Which team should relocate to western austrlia?

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Unless they pump money into it like they did the Melbourne Storm..

Exactly. News Ltd don't have the money any more and NRL is on a budget. The Perth market is not as important to the game's commercial partners as Melbourne. It's why the NRL is hesitant to venture out west.

 

[Perth Red]

Unless they pump money into it like they did the Melbourne Storm..

NRL pumps money into all clubs. I think you mean "more" money.
Yes it will take some investment above say a second Brisbane team (though there is no guarantee that a second Brisbane team will be an instant success or face Titan style financial failure either) but if the game wants to grow then there's not many opportunities for growth rather than consolidation. Perth is the best of them.
Risk? sure but what business grows without any risk?
Like I've said countless times the NRL should have a strategy for this growth and a clear plan, money ready to invest and timeline. We've been talking about it for over a decade and there is literally still nothing in place or any real idea of where or when beyond the most recent bloke in charge's "good idea". Even then he cant say if or when, just that we should. Maybe its coincidence that the AFL's revenue growth (media and non media) has matched its national growth and now dwarfs NRL's, or maybe it isnt?

 

[Perth Red]

Exactly. News Ltd don't have the money any more and NRL is on a budget. The Perth market is not as important to the game's commercial partners as Melbourne. It's why the NRL is hesitant to venture out west.

According to Tai News Ltd have just upped their NRL payments by $25 mill a year, nearly enough to cover two new teams!

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

NRL pumps money into all clubs. I think you mean "more" money.
Yes it will take some investment above say a second Brisbane team (though there is no guarantee that a second Brisbane team will be an instant success or face Titan style financial failure either) but if the game wants to grow then there's not many opportunities for growth rather than consolidation. Perth is the best of them.
Risk? sure but what business grows without any risk?
Like I've said countless times the NRL should have a strategy for this growth and a clear plan, money ready to invest and timeline. We've been talking about it for over a decade and there is literally still nothing in place or any real idea of where or when beyond the most recent bloke in charge's "good idea". Even then he cant say if or when, just that we should. Maybe its coincidence that the AFL's revenue growth (media and non media) has matched its national growth and now dwarfs NRL's, or maybe it isnt?

Brisbane 2 is no guarantee of success, especially if they try to recreate the Broncos. Even the Broncos only drew 16,000 to their games in 1988. Crushers did better in their first year with a shit roster, shit brand, shit colours, shit logo, hostile media and competition from the successful and established Broncos.

I was a kid from Brisbane and couldn't identify with the Crushers. They just didn't have the 'cool' factor of a cute mascot and the 'Crushers' theme did not represent life in urban Brisbane. The old steam engine train in their logo, with the mustard and blue colours, looked lile something from the wild west. Cowboys got it right.They had nice colours, the best logo I have ever seen, and the Bluey mascot was and still is something anyone can get behind. Their original jersey is the best I have ever seen. The club didn't need to be an onfield success straight away to be a hit with the public because it got its branding right.

I think the only hope for Brisbane is a BRL brand. It has history and nostalgia, which is marketable. There will still be people familiar with it, but a new generation who are not, so it will pull in new supporters while retaining old ones. It ticks all the boxes. It doesn't have to be an exact copy of the old brand, but have ties to it. Merge a couple of teams together to create a larger fanbase and geographical footprint.

Something like East Coast Seagulls if Easts and Wynnum merged. Easts did uae the East Coast name in the late 90s and early 00s, so both clubs could have equal representation in name. Both have big rich Leagues Clubs and strong fanbases. Both are southeast of the Donkeys.

Perth can be successful, but it will need time and investment. Unlike Brisbane, it doesn't have established brands or a large fanbase to draw upon. That will have to be generated through planning, funding, onfield results and time. It's not enough for a new franchise in enemy territory to have enough money to survive, it has to generate enough to thrive and dominate so they can make the headlines.

 

[Generalzod]

NRL pumps money into all clubs. I think you mean "more" money.
Yes it will take some investment above say a second Brisbane team (though there is no guarantee that a second Brisbane team will be an instant success or face Titan style financial failure either) but if the game wants to grow then there's not many opportunities for growth rather than consolidation. Perth is the best of them.
Risk? sure but what business grows without any risk?
Like I've said countless times the NRL should have a strategy for this growth and a clear plan, money ready to invest and timeline. We've been talking about it for over a decade and there is literally still nothing in place or any real idea of where or when beyond the most recent bloke in charge's "good idea". Even then he cant say if or when, just that we should. Maybe its coincidence that the AFL's revenue growth (media and non media) has matched its national growth and now dwarfs NRL's, or maybe it isnt?

Off course I’m talking about more money even when the Storm was sold to a New Zealand consortium the agreement was News limited still had to continue to fund the Melbourne Storm for 3 or so years, I remember reading that the NRL did the same beyond what was given to other clubs...

 

[Perth Red]

Off course I’m talking about more money even when the Storm was sold to a New Zealand consortium the agreement was News limited still had to continue to fund the Melbourne Storm for 3 or so years, I remember reading that the NRL did the same beyond what was given to other clubs...

Yes the NRL invested an extra $20million over 5 years after News pulled out. It would be very hard to argue that the investment hasn't reaped its rewards given the popularity of the Storm on TV, the success on the field, the growth in crowds and membership and the bigger footprint it gives the NRL and its sponsors. Compared to the $10mill the NRL invested in SE Qlnd to keep the Titans afloat you'd have to say the Melbourne investment had a much better return.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Yes the NRL invested an extra $20million over 5 years after News pulled out. It would be very hard to argue that the investment hasn't reaped its rewards given the popularity of the Storm on TV, the success on the field, the growth in crowds and membership and the bigger footprint it gives the NRL and its sponsors. Compared to the $10mill the NRL invested in SE Qlnd to keep the Titans afloat you'd have to say the Melbourne investment had a much better return.

The Titans haven't had the onfield success of the Storm, nor have the NRL allowed the Titans to bend the rules to everyone else's detriment.

 

[Generalzod]

Yes the NRL invested an extra $20million over 5 years after News pulled out. It would be very hard to argue that the investment hasn't reaped its rewards given the popularity of the Storm on TV, the success on the field, the growth in crowds and membership and the bigger footprint it gives the NRL and its sponsors. Compared to the $10mill the NRL invested in SE Qlnd to keep the Titans afloat you'd have to say the Melbourne investment had a much better return.

Reaped the rewards how many afl people have the storm converted over to League most of their supporter base are kiwis and ex New South Wales residents...I tell yeah most Victorians could not care less about the Storm, the Storm is so popular it doesn’t even make back pages in their newspaper’s

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Reaped the rewards how many afl people have the storm converted over to League most of their supporter base are kiwis and ex New South Wales residents...I tell yeah most Victorians could not care less about the Storm, the Storm is so popular it doesn’t even make back pages in their newspaper’s

Every time I watch a Storm home match I see lots of New New Zealanders. The only Victorian I see there is Molly Meldrum.

AwFuL has been far more successful off the field in Brissie and Sydney, but even they haven't cracked the market. If this is the pinnacle of success in Melbourne then we are in for some rough times when the Storm fall down the ladder.

 

[Generalzod]

Every time I watch a Storm home match I see lots of New New Zealanders. The only Victorian I see there is Molly Meldrum.

AwFuL has been far more successful off the field in Brissie and Sydney, but even they haven't cracked the market. If this is the pinnacle of success in Melbourne then we are in for some rough times when the Storm fall down the ladder.

When I watched the 2016 grand final Rabbits Warren made a point in that game that Townsend was the only local junior in the Sharks team, but he forgot to mention that there where no juniors in their team..lol

 

[T-Boon]

The best team to move to Perth would be the Tigers.
The Western Tigers has a great ring to it.
They could play 8 games in Perth (this is all Perth is worthy of given recent crowds they pull) and 4 at Bank West. That would become the biggest club in the NRL.

 

[jim_57]

Reaped the rewards how many afl people have the storm converted over to League most of their supporter base are kiwis and ex New South Wales residents...I tell yeah most Victorians could not care less about the Storm, the Storm is so popular it doesn’t even make back pages in their newspaper’s

Nice stereotype and all but it's an exaggeration, I've been to a decent amount of Storm games down here and the majority I've interacted with have been Victorian. Not all of them may be "converted" from fisted behinds, plenty seem to enjoy both, that's a thing that's possible.

Of course expats are large part of their market but that's just common sense. How many times do the Swans, Giants or Lions make the back page?

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

When I watched the 2016 grand final Rabbits Warren made a point in that game that Townsend was the only local junior in the Sharks team, but he forgot to mention that there where no juniors in their team..lol

Storm have been around for 22 years now. They've had plenty of time to develop the game at the grassroots level. Until a born and raised junior comes through the VRL system and becomes a regular player for the Storm, we can say the experiment has failed.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

The best team to move to Perth would be the Tigers.
The Western Tigers has a great ring to it.
They could play 8 games in Perth (this is all Perth is worthy of given recent crowds they pull) and 4 at Bank West. That would become the biggest club in the NRL.

That actually could work. With funding from Wests Leagues they would have a nice lifeline.

 

[T-Boon]

That actually could work. With funding from Wests Leagues they would have a nice lifeline.

Yep. Start with 4 games a year in Perth. Then after a few year make it 6 games. The aim should be to retain as many West Tigers fans as possible whilst also giving Perth a team of their own. The existing RL fans over there would support it.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Yep. Start with 4 games a year in Perth. Then after a few year make it 6 games. The aim should be to retain as many West Tigers fans as possible whilst also giving Perth a team of their own. The existing RL fans over their would support it.

That is a very good idea. An even 6-6 split of games would work for the first 10 years. Tigers could take games against interstate teams to Perth.

 

[T-Boon]

That is a very good idea. An even 6-6 split of games would work for the first 10 years. Tigers could take games against interstate teams to Perth.

Exactly. Sydney based Tigers fans would have plenty of games to go to locally.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Exactly. Sydney based Tigers fans would have plenty of games to go to locally.

Tony Sage and Peter Cumins should talk with Wests about making it happen. It would make the Perth RL fans happy, provide the WA Government with 6 games that they can draw revenue from, give Western Australians more reasons to watch the NRL, provides Wests with another catchment area they can make their own and take low drawing games out of Sydney.

 

[T-Boon]

Tony Sage and Peter Cumins should talk with Wests about making it happen. It would make the Perth RL fans happy, provide the WA Government with 6 games that they can draw revenue from, give Western Australians more reasons to watch the NRL, provides Wests with another catchment area they can make their own and take low drawing games out of Sydney.

Yeah they should adapt to the fact they aren't getting a proper brand new expansion team and just make do with the best they can get.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Yeah they should adapt to the fact they aren't getting a proper brand new expansion team and just make do with the best they can get.

It will be in their best interest to saddle up with a Sydney club as it gives them security. If they do it alone it will be a massive mountain to climb with no safety net. Pokies are illegal in Perth.