Western Bears

[Sports Prophet]

As we get closer to the announcement of the Western Bears to enter the NRL as team 18, here is a nice (albeit very short) article on the ABC website about Royce Hunt’s story growing up in rural WA minefields and his unlikely journey to become a NRL player in this weekend’s Semi Finals.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-20/royce-hunt-kalgoorlie-wa-to-nrl-finals-cronulla-/104359832

Edited September 20, 2024 by Sports Prophet

[Click]

3 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

As we get closer to the announcement of the Western Bears to enter the NRL as team 18, here is a nice (albeit very short) article on the ABC website about Royce Hunt’s story growing up in rural WA minefields and his unlikely journey to become a NRL player in this weekend’s Semi Finals.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-20/royce-hunt-kalgoorlie-wa-to-nrl-finals-cronulla-/104359832

https://www.totalrl.com/forums/index.php?/forum/66-the-australian-rugby-league-forum/

[Gerrumonside ref]

Will they play in North Sydney Bears traditional red and black kit?

Or are there some state colours around Perth that might get incorporated?

[Damien]

19 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Will they play in North Sydney Bears traditional red and black kit?

Or are there some state colours around Perth that might get incorporated?

The North Sydney Bears colours are very similar to the old Perth Western Reds colours with both featuring predominantly red, black and white. I'd imagine it's going to be easy to come up with a design with a nod to both those setups using those colours.

[Sports Prophet]

4 hours ago, Click said:

https://www.totalrl.com/forums/index.php?/forum/66-the-australian-rugby-league-forum/

Are you just going to discuss against me for whatever reason now?

I kind of think the Western Bears is a big enough subject worthy of the General Forum. I kind of think the majority of the forum will find the Western Bears story worthy of a spot on the general RL page.

[Sports Prophet]

2 hours ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Will they play in North Sydney Bears traditional red and black kit?

Or are there some state colours around Perth that might get incorporated?

WA state colours are Black and Gold. That combo will not be used. Expect the traditional Black and Red of N Sydney to feature prominently with a flash of white.

[Griff]

8 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

As we get closer to the announcement of the Western Bears to enter the NRL as team 18, here is a nice (albeit very short) article on the ABC website about Royce Hunt’s story growing up in rural WA minefields and his unlikely journey to become a NRL player in this weekend’s Semi Finals.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-20/royce-hunt-kalgoorlie-wa-to-nrl-finals-cronulla-/104359832

Awesome.   How tough do you need to be to play rugby league in a minefield?

[unapologetic pedant]

1 hour ago, Griff said:

Awesome.   How tough do you need to be to play rugby league in a minefield?

Irresponsible dog-owners can turn pitches into "a bit of a minefield".

[Eddie]

2 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

Are you just going to discuss against me for whatever reason now?

I kind of think the Western Bears is a big enough subject worthy of the General Forum. I kind of think the majority of the forum will find the Western Bears story worthy of a spot on the general RL page.

No mate evidently people have to scour the obscure sub forums to check nobody has posted anything similar before we’re allowed to post now. 

[unapologetic pedant]

10 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

As we get closer to the announcement of the Western Bears to enter the NRL as team 18, here is a nice (albeit very short) article on the ABC website about Royce Hunt’s story growing up in rural WA minefields and his unlikely journey to become a NRL player in this weekend’s Semi Finals.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-20/royce-hunt-kalgoorlie-wa-to-nrl-finals-cronulla-/104359832

Is it too late for Western Sharks?

Have to think North Sydney Bears would have pulled more than 19k at Allianz for a semi v Cowboys.

[Anita Bath]

Got to think it would have been much bigger if it hadnt clashed with the AFL prelim final next door. All comes down to the two codes ( or their TV partners) not willing to collaborate on days and times of games.

[StandOffHalf]

What war would the WA mine-fields be from?

Would they be left over from WWII or what? 

I'm surprised that Hunt was playing football in a mine-field. That seems very dangerous.

[sam4731]

20 hours ago, Eddie said:

No mate evidently people have to scour the obscure sub forums to check nobody has posted anything similar before we’re allowed to post now. 

After all, everything is political if you boil it down. I personally think we should move everything over to the politics sub forum.

[Sports Prophet]

Western Bears Facebook group is already up to 6.3k followers. 

Hopefully they can somewhat replicate the new Tasmanian AFL team by opening up new cheap memberships from the get go. That team opened up $10 memberships and have near on 200,000 members. A milestone only five sporting teams around the globe hold.

I think they could do very well and eclipse any existing NRL club if they do it properly.

Of course, $10 memberships in AFL or League is not going to be a feature when teams start playing, but it will do well to prove concept.

[The Rocket]

5 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

That team opened up $10 memberships and have near on 200,000 members. A milestone only five sporting teams around the globe hold.

 so fumbleball, the hubris knows no end. Meanwhile the swans with their 70k members averaged 23k viewers per game on channel 7 this year.

Edited September 22, 2024 by The Rocket

[Sports Prophet]

1 hour ago, The Rocket said:

 so fumbleball, the hubris knows no end. Meanwhile the swans with their 70k members averaged 23k viewers per game on channel 7 this year.

I’m not sure what that has to do with anything Rocket, but seeing as you mentioned the Swans, what they also averaged for 2024 were 39k fans in the stadium spending a wedge per person, in case that means anything to you.

[Copa]

The NRL are dissatisfied with the Bears consortium are offering and want to work directly with the WA government to help create a business model for a new NRL team. 

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/the-western-bears-bid-is-dead-nrl-severs-ties-with-consortium-after-low-ball-proposal-20241008-p5kgql.html

Edited October 8, 2024 by Copa

[Copa]

V’landys clearly wants the Bears to make another offer but this time with different people as part of the consortium to establish the club. 

[Sports Prophet]

New talk is for a NRL owned venture in partnership with the WA Gov’t which would include the Bears.

The Cummins cohort is said to have included characters with questionable business interests as major stakeholders of any proposed club. Strange that the WA Gov’t hadn’t detected any such issues in their DD.

Its not all over yet, but its further than being revealed as the 18/19th club than many had expected.

[nadera78]

8 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

New talk is for a NRL owned venture in partnership with the WA Gov’t which would include the Bears.

The Cummins cohort is said to have included characters with questionable business interests as major stakeholders of any proposed club. Strange that the WA Gov’t hadn’t detected any such issues in their DD.

Its not all over yet, but its further than being revealed as the 18/19th club than many had expected.

For a sport that relies on gambling addicts for a large proportion of its income, I'm very curious as to what these questionable business interests might be.

[Sports Prophet]

Deleted

Edited October 9, 2024 by Sports Prophet

[Copa]

The ABC are reporting there was previously so much confidence regarding the Bears a launch event was scheduled for 10 October. Not anymore!

[Sports Prophet]

It’s a shame that this change of events hasn’t changed PVLs mind that a Perth team needs to feature the N Sydney Bears