NRL Thread

[Calaber]

But thats also bad for the game. Youre never going to get NEW fans by pushing out new Sydney clubs.

Sure, you might have a case for the North Sydney Bears to come back or a club in that Gosford area. But for the most part, youre just splitting existing club memberships and attendances.

Queensland has a large untapped void and id look at getting into WA or something before another AFL club.

I'm not suggesting that no new clubs be admitted, simply that the bias towards Sydney clubs arises from the heritage of the game, where it began and has had its strongest competition. As a former Central Coast resident, I welcomed the Northern Eagles, as it put major games within twenty minutes of home instead of two hours. It flopped, because traditional Norths and Manly fans didn't want to travel those two hours to Gosford, there was already some animosity between the two clubs, and the Norths fans felt that it was really Manly in a new jersey with little Norths representation.

Money is a huge problem, which AFL doesn't seem to suffer, because there is no obvious competition to steal players away, whereas RL suffers from wealthy clubs poaching players from poorer clubs, competition from Europe and even from RU (and now, thanks to Jarrod Hayne, gridiron - yuk!) Salary caps were introduced to keep clubs from going broke trying to meet ridiculous wage demands from elite players but this means that clubs are continually forced to offload key players due to salary cap restrictions. Fans hate seeing their team decimated by the cap - another reason for falling gate receipts.

IMO, if the game is to grow, it needs to add new teams from other areas, but based on past experience pre-Superleague, where you had a Perth and an Adelaide team, both of whom failed to draw the crowds, new teams will only emanate from Qld and NSW. I seriously doubt that a second NZ team will occur in the foreseeable future.

 

[Grennan]

The problem I see with New Zealand is they are a heavy Pro - Union country, they live Union. Not having lived there or visited in a long time I may be off the mark, to me it seems their player pool is quite low for League. The current team is always a hit and miss, they dont have steady form and if any players are ripe for the Union picking, its them. I think a second New Zealand club, to many, would be a waste as far as viewership, asses in seats and resources go.

Central coast, Brisbane, Central Queensland, Perth, Ipswich, Wellington and Papua New Guinea have all been mentioned as possible new expansions

I said this on the previous page, but there are two places where I would think the next club is going to pop up from.

Sunshine Coast, Queensland

Central Coast, NSW.

As I said, Queensland, for such a large area, has three clubs. Two of which are sucessful. Sunshine Coast has been pushing for a team now for quite a while and having a team in between Brisbane and Townsville would be great to bridge that gap. There is also a huge pool of talent and feeder teams within Queensland and even some of the Victorian clubs feed up north as well as the Storm (as well as the Storm being a Queensland based club getting fed from QLD). Theyve got a business model already drawn up for Central Queensland (I believe Rockhampton was the official bidder) and IIRC there was even support and planning for a stadium in Sunshine Coast (expansion of Kawana/Stockland Park. They would also draw better crowds for the Queensland derbies, Cowboys v Broncos dont get much because the distance is so large. You may as well be having Broncos v Storm and Gold Coast, while those games draw a crowd, theyve been dieing off because they just arent competitive.

I played QRL for a number of years and the prospect of a Sunshine Coast based club really excites me. Would probably tempt me away from the Storm (being a Maroochy boy).

Second spot, Gosford, no brainer. Theyve been wanting a team back for years. Between Manly and Newcastle, theres not much. happening in the middle. Noone outside of Manly wants anything to do with Manly (neither does Manly at the moment) and if the North Sydney Bears (or whatever) comes back, they can have Bluetonque back and Manly can stop bitching about having to go there once in a blue moon. NSW is RL heart land and theyll get fans in seats there.

The other alternative is to have Newcastle play games at Bluetongue as well as Manly and stretch that fanbase.

I could also definitely see PNG being a contender, but the stadium there needs to be looked at for safety as I recall the last time a game was there fans rushed the field. This would also really heighten the international appeal of Rugby League as well as maybe give a kick to the test series games. I can also see money being a HUGE factor. They wouldnt get many hands up for existing talent to jump over.

IMO, if Bears want back in, someone needs to come in and back them big to get the lease back on Bluetonque - IIRC the former funder said he would if they were given a license but thats a whole bunch of "no you go first".

Currently, Sunshine Coast has a stadium that holds 12,000 (although that whole complex is massive and could be upgraded) and the other teams want to use Suncorp. I dont think they would want to put a Ipswich of another Brisbane (Brisbane Bombers ugh) in the comp to share Suncorp.

 

[NU13]

So grand final day is here. Can't wait.

PS - New Zealand NEEDS a second club. There a huge number of people here that follow league but wont follow the Warriors. Added to the fact that between Wellington and Christchurch they both have produced well over 100 internationals between them. Also, what was a semi strong domestic first class comp in New Zealand is now sadly a shadow of it's former self, this is due 100% to the existence of the Warriors. I suspect that the NZRL had no idea how badly having the Warriors in the NRL was going to rip the heart out of the domestic comp. That said there is only one way in which league in the south is going to regain it's expense and stop losing talent to kick and clap (talent which was coming into league good numbers up until the early 90's) and that is for the south to have there own team to support.

 

[NU13]

Holy cow more action and excitement in one game than the entire rugby wc combined lol.

Congrats to JT and the Cowboys.

 

[Grennan]

I dont even go for the Cowboys. But holy **** I lost my voice last night.

I am so happy Thurston got his Grand Final win with the club hes done so much for (his Bulldogs bench win doesnt count )

I really hate that Golden Point though. It feels cheap to go 80 minutes of back and forward drama to end with a Field Goal at 82m.

I despise the AFL model of a replay though, thats ridiculous. Wish they did 2 10 minute halves and if there was no winner after that, Golden Point.

I am sad for Hodges though, sad he didnt get his send off. Hunt will be drinking himself into oblivion.

All hail, the Lord and Savior of Queensland, his Holiness, Jonathon Thurston.

 

[VS 5.0]

I saw the last 15 mins or so of regular time. Far more exciting than the AFL GF. Well done to the Cowboys and Thurston making up for the missed kick.

 

[Grennan]

That kick, that sideline kick is 100% guaranteed from him every other week. I wonder how much of that was his groin playing up or simply nerves.

The Field Goal though, it was looking a little wobbly, glad it came back around.

 

[Calaber]

I used to watch the NRL regularly but constant rule changes and very poor administration has caused me to lose interest for the most part.

However, I DID watch most of the finals and particularly, the last three matches. Am I glad I watched the Grand Final? Easily the best since 2008 when Manly absolutely flogged Melbourne 40 to Nil. (An old Manly boy here!)

Regarding the golden point. I'm with Bennett. Yes, it can be exciting but for two teams to hammer each other for 80 minutes and have the result of a whole season hinge on field position and a competent field goal kicker in extra time is a poor way to finish a season. How many Golden Point matches are won by other than field goals?

If the golden point is to continue, I feel it should be the first try scorer. If no result after a maximum of 20 minutes extra time, replay like they did before Golden Point.

 

[mpower]

I can't begin to describe the atmosphere at the ground, I literally sat on the edge of my seat for more than half the game.

Brisbane lost that final, they shut up shop with 20 minutes to go imo when they should have kept attacking - Milford was providing the spark but they played too cautiously with a lead that was not safe by any means.

To say I was disappointed was a bit of an understatement, it's the second GF I've been to (first was a couple of years ago Manly v Easts and I found that a bit meh).

To say I was happy with Brisbane making it this year is also an understatement, I don't think anyone thought we would be there let alone a genuine chance to win it. I stood and applauded The Cowboys because they did what Brisbane failed to do they played the full 80.

I've always been on the anti-gp camp, and Brisbane actually have the second highest success ratio with it so it's nothing to do with that - it's just a crappy way to decide the game - I would prefer 5 minutes each way, golden point after the 10.

 

[..Will..]

Knights fan till I die. Can't wait for next year.