Why the NRL will never be a truly national competition

The "NRL" has deep rooted problems in this regard due to the fact that there are:- a) the AFL has many more players from NSW/ACT & Qld than the NRL has had from outside of NSW/ACT & Qld (AFL - you could make NSW/ACT & Qld stand-along AFL State of Origin-eligible sides : NRL - 13 Western Australia RL juniors, 3 South Australia RL juniors, 6 Victoria RL juniors, 0 from Tasmania RL & 10 from Northern Territory RL; total of 32 over the NRL/NSWRL/Super League history) b) the AFL has 4 teams in NSW/ACT & Qld (admittedly, 2 very recently established) , the NRL has only 2 (including 1 in NZ) c) much more exposure of AFL in NSW/ACT & QLD (at least 2 matches per round in these areas most weeks) than the NRL has outside of NSW/ACT & Qld (2 matches at most, rarely 3 or more outside per round) d) RL State of Origin gives no real accessibility to non NSW/ACT or Qld players or fans, whereas the AFL when it did have state of origin, at least made some attempts (unwieldy as they were) to bring more states/territories involved (even with the AFL U18s)

Too many football codes, too many teams, too many stadiums. Australian sport esp with the Rugby codes are a right spaghetti jigsaw mess in these horrible modern times and I wish I could find an answer to keep all the Sydney clubs while at the same time getting them to flourish the same for the rest of the NRL and also Illawarra, Newcastle and Queensland comps in Rugby League but also the Super 15 and Shute Shield in Rugby Union.

Honestly this is one of the dumbest articles I've ever read. You think that by removing several teams with large supporter bases (Wests/Balmain Tigers, Dogs, Panthers, Saints) and lets make this clear they are being removed because branding is everything with geography a close second, you think that you will increase supporter bases? Moronic. For me if you get rid of my team you loose me to another sport. I will still watch but I won't attend matches (compounding your empty seats philosophy) and over time any and all interest would entirely wane for the sport. Further more adding teams in other states should have no impact on existing teams - THEY ARE IN ANOTHER STATE. 20 teams would be fine. Add WA, Adelaide, NT and a second NZ team. Darwin Vipers and the Wellington Wolves come at me. NT has a huge Rugby League following and a central hub yet you don't even want to look at it? You would rather add ANOTHER team to Queensland which compounds the exact problem you are writing this article for - too many teams in one spot. Look at the Titans - they are not successful even remotely. They are being run AND funded by the NRL and have dreadful crowd attendances. The Broncos ONLY thrive because they are a one city team - how many people do you think will suddenly identify with a team in Ipswich? They will go the way of the Titans, people have had 30 years of representation for Brisbane and surrounding areas and also had Gold Coast to cheer on at various stages over the last 30 years. Central Coast is the only other team that should be considered. And do not make it the Bears, that is an insult to the people who want their own team - of which, there are far more then existing Bear supporters. Central Coast Crocodiles is what you want. Also you lost all credibility when you decided to include the Sharks PURELY on your own fandom given that Illawarra is an hour away and the Dogs - who should definitely not be removed given their strong brand are the same distance away on the other side. I like the Sharks but if anything they are the only side other than perhaps the Titans that should be removed from the competition and that is due to the ASADA scandal and average membership and match attendances and a previous litany of financial burden on the NRL. You have no idea, so please sit down.

Hi Celtic Bandaid. I remember Frank Hyde making the same statement in reply , at his explosive best, to a discussion about merging Sydney clubs and spreading out west. (eg souths and Easts merge, manly and norths. ) creating clubs like Penrith . When asked , what about their fans he replied 'well their all dead now and the ones that arnt have moved with their families to the western suburbs.' Here we are 40 + years later having the same discussion .

And that's while they have had Slater Smith and Cronk in their team and have been very successful, it will be interesting to see what the attendance will be like in Melbourne once they retire.

Parramatta to cover the inner west ? Get a map ! Besides we don't want them . We've averaged 12000 the last 20 years despite the place being a soap opera. Parra fans = Loyal Fans Inner West = Swans ,Waratahs, Sydney FC, Roosters. To sum up fair weather pansies BTW To clarify Old Inner West = Balmain, Laurie Nicholls, My Names McGooley, Dawn Fraser Western Suburbs. Tom Raudonikas, John Donnelly ,Noel Kelly All great people but mainly gone or left the area Wests Tigers carries their legacy

If we are talking about talent I agree with the comments above superstar superhuman, Epiquin I believe the NRL can support extra teams but we need time to develop them. It seems forwards take extra time to develop while outside backs can debut at 18 or 19 it takes forwards a few extra years and halves also. U20s should be replaced by U23s OR if you keep the U20s then put in place a proper Reserve Grade. As we all watch our own teams play we can't really comment too much on others. I do go and watch the 16s, 18s and 20s play every week when possible. Years ago before Souths won the comp many people including several Souths fans said we had not enough depth...even this year also. I will throw these names at you who were nobody's, up to 4 years ago. Local Souths Juniors: Adam Reynolds, Alex Johnston, Dylan Walker, Cameron McInnes, Aaron Gray, Nathan Peats and John Olive will debut this week Rd 14 V Tigers Imports: Luke Keary, Kyle Turner, Kirisome Auva'a, Nathan Brown, Chris Grevsmuhl, Apisai Koroisau, George Burgess, ALL of these youngsters made their First Grade Debut with Souths. in the Past 4 seasons. My point is that if Souths can produce such fine youngsters the other 15 teams can also. So if you do add a few extra teams in the Comp I think there WILL be enough talent to go around. I would have teams from Perth, Wellington, Central Queensland and a Second team from Brisbane. Have 20 Clubs, play once = 19 games, Home this year, then away the following year to make it a bit even. Then play 5 clubs a second time for a total of 24 games The 5 extra games will be Derby's and Rivalries. Souths V Easts, Cronulla V Dragons, Broncos V Bombers, Nth Qld V CQld etc. So these Derbys play home and away in the Same Season. Souths 5 would be, Easts, Dragons, Manly, Canterbury and Tigers for example.

I will do some research on Canberra, I must admit I don't know too much about the Canberra team. Great History and plenty of juniors. Comments were based on media reports. Next time Souths play in Canberra I will go and have lunch there and see for myself.

A city of 3 million and they average 12000 fans every two weeks is not what I would call a success.

That is why you still consider it not to be a national game, do'h .... Sharks Fan? do you get the picture yet? because the old NSWRL still dominates the NRL competition!! but no ... that is just a conspiracy theory yea?? Sydney people are like Americans ...

Canberra are one of the richer teams, despite the shockingly bad crowds. They have profitable Leagues clubs and a property portfolio.

Because of club commitments ,I would suggest. OK The Eels play a game in Darwin(they are sponsored by the NT Govt Tourism),the Storm are playing a game in Napier NZ ,the Cows played in Cairns,3 teams are playing on the Central Coast the 2nd half this year,Penrith played over the Mntns. Current club fans have to be considered who pay memberships and gate money .Only so many games to go around. Maybe they will give Perth another game in 2016,following a hopeful expansion announcement. They're excited now with one game ,20,000 attendees made a statement. BTW Perth is not the only area bidding for an NRL spot,4 Qld,1 Perth,1 CC and 1 NZ.Even PNG.

So why is the NRL playing only one game this year in Perth? Bit strange considering the big expansion dream. Maybe they'll give Perth one more game next year, that'll really get em excited !

Matthew I read it based on the "if" hypothetical,the end result would still be the same.Hypothetically an A league team plonked into a current rl heartland,that could still happen regardless.And " Sharks would be the first to go" .12 months ago probably yes,doubt it now.$300m development and sponsors on board helped underpin the club. Current Sharks' fans would not go for the Dragon's .The bulk of them would be lost as regular attendees,just as happened with the Bears.Been following the Sharks though thick and thin,and no team would mean no NRL for me,after all the club has been through,and i am not the only one thinking along those lines.

Maybe re read my comment crosscoder "IF there too many teams in Sydney" I personally don't think we should be culling Sydney teams as Sydney is the heartland and we need to keep it that way. I was just arguing Sharsfan's point about getting rid of the Bulldogs over the sharks and I would expect current Sharks fans to go for the Dragons