away from a heartland area, especially a smaller regional one that doesn't have $100M funnelled into it by the game over 20 years to buy the best scouts, coaches and bribe players through illegal payments, will not be able to compete. Fans of these teams will not accept it. Some will complain but support them through thick and thin. Others will give the game away as they know they're being taken for mugs by HQ.

Only an idiot or a prick with malicious intent would advocate for that to happen.

If you want to destroy the game so that it is reduced to a minor sport, like in England, then weaken Origin and Test Football. The one advantage our game has over fumbleball is representative football. I just explained to you how NZ and QLD will be weakened by your proposal. You deliberately sidestepped the problem, like you always do, by saying some irrelevant BS.

You can still nominate to play for your heritage, so unless you decide to play for Australia, you still can choose, i feel this whole juniors need to play f or their area idea, was over long ago, to me when brad fittler went to the roosters, that opened my eyes to the certain clubs who buy talent, not grow it, but its a business now, not recreational anymore, don't have to 9-5 then train for a few weeknights, and play weekends.
Any player and any club can go anywhere, which when i saw SBW return to Easts instead of Warriors, all made sense to me, paid mercs, play anywhere for money

 

[Perth Red]

I tell you what is dishonest is you complaining about other clubs signing players from other areas when the only club in Brisbane has more than 75% of its squad born outside Brisbane. You honestly think that Brisbane2 would be made up of mostly non Brisbane born players?

There are plenty of LC backed heartland clubs, including the only Brisbane one, that has a hell of a lot more than $100million over 20 years ploughed into them. You just dislike the Storm because they are more successful than nearly every heartland club, some of whom have a lot more money and 80 years head start on them!

If it was just about money then the Eels, who have had $40mill ploughed into them in last 6 years , would be on a three peat by now!

Your stupid small minded suburban 1950's mentality is what will kill the game, thankfully people like you are dying out and now in a minority and eventually the game will no longer be held back and will grow into what it could become.

 

[Perth Red]

You can still nominate to play for your heritage, so unless you decide to play for Australia, you still can choose, i feel this whole juniors need to play f or their area idea, was over long ago, to me when brad fittler went to the roosters, that opened my eyes to the certain clubs who buy talent, not grow it, but its a business now, not recreational anymore, don't have to 9-5 then train for a few weeknights, and play weekends.
Any player and any club can go anywhere, which when i saw SBW return to Easts instead of Warriors, all made sense to me, paid mercs, play anywhere for money

Of course you can, which many many players do. If clubs were not signing outside their areas we wouldn't have a Tonga, Samoa, Fiji rep sides and NZ would be light years behind Australia in test football. Hell there is only one club in Brisbane yet the majority of players dont come from Brisbane they come from NZ, england, NSw, regional Qlnd, Samoa, Fiji and PNG,

They are not mercs, they are paid professionals. Just like any of us who get a better offer from another company.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

You can still nominate to play for your heritage, so unless you decide to play for Australia, you still can choose, i feel this whole juniors need to play f or their area idea, was over long ago, to me when brad fittler went to the roosters, that opened my eyes to the certain clubs who buy talent, not grow it, but its a business now, not recreational anymore, don't have to 9-5 then train for a few weeknights, and play weekends.
Any player and any club can go anywhere, which when i saw SBW return to Easts instead of Warriors, all made sense to me, paid mercs, play anywhere for money

Heritage players give the game's knockers ammunition to attack the integrity of Test football. If we end up with players born and raised in Victoria because daddy was a career player for the Storm then that kid is not going to feel any love for Queensland/NSW.

There have been many family lineages that bred talent over many generations. It adds to the fabric of the game. The last thing we want is for the Gasniers and Morrises line to become Victorians or Western Australians. When Origin becomes a weaker version of its current self then people viewing numbers will drop and so too will the money governments and broadcasters will be willing to pay.

Test football is just as vulnerable, if not more. A kid born and raised in Australia to a Kiwi international is going to find it hard to market himself to the general New Zealander population as a true blue dyed in the wool Kiwi. He'll probably choose Australia over New Zealand as he's Australian.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

I tell you what is dishonest is you complaining about other clubs signing players from other areas when the only club in Brisbane has more than 75% of its squad born outside Brisbane. You honestly think that Brisbane2 would be made up of mostly non Brisbane born players?

There are plenty of LC backed heartland clubs, including the only Brisbane one, that has a hell of a lot more than $100million over 20 years ploughed into them. You just dislike the Storm because they are more successful than nearly every heartland club, some of whom have a lot more money and 80 years head start on them!

If it was just about money then the Eels, who have had $40mill ploughed into them in last 6 years , would be on a three peat by now!

Your stupid small minded suburban 1950's mentality is what will kill the game, thankfully people like you are dying out and now in a minority and eventually the game will no longer be held back and will grow into what it could become.

Would the Broncos be signing the also rans from elsewhere if the best juniors from southeast Queensland weren't raided by the Storm, Raiders and Roosters?

You still don't get it and continue to bring up irrelevant information to deflect from the crux of the matter, which is systemic cheating by your team, which was enabled by the News Ltd and ARLC. You'd have to be stark raving mad to think the Storm put an end to their dishonesty in 2010. They just got better at keeping it secret.

Storm and Roosters are at the top every year because they have the means to breach the salary cap, which allows them to form a nucleus of established players in crucial positions such as the spine, with average players brought in to fill a role in the centres, edge forwards and wing.

There's no way a player would turn down millions of dollars just to play for the Storm or Roosters. Players are mercenaries these days and go where the money is most plentiful. Back in the 90s it was the Broncos who rorted the cap. Before them it was the Raiders. News Ltd stopped doing all that at the Broncos after 2010 and severed ties with the Storm because they didn't want any more negative press being thrown at them.

How do you get a teenager from Brisbane who grew up wanting to play for the Broncos to make the move to Melbourne, hundreds of KMs away from his family, to train under Bellamy and spend his weekends playing in the Queensland Cup?

They must be paid a fortune to do all of that. Spare me the shit about people wanting to play under Bellamy. In the 90s we were told Queensland and Australian reps wanted to play under Bennett so bad they would do so for a Four n Twenty pie and a slab of grog. I didn't believe it then and I don't believe it now.

 

[Perth Red]

Lol, so Brisbane with all the advantage it has 1. Massive more revenue than any other club 2. Amazing stadium and training facilities 3. Big crowds 4. On FTA every week so easier to get rep positions etc etc sign most of their squad from outside their city yet you have a problem with other clubs doing the same. If kidsa re leaving Brisbane to play elsewhere its because either A) Broncos dont want them B) Broncos didnt spot them C) the opportunities are better elsewhere. That isnt a problem for anyone but you lol. I look forward to Brisbane 2 coming in and filling the squad with kiwis, NSW welshmen and wherever else they can find talent.

Yawn change the record. You just dislike Melbourne and any idea of growing the game beyond two states and are now making yourself look foolish. Clubs will and do sign the best players they can from wherever, no one cares where they were born. In fact the sooner Jnr development moves away from NRL clubs and leaves them to concentrate on the business they are responsible for, ie being highly successful businesses making surpluses and growing their customer base the better as far as I am concerned.

If Raiders win the GF no one will care the success has come largely on the back of imported players, likewise Storm. Your outdated and the game has moved well beyond local kids playing for their local club, I'm amazed you can use the internet lol.

 

[mongoose]

lol the Storm's spine is made up of 3 fullbacks and a dummy half... why would they rort the cap to put two fullbacks in the halves? seriously....

 

[greenBV4]

lol the Storm's spine is made up of 3 fullbacks and a dummy half... why would they rort the cap to put two fullbacks in the halves? seriously....

Shhh you'll ruin it for him

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Lol, so Brisbane with all the advantage it has 1. Massive more revenue than any other club 2. Amazing stadium and training facilities 3. Big crowds 4. On FTA every week so easier to get rep positions etc etc sign most of their squad from outside their city yet you have a problem with other clubs doing the same. If kidsa re leaving Brisbane to play elsewhere its because either A) Broncos dont want them B) Broncos didnt spot them C) the opportunities are better elsewhere. That isnt a problem for anyone but you lol. I look forward to Brisbane 2 coming in and filling the squad with kiwis, NSW welshmen and wherever else they can find talent.

Yawn change the record. You just dislike Melbourne and any idea of growing the game beyond two states and are now making yourself look foolish. Clubs will and do sign the best players they can from wherever, no one cares where they were born. In fact the sooner Jnr development moves away from NRL clubs and leaves them to concentrate on the business they are responsible for, ie being highly successful businesses making surpluses and growing their customer base the better as far as I am concerned.

If Raiders win the GF no one will care the success has come largely on the back of imported players, likewise Storm. Your outdated and the game has moved well beyond local kids playing for their local club, I'm amazed you can use the internet lol.

You keep on twisting things around to deflect from the elephant in the room.

Melbourne are cheating the cap. That's why they've been so successful for 15 years. It's impossible to keep a strong and stable team together under a system that limits the amount of money clubs can spend on players. That's why it was introduced.

Storm used the extra $100M funnelled into their coffers by News Ltd and the ARLC between 98-18 to pay players illegally. They got caught doing this in 2010, yet you seem to be the only person in the country unaware of it. Every player they wanted to keep from that era remained at the Storm.

How thick and dishonest do you have to be to equate clubs generating their own money and spending legally with a club getting more than $100M from the company that had a 50% stake in the game until 2012 and, upon that company's exit from the game, a deal signed by said company for the ARLC to continue this scam until 2018?

What do you think that $100M was spent on FFS?

There's no physical assets attached to the Storm that required $100M over 30 years. At least none that I can see.

So what on Earth could such a large sum of money be spent on?

Back in the 90s when the Broncos were the club doing this, players like Smith, Slater, Cronk and Inglis would have found their way to the Broncos.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

lol the Storm's spine is made up of 3 fullbacks and a dummy half... why would they rort the cap to put two fullbacks in the halves? seriously....

It's not uncommon for ball playing fullbacks to transition into the halves.

Want an example?

Darren Lockyer. He was a fullback in the 90s and early 00s. Then he transitioned into the halves and became the best 5/8 in the game.

Look at Scott Drinkwater at the Cowboys. 5/8 moved to fullback and back to 5/8.

Michael Morgan played in the centres at junior level then transitioned to halfback at U20s, then was moved to fullback and then back into the halves.

If you have the skill and creativity then you can play almost anywhere in the spine.

Do you and Perth Red even follow the game?

 

[greenBV4]

Melbourne has 1 payer on big Money, Cam Smith, with Munster on reasonably big money and likely due a raise when Smith leaves

What players at the Melbourne do you think should be on more? Im finding it bizarre that you think this current team is cheating the cap when the last few years everyone in the media has written them off as "not good enough anymore", "will struggle for the top 4 or even 8" and even now Gould is dribbling that we are not a premiership team. "They don't have an extra gear" has been said about the storm for probably 3 years now.