Titans fail again, but Prince and Cartwright safe for now

bjt, thought I had stumbled across a novel there old mate. Apologies if this reply is out of context, however you are correct about Beattie not paying for Broncos tickets, probably because the Qld Govt own Suncorp. The new Premier ( Newman ) has stopped that practice at all grounds in Qld, and well done to him for that. Also the Broncos pay a transport levy , based on crowd figures, for the free public transport to the ground.

I think the question should be, who would get into bed with the FFA and Frank Lowy. Gillard gave them about 12 million of our dollars to get the World Cup, and what happened, bugger all, thats what. A couple of low life middle men got rich for making a couple of introductions. At least its Clives own money, and he likes league, so I like him. He stuck it to Lowy , and perhaps he should work on Gallop next.

Exactly Crosscoder, just because the tickets were given out, does not mean that they were used. Goes to show that there must be some people on the Coast with taste.

You see the COE was part of the footy,therein lies the problem. Who stated he was a financial genius because he started the Ttitans?. The media?.He failed on his first attempt for starters Thinking outside the square perhaps,but at times, that can lead you into traps. He secured a place for the Titans in the NRL ,so he was successful in that regard. Yet if the GFC hadn't arisen,he would have been a genius. He has amassed assets of $16.5m with homes and real estate ,that hardly makes him a financial failure . Just about every entrepeneur has had his fingers burnt along the way,due to an error of judgement.He hads had his burnt big time.

Wow bjt...that's gotta be a world record response ;) I tried reading but you lost me with: "On that theme, the wild horses of the America, feral if you will, while powerful animals they are, are by no means the only animal out on that prairie. Just like any food chain in a competitive environment, they need to be adaptive and smart to survive."

The argument of population is moot within this realm, no matter how much we consider ourselves experts and thoroughly research Wikipedia, we do not have the facts and the figures that really determine if a NRL team is sustainable or not. How do we know what the crowd expectations are and need to be, or the required average yearly income of the potential fans, or how many jersey designs do they need to make in a season, so the diehard fans can keep the CEO’s Ferrari polished. We use our experience, logic and common sense. As for example I would suggest a team in Tom Price, in the middle of WA as a future venture, but my common sense kicks in telling me it might not work and could be deemed as silly. However, my logic and experience tells me that a team in CQ would work successfully, due to the Central Queensland region being the biggest consumer of Steeden footballs and it is where Dave Taylor comes from. Yes, others of course discount these hard facts and perform hours of in-depth google analysis of the region, finding and using the holy grail of debate, a number, one that forms the basis of their unbeatable argument. I simply cannot compete with that. My experience of the NRL does tell me though that while they love massive crowds, this is clearly not their highest priority, as they would have removed teams like the Sharks and Penrith long ago. The fact they remain suggests to me they have other higher priorities. Of course by no means am I suggesting the NRL does not have a successful business structure or that they do not have the right people in the right places to administer the game is a successful manner, the success of the Titans is proof enough of that. I just have my doubts about Gallop though, foolish as I am, I doubt his plan of staying close to safe little borrow because of the big bad bogie man, known as Super League - I read it on its tombstone, is still hiding behind a tree, ready to pounce. But we should trust him no matter how big those carrots in the North are, and it shouldn’t be a problem to squander our meagre territory to lesser pests, there’s plenty to share in our lettuce patch. On that theme, the wild horses of the America, feral if you will, while powerful animals they are, are by no means the only animal out on that prairie. Just like any food chain in a competitive environment, they need to be adaptive and smart to survive. Why they represent my team in the NRL I do not know. I think is solely down to the B B thing. However, as minor as this appears, this is the true reason they are so popular in Brisbane. Clearly the AFL must have tried to copy it with the Bears and surly why the Crushers failed. The Broncos on the other hand have never taken this lightly and with their buckets of cash and their puppets in the Queensland government (Bettie never paid for a ticket in his life), have made sure it will never happen again and nothing will threaten their crowd numbers. This reign of tyranny started from the Broncos when they forced AFL “cover” merger and subsequent name change to the Lions, then came the eviction of the Bullets, and who can forget all the controversy they kicked up late last year with that potential new team, the Bombers. Luckily, with the help from our good friends in the NSW, they’ve been squashed. Really, how dare they try to start another team in Brisbane? The Bulls are lucky for now and have been strictly instructed to never refer to themselves as Brisbane and Queensland only, and never to transfer the ball from one player’s hands to another set of hands in a passing motion. Additionally this is the reason why the Brisbane 20/20 team was branded the unfortunate name, Heat (go the Heats!) and their colour a lovely teal, as not to be refereed to as Blue. And lets not forget the Reds that will never be referred to as their traditional name, which can only shown as their logo. You might be thinking about the Bandits? Well they wouldn’t play ball, but not even the Broncos take baseball seriously. I did meet a stranger at the bus stop the other day, who said he was off to a soccer game, of course I branded him a liar instantly, but he ensured me that the soccer is played in Queensland and this team “Roar” were quite successful. I told him to get back to work as he was clearly wearing a workman’s high vis shirt. One thing is for sure though, the people of Brisbane don’t go to the Broncos because they like sport rugby league. Talking about other codes, one thing I like about the AFL is that it has chosen not to call itself NAFL, while I do think it’s a cool name (as an initialism); its fans do not have to live with the constant shame and the submission of a free point in the pub code wars, by the use of the term “National”. One of my dreams is to one day sit down to my 1000 inch Apple LCDLEDSMPT TV to watch the Darwin Dingos continue their 3 game winning streak against the Hobart Hobgoblins to scrap into the finals, while Western W-Reds secure the minor premiership and gain an instant birth to the Champions Rugby League League, having to face the grim prospect of taking on the mighty Cameron Smith coached Tokyo Tornados, after the Australian finals. But alas this is a long way away, but as stubborn as I may be, I will not submit calling my beloved game a national competition until I have all my teams, and even though the NRL have met the strict Australian standard of a National sport with their decadal games in Hobart and Darwin. While I may dream big, it’s going to be tough ride adapting to the high demands of sport in the modern era, especially with our old fashion fans with their old fashion motives. Gone must be the days of liking, hating, loving or love to hating players. In the name of progress, they must be all treated equally and I for one curse myself whenever I call Paul Gallen a grub, Geoff Toovey a bum, Hayne overrated and that evil GBird unlikable. I accept that I am part of the problem, and no matter how much fun it takes out of the sport, I will not rest until the day that all the statues are pulled from their foundation and the expression “he gets bums on seats” is stricken from game! I believe it must start in schools as an education program, the kids must be taught early that having a favourite player is wrong and that even thought Billy Slater just ran in five tries to knock their team out of the finals, they must be graceful in defeat, of course cherished him and pick a new team to follow.

Queensland's rugby league fans are very parochial. The Broncos have been successful because they've invested in local juniors and brought as many champion Queenslanders "back home" as possible since 1988.

bjt 1) Population is not "a moot point". It affects crowds, memberships, corporate sponsors and revenue. Just because people in Sydney don't go to games, doesn't mean the NRL will accept small crowds elsewhere. It's a critical factor they will consider when selecting an expansion area. 2) The Broncos ARE a stand-alone club. They don't, as u suggest, compete with the Roar for supporters. There's one team the locals can support in the NRL...nuff said. 3) AFL "is not a truly national competition"? You think? Premiership games are played in all the states and territories and this has been happening for years (Tas, ACT and NT included). There are derbies in 5 cities (if you incl Bris v GC)...that's about as national as you're gonna get. 4) "Titans haven’t won any fans in QLD with the inclusion of GBird in the Titans. It’s just part of almost every sport in the world mate." Really? Do the Barca fans in Spain hate Messi cos he's Argentinian? Or did the Real Madrid fans hate Zidane cos he was French? How do Dallas Mavericks fans feel about Dirk Nowitzki being German? Or do Everton fans hate Timmy Cahill cos he's an Aussie? The idea that fans will support a player only if he's from that particular region is just so dated...and frankly, does not work in modern professional sport.

If CQ is overlooked I won’t be surprised. When has the NRL made a good decision?

Searle though should be replaced with a board of directors, the Titans shouldn't be ran by a one man show. The ARLC can sort out what to do with Searle's tenure with the Titans.

Latest news :Centre of excellence sold ,debts repaid to bankersThe $25m figure was in fact a media myth.Surprise ,surprise the media stuffed it again with their guesswork. Searle set out to sell it,he has done so.So much for the dumb accountant. descsription some throw up.His big mistake was getting involved in development and getting hit with the GFC as many others have done and failed and still others continue to feel the effects.. The club can now concentrate on what is is intended to do, play and promote the game on the GC,where there is a huge junior base and in rl heartland.

"Likewise Souths Logan represent logan through to south side of the city." You said they were based in Logan. There's a big difference between representing a city and being based in it. "For what its worth Rugby league is played in NSW ( more specifically western suburbs NSW) and Brisbane. Nobody else is interested in “the greatest game of all” its a poor mans rugby union." Rugby league is Papua New Guinea's national sport. PNG has a population of 6,000,000. The game is not confined to Brisbane and the western suburbs of greater Sydney. It's very popular throughout Queensland, rural NSW, Auckland and northern England. The game is developing a following across a few nations in mainland Europe as well as northern Africa, the Middle East and North America. You could very well be right about Searle. His business model is in ruins.

Once again it’s a Central Queensland Bid, not Rockhampton Bid. Check out the website - www.cqnrlbid.com.au. I tried http://www.rockhamptonbid.com.au/ and there's nothing there. So go do some reading about the region, and learn something about the towns, people and industry, before stamping “not enough people” on their proposal. But about the population, you can do the maths to come up with whatever figures you need to justify why a team should not be put there. I for example could argue that Canberra of 350,000 gets 12k vs while the majority of Sydney teams get the same amount yet have potentially millions of people. Population is a moot arguing point. For the record the AFL is not a truly national competition. It represents 5 out of the 8 states/territories of Australia. NRL has 4 (5 if you include NZ). Super Rugby has 5 in Oz and A-League has 5 (6 plus NZ). So by no means is AFL any further past the other codes for a "national" comp. As has been pointed out to you AFL did not invent the concept of State representation. It abandoned its own concept and now has no representation at all. The other 3 codes do have the pinnacle of national and league is blessed with state as well. The broncos are a standalone club? Yes for league, but they do compete against the successful, Reds and Roar, and the not so successful (of recent times), Bears. And not to forget the QCup. Brisbane is not a one team town. Central Queensland on the other hand will be, not that league has to compete with other codes in Central Queensland. There is only one sport the people love there. Oh yeah, what about AFL purposely buying League players to promote their code in league land? Is that the right model? Titans haven't won any fans in QLD with the inclusion of GBird in the Titans. The wrong model would be to tell Queensland fans which players they love and hate. It's just part of almost every sport in the world mate. The one with a representation level anyway...

Lucky I didn't go to a Victorian school then. I'm not really interested in a pissing comp Boom...but the first inter-state carnival for Australian Footy was held in 1879, when Victoria beat Sth Aust by 7 goals to 3. These competitions continued until formal rules concerning 'Origin' were registered in 1977...NRL did the same in 1980. This isn't an attack on League, it's just history. bjt asked if I'd ever heard of Origin...well I have.

Why sydney teams get 9'000 to a game played torrential rain is irrelevant.....Central QLD will not be admitted because they cannot sustain a team - end of story.

@ Australian Rules "....the AFL invented the concept and then discarded it......." Rugby League utilised the concept as far back as 1895 but then that wouldn't be taught in Victorian schools. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_League_War_of_the_Roses

bjt Yes, I've heard of SoO...the AFL invented the concept and then discarded it and became a truly national competition. I don't doubt the immense success of SoO in the NRL (it is a fantastic spectacle), but by its very nature it not only excludes the entire country outside of NSW and QLD, it re-enforces the divisions in the game along state lines. In the long term it ultimately damages the spread and professionalism of the national game...and, by using Bird as an example, you've acknowledge my point. Local boys will always get special treatment from fans but if a player is disliked by the supporter base because he's from a different state, well...something's wrong with the model. Professional sport can't exist like that. As for the Broncos, it's the wrong example to cite because they have the single greatest advantage of any sporting team in the country. They are a stand-alone club in a city of 2Mil in RL heartland. They also cleverly branded themselves in the Maroon colours of Qld. 30,000 to each game should be a cinch. A more realistic comparison is Towny...or Canberra: it gets about 12k to each game, has about 8k members...but again, it has more than 4x the population of Rocky.

He needs to go? did you not hear, they did the ussual 5 year Titans deal with him, so even if you wanted to get rid of his sorry a@#e , you cant. This 5 year deals has to stop, that is nearly half your footy career, who in their right mind signs anyone up for half their working life. ? who. a 2 year deal with 2 year option is all you need these days. The 2 year option gives the clubs and players a equal get-out clause, with the added player compensation coming into the game, i think this will be sufficent without causing panic in the players union.

He should have concentrated on footy - thats all we are saying rather than reall estate development...

Yes, the NSW and Queensland crap is one of the biggest sporting rivalries on earth. You wont ever change that, and Mal is making sure we are hated more by now stealing a couple of NZers. :) Nice work Mal. ;) Rockhampton is the most passionaite region in Australia for Rugby league, they would walk over hot coals to get to a game, and would eat you alive if you ever messed with them. Rockhampton would be the best thing to ever happen to Queensland, it would open up a whole new expansion city and create untold wealth. Surely our new Commission can see this, i know Dave will probably have his eyes closed on this one as well, like he seen the Storm cap drama 5 years later, and like he never seen the Titans fiasco happening, even thou he was told and everyone else knew about it years ago. >??? duh.