Gus' idea about concentrating on South West Sydney

[newtiger]

Phil Gould said after the game on Friday night that the Tigers should abandon inner Sydney and put all their effort into SW Sydney, the growth area of Sydney.
I'm from the Balmain side of the JV, and it would not bother me if it's the best thing for the club.
I know this will open a can of worms, and will most probably fire up the forum.
Your thoughts.

 

[BeeJay]

Someone needs to step in and make some tough decisions on this matter if we as a club are ever to move forward.

The club is banking on this centre of excellence at concord which is yet to be approved.

 

[Byron_Bay_Fan]

Pretty well spot on at this stage of events. It was the casino opening and attempting to counter it's negative influences (loss of cash flow) that mostly brought the great Tigers down. It is a shame they could not keep the leagues club building to earn funds and for prosperity. Maybe at a few WT games they could do surveys to see what postcodes the spectators come from and if them or their children ever played the game. It would be interesting to see the difference postcodes for the Leichhardt Oval and Campbelltown games.

Karl Marx stated that social change follows economic change and that economic change occurred in Balmain about 30 years ago - that was another kiss of death on RL in Balmain territory.

But Balmain has excellent feeder high schools in "Inner" Sydney like Ryde etc. so must retain those.

 

[Knuckles]

The jury is out for mine whether the MacArthur region is really the rugby league powerhouse we are led to believe it is and also whether it is has the financial backing to sustain a club.

 

[innsaneink]

From what I've seen WTs really haven't done much for their respective Jnr leagues… That said Balmain & Wests want to retain their identities and want to do it themselves.
More recently WA have been assisting their old Jnr clubs in the Balmain comp.
I've no experience in the wests juniors side of things but All I ever read of Julie Luke is negative and she's been in charge for decades... Self interest at play perhaps?
JRL is rife with politics it's not only us but across the game.
WTs struggle looking after themselves let alone junior comps

 

[Joel Helmes]

I'm sure the club has done the sums and determined the current strategy based on a business case (albeit Wests Ashfield would be a big factor in wanting to remain inner west).

I would think that there would be a big commercial benefit to being in the more affluent areas.

Other inner city benefits include a more centralised training facility and that could be a benefit when negotiating with players.

I'm from the Balmain side and I'm not against a move to MacArthur but it would need to be based on sound evidence rather than just a gut feel.

Chicken or the egg scenario I know, but Campbelltown has not really got behind the Tigers to the point where the club had no choice but to move there.

 

[Harvey]

The focus on the inner west will result in a loss of identity in the south west. The Roosters are already sniffing around the Narellan club, souths are playing trials at Campbelltown.

Note that these are both inner city clubs with limited room for junior growth (much like the inner west). Is cheaper to muscle in on a structure that already exists rather than build it yourself

 

[gallagher]

Does the premierships won by Parra, Penrith and Wests justify the money spent on juniors in the western area? Is the return there?

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Should it happen? Yes

Will it happen? No

 

[Nucky_Thompson]

I can't understand his intention with these comments. What's the point of nurturing juniors when they likely to get poached or not Turn into first graders.

We obviously have a system that can produce top quality first graders like woods and tedesco so I don't think we are as far away as Gould makes out.

We should be focusing on using our cap money better and recruit better and we should win some games.

Focusing on cambo juniors is not going to turn it around for us so I'm not sure what Gould is trying to here

 

[Glennb]

Its ridiculous and typical diversion from Gus. Easy throw away line "Look a the great asset the Tigers have and what have they done with it."

THe answer is not to CONCENTRATE on SW Sydney the answer is to CONCENTRATE on ALL of our junior assets, Balmain & SW Sydney. Whilst many clubs would eny the opportunity, we have more. Do a better job with ALL of them.

 

[Nucky_Thompson]

Reading between lines I'd say his saying we should stop investing in our balmain junior cause they suck and when we invest invest in cambo

 

[Snake]

Bring on the new stadium at Parramatta all games out of there ,Campbelltown is a mirage in the desert of Sydney..the preoccupation with juniors is a joke this is the responsibility of the NSWRL not a club .
The Weststigers are an inner city organisation get use to it they will never relocate to Campbelltown,the central position of Concord in the city is a huge bargaining tool to sell to perspective players ..if you live in Sydney you Know the problems and time it takes to commute around .
Why should our club be the training base for junior talent so other clubs can poach them when the time is right ,it is time our club got smart !
As I have already posted previously clubs will be culled in Sydney over the next decade and this will happen because there will not be enough money to support them the media free to air organisations are doing it tough now . You can not play permanently out of a sub standard stadium that Campbelltown offers ,I firmly believe that the opportunity of playing out of Parramatta stadium and hopefully a centre of excellence at Concord will cement the club for the future as I fear playing out of three grounds and having no permanent base will seal the fate of this club within a decade .Juniors …this thinking is thinking of the past time to move with the times ,PHIL Gould has an agenda he has put all his eggs in one basket and his comments reflect this maybe he should concentrate on his own club !

 

[steve-o]

The jury is out for mine whether the MacArthur region is really the rugby league powerhouse we are led to believe it is and also whether it is has the financial backing to sustain a club.

Agreed

I'm sure the club has done the sums and determined the current strategy based on a business case (albeit Wests Ashfield would be a big factor in wanting to remain inner west).

I would think that there would be a big commercial benefit to being in the more affluent areas.

Other inner city benefits include a more centralised training facility and that could be a benefit when negotiating with players.

I'm from the Balmain side and I'm not against a move to MacArthur but it would need to be based on sound evidence rather than just a gut feel.

Chicken or the egg scenario I know, but **Campbelltown has not really got behind the Tigers to the point where the club had no choice but to move there**.

And agreed, particularly on the part in bold.

 

[Sabre]

The Weststigers are an inner city organisation get use to it they will never relocate to Campbelltown,the central position of Concord in the city is a huge bargaining tool to sell to perspective players

I agree with this. Campbelltown would be a hard sell to any potential signings.
Imagine you're an off-contract player and you have offers from us and the Roosters, you've got a choice of living in Campbelltown or Bondi. Which are you going to take if you're a young bloke earning that kind of money?

 

[timmings01]

So do Panthers have trouble attracting players based on the fact that they are a long way from Sydney?

 

[GNR4LIFE]

If Ctown has never gotten behind the JV, the JV should take some responsibility for that. You can't base yourselves in the inner city for 17 years and only show up in the area for 4 times a year then go back to the inner city. Not enough is done to engage the community. We have people in this thread calling us an inner city club. How is that supposed to endear to the McArthur region?

 

[BeeJay]

The jury is out for mine whether the MacArthur region is really the rugby league powerhouse we are led to believe it is and also whether it is has the financial backing to sustain a club.

Agreed

I'm sure the club has done the sums and determined the current strategy based on a business case (albeit Wests Ashfield would be a big factor in wanting to remain inner west).

I would think that there would be a big commercial benefit to being in the more affluent areas.

Other inner city benefits include a more centralised training facility and that could be a benefit when negotiating with players.

I'm from the Balmain side and I'm not against a move to MacArthur but it would need to be based on sound evidence rather than just a gut feel.

Chicken or the egg scenario I know, but **Campbelltown has not really got behind the Tigers to the point where the club had no choice but to move there**.

And agreed, particularly on the part in bold.

I disagree. The area, in particularly Council have tried to embrace the club from the very begining. Offering facilities to set up HQ accross the road from the stadium where those apartments now are.
Council have contacted the club first to help run clinics but Wests want to get paid to turn up.. the Clinics were then offered to Souths who came and did it for free sending coaches and players.
From memory Council also tried to get the club involved with the submission for the Centre of excellence in Campbelltown but the club completely ignored them and has since focused on their own submission.

Admittedly most of the above happend under Grant Mayer except the offering of facilities which happened back when the club was founded.

 

[gallagher]

Bring on the new stadium at Parramatta all games out of there ,Campbelltown is a mirage in the desert of Sydney..the preoccupation with juniors is a joke this is the responsibility of the NSWRL not a club .
The Weststigers are an inner city organisation get use to it they will never relocate to Campbelltown,the central position of Concord in the city is a huge bargaining tool to sell to perspective players ..if you live in Sydney you Know the problems and time it takes to commute around .
Why should our club be the training base for junior talent so other clubs can poach them when the time is right ,it is time our club got smart !
As I have already posted previously clubs will be culled in Sydney over the next decade and this will happen because there will not be enough money to support them the media free to air organisations are doing it tough now . You can not play permanently out of a sub standard stadium that Campbelltown offers ,I firmly believe that the opportunity of playing out of Parramatta stadium and hopefully a centre of excellence at Concord will cement the club for the future as I fear playing out of three grounds and having no permanent base will seal the fate of this club within a decade .Juniors …this thinking is thinking of the past time to move with the times ,PHIL Gould has an agenda he has put all his eggs in one basket and his comments reflect this maybe he should concentrate on his own club !

Good post, agree with everything. One thing I would add is that most of our fans don't live in Campbelltown either. Unlike Penrith, playing at Parra or Homebush makes sense to build our crowds.
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Gus is always crapping on about LO aswell. Could it be possible he doesn't want his competitors improving?.

 

[gallagher]

So do Panthers have trouble attracting players based on the fact that they are a long way from Sydney?

Compared to who Souths, Easts and Canterbury sign. Yes.