Toddy hedging his bets

[Telltails]

Definitely pointed to us.

 

[Furious1]

It kind of makes me laugh. In the early 80s with less population Sydney supported 12 teams? Now the population has grown to ridiculous levels in Sydney and it can’t support 9 teams? Something doesn’t add up.

 

[Geo]

I think this is getting blown out of proportion and Toddles is all bluster..nice deflection Toddy wants to look like taking the game forward when in reality it's just more hot air from his orifice..

 

[Geo]

Absolute disgrace …hope Greenburg is coming to Qld for the Brisbane round …a got a mouthful I will be delivering to him personally

lol Settle down chicken little…will it bare knuckles or golden gloves..

 

[Snake]

Do you really think at this present time the Tigers have people that will stop relocation from happening ! There are 2 directors that are NRL aligned as the Knifing of Ms Go bares witness,there is no permanent CEO to fight and steer the ship …do we think that this just happened! Important decisions need to be made IMMEDIATELY the first is selecting one home ground from NEXT season !! The club has put itself in this situation from day one ,playing at multi grounds this just adds to the perception of a nomadic club with NO home this should of been rectified 10yrs ago .No use arguing about this point as crunch time is coming ,us as supporters either want our club to survive or disappear... IMO I do not think there is a future unless there is a major shift in ideology from the board of our club ,this club is not a joint venture it is owned by one entity this is the truthful reality...therefore ..one home ground ..one supporter base ...one club! This is the reality that has to be faced to survive!

 

[hobbo]

More likely egg boy

Lol

 

[innsaneink]

Don't often agree Steve but your bang on the money here

 

[Spud_Murphy]

BOut of all the Sydney teams unfortunately I think we are the most vulnerable. Our area already has the likes of Penrith (huge RL nursery), Bulldogs (huge Lebanese supporter base) and Parramatta (an actual city), who all have their own home ground whereas we are the west/inner city nomads!

Cronulla is the only team in the shire. Yes St George also cover part of the south & the Illawarra, but that's only 2 teams in the area, not 4 as in our case.

Manly are the only team north of the harbour - why on earth would they be made to relocate leaving the whole of northern Sydney without a team to follow? The whole Northern Eagles venture has been tried and failed so I think they would be safe this time.

So unfortunately that leaves WT, and I think it's pretty apparent the Greenberg has been gunning for us for a while now. The only was for us to feel safe would be to relocate Greenburg first, before he has the chance to relocate us - preferably on a one way ticket to Mars!

 

[innsaneink]

It was not that long ago there was a push to have the Tigers relocated to Perth.

The Tigers finished with a $4.6 million loss in 2016 and a $2.4 million loss in 2017 before the recording a profit this year. Membership also rose from 14,767 in 2016 to 20,709 this season, with forecasts of more than 23,500 in 2019.

Would be insane to force us to move

 

[In_Like_Flynn]

I wouldn't exclude the Dogs in that list but with Greenburg (Ex Canterbury CIO) there I think that will not happen. I would prefer that Penrith and Parramatta to amalgamate. Sure it would make them a super club, large junior base and 2 large leagues clubs, but they are next to each other and probably won't lose too many supporters. If the NRL want to expand they can't afford to lose any supporter base. You could then put a new team in Perth which still leaves 16 teams meaning no additional player drain. For the second amalgamation I would have to say the Sharks and the Dragons as they share borders, very similar to Wests and Balmain. The second new team I would not put in QLD I would have a Polynesian team based in Fiji with games in Samoa and Tonga. Obviously they would need significant monetary support but the talent in those countries is enormous. A different idea but I think it could work. If not I can guarantee you that RU will put a team into that space.

 

[Snake]

The NRLdo not care about those facts .. they are interested in one thing only and that is more money when the next Tv rights deal comes around . The Tv networks want a team in Perth as it fits nicely with there time slots into the eastern states …it gains interest from a completely new state and might I say a state that would generate huge sponsorship money.
So it is sink or swim the club has to make the hard choices moving forward or its done ..I truely believe the West’s Group have no intentions of changing the status quo so will the Weststigers be around in a few seasons?... the two people that created and achieved the impossible to make a profit for the first time are not at the club now ... a coincidence?

 

[cochise]

b/ Will this only apply to Sydney based clubs? What if an outside Sydney team doesnt meet the level? eg Newcastle.

It was stated on NRL360 that the NRL will continue to support clubs in important areas.

 

[In_Like_Flynn]

Like Bondi

 

[cochise]

Like Bondi

I don't really forsee the Roosters getting into financial difficulties, do you?

 

[sheer64]

Another way to look at this is which clubs would benefit the most from the team or teams who are relocated?

 

[gallagher]

Total overreaction there Happy. He went through all the teams that may be vulnerable. He mentioned that we recently recorded a profit while highlighting that the $40 mill Cronulla are about to recieve is only a big 'if'.
He also said Manly are looking the most vulnerable.

You're being a bit precious.

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

I agree that the three clubs most likely are Manly, Cronulla and Wests. But for all their faults they have reasons as to why they shouldn't/wouldn't be relocated.

Manly are a cluster, but as Kent rightly points out are the only thing between Circular Quay and the Hunter. Cronulla are a mess as well but should receive another cash injection shortly (that won't last forever though,) from their development and who'd want to embrace a club who has been done for cap and drug cheating. You're just relocating a problem. Our biggest problem is we are nomads and our on-field success (or lack thereof.) We can feasibly rectify the home ground issue but there's no guarantee that relocation will fix our on-field results.

 

[gallagher]

Surely the broadcasters would be against us relocating… We’re one of the better rating teams, you’d think channel 9 and Foxtel wouldn’t want to put those ratings in jeopardy?

Exactly right Steve-o. Too many conspiracy theorists on here. News would prefer an extra game (18 teams ) for content and 9 absolutely love us. The NRL also knows that if we play out of Bankwest fulltime we'd be averaging 20k+ easily. Does any one actually think they would rather have teams getting 12k in the comp over us?
We'll only get moved if we get into financial difficulties with will be on us.

 

[gallagher]

I agree that the three clubs most likely are Manly, Cronulla and Wests. But for all their faults they have reasons as to why they shouldn’t/wouldn’t be relocated.

Manly are a cluster, but as Kent rightly points out are the only thing between Circular Quay and the Hunter. Cronulla are a mess as well but should receive another cash injection shortly (that won’t last forever though,) from their development and who’d want to embrace a club who has been done for cap and drug cheating. You’re just relocating a problem. Our biggest problem is we are nomads and our on-field success (or lack thereof.) We can feasibly rectify the home ground issue but there’s no guarantee that relocation will fix our on-field results.

I can't see how Manly's location will save them. There's no soccer, union or AFL team who play out of the north shore either.

 

[jirskyr]

AFL still has 9 Melbourne teams and 10 Victorian teams total, so it's definitely do-able, even if some of those teams are less profitable than others. AFL have done the merger and/or relocation step as well and it has its pros and cons.

What I believe the NRL needs to do most is grow the game further in the strongholds. For example, NRL have approx 273K members across all clubs, compared to AFL which was already approaching 700K last Christmas. Broncos have 31K members right now, compared to Richmond which achieved 100K members in 2018\. Whilst not all memberships are equivalent, just basic numbers contrast a single-city highly profitable rugby league paying supporter base with a shared-city AFL side's supporter base.

You can move or open new clubs, but it will be painful. Swans took decades to come good, jury still out on GWS and Gold Coast Suns after ~7 years. Brisbane Lions are a middling club. AFL are lucky that they already had strong native support when they expanded to SA and WA, which is what NRL already achieved with the likes of Broncos, Knights, Raiders, Warriors.

So of course you'd move teams right away if it was that easy, because although you'd lose some fans you'd definitely retain a % of fans and hopefully pick up new ones at the new location. But you mess with the nostalgia and history of the game at your own peril, because even non-moving mergers were difficult to swallow for a long time. Esp for teams not in dire financial straits.

I.e. if the club is solvent and a finals chance every year then the fans are far less likely to support a relocation or merger than if the club is heading towards bankruptcy.