Western Australian government to support bid for an 18th NRL team

[Tosh]

3 hours ago, Dirkgee said:

Does anyone here follow the NRL reddit page? Found this interesting picture of Australia's average match attendance for all the different codes of football. I never realised how hard Union has fallen off a cliff 

It’s very interesting to see the decline of super rugby in Australia and the breaking up of the competition as a whole with South African teams going their own way and the solo Japanese and Argentinian clubs being dropped.

I don’t follow club RU at all but from what I believe the NZ based sides would pump the Australian based sides 9 times out of 10 which led to both poor crowds and viewing figures in Australia and maybe even NZ.

No doubt that the clubs were haemorrhaging serious amounts of $$$$

[pahars]

20 hours ago, Tosh said:

My god that’s 4 bids from the same city.

Talk about increasing your chances. surely 1 of them must win!!!

Same happened in Brisbane didn’t it? Dolphins, Brothers, Bombers and Firehawks … though some merged near the end. 

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, pahars said:

Same happened in Brisbane didn’t it? Dolphins, Brothers, Bombers and Firehawks … though some merged near the end. 

Brisbane Firehawks, Brisbane Bombers, Western Corridor (Jets) and Dolphins. Western Corridor and Brisbane Bombers merged as Brisbane Jets.

Brothers never had a look in and we're never going to go anything close to winning.

[pahars]

4 minutes ago, MRN said:

Brisbane Firehawks, Brisbane Bombers, Western Corridor (Jets) and Dolphins. Western Corridor and Brisbane Bombers merged as Brisbane Jets.

Brothers never had a look in and we're never going to go anything close to winning.

That’s it! Thanks MRN. Yeah Brothers was a weird bid - basically we have clubs all over Australia so we are gonna be massive. 

[Guest]

21 hours ago, Tosh said:

A question to our Aussie posters but weren’t the bears originally supposed to move to the central coast fulltime time before the super league war broke out?

And also why did north’s and manly merge and who pushed it?

North Sydney were meant to move to Central Coast but proposal was 1999. Stadium build was delayed around a year due to weather and construction problems.

North's basically went broke waiting for the new stadium to be built. Manly were no better after pouring so much financial resources into fighting Super League. They merged because together, with the new stadium, they met the NRLs criteria for a team to survive the reduction to 14 teams in 2000.

Edited November 3, 2022 by MRN
Extra info

[EggFace]

1 hour ago, MRN said:

North Sydney were meant to move to Central Coast but proposal was 1999. Stadium build was delayed around a year due to weather and construction problems.

North's basically went broke waiting for the new stadium to be built. Manly were no better after pouring so much financial resources into fighting Super League. They merged because together, with the new stadium, they met the NRLs criteria for a team to survive the reduction to 14 teams in 2000.

Super League what a Paul Anka.

[EggFace]

21 hours ago, The Daddy said:

Well it's a shame that most of them didn't attend their games 

Well they did as from 1990 to Super League crowds grew for North Sydney for a number of games in that 6 year period.

[EggFace]

21 hours ago, The Daddy said:

Well it's a shame that most of them didn't attend their games 

Well they did as from 1990 to Super League crowds grew for North Sydney for a number of games in that 6 year period.

[EggFace]

21 hours ago, The Daddy said:

Well it's a shame that most of them didn't attend their games 

Well they did as from 1990 to Super League crowds grew for North Sydney for a number of games in that 6 year period.

[Anita Bath]

On 02/11/2022 at 04:41, Tosh said:

Queensland is a tough sell unfortunately as any further and future additions to the NRL from that state will be seen by some as not proper expansion even though it has a large population and large future projected growth especially in south East Queensland.

Not to mention the fact that RL is the #1 code in the state. For me south east Queensland could easily accommodate another franchise in either the city of Brisbane or the western corridor covering the cities of Logan and Ipswich.

This could potentially give you a nice spread of teams covering the largest population centres with the Brisbane broncos, Gold Coast titans, moreton bay dolphins and then either another city of Brisbane team or Ipswich/Logan team along with the North Queensland cowboys.

Further expansion in SE Queensland does raise the question of where will they play.  The only suitable stadium for anything other that marginal games is suncorp and it is already struggling with dates as it hosts two NRL, one Superrugby and 1 A league team as well as various other events and concerts.

[Tosh]

4 hours ago, pahars said:

Same happened in Brisbane didn’t it? Dolphins, Brothers, Bombers and Firehawks … though some merged near the end. 

And in the end a Brisbane bid didn’t win!!!

[Tosh]

49 minutes ago, Anita Bath said:

Further expansion in SE Queensland does raise the question of where will they play.  The only suitable stadium for anything other that marginal games is suncorp and it is already struggling with dates as it hosts two NRL, one Superrugby and 1 A league team as well as various other events and concerts.

What with the population explosion in the western corridor and maybe even a future A-league expansion bid from the area a new stadium could potentially be built in either Logan Or Ipswich.

Brisbane are also hosting the 2032 summer Olympics as well so again potentially some new stadiums could be getting built or upgraded in the area.

Theres also the QE II stadium which was the old broncos ground.

[Izmir Zaferi]

If Perth want to blow the opposition out of the water, and ensure a place they should create an agreement (long term) with the PNG government, PNGRL and Corporate environment and play up to four games in Port Moresby. 

The colours match perfectly. 
Pirates has a ring for both West Coast and PNG (Png could easily create PNG Pirates merch) PNG should be prominent on the Jersey. 
The mining industry is present in both. If PNG were to create incentive it would also encourage investment.
The casual fan base would be mammoth (much larger than any present NRL team) 10 Mill - PNG / WA - 2.6 million.
The PNG and WA player pathways could complement to create a formidable player line 
The Hunters in the QLD Cup and another in the NSW Cup 
They should also create a player pathway with the South African Rugby League (there are THOUSANDS of 'Rugby' loving South Africans in Perth.

[Tosh]

4 minutes ago, Izmir Zaferi said:

If Perth want to blow the opposition out of the water, and ensure a place they should create an agreement (long term) with the PNG government, PNGRL and Corporate environment and play up to four games in Port Moresby. 

The colours match perfectly. 
Pirates has a ring for both West Coast and PNG (Png could easily create PNG Pirates merch) PNG should be prominent on the Jersey. 
The mining industry is present in both. If PNG were to create incentive it would also encourage investment.
The casual fan base would be mammoth (much larger than any present NRL team) 10 Mill - PNG / WA - 2.6 million.
The PNG and WA player pathways could complement to create a formidable player line 
The Hunters in the QLD Cup and another in the NSW Cup 
They should also create a player pathway with the South African Rugby League (there are THOUSANDS of 'Rugby' loving South Africans in Perth.

No club in their right mind would take nearly a quarter of their home games to another venue let alone Port Moresby.

Linking up with the PNG hunters is a good idea though.

[Izmir Zaferi]

Ps. THE NRL should follow this up with a Multi - City plan to cover some cities that really can't do full time clubs but would support 3 - 4 games of a club permanently linked to them. Some tweaks in branding may be needed. 

Southern Sharks - Cronulla - Adelaide (4 games) 
Sea Eagles - Many - Wellington (4 games) 
CB Bulldogs / Tigers? - Sydney - Christchurch (4 games) 
Easts Roosters - Sydney - Central Coast (4 games) 

Here is the clincher to make it work. There should be an agreement between clubs in Sydney that a 'Sydney Season ticket' be sold that covers ALL Sydney based games. 

That means each Sydney based fan would have access to approximately 16 games in Sydney with their season ticket. 

 

[Izmir Zaferi]

1 hour ago, Tosh said:

No club in their right mind would take nearly a quarter of their home games to another venue let alone Port Moresby.

Linking up with the PNG hunters is a good idea though.

If they want to gaurantee entry into the NRL they will. I am far from convinced Perth can sustain it's own team long term without some broader plan. This would also kill two birds with one stone and shore up the NRL's place of prominence as top dog not only in PNG but the top Rugby code in the Pacific in general. 

Right now the NRL actively and openly wants another NZ team. NZ brings in a significant portion and potentially growing amount of TV revenue and player base. The NRL also knows it can undermine Union by doing so. It is going to take a bit to shift them from such a view. 

 

Edited November 3, 2022 by Izmir Zaferi

[The Future is League]

On 02/11/2022 at 08:55, Copa said:

North Sydney oval is a rubbish ground for modern NRL. It’s suitable for cricket and AFL. The North Sydney Bears are living in the past.

Would not bringing back the bears and playing at the North Sydney Oval be a huge blow to AFL in Sydney?

Without going on to the AFL forums i would imagine some AFL posters would be in meltdown over the prospect of a NRL club in Perth

[The Rocket]

Finally, some news out of Western Australia:

'Ticks every box': Why Perth deserves an NRL team | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT

"Western Australia is ready for a Perth-based stand-alone NRL team and all that is needed now is clear direction from the game's hierarchy about establishing it in an expanded competition.

"That is the view of Peter Cumins, chairman of a Perth consortium working with the WA government to realise their goal.

"Cumins, also deputy chairman of Cash Converters, told AAP that Perth had the corporate backing, facilities and public support to ensure an NRL franchise on the west coast would be a success.

"All we need now is to have some very clear direction from the NRL and be invited to make an application, which we think would be successful, and then we will come along full steam," Cumins said.

"We do have a very strong group of people, with money, where we would also be in a strong position to fund a successful team.

"I have been involved with this for 15 years, and the reason we haven't gone into full PR mode is because we can't afford another false start."

"Cumins was managing director of Cash Converters when the business was the major sponsor of the Western Reds.

"Cumins and his consortium are liaising with a working group, appointed by the WA government, that has held discussions with the NRL and ARL Commission.

"They have had discussions with (ARLC chairman) Peter V'landys and with Newtown and the North Sydney Bears (as possible partners), but my view is that we want a stand-alone Perth-based team and something that West Australians can get behind," Cumins said.

"It ticks every box."

"Cumins, whose parents came from Hull and were rusted-on league fans, played more than 300 first-grade games for the Fremantle Roosters and represented his state side. No one understands the landscape of rugby league in the west like he does.

"The numbers all stack up because, unlike another team into Sydney, we would be a one-team town," he said.

"Western Australia now has a population heading towards three million, and is one of the richest states in Australia with gas, gold and iron ore, so there is a lot of corporate money available."

Bring it on.

 

 

 

[lucky 7]

On 04/11/2022 at 10:47, The Future is League said:

Would not bringing back the bears and playing at the North Sydney Oval be a huge blow to AFL in Sydney?

Without going on to the AFL forums i would imagine some AFL posters would be in meltdown over the prospect of a NRL club in Perth

Another NRL club in either Perth, Sydney or Brisbane would send AFL fans into a tailspin, and another NRL club in New Zealand would send union fans into a spin as well.

[John bird]

On 12/05/2024 at 14:12, lucky 7 said:

Another NRL club in either Perth, Sydney or Brisbane would send AFL fans into a tailspin, and another NRL club in New Zealand would send union fans into a spin as well.

An NRL team based in Perth would have even less of an impact on the western Australian market than a AFL team based in Brisbane would.

As for another NRL team in Brisbane I think it would be much too soon after the dolphins and should be left for another decade or so while Sydney is oversaturated as it is.

[Sports Prophet]

On 12/05/2024 at 22:42, lucky 7 said:

Another NRL club in either Perth, Sydney or Brisbane would send AFL fans into a tailspin

I don’t think AFL fans think that much about RL as much as AFL bashing RL fans think they do. In my experience, AFL fans generally are not even derogatory about RL and open to the game. Especially those AFL fans outside of Melbourne.

On 14/05/2024 at 00:12, John bird said:

An NRL team based in Perth would have even less of an impact on the western Australian market than a AFL team based in Brisbane would.

I am not sure you are correct there. I think the biggest attendance for a sports fixture at Optus Stadium is the State of Origin fixture.

The double header last year had over 40k attending and crowds for the annual Sth Sydney matches at Perth Oval from ‘09-‘15 (no match in ‘10) were all 15k+ and increased every year up to over 20k in ‘13, ‘14 and ‘15.

If Perth can regularly draw 12k+ for basketball, I think it would be pretty damning for the NRL if a Perth club couldn’t regularly get crowds of 15k+.

[Sports Prophet]

I was in Adelaide today and drove past Hindmarsh Stadium. Holding 16k, it is a tidy and accessible stadium which would be great to see an Adelaide franchise playing there every fortnight.

Won’t be a priority for 20 years I feel.

Edited May 15, 2024 by Sports Prophet

[Eddie]

11 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

I was in Adelaide today and drove past Hindmarsh Stadium. Holding 16k, it is a tidy and accessible stadium which would be great to see an Adelaide franchise playing there every fortnight.

Won’t be a priority for 20 years I feel.

Could call them the Rams? 

[Sports Prophet]

12 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Could call them the Rams? 

I’d go with the Adelaide Brewers

[John bird]

2 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

I was in Adelaide today and drove past Hindmarsh Stadium. Holding 16k, it is a tidy and accessible stadium which would be great to see an Adelaide franchise playing there every fortnight.

Won’t be a priority for 20 years I feel.

Was that the same stadium the rams played in?