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The shifting of the ‘Cronulla’ Sharks to Central Queensland is but the first step the NRL must take in a program of relocation critical to reaching new markets and dealing the imbalance in Sydney teams.
Throughout season 2013 it has become clear that there are simply too many NRL teams in Sydney, playing games at or close to their traditional homes. For the game to survive and compete with codes that have a wider demographic footprint, the following six decisions are needed.
1 – Respond to ASADA
ASADA made it very clear at the start of this year that all players of all codes were involved in drug taking and match fixing which is why nine months later we are still waiting to hear what specifically that means.
What is certain though is that they will recommend Cronulla would cheat a lot less if they were above the Tropic of Capricorn which is why the first relocation makes perfect sense.
The Sharks are currently playing in front of their fans in Cronulla but there are also lots of fans in Central Queensland and it makes perfect sense to move a team out of the crowded Sydney market into an untapped area with great potential.
Besides, the fans from Cronulla can watch their team play away games since there are too many teams in Sydney.
2 – Secure NSW regional areas
Of the remaining nine teams from NSW a truly staggering eight of them play most of their games in Sydney, with only Newcastle catering for regional areas.
The following two relocations should occur immediately to secure the Illawarra and Central Coast areas from clubs that are already playing regular games in the areas: Manly Warringah Sea Eagles to Central Coast and the St George Illawarra Dragons to Wollongong.
Both of these clubs may have long proud histories in Sydney and thousands of fans but there are also fans in Gosford and Wollongong who don’t have a team and both of these areas could be lost to other codes if immediate action is not taken.
Existing fans can still be catered for by watching their team play away games since there are so many teams in Sydney.
3 – Second Brisbane team
Having secured Central Queensland the code must address the dire situation in Brisbane where there is a team that is enormous successful.
As the AFL have shown with the Sydney Swans, it is important that any successful and popular team is forced to reduced their market and compete with another team in order to grow the game.
While there are excellent proposals being made for an expansion team a more logical decision would be to move the Parramatta Eels to Brisbane.
The Eels may have huge popularity and lots of members but there are too many teams in Sydney and there has to be a second team in Brisbane in order to weaken the Broncos. Anyway, disgruntled Parramatta fans from Parramatta can just watch the team when they play away games against all the Sydney Teams.
4 – Build the National Footprint
Having secured the rest of NSW and Queensland, the game must look at the small footprint it has across the country, especially when compared to the AFL.
Most of the teams play in NSW and Queensland, states that are full of rugby league fans, ignoring the states that have no rugby league fans.
To be taken seriously as a national code, there must be a presence in AFL strongholds Perth and Adelaide.
These markets are so critical to the success of the game that it makes sense to move existing teams with strong brands and an existing rivalry into the markets instead of having to start from scratch.
Therefore, I recommend moving the South Sydney Rabbitohs to Perth and the Sydney Roosters to Adelaide.
While this may appear bold, especially since both of these teams have huge numbers of fans in Sydney and are already enormously popular, it is important to remember that there people who live in Perth and Adelaide and the code will wither and die if we do not give them a team.
Furthermore, as there are too many Sydney teams, the existing fans can still enjoy watching their team when they play away games.
5 – Conquer International Frontiers
The preceding four steps are critical for making sure that people can’t complain about too many Sydney teams and how there should be more teams playing in areas that don’t have any league fans, but as rugby union fans are only too keen to point out, the game is very weak internationally.
Being able to silence those union supporters is only possible if the NRL makes the following relocations: Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs to Wellington and Penrith Panthers to Port Moresby.
Both the New Zealand and Papua New Guinea capital cities are perfect for NRL clubs since they are both cities that are not in Sydney and are full of league fans currently supporting their own domestic competition.
These are fans who could be watching the NRL instead!
While both the Panthers and Bulldogs have lots of fans and extensive networks of juniors in their communities there are simply too many teams in Sydney and any fans too silly to understand why their team has to leave the country can always watch them when they play away games.
6 – Solving the Melbourne Issue
At this point of the relocation program the terrible problems of too many Sydney NRL teams will be solved with only one team remaining.
At this point, the genius of relocating the Sydney teams to new markets reaches its peak as the final two problems facing the code are solved with a pair of relocations.
Problem A – Sydney now has one NRL team, the Wests Tigers, a team not as popular as they should be according to people who write on the internet.
Problem B – Melbourne still has the Storm who get less fans to home games then AFL teams.
Therefore, we need to do the following. Move the Wests Tigers to Melbourne and the Melbourne Storm to Sydney.
While this may seem bizarre, the statistics tell a different story. Firstly, there are two AFL clubs called the Tigers and Magpies that get huge crowds in Melbourne so an NRL team that has both Tigers and Magpies in its name couldn’t possible fail.
And secondly, the Storm have always drawn huge crowds in Sydney, much larger than the actual Sydney clubs. Indeed they have played in front of more than 80,000 fans at the Olympic Stadium on five occasions in the past decade.
In the new competition the Sydney Storm will play every game, home or away, at this Stadium so any NRL fans left in Sydney can sit hundreds of metres away from their old team.
Anyone who scoffs at this proposal should be aware that it is really the only sensible thing to do.
The alternative is to allow the future of NRL teams to be determined by the fans that built the clubs and have been supported them all their lives.
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