For mine I would say Perth.
I always felt there were a number of great tragedies caused by the SL war. The 2 biggest were the loss of the Western Reds and the SQ crushers. It was such an up beat time starting 95, with introduction of the warriors, cowboys, crushers and reds.
All 4 were bold and positive moves by the then ARL, at a time when league was at an all time high. The warriors and cowboys survive, both have had highes and lows, cowboys currently in a high.
The crushers finally gave brisbane a 2nd team, so not everyone had to support the broncos. The early cross town rival stuff was great. SL blew the crushers out of the water for 2 reasons. 1 the over inflated player market, the crushers budget was thrown out the window. 2, most qlders sided with SL, seeing the ARL as a NSW dominated org, the crushers were seen as theirs.
Now the reds, it was a market that had so many chances. League had been well supported when it took games to perth. A population of over 1 million, and so many expats from england and south africa, people longing for something that had the word rugby in the name. The reds averaged 13000 crowds in their first season. The reds u/17 team won the SL title, with only 1 non WA player in their team. Perhaps unlike other markets (Adelaide and Melbourne), Perth represents a new major recruiting area.
So my view it was tradgedy that we left Perth and it is an area with so much potential. So we should go there.
On the central coast, look for mine to a degree to get a side in the northern eagles and not support them was bad. However worse was the decision by the NRL to force Norths to merge, if the planned move by Norths to the central coast had been allowed I think it would have worked. Now I think they have to wait until someone decides to move there.
I think those suggesting the storm should move have rocks in their heads and are extremely narrow minded. Have you learnt nothing from the AFL experience. It took 15 years for the swans and bears/lions to gain a foothold in their markets. Those teams gradually won over the media outlets who now spruik them heavily despite the fact that clearly league is 4 times as popular. The storm have been around for 9 years, thats all. They face a much more hostile media in melbourne. But if we are talking about league remaining strong we must be in Victoria australia's 2nd largest pop state. Nearly 5 million people surely that is a growth area, especially with much work being done at grass roots level, especially schoolboys.