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Dragons-Sharks, Wests Tigers head head fittler’s team merger list
By Tim Elbra
2 hours agoThe Dragons and Sharks should be merged and Wests Tigers given a rethink if the NRL wants to reduce the number of NSW teams, Brad Fittler says. Fittler gave the verdict while responding to a fan question for Wide World of Sports, asking which two NSW teams should be cut in order to expand the competition around Australia.
With the Sydney market clogged by nine teams due to the old NSWRL competition model, the NSW capital is the obvious place to make changes in order to gain new territory without having too many NRL clubs, which would dilute the spread of playing talent. Fittler said that local rivals St George Illawarra and Cronulla could form a southern super-club, while Wests Tigers needed a rethink to better represent key parts of western Sydney; perhaps even via a joint venture with Penrith Panthers.
Curiously, Fittler’s options involve clubs that have already merged. The St George Dragons and Illawarra Steelers merged for the 1999 season, while the Western Suburbs Magpies and Balmain Tigers formed a joint venture for the 2000 competition.
“Cronulla to go and join St George Illawarra, make it a really big southern Sydney team that stretches down to Wollongong,” Fittler, an NRL great and the current NSW Origin coach, explained on Freddy and the Eighth.
"The other one’s Wests Tigers. I just don’t know if they’ve done what they’re supposed to do and I feel like maybe if we had a greater west team … it just feels like, are that at Leichhardt, or Burwood, or Concord, or out at Campbelltown? "I’m not sure. I don’t think we pay Campbelltown area enough respect. Whether we have an outer-west team and that includes Penrith, and they take up that Penrith-Campbelltown area …“I’m not really sure who they link with but at the moment, we’ve got a bit of an identity crisis, I think, through a few of those areas.”
Club mergers are a fraught topic, given the passion fans have for their clubs, but an eventual reduction in the number of Sydney teams may be inevitable. Fittler’s mentor Phil Gould predicted in May that two more Sydney clubs would be forced to merge over the next decade.
Fittler last year suggested that the Sharks could be relocated to Perth, the Gold Coast Titans should move to become Brisbane’s second team and a club should be switched to the NSW Central Coast.
The NRL is currently working towards including a second Brisbane team for the 2022 season, likely a new franchise. Perth has also been regularly touted as a desirable expansion option, as has a second side in New Zealand.
The Central Coast has long yearned for a team but faded as a serious contender, barring the possible future relocation of a Sydney club. It formerly hosted games for the Northern Eagles, the failed merger between North Sydney and Manly.
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Lol imagine if we merged with Penrith and Cleary coached the team. What a day on the forum that would be.
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- Dylan Edwards
- David Nofoaluma
- Stephen Crichton
- Tommy Talau
- Josh Mansour/ Brain To’o
- Luke Brooks
- Nathan Cleary
- Josh Alioia
- Harry Grant
- James Fisher-Harris
- Luciano Leilua
- Viliame kikau
- Alex Twal
Bench
14. Api Korisau
15. Stefano Utoikamanu
16. Shawn Blore
17. Moses LeotaSign me up!
Only joking, thought it would be interesting to see what a combined team would look like tho…
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Roosters south’s and dragons sharks are the obvious merger areas
Western Sydney is massive and getting bigger and churns out heaps of NRL talent
Can’t risk losing players or supporters out west as it would kill the game
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@avocadoontoast said in Fittler's Team Merger List:
Lol imagine if we merged with Penrith and Cleary coached the team. What a day on the forum that would be.
@avocadoontoast said in Fittler's Team Merger List:
Lol imagine if we merged with Penrith and Cleary coached the team. What a day on the forum that would be.
Not only that. We’re only a year or two removed from 99% of the supporter base moving past the Balmain vs Wests arguments. They are virtually non existent on the forum these days. Can you imagine both sides coming together and having WT’s vs Penrith debates with Panther supporters for the next 20 years?
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@Newtown said in Fittler's Team Merger List:
Dragons-Sharks, Wests Tigers head head fittler’s team merger list
By Tim Elbra
2 hours agoThe Dragons and Sharks should be merged and Wests Tigers given a rethink if the NRL wants to reduce the number of NSW teams, Brad Fittler says. Fittler gave the verdict while responding to a fan question for Wide World of Sports, asking which two NSW teams should be cut in order to expand the competition around Australia.
With the Sydney market clogged by nine teams due to the old NSWRL competition model, the NSW capital is the obvious place to make changes in order to gain new territory without having too many NRL clubs, which would dilute the spread of playing talent. Fittler said that local rivals St George Illawarra and Cronulla could form a southern super-club, while Wests Tigers needed a rethink to better represent key parts of western Sydney; perhaps even via a joint venture with Penrith Panthers.
Curiously, Fittler’s options involve clubs that have already merged. The St George Dragons and Illawarra Steelers merged for the 1999 season, while the Western Suburbs Magpies and Balmain Tigers formed a joint venture for the 2000 competition.
“Cronulla to go and join St George Illawarra, make it a really big southern Sydney team that stretches down to Wollongong,” Fittler, an NRL great and the current NSW Origin coach, explained on Freddy and the Eighth.
"The other one’s Wests Tigers. I just don’t know if they’ve done what they’re supposed to do and I feel like maybe if we had a greater west team … it just feels like, are that at Leichhardt, or Burwood, or Concord, or out at Campbelltown? "I’m not sure. I don’t think we pay Campbelltown area enough respect. Whether we have an outer-west team and that includes Penrith, and they take up that Penrith-Campbelltown area …“I’m not really sure who they link with but at the moment, we’ve got a bit of an identity crisis, I think, through a few of those areas.”
Club mergers are a fraught topic, given the passion fans have for their clubs, but an eventual reduction in the number of Sydney teams may be inevitable. Fittler’s mentor Phil Gould predicted in May that two more Sydney clubs would be forced to merge over the next decade.
Fittler last year suggested that the Sharks could be relocated to Perth, the Gold Coast Titans should move to become Brisbane’s second team and a club should be switched to the NSW Central Coast.
The NRL is currently working towards including a second Brisbane team for the 2022 season, likely a new franchise. Perth has also been regularly touted as a desirable expansion option, as has a second side in New Zealand.
The Central Coast has long yearned for a team but faded as a serious contender, barring the possible future relocation of a Sydney club. It formerly hosted games for the Northern Eagles, the failed merger between North Sydney and Manly.
No Bloody way
Not Cleary at the helm again
Why not Roosters and Souths
Cronulla and Penrith
Problem solved
Then we have 8 clubs merged into 4
Hell Manly can move to WA
They can be called the Western eagles
That reduces the sydney teams
Expands our game west
And allows for another Brisbane team -
@GNR4LIFE said in Fittler's Team Merger List:
@avocadoontoast said in Fittler's Team Merger List:
Lol imagine if we merged with Penrith and Cleary coached the team. What a day on the forum that would be.
@avocadoontoast said in Fittler's Team Merger List:
Lol imagine if we merged with Penrith and Cleary coached the team. What a day on the forum that would be.
Not only that. We’re only a year or two removed from 99% of the supporter base moving past the Balmain vs Wests arguments. They are virtually non existent on the forum these days. Can you imagine both sides coming together and having WT’s vs Penrith debates with Panther supporters for the next 20 years?
It would be brutal.
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It’s very noticeable that Fittler did not make any mention of Roosters merging. I am sick of overpaid NRL has-beens like Fittler and Andrew Johns thinking that they are wise Gods of the NRL. What right have they to make these comments?
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As long as Easts merge with Souths first to set the example. It’s funny how they put these together with as long as it’s not in my backyard thinking.
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@Newtown said in Fittler's Team Merger List:
It’s very noticeable that Fittler did not make any mention of Roosters merging. I am sick of overpaid NRL has-beens like Fittler and Andrew Johns thinking that they are wise Gods of the NRL. What right have they to make these comments?
They’ve already got their claws around the Central Coast anyhow. There is a noticeable increase in the amount of supporters wearing their apparel up here over the few years since I moved up. Quite amazing just how much they have gained through school visits and coaching clinics.
Edit; Of course, playing a game or two at Gosford helps.
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@mike said in Fittler's Team Merger List:
As long as Easts merge with Souths first to set the example. It’s funny how they put these together with as long as it’s not in my backyard thinking.
It’s all about the power of money within these clubs and how it flows to very significantly affect important NRL decision making.
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Nice of Freddy to not mention the Roosters. Full of stars, two comps un a row and still barely pull a crowd. They will die post Politis.
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Fittler is a nuffie. No point even giving a second thought to any of his opinions. His suggestions make less sense then a wider variety of other possible options anyway, I’m sure.
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Roosters and south or Penrith and parr’s merge before we get kicked out. Don’t think they will touch Souths though as they’ve already got back into the comp once
