South Australia needed in expansion, Gallop says

So then the Super 16 competition is top dog? Thought not

I feel sorry for anyone who falls for the tradition rhetoric. It would make sense if Sydney supported its NRL clubs to the same extent as the Melbournians support their AFL clubs, but that isn't the case. The small crowds, poor membership numbers and scarcity of juniors coming out of Sydney proves the area is not fit to sustain 9 NRL clubs. Sydney fans may not want to admit it, but rugby league in Australia has outgrown Sydney's early 20th century first-grade competition. The few traditionalists who argue for a 20th-century NSW-based NRL are living in a bygone era. An era when their competition was able to become the dominant competition in Australia for no other reason than it was based in a state that allowed Leagues clubs to collect revenue from gambling, while the other stronghold for rugby league in Australia, Queensland, prohibited its Leagues clubs from doing the same. The only thing keeping many of the Sydney clubs alive is benevolence from the NRL and QRL. Without the QRL there wouldn't be enough talent to keep the 9 Sydney-based NRL clubs competitive. WIthout the Broncos, Cowboys and Titans there would be far less revenue coming into the game. Without the Queensland Cup then players like Daly Cheery-Evans wouldn't be where they are today. Without the QRL and Queensland's love of rugby league then the representative game would be dead. NSW rugby league takes more than it gives. Propping up ailing Sydney clubs that are decades past their use-by date is only prolonging their inevitabe closure. One day they're going to fold. Each year the NRL invests millions of dollars into propping up these clubs is time and money that could be spent on developing the game in new markets. That money could be spent on keeping the game's best players in the game, increasing the base salary so that more children choose rugby league as their chosen career path, and improving grassroots development in all areas across the country (rural and urban).

Adrian Spot on champ.The Roosters are a classic example.They have as many juniors ,as an outback kindergarten.Shrewd buying got them into a grand final.There are players out there who leave the game,because they don't get the opportunities.

Mark Agree they should never forget the homelands.In fact I am an advocate for both Brisbane 2 and the central coast,however I can't see FTM 3 new sides coming in for the next expansion phase. I honestly believe Perth will be one, and a dogfight between Banana 2 and Central Coast. This empire encompasses only 22million oxygen thieves,we are therefore a closely knit bunch,who love to argue over the merits of each one's preferred sport.I mean, its what we fought for. PS I don't believe you have any worries re the Broncs.They actually make money and are a truly professional club,which is more than I can say for one or two other clubs within the game.

I trust it not the survey taken by Sweeney when it was found the majority of those interviewed (600) came from the southern states LOL. Sweeney's surveys at times have been ridiculed,just by the questioning alone I have experienced. Regardless it does not alter the fact,that a 3 match series with a huge viewing audience plus a G/F also with a massive viewing audience,is going to attract sponsors,advertisers ,viewers and attendees. That is what marketing ,and reveneue is derived. The SOO has nothing ot do with the seasonal competition.It is a financial bonus to the code and players.

There wasn't much more when the Swans arrived,the junior base practically non existent in Sydney.Anycase Adelaide is not on the radar for rl,which I cannot understand, why the knockers are getting their knees in a knot.

Yeah it is quite strange that Melbourne seems to struggle more to attract NRL attendances at games than Adelaide or even Perth. There is I guess the idea that there's a novelty factor kind of thing. But what seems just as likely is the market saturation, both in terms of media and quite possibly in terms of AFL teams based in Melbourne. I guess it's a bit like in the UK. Soccer is lord, but Rugby Union and Rugby League have their place and usually get up to and sometimes into the five figure size. Of course these areas have had the code for sometimes up to a hundred and fifty years, but there was a time when Soccer was still king, and RL started up and drew quality crowds in the context of course of the oldest Football League of the world. It just takes time. The question really is do Adelaide people want to explore the possibility?

Wow if only we took away all that had tradition. Oh that's right we do that...all the time in the code wars arguments. But if we don't have tradition, what does our support for a team mean...oh that's right, only that I support them when I feel like it ;) Thus if we want a second Brisbane team it's possible we need to find one of the Queensland Cup teams from the area. Better yet add a second one to avoid everyone becoming fans of the Broncos out of deference to their old clubs.

Well no Gridiron's America's game isn't it ;) That'd be dumb. I was just saying RL's different enough that it's possible people watch Origin as it is purported to be the showpiece of the code, because it isn't Australian Football, but it is still Australian and has oodles of history here. Which means up to a point there is enough similarity and thus bankability for advertisers, but with a different demographic which can quite possibly work alongside the Australian Football advertising machine where some people think there's only friction.

shouldnt discount the popularity of the Adelaide United soccer club either, one of the best attended outside Melbourne, and benefitting from strong support at the moment.

Not just that, AFL clubs generate as much - some more - money as they receive from the tv distribution. Club revenues from gate takings are on par with tv revenue - and thats before we get to sponsorship and corporate support. This is what the NRL is missing.

Here's an 18-team NRL competition model that could work: QLD Teams Brisbane Broncos North Queensland Cowboys Central Queensland Capras Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles Gold Coast Titans Ipswich Jets Logan Scorpions NSW Teams Newcastle Knights Central Coast Sharks North Sydney Bears Wests Tigers Parramatta Eels Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs Illawarra Dragons Non-Heartland Area Teams Canberra Raiders New Zealand Warriors Western Australia Reds Melbourne Storm Future Expansion Areas for a 20 team comp: Adelaide New Zealand/PNG

Sheek "Rugby union is happy to simply keep the blinkers on. Perhaps if they pretend hard enough, AFL, NRL & A-League will simply disappear!" Riiight...so expanding to Perth and Melbourne was all about keeping the blinkers on, so too the reformatted super rugby competition this year, the new advertising campaign for the World Cup, and the support of 7s rugby as a viable pathway etc etc. Sorry mate, I don't buy your pessimism. For me rugby is going great guns, no need to death ride it. Meanwhile we still await the mythical rugby league commission,while discussing the same old rugby league expansion plans - talk about ground hog day!

it is always funny reading a thread like this. The people who are pro something throw up all sorts of stats etc. Those against go the other way. Does it really matter. The truth is they got 15,000 people last week to a game that was played in the worst conditions and the crowd loved it. Whats wrong with that. Melbourne Storm survive in a very tough market dominated by a media which is very very biased for its local sport = afl. Whats wrong with that? Let the AFL grow, let the NRL grow there is room for them all. Why are we all so scared to say the other sport is a good one or has good points?

phew panic attack over

The Bush, It can be confusing. The City of Sydney has less than 150,000 people. It's the combined population of the dozens of LGAs that are spread out over the the greater Sydney area that make up the 4,000,000 figure that is touted by the government. Greater Sydney is not an actual city, but a statistical area. Same as greater Brisbane, greater, Perth, greater Melbourne, etc. They bunch LGAs together and fit them under the one statistical area name when there are characteristics that are shared by the people. What I find disheartening is CIty of Sydney having two teams and the City of Brisbane having one. The City of Sydney has less than 150,000 citizens. The CIty of Brisbane has over 1,000,000 citizens. All of the nonsense that's used to justify their existence of the Rabbitohs and Easts -- IE. tradition -- doesn't cut it in today's age. The City of Sydney should not have a team at all because it's too small and lacks the junior base to support a team. Ipswich can have a team of its own because it has such a large junior base, but City of Sydney needs to get out of the NRL and not come back until it can breed its own talent.

If I'm a junior player in western Sydney and penrith parramatta and Canterbury have all passed up on signing me I'll sign with the Adelaide Rams, Perth Reds, Wellington Orcas or the Melbourne Storm having juniors is over rated, Sydney clubs will still pouch Queenslanders if their three NRL teams don't won't to sign them. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.

as soon as raaf richmond closes to a maintenance base the western sydney afl clubs will struggle and that is a fact

All sounds good CC, I just hope NRL don't forget about the homelands in pursuit of foreign glory. Many a great empire have spread their wings too far and come crashing down. I like my team to stay healthy! -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.

Xman afl games go for three hours, because of the length of the matches, you'll always have games on at the same time, simultaneously, therefore cannonbalising ratings its very hard for the AFL to have 2 games on Friday night. whereas rugby league, you can have two matches on starting from 7:30 with a live game, followed by a delayed one at 9:30pm If the AFL wanted to do something similar, it be like live game 7:30, delayed second game at 10:30 with the delayed match finishing at 1 or 1:30 in the morning.