NRL finals caught in pointless Shark net

Celtic - my point argued a reference to Cronulla receiving handouts by all other clubs to apparently constantly keep them alive. I never said they have not received any hand outs at all. Sadly the Cronulla administration need to shoulder a lot of blame over the past 10 years as to the predicament of the club. The future looks a lot brighter if it werent for a dark Asada cloud hanging in the horizon You obviously are not a fan of Cronulla, Manly or Easts, however i think you are a little naive if you think Wests Tigers and the Dragons were pulling in bigger crowds this year than the Sharks or Manly. The tigers nearly sell out Leichardt Oval games every year and they struggled to get past 10 000 there this year. Its normal for crowds not to go to games when their team arent performing well. The Sharks dont receive a lot of FTA TV so naturally viewer numbers will be down on their games. As to your comment about juniors, Penrith have a wonderful nursery to tap into with the Junior League development in Western Sydney. Its natural for any club to want to scout talent in said area. Its Cronulla's gain if Western Sydney clubs arent going to hold on to their own talent - Paul Gallen is a perfect example. Born and bred in Western Sydney, he was not wanted by Parramatta and Cronulla recruited him. One of the best forwards in the game today. Ive already stated that for a long term business model, the NRL needs to reduce the number of Sydney teams. I wouldnt be so harsh as to say they need to "wither and die". There is no point being so negative and having agendas against clubs you arent a fan of.

Brisbane had two teams the crushers despite being a cellar dweller outfit in their first season still averaged crowds of 21029 in their debut year. Then came the superleague split followed by the compromise which pardon the pun crushed them.They had no allies The Bronco's wanted them dead because they wanted to keep their Brisbane monopoly while on the ARL side the Sydney clubs wanted them gone because theyknew they were just taking up a valuable spot that could be filled by one of them. At the same time the AFL were busy sticking second teams in Adelaide and Perth to ensure that any League teams in those cities would not get the advantage of an AFL free weekend every second week, plus the massive financial hit of two derby games in the two cities every year. At the same time as League was giving rival codes a League free weekend in Brisbane every second week due to the self interst of all involved the AFL started making a concerted effort to ensure the basket case Brisbane AFL side became a serious premiership force which of course it did. This had a lasting impact back in the mid nineties the then Brisbane bears were averaging crowds around ten thousand today years after their glory period they still pull high teens, twenties for their gabba home games. Nearly twenty years on and Brisbane a city of 2.1 million still only has one NRL club still gives rival codes a free shot every second weekend, still sacrafices the massive revenue that two Brisbane derby games a year would give the NRL. Instead the NRL at the time still owned by News Ltd take the pissweak option of putting a team on the Gold Coast a noted graveyard for pro sporting franchises - if any relocations are required now News Ltd self interest is out of the way it is moving the Titans up the highway to the old QE11 at Mnt Gravatt calling them South Brisbane (to give themselves a distinct geographic identity) and give League in Brisbane what AFL has in Adelaide and Perth a true intre city rivalry.

Never got a handout ? Didn't you get $43 million "loyalty" money off Super League at the beginning of the NRL because you shared "the vision". What happened to that ? Here are the facts - 60% of your team are from western Sydney which has 2-3 clubs. You are from southern Sydney which has 3- 4 clubs. Despite the Woolooware development you remain cash flow negative. The development will deliver you about $1-$1.5 million pa which is what a popular Sydney club eg Souths SGI or Parra can secure in sponsorship in an average year. Your crowds may be up but a true measure of your popularity is what you attract when you come 12-16th and what viewers you attract on FTA TV. Sadly SGI, Parra Wests and Cbury are more popular when they're losing than when you're winning. Similar to Penrith you represent a small niche market in Sydney but unlike Penrith you need to recruit their juniors and Parra's to be viable. On that last note bring back transfer fees and/or a 13 import rule to reward these clubs plus Wests Souths SGI Newcastle and the Qld teams and watch Cronulla Manly and Easts wither and die _ I could only dream

The question is where would all the Sydney based NRL bad boys go if northies, bar 2230 (aka Blake ferguson memorial bar), Sting bar et al got shipped off on the back of a truck to Rockhampton.

Oikee - you are a persistent bugger, and I apologise for being rude. You're a one-eyed git, but I shouldn't be rude to you.

And one of those times is for the Boxing Day Test

Why are you still here? You promised to go away , just like your broncos you are nothing but a broken promise

Canberra may be a basketcase off the field but at least they aren't encouraging or inducing players at other clubs to break their contracts. At least they're sacking players who misbehave beyond acceptable limits. How exactly are Brisbane the scapegoats here? They didn't pick up on the obvious ability of a kid (Milford), he went to another club, Brisbane heard he has a get-out clause, and now they are trying to poach him when they have no grounds to. Are there regs against this kind of thing? Seems to me like Brisbane have just realised what they let go and are trying madly to make up for it. You reap what you sow - the Broncos didn't sow the Milford seed, the Raiders did. So by your logic the Broncos should get nothing out of it. For once your logic is correct! All of Canberra's youth who are so obviously disenchanted with the joint would have checked it out before signing a contract to play there - they knew what they were getting themselves in for. It's pretty poor for them to now turn around and ask to leave (a la Milford), or take the much-less-noble route of playing up and getting themselves sacked (a la Carney, Dugan and Ferguson) so they can go play elsewhere. That's their fault if they now feel this way. The Broncos have a big backyard, but they are rich and there is no salary cap restriction on talent scouts, perhaps if you placed a few more of them in the right areas players like Milford might get spotted by the Broncos, might feel valued by their home-town club and wouldn't leave in the first place?

I'm saying that the game should be focusing on consolidation rather than expansion. For instance, improving the crowds and support in the Sydney market. Consolidating Melbourne's crowds. Improving NQ's crowds - for a rugby league heartland their crowds over the last few years have been average. And improving Brisbane's as well - I mean come on, you are a one-team town, a city of 2m+, and you can't get more than 30,000 to a game - that's just over half-filling Suncorp. Manly probably gets more or the same % of their home ground filled for their home games. I reckon clubs like the Broncos need to focus on consolidating and expanding the support they currently have before the game can look at expanding. Common sense really.

He IS an inquisitive fellow...

Your not fighting me, your fighting growth, your saying dont let the cavemen explore, we dont want growth. I give up.

I dont want to argue Sleemo but whatever way you look at it, it now seems expansion to other cities is the way to go, or has the aFL Rugby Union and Soccer been doing it all wrong. Your not arguing against me, your arguing that to grow you should never expand, that is what you are saying.

A 100,000 seater in Brisbane, Australia's third-biggest city? No more than 65% the size of the second biggest? Origin at Suncorp sells out, have the Broncos ever sold out Suncorp 4 times in one season...or more to the point, have there ever been that many big games in a year in Brisbane that you can say 100,000 would attend? God no. The MCG hardly sells out five times a year, and that's a city full of AFL supporters who put ours (and Qld's) love/support of rugby league to shame. If rabit AFL supporters in a city of 3.5m people can't sell out the MCG five times in one year, a city of 3.5m (if Brisbane ever gets to that size) of rugby league fans will not even get close to doing so. Yep let's just build heaps and heaps of stadiums in cities that might grow bigger, just because, you know, they might get bigger...maybe...

ouch, must have pulled a tooth today. I dont hold grudges GW.

I've got nothing to make excuses for Oikee - two premierships in four seasons, in with a shot at this year's too. You're the one who's making excuses! No premierships since 2006...such a shame for a team from the "heartland" of rugby league! You'll forget what it's like to win a comp soon! I just responded to each of your claims and you can't answer that. You've got no backbone to your argument (and no backbone full stop) at all. No clue Oikee! No clue! Just like whoever's in charge of your Broncos' recruitment! Long lean years ahead for the ponies...and I at least have evidence (their poor finishes over the past 4 years, 2011 excluded) to point to.

I might be the village idiot, but truth is truth, you cant deny the truth, it is always their and it does come back to bite you. captains challenge coaches challenge, in the end it is all the same , just somebody making a challenge, to argue this just makes you look dumb. Take exception, the truth is that canberra are a basketcase and this was the last of the list of players they lost. It started with Carney, and just moved on from their, to a point where now Brisbane are the scapegoats. life is not like that, you reap what you sow, and Brisbane are now being forced into building academies in logan to stop canberra poaching our youth them trying to make us look like the baduns. Mate time to wake up, smell the roses and partician that basketcase city to build you a decent stadium so the youth want to stay. amen.

Your kidding yourself ,fill a 100,000 stadium , you need to go wash your face with water and then have a look at what you have just stated, Dean bulldog has written a nice article in relation to the real pride of the league , you felling sic yet ,,,,, he he he

Sleemo your full of air, Manly offered him this, Manly offered him that, mate nobody stayed because Manly lacks loyalty, once you admit that you can move on. Your like AAA meber, always someone else's fault, never Manly's. Anyhow, time to move on, nothing to see here, just someone hellbent on making excuses for a club with no loyalty, none whatsoever. amen.

If i didn't care i would say nothing. No ground of 100 thousand gets filled more than a few times a year. I would be happy to see a 110 thousand stadium filled at least 5 times a year. i think Brisbane could easily manage that once it is built, in 20 years time. Your mistake is you think i am talking today. by the time they decided to build this stadium, it would be in a city of 3 million or more, a area of close to 5 million in the southeast Queensland corner.. Yes, i remain a forward thinker.