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Rugby League is a game with a huge future.
Its a game that has appeal to a wide range of people due to its speed and physical contact, a ready mad TV game.
I believe that the game will be dominated by certain pwerhouses over the next decade or so.( With the current clubs)
A cucial part of this will obviously be population based. This brings into play clubs such as
Brisbane
Auckland
Penrith
Wests Tigers
ParramattaThe next biggest criteria is sponsorship. This brings into play clubs such as
Newcastle
Storm
Brisbane
Wests TigersI believe that clubs such as the Bulldogs, Titans, Sharks, Raiders, Cowboys, Manly and the Dragons have neither the population base or the financial clout to become/stay as a league powerhouse over the next decade.
For me it comes down to the one city teams such as the
Storm (financial backing)
Broncos ( population base and finnancial backing)
Warriors (population base)
and
Penrith (population base)
Wests Tigers (population base and financial clout)
I believe that the club powerhouses of the next decade will come from the above group.Carn’t see any of the possible expansion clubs joining this group in the short term, Perth doesn’t have the population league background and the Central Coast wouldn’t have the financial clout.
I have the Wests Tigers in the group partly because of the expanding young population base at Campbelltown and partly because our financial standing is becoming stronger to the point where before too long the leagues club grant will be irrelevant. (hopefully)
Hopefully we will top the list so all in all we have a very bright future ahead. !!!
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Bulldogs are biggest team in Sydney.
Campbelltown is very important but it is easily overstated - the region to the north of Balmain has more people, more wealth and more sponsors.
St George have a huge supporter base and the useful region of Illawara - plenty of people down there and plenty of talent.
Manly, Cronulla, Easts, Penrith are the teams in the most danger in Sydney. Souths are hovering between the big four (Parramatta, Bulldogs, Wests Tigers, St George) and the lower four and which group they end up in will be a result of their onfield performances over the next few seasons.
If i had to rank the Sydney teams, i’d go with:
Parramatta
Bulldogs
Wests Tigers
St George
South Sydney
Manly
Roosters
Penrith
Cronulla -
newcastle will only be a pwerhouse till tinkler goes broke or gets cranky with them, which probably won’t happen with his estimated wealth
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Powerhouse clubs evolve from having a strong finance base and sponsorship. No use having a large junior base without the money to keep the talent that the nrl club wants. How do clubs like the roosters survive with a small junior base to draw from? They have strong financial backing so they are able to buy what they need, within the salary cap of course. Along with the strong financial base comes the nrl club administration team which requires the ability to put strategies in place for the present and future direction of the club around building/maintaining a successful team which then attracts support from fans and sponsors thereby perpetuating the growth of the club.
Any of the current clubs has the potential to be a powerhouse with the right amount of money and the right people leading the direction of the club. If any of the current clubs are cut from the comp in the future it will more than likely be because they are broke and can’t pay their way due to the inept ability of the club administration which flows through to the team and results.
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& rabbitohs have the biggest membership base right?
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In response to the OP, I don’t think the Bulldogs will go anywhere anytime soon. They are probably the biggest followed club in Sydney and are fairly well off financially also IIRC.
If the IC were to make rationalisation of the competition in order to expand, the following should probably happen:
Wests Tigers, Bulldogs, St-George Illawarra & Souths should remain as standalone entities;
Parramatta and Penriff would merge;
Manly, Cronulla, Easts would fold or relocate.There should be no more than four or five teams in the Sydney Basin.
The Tigers, Bulldogs, Souths and St. George would probably account for the majority of supporters in Sydney, they have fairly large juniors nurseries and would be to survive in a less Sydney-centric market.
Parramatta and Penriff could become a super club. Both have massive juniors nurseries and would own between the foot of the mountains to Parramatta.
IMO the NRL needs to stop being so short sighted and look at the long term gains to be made here. If they want a product that can be truly profitable for the franchises as well as the league, tough decisions need to be made. They may isolate a few supporters by knocking off or relocating the likes of Manly, Easts et. al but they’ve done half the job already and forced four clubs to merge. They should be looking at the future generations of supporters that will come to follow the game.
Teams like Manly & Cronulla have no future in Sydney. It’s a hard pill to swallow but it’s the glaring truth.
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Forget junior nurseries…. The investment into being successful on the field TODAY is far greater.
The future of the NRL is about corporate cloat… To attract Investors, franchises need 3 things:
1. A Saleable Product
2. A vast population base for Traffic Generation
3. A seperation between the ‘Business’ and the ‘Football Operations’Achieve this ^^^ and Investors will come knocking!!!
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@Cultured Bogan:
In response to the OP, I don’t think the Bulldogs will go anywhere anytime soon. They are probably the biggest followed club in Sydney and are fairly well off financially also IIRC.
If the IC were to make rationalisation of the competition in order to expand, the following should probably happen:
Wests Tigers, Bulldogs, St-George Illawarra & Souths should remain as standalone entities;
Parramatta and Penriff would merge;
Manly, Cronulla, Easts would fold or relocate.There should be no more than four or five teams in the Sydney Basin.
The Tigers, Bulldogs, Souths and St. George would probably account for the majority of supporters in Sydney, they have fairly large juniors nurseries and would be to survive in a less Sydney-centric market.
Parramatta and Penriff could become a super club. Both have massive juniors nurseries and would own between the foot of the mountains to Parramatta.
IMO the NRL needs to stop being so short sighted and look at the long term gains to be made here. If they want a product that can be truly profitable for the franchises as well as the league, tough decisions need to be made. They may isolate a few supporters by knocking off or relocating the likes of Manly, Easts et. al but they’ve done half the job already and forced four clubs to merge. They should be looking at the future generations of supporters that will come to follow the game.
Teams like Manly & Cronulla have no future in Sydney. It’s a hard pill to swallow but it’s the glaring truth.
Send Cronulla to WA, Manly to PNG ( Would prefer to send Manly to Hell but the away games would be a bugger)
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What should’ve happened:
Parra and Penrith merge - blue yellow black - parramatta to bathurst - based at somehwere between, Blacktown?
Wests and Bulldogs merge - blue black white - campbelltown - liverpool - canterbury - based at Liverpool
Balmain and Norths - black gold red - balmain - ryde - north shore - based at Ryde
Manly merge to Central Coast - primarily central cost
Easts and St George - tricolour
Cronulla and Illawara - red and sky blue
Souths - keep their identity but cellar dwellers :slight_smile:~5 teams and 2 half teams - fans would’ve hated it at first but probably the best outcome in the long term.
Just a silly idea i guess, it’d never would’ve happened and it won’t happen. -
Really cant see the IC not having a team north of the harbour, they will want to have a spread of teams that geographically cover the Sydney basin, rather than leave in particular area without a team. It will be interesting to see if they have the clout to force mergers, I think they will wait for self destruction and for some clubs that is not far away. I think we are in good hands, but one or two bad seasons and everything can go pear shape very quickly. Good results on the field generate the cash that keeps the ship afloat. The market place is very fickle, sponsors and supporters will walk away in a flash without results, they are not like the people who support this forum and take the good with the bad
