The Redcliffe Dolphins

[The Daddy]

Firstly how can you have a club that's just called 'The Dolphins' with no place name, this is not in the spirit of RL. RL is about supporting the team of the town or city you're from so in my view they should be named North Brisbane Dolphins or Morton Bay Dolphins. Now people are by default just calling them Redcliffe Dolphins which defeats the purpose surely. 

But I started this post coz I'm keen to hear from Aussies and anyone in that part of Queensland who can update us on how the 'new club' is developing and whether they think it will be a success. Will the team be competitive in its first season? 

In hindsight, was it the best choice for the NRL to award the Dolphins the 17th spot? 

I'm now hearing that they won't be able to play several games at Suncorp due to Women's international games, how's that gonna impact the first season?

[Henson Park Old Firm]

Give it time, they will adopt a location name. After they realise they can get more money, sponsors and support after spending 10s of thousands of pounds on some vocus group. 3 years down the track

 

 

(Watch this space)

[Eddie]

I’m sure I heard or read that they’ll be the richest team in the NRL, they’re certainly not turning up to be cannon fodder. 

[MattSantos]

17 minutes ago, The Daddy said:

and whether they think it will be a success. Will the team be competitive in its first season? 

In hindsight, was it the best choice for the NRL to award the Dolphins the 17th spot? 

I'm now hearing that they won't be able to play several games at Suncorp due to Women's international games, how's that gonna impact the first season?

They'll be competitive and have a decent team, but squad depth is a massive issue. They'll need to start well.

The following season, a lot of top players become available; they'll need to hit on this as they'll be paying a fair bit of salary cap on 1 or 2 players. Get that wrong and they could struggle.

A second team in Brisbane is huge from a TV deal perspective. Sets the standard for a new team in Perth or NZ given the TV impact again of those time zones.

[iffleyox]

39 minutes ago, The Daddy said:

RL is about supporting the team of the town or city you're from

which is very difficult in England if you're not from Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cumbria, or London.*

 

*yes, also Newcastle, Birmingham (this year) etc, but you know what I mean

[dealwithit]

Let’s not forget that the Redcliffe Dolphins are an existing club — a very wealthy club! Their NRL team will take matches to central Queensland and Brisbane. If Suncorp is unavailable for some matches, they have their own 10k stadium in Redcliffe. I’m sure Sunshine Coast stadium would have them, as would Rockhampton and Bundaberg. 
They’ll be light on depth in year 1. But so be it. The TV money will keep flowing in, and they have strong teams from juniors to QLD cup. 

[Hull Kingston Bronco]

Plenty of under-tapped corporate dollars in Brisbane so they'll do well on that front, and they're financially secure anyway with the Leagues Club org. Whether they can get enough punters through the door on Broncos 'off weeks' is open to question I guess... but then several teams in Sydney who scrape past the 10k mark so not sure that's a criteria or success factor really, certainly not in the short-medium term. Another TV match from Queensland is a win regardless - and that's where the Game's real money comes from.

It's an advantage not being able to play all their games at Suncorp. They'll want some games at Redcliffe (decent ground) plus every NRL team seems to take on into 'country' each season (making the claim we're just an east coast sport a total myth)

Perth has to be next: The time difference creates a new TV slot, which has to have value (plus all the obvious coporate dollar in a city of 2 million. The AFLs new TV deal shows how short-sighted the NRL has been for 2 decades, listening to self-interested Sydney clubs talking nonsense about "player pool not big enough" (they don't even believe it themselves, it's just a easy line)

 

 

[Dave T]

I recall reading something on this previously,  but what's the rationale for a 2nd Brisbane team,  in terms of fan base.  I'm sure I read that Brisbane Broncos are unpopular with some people,  what's the background to that? 

I think this is another example of how different the markets are -  putting a new team in the league whose primary home ground is the Suncorp,  the same as another teams seems bizarre, but no doubt it'll work. 

[Jughead]

The Australians in the games I watch, the social media clips I see, the podcasts I listen to and interviews I hear majority of the time refer to a team as “The Broncos, the Titans, The Eels” rather than Brisbane, Gold Coast and Parramatta. It’s seemingly a cultural difference between there and here. The lack of a place name is minor. 

The recruitment has been difficult for the Dolphins as they’ve been turned down by some big names for their inaugural year but it appears they still have irons in the fire for years two, three, four etc. They may be willing to put up with what they’ve got, which in some positions isn’t that bad, in order to wait for key signings later down the line, as it’s possible to do so without the threat of relegation in the NRL. 

[UTK]

25 minutes ago, dealwithit said:

Let’s not forget that the Redcliffe Dolphins are an existing club — a very wealthy club! Their NRL team will take matches to central Queensland and Brisbane. If Suncorp is unavailable for some matches, they have their own 10k stadium in Redcliffe. I’m sure Sunshine Coast stadium would have them, as would Rockhampton and Bundaberg. 
They’ll be light on depth in year 1. But so be it. The TV money will keep flowing in, and they have strong teams from juniors to QLD cup. 

They're confirmed to be playing 7 games at Suncorp and 3 at Redcliffe, I believe the other 2-3 home games will be at the sunshine coast but can't find anywhere confirming it.

[Jparrish]

I believe it should be the north Brisbane dolphins. One thing RL has on other codes is the tribalism. Dropping a place name is wrong.

As for home games they do have their own fairly new stadium. 

I think they should only play their "home" games at suncorp against the other Queensland teams. 

Really hope it goes well and it's a stepping stone to an 18th team.

 

I hear they are struggling to recruit players. Could they look at a player or 2 from Super league? Or maybe convert a player from Union to bolster ? 

[Omott91]

28 minutes ago, Jparrish said:

I believe it should be the north Brisbane dolphins. One thing RL has on other codes is the tribalism. Dropping a place name is wrong.

As for home games they do have their own fairly new stadium. 

I think they should only play their "home" games at suncorp against the other Queensland teams. 

Really hope it goes well and it's a stepping stone to an 18th team.

 

I hear they are struggling to recruit players. Could they look at a player or 2 from Super league? Or maybe convert a player from Union to bolster ? 

Should be at Suncorp every game.

[Sports Prophet]

1 hour ago, Hull Kingston Bronco said:

 

Perth has to be next: The time difference creates a new TV slot, which has to have value (plus all the obvious coporate dollar in a city of 2 million. The AFLs new TV deal shows how short-sighted the NRL has been for 2 decades, listening to self-interested Sydney clubs talking nonsense about "player pool not big enough" (they don't even believe it themselves, it's just a easy line)

 

 

Needs to be NZII in my opinion. The immediate player pool in the short to mid term of NZII infinitely outperforms Perth.

Edited September 15, 2022 by Sports Prophet

[graveyard johnny]

even though a few players have turned the dolphins down for season 1 -am sure the others will be playing with a lot of porpoise 

[The Future is League]

7 hours ago, Eddie said:

I’m sure I heard or read that they’ll be the richest team in the NRL, they’re certainly not turning up to be cannon fodder. 

I also read that they are putting a lot of money into junior development

[pahars]

6 hours ago, Dave T said:

I recall reading something on this previously,  but what's the rationale for a 2nd Brisbane team,  in terms of fan base.  I'm sure I read that Brisbane Broncos are unpopular with some people,  what's the background to that? 

 

I believe with older fans it’s a combination of : the Broncos basically killed off any mass interest in the local competition. They are owned by News Corp and blamed for the Superleague War. 
 

[The Future is League]

5 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

Needs to be NZII in my opinion. The immediate player pool in the short to mid term of NZII infinitely outperforms Perth.

In the unlikely event that Peter V'landys is still around in 5 years i think his plan would be, NZ.2 on the South Island and then Cairns, yes Cairns to basically tie up North Queensland and then Perth, but i did say in the unlikely event of Peter V'landys still being around.

[V02]

6 hours ago, Dave T said:

I recall reading something on this previously,  but what's the rationale for a 2nd Brisbane team,  in terms of fan base.  I'm sure I read that Brisbane Broncos are unpopular with some people,  what's the background to that? 

I think this is another example of how different the markets are -  putting a new team in the league whose primary home ground is the Suncorp,  the same as another teams seems bizarre, but no doubt it'll work. 

Mostly the Super League War. Broncos were the main front-runner in that which was an event which set the game back considerably. There's also resentment because of the fact they get a Friday night FTA game every single week and lots of third-party deals by being the only show in town. The theory is there's lots of supporters of other clubs living in Brisbane who would support a 2nd Brisbane team but hate the Broncos.

 

[GUBRATS]

I thought they were from Redcliffe ?

[Number 16]

The Dolphins will be fine! In former South London Storm scrum half, Terry Reader, they have a top CEO.

[Tosh]

Hopefully in the long term the dolphins will eventually be based in Redcliffe and known as the Moreton bay dolphins playing out of a redeveloped dolphin stadium with a minimum capacity of 20k.

Im also led to believe that the dolphins are one of the richest clubs if not the richest club in the NRL due to several assets the club own like their stadium, shopping mall and other other commercial properties.

Probably the #1 thing the dolphins have going for them is their location of south east Queensland with its fast growing population being rugby league mad and starved of live NRL action every week. Plus instant rivalries with the Broncos and to a lesser extent the Cowboys and titans.

[Tosh]

9 hours ago, Dave T said:

I recall reading something on this previously,  but what's the rationale for a 2nd Brisbane team,  in terms of fan base.  I'm sure I read that Brisbane Broncos are unpopular with some people,  what's the background to that? 

I think this is another example of how different the markets are -  putting a new team in the league whose primary home ground is the Suncorp,  the same as another teams seems bizarre, but no doubt it'll work. 

A Brisbane based professional RL side playing in the NSWRL competition basically killed off the very popular and very tribal Brisbane rugby league competition.

The Broncos basically signed up all the best local talent in the competition thus weakening the league and its overall quality player wise.

[Tosh]

2 hours ago, The Future is League said:

In the unlikely event that Peter V'landys is still around in 5 years i think his plan would be, NZ.2 on the South Island and then Cairns, yes Cairns to basically tie up North Queensland and then Perth, but i did say in the unlikely event of Peter V'landys still being around.

Cairns is far too small of a market and is already considered to be NQ cowboy territory.

As for NZ2 it should most definitely be a Christchurch based franchise playing out of the new 30k stadium with maybe no more than 2 home games taken to other cities/towns in the South Island.

[GUBRATS]

28 minutes ago, Tosh said:

A Brisbane based professional RL side playing in the NSWRL competition basically killed off the very popular and very tribal Brisbane rugby league competition.

The Broncos basically signed up all the best local talent in the competition thus weakening the league and its overall quality player wise.

Sounds like what SL clubs do , surely those clubs in Brisbane were happy to support the Bronco's ? 

[Tosh]

1 hour ago, GUBRATS said:

Sounds like what SL clubs do , surely those clubs in Brisbane were happy to support the Bronco's ? 

Evidently not.

like I said before I’m led to believe that the Brisbane RL competition was very tribal and the creation of the Brisbane Broncos effectively killed the competition.

I guess it would be something similar to how fans over here would react to mergers like hull fc and KR or cas, wakey and featherstone etc.