Cash-strapped QRU chasing dollars from ARU

Now thats some good news for the REDS 23-18... who'd have thought! Well done boys!!!

Here is my plan. Firstly. I believe Suncorp to be the ideal place for Super rugby. Super Rugby needs to be a stadium sport. Not a suburban back lot game. However, the economics do not stack up. So unless the QLD government who owns and manages Suncorp Stadium decides to cut the Reds a much better deal, the Reds must return to Ballymore. Now what to do with Ballymore. There are a few things that need to be done to get it up to standard for the Reds and the Roar. 1. Upgrade the lights. 2. Clean it up. With some decent landscaping you could have a very attractive boutique ground. Take a leaf (pardon the pun) from places like Wimbledon (yes i know this sounds odd!) or golf clubs, and get some hedging, climbing vines etc. Make it look good to the eye so that it is more than your local club ground. Eventually replace the demountable toilets and get some real ones too. It's like they need a barkyard blitz team to go in. 3. Put on after game entertainment so that people have 'somewhere' to go. Because currently there is nothing, and it might mean that everyone doesn't try to leave Herston at the same time. 4. Get council to build a footbridge across the creek right behind the ground that links straight on to Murray St. Walk five blocks in straight line up Murray st and you are at Wilston Station. This will provide another public transport option. Current bridges crossing the creek take fans away from that direction. 5. Shift the front ticket gate on the Clyde Road side so that a proper ring road can be made around the number two oval. With some decent set down areas clearly marked showing destinations, buses can use this to bring fans in and out. This will require that parking is no longer provided at the ground (there's none at Suncorp). They could perhaps do very limited parking and flog it for a song to rich romantics This will free up the streets for buses and taxi's and take the buses into Ballymore rather than have them parked outside residents homes. This might help to abate some of the niggle between QRU and residents. It might also mean that the buses move quicker and people are more willing to get on one. Strict no parking throughtout Herston shoudl also apply just as with the Gabba or Suncorp. anyway just some thoughts... go on tear em apart....

Would the Reds ever draw a crowd on the Gold Coast? Surely if they were playing a Kiwi side, they are enough Kiwis there to get a crowd? They did play a game in Townsville a few years ago, I dont remember what the crowd was, but I dont imagine it would have been a sellout.

No. it would mean the end of Queensland Rugby. The private investors would not be able to afford to pay enough to the QRU to make it worthwhile for the QRU to sell, and still have enough to invest in running the team. They would virtually have to pay twice. And as a born and bred coastie I am very very sceptical about them getting crowds beyond 10k. get around to the pubs and clubs on the GC and try and find the rugby on. Its league and AFL territory down there.

Both the Roar and the Reds suffer from the same issue. They dont make a profit on games at Suncorp for crowds under 20k. And with no smaller boutique ground in Brisbane, neither team really has a better option.

Maybe Queensland Rugby can sell off the Reds to the private investors that were going to set up a Gold Coast Team; this would save the Reds and Queensland rugby at the some time, wouldn’t it??

very good points. we'll be pushing sh*t uphill trying not to lose players whether they're forwards or backs. not good.

I always thought that the Reds have attracted decent crowds when you consider their poor performance, they average around 18-20k for the past few years, and their performances have been crap. If the Reds had anything like the success of the Brumbies, they would probably draw crowds similar to the Broncos. Im not sure if there has been a cleanout of Qld management over the years, but the QRU have dropped the ball in almost every department. Financially they are screwed, player recruitment is hopeless (one only has to look at the number of Qlders playing for Brumbies, Tahs and Force). Prior to Super 14 coming along, it wasnt so bad. You didnt have the Force stealing players and back then there wasnt as much demand from overseas clubs. Now the QRU also have to contend with the Rebels, and I suspect that with the guys they have on board (Waldron, McQueen), it will be a well run team and successful. Given the issues facing the Queensland Roar, maybe SE Qld is not the sporting solution for everybody, just RL. Both the Roar and the Reds are struggling, and the only thing keeping GCU afloat are the pockets of I hope this year the Reds have some success to go with their entertaining style, they are certainly one of the teams to watch...I picked them to dethrone the Chiefs tonight.

I'm most worried about Higginbotham, Schatz, Simmons and our props. Over the past 12-24 months it has been the forward pack where QLD has fallen far short. I believe we need some continuity in developing a pack mentality - something you can't do with a constantly revolving door. We saw the makings of a good forward pack in the first couple of games this year but we need to shore this up and develop it over the next two years - currently we can't accommodate injuries or defections to other teams without losing significant capacity in our engine room. This was clearly evident when looking at the result of Horwill being out of the team. Develop and nurture a solid effective forward pack and our star outside backs (Ioane, Hynes, Cooper, Morahan and Davies) will feel comfortable staying (well maybe not Hynes who's agent doesn't appear to be doing his job - massaging his cleints egos).

I think Quade will stay but am pretty confident Hynes will go to the Rebels.

I feel for you Reds Fan How are they going to be able to keep Hynsie and QC ??????

This will undoubtedly ensure that the Reds lose at least 7 players to the Rebels or Force this year. There will be an absolute lack of confidence in the administration. The 'back to ballymore' crew will get what they want be default, through falling crowd numbers and poor on field performance. Being at ballymore will ensure the new crowd bedrock will settle at about 10-12k. A disturbingly poor result for a team in the so-called premier provincial rugby comp in the southern hem. This will set back the development of QLD rugby more than ten years. We better get used to being the team no one wants to play for.

this probably isn't that unexpected, considering the news a few weeks back that the QRU would only be passing on $50K of the $80K ARU grants to premier clubs. Certainly a worry when a major union is cash poor. And that's now both of them in the last ten years....