It might be too late for Newtown and Illawarra, but the perfect start would be to give Balmain and Western Suburbs back their independence, and bring North Sydney back out of the cold as the Central Coast Bears.
The Tigers faithful would flock back to Leichhardt, the lost Magpies fans would be grateful to see the black and white jersey return to Campbelltown, while the Bears faithful would happily jump a train to see the red and black jersey run onto the superbly presented Central Coast Stadium.
The resurrection of the Bears would enjoy two more big bonuses.
The absurd decision to kill off the Bears has left a massive rugby league void to the north of Sydney, with 165 kilometres between Manly’s Northern Beaches and Newcastle.
That’s given rugby, AFL, and the round ball code a free hit in between.
At the last Australian census in 2016, there were 18476 couples living on the Central Coast, which translates to at least 30000 kids – a mass of potential boy and girl rugby league talent.
And having the Bears living, training, and playing among them would obviously be fruitful, ensuring the club’s success and longevity.
The new look NRL competition wouldn’t kick off until 2020, giving Balmain, Wests and the Bears time to settle on a competitive roster.
They would also be helped by the NRL in allowing five top-drawer players per club to break their contracts with other clubs if they decided to join any one of the three resurrected clubs.
(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
In the meantime, their status would remain the same with the Wests Tigers playing NRL, and the Bears in the NSW Cup.
So how would the NRL look in 2020?
Let’s take the table of the 2017 competition as the guideline at the completion of the regulation rounds.
I’m going to split the table into two groups, call them odds and evens.
Odds
1. Melbourne Storm
3. Brisbane Broncos
5. Cronulla Sharks
7. Penrith Panthers
9. St George Illawarra Dragons
11. Canterbury Bulldogs
13. New Zealand Warriors
15. Gold Coast Titans
Evens
2. Sydney Roosters
4. Parramatta Ee
6. Manly Sea Eagles
8. North Queensland Cowboys
10. Canberra Raiders
12. South Sydney Rabbitohs
14. Wests Tigers
16. Newcastle Knights
Substitute the Tigers for Balmain, then add the Central Coast Bears to the odds and Western Suburbs to the evens. That gives an 18-strong NRL comp, split into two groups of nine.
Each group plays within the group home-and-away for 18 games, and plays the other group once for 27 games – that’s three more games overall compared to the current set-up.
But it’s completely fair by playing every club, not hit and miss as it stands now with a variety in doubling up against nine clubs.
For example, in 2017 the minor premiers Storm doubled up against the Warriors, Broncos, Sharks, Manly, Rabbitohs, Knights, Cowboys, Roosters, and Raiders.
The Roosters, in finishing second, doubled up against the Titans, Bulldogs, Rabbitohs, Manly, Knights, Broncos, Tigers, Storm, and Sharks.
That was a Russian roulette draw, and it was shown up through all 16 clubs, as it is this season.
In 2020, give a bonus point for scoring four tries and another for losing by seven points or less.
At the completion of the 27 rounds, the odds and evens are combined with the top eight overall qualifying for the quarter-finals – one versus eight, two versus seven, three versus six and four versus five, with winners moving forward in that order.
And that’s how rugby league decision-makers can repair the pain of the past.
shinx 08
Guest
my uncle used to go for the bears he would like them back anyway although not sure what i think of the break up of wests tigers since my sister and mum go for them i definitely agree with adding the bears back
Sammy
Guest
Not a bad idea - "Manly Ku-ring-gai". The North Shore of Sydney will eventually embrace the Manly Sea Eagles as their NRL Club. Suburbs like North Sydney / Neutral Bay / Willoughby have strong connections with Middle Harbour and the Northern Beaches Area. You can now travel from North Sydney to Warringah Mall in 20 minutes on the B-Line. The Manly and North Sydney Junior Leagues have been run as a combined competition for many years. The suburbs between Chatswood, Gordon and Hornbsy might be under-represented at the NRL Level, but those residents don't seem to care. They have the Asquith Magpies in the Ron Massey Cup who are linked to the North Sydney Bears. The Epping-Ryde district will eventually support Parramatta, particularly if the City of Parramata establishes itself as a major transport and commercial hub.
chris
Guest
Eastern Suburbs from late 70's to mid 90's was very strong Rugby Union not Soccer and VFL was considered a joke.
chris
Guest
David Lord why isn't there much on the net about your Rugby circus you mooted back in 1983 12 years before the Rupert and Packer fight.
David
Guest
The Bears are dead and buried. It's been almost 20 years since they were in the competition and an entire generation has now grown up without them. If you really want to watch them, watch the NSW Cup, because that's as close as you're ever going to get. Gosford will never have an NRL team when there are much more attractive regions.
PGNEWC
Roar Rookie
Me thinks Davids supporting of the bears at the Central Coast is to do with his well known loathing of Newcastle and his Luke warm indifference of Manly . The North Shore may have a history of hating Manly but they are the only team standing North of the Harbour and have had Juniors from Hornsby etc that have made First grade. It is a surprise to Old Timers seeing Manly having stronger juniors then when they were the Silvertail club like Easts in the 1970-80s. The North Shore and the Southern Central Coast need to embrace Manly and I believe they will eventually after all the old timers pass on North Sydney -Southern Central Coast can only sustain one team in the Future and I believe it is Manly -- Maybe Manly need to drop the Warringah part of their Name and become Manly-Kurringai
Rob9
Guest
The absolute dead last thing going from 16 to 18 teams should entail is having another 2 teams in the greater Sydney region. If we’re adding 2 teams to the comp then it’s a no-brainer. Has to be Perth and Brisbane 2. I’ll concede, the Bears playing from the Central Coast enter the conversation when talking 18 to 20. Splitting the Tigers and in particular providing a full time presence in Leichhardt isn’t a good move. If one of the mergers should be split it’s the Dragons so the people of the Gong (a RL heartland and hour away from Sydney) get their own team back.
Muzz
Guest
Some excellent points. It was a tragedy what the NRL did to the Bears because of a 12 month delay in construction of their new stadium. If not the Central Coast Bears, what about the Central Coast Chooks. Chooks have the cash and always a great roster but no fans. The public of the Central Coast always fill the stadium even though they dont have their own team... #CCC - Central Coast Chooks!!
Gary Harvey
Guest
Agreed. Makes as much sense as putting more teams in from Canberra. Maybe you could chuck the Woden Valley Rams in though! Got to get the Head Hunters in. PNG in the competition would make it special spanning 3 countries plus adding another 8 million or so fans.
Rellum
Roar Guru
I have been to Sydney and it usually only takes 5 mins before I can't wait to get out of there
Nat
Roar Guru
Yes, you just confirmed my point Steve. So two non-Sydney teams rated rated higher overall than 2 Sydney teams. Do you think the station execs, therefore NRL who rely on TV money, care more for the extra 20k in Sydney or 40k overall?
Nico
Guest
Is expansion really a better option than reviving a foundation club? The Storm can be counted a success but only because they have had instant and sustained on-field results - if the Storm had been perennial cellar-dwellars they would have long folded. Yes, memberships and crowds are now rising but this has taken 20 years of above-par results. In 20 seasons they have developed about 2 local talents. And despite their results I don't think they would have drawn too many afl supporters away. The Western Force is perhaps a more realistic expansion tale. Initial jolt of support from curious locals which erodes without on-field results (crowds of 29k in 1st season reducing every year to 9k by last season). I'd argue (and Im saying this as a qlder) reviving, say, the Bears provides an instant fan base that won't necessarily be dampened by on-field mediocrity (I mean, they've already endured about 80 years' worth as it is), an expansion market in Gosford, a junior base as well as instant deep seated rivalry (a Manly/Bears match up would be one the clashes of the season, not to mention a possible M3 rivalry with Newcastle). I don't claim to have all the metrics but I think the question is worth asking against the received wisdom here that the NRL has to expand into new (and potentially quickly apathetic) markets.
TK
Guest
Bring in the PNG SP Hunters, they have the support of the whole nation n current premiers of the Queensland intrust super cup ..
Rick
Guest
Sounds like a plan. The Balmain/Wests merger was designed to support both clubs. Wests were broke and the Tigers weren't exactly flush. Without the Tigers title there would have been no merger. Parramatta desperately wanted to be called the Tigers but Balmain knocked that on the head. Go to any game and the dominance of Tiger jerseys is the outstanding feature. Leichhardt gets more attendees than Campbelltown. Every player tells you how great the feeling is at Leichhardt. The commentators always talk about the atmosphere at Leichhardt. Wests pitiful history of Premierships won compared to Balmain says it all. A stand alone Balmain back playing in a decent jersey would be superb. Come on Mr Triguboff let's make it happen.
Nick Symonds
Guest
A radical idea for NRL expansion - https://bestinau.com.au/a-radical-idea-for-nrl-expansion/
3_Hats SSTID 2014
Roar Rookie
Have you ever been to Sydney mate? Sydney is 10 times better than Brisbane where all the rednecks live.
McTavish
Roar Rookie
Of course, and plenty of Sydney people follow non Sydney clubs too. However you are kidding yourself if you think anyone will pay much to televise a game between say the Western suburbs magpies and the Gosford Bears even in Sydney, let alone in an interstate market.
beepee
Guest
+1
Fred
Guest
You think nobody living outside Sydney follows a Sydney club? I grew up about 500km from Sydney but was a Magpie from birth (now a Tiger). The Sydney clubs (especially the oldest clubs) have far broader support outside their home suburbs than do teams like the Titans or Cowboys.
Peter Phelps
Guest
Oh and with significant commitment to developing RL in the state recently announced by the Vic government.