The Redcliffe Dolphins

[anjado]

Redcliffe have a good forward pack and the best club rugby league coach of all time I think they will threaten the 8. The marquee signing is just whining by the same old news limited journalists who whine about everyone except the roosters. If they can't get the support being a new NRL team then maybe they shouldn't be an NRL team they don't need to be an automatic threat for the title just competitive.

As for expansion.

Ideally they would fix some of the wrongs of the past. 

But for any sort of future expansion future sustainability of that club is essential. They need to have either a good junior base or the potential for one. 

The Roosters and Storm are always going to be relying on other teams to poach players from so we don't need more long term clubs like that.

So that rules out places like Adelaide for the time being.

NZ 2, Perth, Brisbane 3, Central Queensland is an overlooked one by 2036 it will have a population of 350,000 to 400,000. You could play games out of Rockhampton and Mackay in a Rugby League stronghold. 

Unfortunately due to the mistakes made at the turn of the century we aren't going to have a perfect competition.

Ideally one day we would have PNG too but that might be a pipe dream.

Ideally the competition should look like this eventually 

NSW+ACT (10 teams)

Sydney (6+2)

Easts + Balmain + Newtown (inner western Sydney to Bondi) (SFS)

Souths + St George (Redfern to Hurstville) (SFS)

Canterbury + Wests (South west Sydney) With the new airport they need a team based in the south west. (Liverpool)

Parramatta (City in its own right)

Penrith (No real option to merge represents outer Western Sydney)

Manly (Only one viable merger option which happened and was an obvious disaster represents the northern beaches)

Pseudo Sydney clubs 

Cronulla + Illawarra (Would be more based in Wollongong but would still represent an area with games in the shire)

Central Coast+North Sydney (kicking the Bears out was a really stupid move could have represented the central coast and North Sydney)

Newcastle 

Canberra 

Queensland (7 teams)

Brisbane X3

North Queensland

Gold Coast

Sunshine Coast 

Central Queensland 

New Zealand (3 teams)

Auckland

Wellington 

Christchurch

Rest of Australia (4 teams)

Melbourne

Perth 

Adelaide

Darwin/PNG 

24 teams/23 rounds 

Greater emphasis on the international game.

Unfortunately they left Sydney a bit of a mess the two mergers they have make no sense from a geographical perspective. Only one club plays in the city when there needs to be 2. 

But any future expansion needs to be heavily focused on growing the game so we have a bigger pool of talent to select from.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jim_57]

35 minutes ago, anjado said:

Redcliffe have a good forward pack and the best club rugby league coach of all time I think they will threaten the 8. The marquee signing is just whining by the same old news limited journalists who whine about everyone except the roosters. If they can't get the support being a new NRL team then maybe they shouldn't be an NRL team they don't need to be an automatic threat for the title just competitive.

As for expansion.

Ideally they would fix some of the wrongs of the past. 

But for any sort of future expansion future sustainability of that club is essential. They need to have either a good junior base or the potential for one. 

The Roosters and Storm are always going to be relying on other teams to poach players from so we don't need more long term clubs like that.

So that rules out places like Adelaide for the time being.

NZ 2, Perth, Brisbane 3, Central Queensland is an overlooked one by 2036 it will have a population of 350,000 to 400,000. You could play games out of Rockhampton and Mackay in a Rugby League stronghold. 

Unfortunately due to the mistakes made at the turn of the century we aren't going to have a perfect competition.

Central Queensland is virtually no chance, compounded by the fact that Mackay is very solid Cowboys territory and rightly so. It’s the start of North Queensland, nobody really considers it CQ. I don’t think would many switch to a CQ team when Townsville is just as close as Rockhampton.

[eal]

The Redcliffe pack is a lot of guys at the end of their careers and Wayne Bennett hasn't won a premiership since 2010. The Dolphins won't be anywhere near the top 8 and anything outside of last will be a success. I'm sure they will get good support though and longterm I think they will be an asset to the game.

[EggFace]

On 15/09/2022 at 23:07, Tosh said:

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.

The Brisbane completion used to get 30000-40000 for the grand final and wished the ARL had done something about getting the top Brisbane sides in the NSWRL.

 

[Hull Kingston Bronco]

23 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

So the NRL have given a franchise to a town the size of Leigh ? 

Yes but they’ve got…

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redcliffe_Peninsula_railway_line

[eal]

Yeah, the old Brisbane RL Competition was quite big but was unfortunately rendered irrelevant once the Broncos entered the NSWRL competition. I wonder how different things would have turned out had a handful of Brisbane clubs been added to the Sydney competition instead of a created franchise team like the Broncos.

[Dave T]

Thanks for the history lesson on Brisbane folks,  interesting stuff. 

[Anita Bath]

9 hours ago, The Future is League said:

The jets or the firehawks?

If that was the case you would have 3 or 4 NRL clubs playing out of Suncorp

What is the alternative….jets play on a cricket field with a seating capacity of three figures.  Firehawks associted with easts tigers. Ground under redevelopment but the footprint much too small for a NRL level stadium.

Broncos will play some games at the Gabba next season while FIFA take control of Suncorp for the womens world cup….so maybe that would be an option.

Most of Queensland taxpayers money going into olympic facilities so nothing left to do a NSW govt spending on a new stadium in every suburb.

[Anita Bath]

23 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

That'll help the residents of Redcliffe get to the game then 

Its a 40 minute walk to the stadium from the railway station…..in Queensland temperatures and humidity.

[The Future is League]

6 minutes ago, Anita Bath said:

What is the alternative….jets play on a cricket field with a seating capacity of three figures.  Firehawks associted with easts tigers. Ground under redevelopment but the footprint much too small for a NRL level stadium.

Broncos will play some games at the Gabba next season while FIFA take control of Suncorp for the womens world cup….so maybe that would be an option.

Most of Queensland taxpayers money going into olympic facilities so nothing left to do a NSW govt spending on a new stadium in every suburb.

So you wouldn't be adverse to 4 NRL clubs basing themselves at Suncorp. A bit like AFL clubs basing themselves at the Melbourne Cricket Ground?

[Anita Bath]

I would, I am just saying what the reality is should there be further expansion in Brisbane.

But you can never rule out political madness……while there is a growing homeless problem in the city it appears the biggest political issue is the need to spend money changing the name of the Prince Charles hospital the the King Charles hospital!

So dont rule out more money for stadia either.

[Tosh]

3 hours ago, EggFace said:

The Brisbane completion used to get 30000-40000 for the grand final and wished the ARL had done something about getting the top Brisbane sides in the NSWRL.

 

Exactly.

Could have even used a conference system.

[EggFace]

54 minutes ago, Anita Bath said:

What is the alternative….jets play on a cricket field with a seating capacity of three figures.  Firehawks associted with easts tigers. Ground under redevelopment but the footprint much too small for a NRL level stadium.

Broncos will play some games at the Gabba next season while FIFA take control of Suncorp for the womens world cup….so maybe that would be an option.

Most of Queensland taxpayers money going into olympic facilities so nothing left to do a NSW govt spending on a new stadium in every suburb.

Olympics cause a lot of problems with white elephants.

[arcticchris]

They have signed a couple of young halves from Penrith in Katoa and Sean O’Sullivan who if they develop can be a long term top line pairing. Half the starting Storm pack are going to line up for the Dolphins but the outside backs lack any true excitement.

[Yakstorm]

Just to clarify a few assumptions that have been added to this thread.

Firstly one of the reasons the Dolphins haven't used 'Redcliffe' in their name is due to the QRL. The QRL conditions of participation in the Hostplus Cup and many of their other senior competitions prevent NRL clubs having a club with the same name, logo and management. 

The club doesn't want to forfeit their spot in those competitions and of course wants to represent more than just Redcliffe at the NRL level. 

Secondly if you're going to look at populations for the area they are in, you should look at the entire Moreton Bay (450K+) versus just Redcliffe.  We don't look at only Cronulla (17K) & Sutherland (10K) or Canterbury (7K) & Bankstown (32K) for other clubs, so its not fair to do that for the Dolphins. 

[Pulga]

Not much to add to this besides how successful the Qld Cup Dolphins are. They're in the GF next week. Would be surprising not to have a few of those boys step up to the NRL club.

Obviously the Dolphins weren't the ideal "expansion" but Qld and Brisbane are underserviced. The state is Rugby League mad. It's as much of a sure thing as you can get.

NZ2 has to be the 18th club. Enormous player pool, instant rivalry, brand new stadium, hinders union and the NZ TV deal is comparable to Super League and Oz Union's total TV deal which would entirely pay for central funding.

 

[Tosh]

2 hours ago, Pulga said:

Not much to add to this besides how successful the Qld Cup Dolphins are. They're in the GF next week. Would be surprising not to have a few of those boys step up to the NRL club.

Obviously the Dolphins weren't the ideal "expansion" but Qld and Brisbane are underserviced. The state is Rugby League mad. It's as much of a sure thing as you can get.

NZ2 has to be the 18th club. Enormous player pool, instant rivalry, brand new stadium, hinders union and the NZ TV deal is comparable to Super League and Oz Union's total TV deal which would entirely pay for central funding.

 

Totally agree regarding NZ2 but it should be known as Christchurch and maybe Canterbury but definitely not South Island or southern etc.

plus they need to play the overwhelming majority of their home games at the new stadium instead of taking multiple games to Wellington, Dunedin, Nelson and invergargill etc.

[fieldofclothofgold]

I think former Leeds Player is part of the staff . Terry Webb adopted Leeds Loiner 

[Pulga]

3 hours ago, Tosh said:

Totally agree regarding NZ2 but it should be known as Christchurch and maybe Canterbury but definitely not South Island or southern etc.

plus they need to play the overwhelming majority of their home games at the new stadium instead of taking multiple games to Wellington, Dunedin, Nelson and invergargill etc.

Move the Bulldogs there and drop the "-Bankstown" part of their name.

Then add Perth Pirates and we're all good to go

[Tosh]

42 minutes ago, Pulga said:

Move the Bulldogs there and drop the "-Bankstown" part of their name.

Then add Perth Pirates and we're all good to go

I’d settle for that but I can’t honestly ever see it happening unless the bulldogs were forced into either a relocation or merger.

Also little things like club colours could be a sticking point as the Canterbury region is associated with red&black while the doggies are blue&white.

in an ideal world I’d love to see a new club formed for NZ2 preferably called the Christchurch bulls playing out of the new proposed 30k stadium.

[anjado]

The Bulldogs are arguably the most supported club in Sydney especially amongst ethnic minorities. Moving them would be really stupid it would be like moving Parramatta.

Also the populations of Cronulla+Sutherland and Canterbury+ Bankstown are a bit misleading for the suburbs those are the populations but not the areas they represent.

You need to look at the council area population The city of Canterbury-Bankstown represents an area of 375,000 which is a more accurate representation of the area they represent.

Cronulla-Sutheland is represented by the Sutherland shire which has a population of 230,000. 

[Pulga]

The Bulldogs relocation was a joke. I don't actually believe relocation would succeed at all with any club.

[The Daddy]

13 hours ago, Yakstorm said:

Just to clarify a few assumptions that have been added to this thread.

Firstly one of the reasons the Dolphins haven't used 'Redcliffe' in their name is due to the QRL. The QRL conditions of participation in the Hostplus Cup and many of their other senior competitions prevent NRL clubs having a club with the same name, logo and management. 

The club doesn't want to forfeit their spot in those competitions and of course wants to represent more than just Redcliffe at the NRL level. 

Secondly if you're going to look at populations for the area they are in, you should look at the entire Moreton Bay (450K+) versus just Redcliffe.  We don't look at only Cronulla (17K) & Sutherland (10K) or Canterbury (7K) & Bankstown (32K) for other clubs, so its not fair to do that for the Dolphins. 

But, but Redcliffe is the same size as Leigh (walks away slowly and bangs head against wall)

[EggFace]

6 hours ago, Pulga said:

Move the Bulldogs there and drop the "-Bankstown" part of their name.

Then add Perth Pirates and we're all good to go

And Souths can go to the Central Coast.

[Sports Prophet]

Talks of mergers and relocations are wide of the mark. Mergers have proven themselves to be fatal.

The Dragons are a basket case, with the Illawarra name almost lost, yet being the obvious permanent future for the club now the merger has happened.

Wests have an even bigger identity crisis and still neglect their obvious lifeline to the south west of Campbelltown to preserve an ageing Balmain brigade.

Northern Eagles… say nothing more.

Relocations of Sydney clubs is equally ludicrous. The clubs are established entities that each have at minimum 100k supporters of varying fandom. The key is to turn more of the “got the shirt” brigade into consistent live consumers.

In saying all that, if you had a fresh canvass, you wouldn’t have that many Sydney clubs in a new competition. So why on earth are people keen on diluting Bris/SE Qld even further once the Dolphins have arrived. 

And lastly, Northern Dolphins is not one for the purists, but, the name captures north of Brisbane, up to Sunshine Coast.