The perfect opportunity may have passed already, but the NRL has a great chance to fix the over saturation of Sydney clubs while making rugby league a truly national sport.
For a competition labelled the National Rugby League, not having teams in Perth and Adelaide is a blight on the game. The AFL has expanded from its home city in Melbourne since the early 80’s and has since been able to dominate the Australian sporting complex.
While the NRL has previously had teams in Perth and Adelaide, the short lived tenures of both clubs during the Super League war left a poor taste in supporters’ mouths.
In saying that though, there is a perfect opportunity now for current Sydney teams to relocate, and while I’m sure plenty of fans will disagree with me, there are plenty of reasons for each case.
Wests Tigers to Perth
Ninety-two years of history came to an end in the year 2000 when the Balmain Tigers and Western Suburbs Magpies merged. The sixteen years since have been mixed for the Tigers, and the fan-base has been somewhat divided ever since it’s inception.
One positive of a possible move to Perth is that the club can keep its name intact. Colours and team strip would be no problem, and realistically, while it is a major change to relocate to Perth, there is a perfectly fine 20,000 strong stadium in NIB Stadium.
Rugby League has been welcomed with open arms in Western Australia recently with the Rabbitohs having moved one game per year to Perth, with the Sea Eagles following suit this year as well. The city will host it’s first Test match between Australia and New Zealand in October as well.
The club could also play between two and four games at Leichhardt Oval and Campbelltown Stadium as homage to the two merged teams.
Cronulla Sharks to Adelaide
While a bit of a ballsy idea, particularly with the club’s form as well as financial plans for the future, I’ve always seen the Sharks as a perfect team to occupy Australia’s city of churches.
First of all, the Adelaide Sharks just has a ring to it, plus, there would be no need to change strip or colours.
Secondly, the club’s borders lie in an awkward part of Sydney, geographically speaking. Being wedged between both St George, Canterbury Bankstown and Illawarra, the Sharks have always seem to have been dominated by their neighboring rivals, whether in competition for supporters or on-field success over the years. I understand there is a group of die-hard Sharks supporters, but the majority seems to be casual supporters of the under-performing club.
The 53,000 capacity Adelaide Oval would make a perfect home for the team, and of course could move two to four games to Southern Cross Stadium aka Shark Park. Considering that Adelaide has gone without rugby league since 2011, and it’s about time we spread our great game to a city dominated by AFL and soccer.
Sydney Roosters to Central Coast
This is probably the biggest call and the most unrealistic, but the Roosters have already put one foot through the door to the Central Coast, so why not go all the way through?
The chooks have already started taking home games to Bluetongue Stadium since 2004, and have set up affiliations with the Central Coast Centurions in the Harold Matts and SG Ball competitions. Another big contributor to the move is the fact that their NSW Cup feeder side is the Wyong Roos.
While they are the only foundation club that has played every season since 1908, the Roosters have barely any members and have pathetic crowds unless they are absolutely dominating the competition. They’ve chopped and changed their name so many times that becoming the Central Coast Roosters won’t be too drastic.
The Central Coast has been itching for a team for years, and while Greg Florimo’s bid to get a Bears team to play on the coast for the last decade has been admirable, it doesn’t seem to be happening anytime soon.
Let’s not also forget that the Roosters have a strong supporter base around Gosford, and have fielded plenty of players from the region, including Latrell Mitchell and former player James Maloney.
Bluetongue Stadium also has a strong 20,000 seat capacity, and of course the club would still play a handful of games at Allianz Stadium. It may sound like a pipedream but there are plenty of reasons why the Roosters should partially relocate.
If the NRL wants to continue to spread rugby league around Australia, perhaps waiting for an expansion bid isn’t the answer. With so much talk of new teams coming in, the reality is that we haven’t had any for a decade. Relocation not only fixes the oversaturation of teams in Sydney, but also gives clubs a foundation to work upon in new cities.
BeastieBoy
Guest
Andrea the above is spot on. Absolutely spot on. I would add another Queensland team and maybe one in Wellington NZ.
Mongo
Guest
Wests have had 4 Campbelltown, Leichardt, ANZ and SFS
Mephisto
Guest
Republican - U r obviously not an AFL fan so why don't you go and write and watch something else
Mephisto
Guest
What double standard - Demetriou welcomed a second NRL club in Melbourne. Speaking of plastic - the Storm made up of 3 closed SL clubs best players and Lazarus from News owned stablemate Broncos win in second year to try to drive pay TV subscriptions. The old Roller game made for TV at its best...
Republican
Guest
....indeed this is why it is farcical to call the AFL a national comp given the plastic sides they concoct in the guise of GWS & GC. Their next insulting farce is apparently a side in NZ. The AFL's double standard is breathtaking.
Dingo
Guest
Actually Dank was at Cronulla before he went to Essendon...so maybe they could share him
Dingo
Guest
The Storm won the comp after taking the best of 3 closed Super league clubs and Lazarus from its News Ltd stablemate and won in its second year... Storm were offering juniors inflated monies to come to Melbourne according to Sheens and Brian Smith and guess what the top juniors went there Folau, Inglis etc . and then we discover they were fiddling the cap?????
bbt
Guest
Spot on!!
Fix the scrums
Guest
It's been tried before in Perth. Not much interest over there. Just look at the Tv ratings, shocking. The big Sydney teams can't even get a decent crowd in Sydney. Time to stop dreaming.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Really LOL.The NRL doesn't lob $20m pa in addition to the normal club grants to the Storm.Nor does the Storm receive the amount of publicity in the insular press ,as the Swans and GWS receive in Sydney. Swans have first received a giant leg up with the SL war.Then copious amounts of funding and draft picks and money allocated for relocation ,something the Storm doesn't get.They have been consistently in teh semis.The bandwaggoners remain faithful til the rot sets in. The Storm didn't nab stars from other clubs like ,Plucker,Hall and their latest one from the Hawks.Nor like Folau for GWS all for publicity.They developed players such as smith,Cronk,and Slater. Nor did either club get slammed from pillar to post for Salary Cap rorts. Swans 34 years of entitled existence Storm 19 years of struggling with a insular media. Yet when the Storm appear in a grand final the last occasion they drew more Tv viewers in Melbourne,.than the Swans drew in Sydney when they appeared in a Grand final.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Glad you can predict this and the next century's sporting status in Adelaide Clipper.I dare suggest even the best demographers would not have a clue.
Dean - Surry Hills
Guest
In Brief is currently working as a statistician for the Liberal Party
clipper
Guest
Vast difference between how the Swans do in Sydney and Storm do in Melbourne - GWS is more comparable to the Storm - Swans have been the best attended team in Sydney for a number of years, first team ever here to crack 50k membership, the Storm hasn't even overtaken the worst performing AFL team in Melbourne.
clipper
Guest
exactly - that is why c is totally correct.
no one in particular
Roar Guru
NRL has teams that in capital cities of provinces that that account for 78% of the countries population. Or, alternatively, NRL teams are based in cities that account for 58% of the countries population Just because it doesn't have a team in a state with half a million people doesn't mean it's not national. And for a national competition, the NFL have not had an NFL team in the countries 2nd biggest city for 20 years. San Jose, San Antonio, Austin and Columbus all have bigger populations then cities with 20 NFL teams. By your rationale, the NFL isn't a national game
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
No doubt the same 12 teams are likely to be competing each year. The main point of difference is that the lower tiered clubs have an outlet for growth and development if they are up for it. And I would imagine that such a system provides some element of extra commercial opportunities for sponsorship and so on, even if only for the few weeks of promotion-relegation play offs. The point being that it is useful to have an outlet for one's energy.
In Brief
Guest
Not every business 'grows or dies'. If you have shareholders than yes that is probably true. But a business can remain sustainable without growth, depends on the business model. And some businesses actually compliment each other rather than competing. The growth strategy can even lead to the death of a business as costs blow out and the business moves away from its strengths - 'know your knitting' as they say. Rugby league could easily face challenges if the philosophy is growth for growth's sake.
At work
Roar Rookie
Since when has Perth been a chance of overtaking Brisbane in population? Can you prove with this a link?
In Brief
Guest
I understand that the population of Perth will soon overtake Brisbane, and Perth will be Australia' 3rd city. Where does that take your argument?
Richard Maybury
Guest
Try telling that to Leigh who are making a serious tilt at it. I admit that SL will tend to stay the same every year but the chance is there and for a club that thinks its ready then that can be a reality.