Which team would be the worst for your mental health to support?

[Apey]

I have 2:

Souths - They are one of the most supported teams in the comp, have a shit ton of money, backed by a literal Hollywood A-Lister, have had the best coaches (Mainly Bennett), goodwill from the media (And you could argue at times referees also) have a number of superstars playing for them and yet all they've managed is the one premiership in 52 years.

Souths have had such little success in the NRL era that the fans of the club need to brag about premierships from the 1950s, 60s and 70s which most of them probably have never seen let alone lived through. On paper you'd expect Souths to be one of the most successful teams of the NRL era but in reality from 2000 onwards they are as successful as teams like the Bulldogs, Cowboys, Newcastle, St George and the Tigers who all have 1 competition win as well...however those teams haven't had anywhere near the same opportunities Souths have.

---

Tigers - Yes they have 05 but as a Tigers fan you'd have to be frustrated at the gross mismanagement of the club. A number of players have left and gone onto win or achieve representative honours (Tedesco, Moses, Woods) whilst coaching wise they've had coaches leave and go onto achieve big things with teams that are managed properly (Cleary probably the most notable example)

Players seem to sign there and can't achieve their full potential, the obsession with Luke Brooks, the obsession with Benji and Farah, the inability to attract true superstar players which they desperately need all leads to a team that would have to be a struggle to support.

I've got mates who are Tigers fans though and they hold the faith and are a much better support base than most other teams.

shots fired here haha

I kept teams off that have won something in the last decade. Any of the teams on the list would take that, I know I would.

All time worst win % for current NRL teams (bottom 10 only)

1. Titans
2. Tigpies
3. Cowboys
4. Warriors
5. Penriff
6.Newy
7.Parra
8.Sharkies
9.Steel Dragons
10.Dogs

Rugby League Tables / Win-Loss Records

Rugby League Tables - NRL Stats & Tables

afltables.com

What sticks out is how shit the Penny Panthers were for a long time, still be all time 5th on the list.

Yeah they've been pretty shitty too until 2020. I am not surprised by that top 6 at all.

It is the hope that kills you. The last few years for Tigers fans have been better for our mental health as the expectations are so low that it barely hurts when they lose anymore. The "9th years" were much more frustrating.

If the question is 'which club is the biggest basketcase' then it certainly is the Tigers, with Knights a distant second.

I purposefully went with the team vs club distinction just because while it's obviously the most important to everyone, there is more to the clubs than their first grade side - especially with NRLW kicking off. eg. while we the Knights are hot garbage we did just have two junior teams make (but lose) Grand Finals and the NRLW team are premiers.

I get the comments about expectations being low but personally I'm still too invested and annoyed by how shit my team is, lol.

Ah how good is BYE week boys.

 

[Wb1234]

 

[Eion]

Dragons. There is no light at the end of the tunnel

 

[Vic Mackey]

I grew up in Wollongong and lived the majority of my life there, I've since moved to Sydney but feel that I have enough knowledge to comment on why a Wollongong exclusive team would be pretty bad.

Wollongong is really nice aesthetically and to someone that hasn't lived there (Not saying you, just in general) it might seem like the perfect spot for a national sports team but to be quite honest the people there don't really have much hometown pride and they don't get behind locals having a go unless it's someone they know personally. Since moving to the Canterbury-Bankstown LGA I've seen a lot of examples where the local community will get behind a local person giving it a go or they'll back an event simply because it's local, I very rarely saw that in Wollongong which is why no events really go to Wollongong and if they do they quickly stop because the people won't get behind it.

Sporting team wise the entire Illawarra region has a population of over 300,000 people which is serviced by just one sporting team that is exclusively from the Illawarra which is the Illawarra Hawks of the NBL, the average attendance for an NBL team (According to Dr. Google) is 6000 or so whilst the Illawarra Hawks averaged around 2000-3000 this season. Even teams like Cairns (161,000 population) are getting better attendances than the Hawks.

Wollongong recently hosted the Wellington Phoenix A-League team and whilst not a team that was exclusively Wollongong it was a national sports team in our own backyard. The team similar to the Hawks had about 2000-3000 at the start and then it started to die down, the last game the Wellington Phoenix played there had to be played in front of nobody due to lack of support, the game before that had just under 600 people in attendance...

Wollongong sucks for anything that involves getting people to support anything and always has.

In hindsight the sharks and Steelers should have merged and made the Southern Sharks. Having from Sylvania down to Nowra and inland would likely have made them a powerhouse. Wollongong and the shoal haven would have got more behind that.

 

[Wb1234]

Tigers signing Scott Fulton to handle nrl recruitment is a big step in the right direction imo

manly have the potential now to implode a bit. Scott penn has no idea and is based in ny

 

[MKCS]

I was at Steelers when they made the semi finals and the whole crowd was going off for them

indeed gong crowds are way better than kogarah

with ownership by win a team based in Illawarra would be a massive sucess

Since Cronulla took over the Sydney bits the dragons have little future in Sydney

all my friends who are dragons fans have zero problem going to gong games

Certainly entitled to your opinion and I'm not surprised about the Steelers club going off for the Dragons, there of course are a minority of people in Wollongong who are passionate about where they live but in general the region has never got behind anything good either commercially or fan wise which is why all their major sporting teams have folded (Except the Hawks).

It isn't just sport either, hundreds if not thousands of international acts come into the country annually and Wollongong very rarely gets any of it, event organisers have tried and it always ends up being cancelled or the crowd is down and they never try again. The most recent example of this is The Smashing Pumpkins who were meant to play in Wollongong and then cancelled it presumably due to low tickets.

It's a shame because Wollongong has an amazing Entertainment Centre but it is pretty much exclusively used for basketball and a few events a year.

In hindsight the sharks and Steelers should have merged and made the Southern Sharks. Having from Sylvania down to Nowra and inland would likely have made them a powerhouse. Wollongong and the shoal haven would have got more behind that.

Yeah this isn't a bad idea, the Hyundai A-League was going to do this with an expansion team and neither Illawarra or Sutherland locals were keen though.

 

[Wb1234]

Certainly entitled to your opinion and I'm not surprised about the Steelers club going off for the Dragons, there of course are a minority of people in Wollongong who are passionate about where they live but in general the region has never got behind anything good either commercially or fan wise which is why all their major sporting teams have folded (Except the Hawks).

It isn't just sport either, hundreds if not thousands of international acts come into the country annually and Wollongong very rarely gets any of it, event organisers have tried and it always ends up being cancelled or the crowd is down and they never try again. The most recent example of this is The Smashing Pumpkins who were meant to play in Wollongong and then cancelled it presumably due to low tickets.

It's a shame because Wollongong has an amazing Entertainment Centre but it is pretty much exclusively used for basketball and a few events a year.



Yeah this isn't a bad idea, the Hyundai A-League was going to do this with an expansion team and neither Illawarra or Sutherland locals were keen though.

Steelers club was going off for the Steelers this was in the 90s

I can’t see anything different from places like Canberra, Newcastle or Townsville that get behind their team

the Steelers had bad finances that was their biggest problem. Gong has massive juniors too

 

[Vic Mackey]

Yeah this isn't a bad idea, the Hyundai A-League was going to do this with an expansion team and neither Illawarra or Sutherland locals were keen though.

It’s interesting because the Shire actually has the biggest junior soccer association in the country. However the kids go play soccer then go home and kick a league ball and watch the NRL.

 

[Nealo 12]

If you are worried about your mental health, may I suggest that following a Rugby League team is not for you

 

[pantherz9103]

Not so long ago the Panthers would have been on this list, especially before 2014 we would have been right up there! So fortunes can turn around with the right systems in place as they did for us in 20-22.

Surely both Tigers and Dragons would be up there now. The old clubs all merged at the turn of the century and while these joint ventures both won memorable premierships quite early in their existence, their declines post premiership have been highly frustrating for supporters. I know there has been a lot of disillusionment over how the clubs have been run off the field and coached over the years. Souffs were kicked out of the comp in ‘99 and spent two years out of it and after some years in the doldrums they’ve returned as a sustainable force. I wonder if any of the clubs who merged would have done better standing alone!

 

[Pumpkin]

I'd say the Dragons. I have the feeling there's some hope for the Tigers, but not much for the Dragons.

 

[gerg]

In hindsight the sharks and Steelers should have merged and made the Southern Sharks. Having from Sylvania down to Nowra and inland would likely have made them a powerhouse. Wollongong and the shoal haven would have got more behind that.

Never understood why the Sharks didn't merge with Steelers. It makes so much sense. The only reason Dragons and Steelers merged was seemingly the club colours.

 

[Someguy]

I voted Parra because they have had so many years of being absolute garbage and then when they are good they have a team of superstars that will fold when the game gets tough and fail at a crucial moment.

Warriors and Merge teams close behind. Merge teams because of the current mess that is the teams and clubs that seemingly have unsolvable issues at board level. Warriors because they are constantly screwed over by refs and MRC

 

[yobbo84]

It’s interesting because the Shire actually has the biggest junior soccer association in the country. However the kids go play soccer then go home and kick a league ball and watch the NRL.

I can confirm, this is my 3 children lol

 

[Maroon4life]

Probably Dragons.

Not only are they a merged club and have the political strife to go with it but they have every reason to be a strong successful club in the modern NRL yet seem complicit in their status as betas to the Roosters & Bunnies.

They also seem to tease their supporters each year into believing things will be different. The only other club on that list who can do that is the Eels.

 

[Danish]

I mean if we look at this based on the number of clearly driven mad LU posters, it’s clearly the raiders right?

 

[Tweed Titan]

In the shithouse years for Penrith you kind of got used to losing. Almost felt right. It made the wins even more special. But what killed you was comeback losses. And always from an annoying lead of like 8, 14 or 20 points. The kind of games you shouldn't lose.

So which ever of those teams has had the most comeback losses.

Giving up 20 plus leads is a sadistic pain our club bestows on its fans on the regular

 

[grozzy]

It's appropriate that the Sharks run out to Kickstart my Heart. The last 5 minutes of most games is normally heart attack inducing.

 

[Fangs]

Giving up 20 plus leads is a sadistic pain our club bestows on its fans on the regular

Its extremely deflating.

Penrith have had some really bad ones. One in 2005 against Manly really hurt. Up 26-6 and lost the game:

 

[Apey]

I mean if we look at this based on the number of clearly driven mad LU posters, it’s clearly the raiders right?

Ever read the Dragons forum?

edit: or the Parra forum actually.