There are too many NRL clubs in Sydney

I think it's important to have a club on the Northern Beaches, they have a great nursery of young talent over there and junior comps that'll be negatively affected by having no team. But I definitely agree that a reduction of teams is necessary.

Well research is not your forte Clipper, never has been. The statistics are indeed state schools & RL numbers show league is way ahead of union in terms of participants in WA. There are just a few private schools in WA with union so they contribute very little. Club league is also on the rise again with demand seeing clubs springing up everywhere. The Force decision has really made union on the nose among the WA union community. RL is benefiting. Ironic, I provide a govt site with stats, you guys nada & still claim falsies.

Couldn't make any sense of the link, but doesn't really prove anything one way or the other and looks to be just for state schools. I just like to stick to reality.

Rugby union is far bigger in WA in terms of both participants and support - like it or not dem be the facts...

Its very strange that a financially much poorer competition in the UK can have teams from Serbia, France and Canada playing in its competitions and yet we struggle to understand how we can accommodate teams from Perth and Adelaide. Get real folks. The only thing stopping us is our will to do it.

You do know the sports club next door to the Campbelltown sports ground is Wests, don't you? Don't know why they would ask Souths down there. It is a massive club, so they probably have quite a few members who follow other clubs.

RU always had a following in Perth due to the SA and English diaspora. Was there late last year, still quite a niche following, much more so that RL. RL does get a fair crowd once a year - the problem is to translate that into weekly support and hope the FIFO crowd is strong.

Still commenting based on outdated bias. Should check out the Schools WA website where rugby league dwarfs union & more RL clubs are being founded in WA by the year! Union does not outrank RL in WA this is just plain WRONG https://www.schoolsportwa.com.au/

William W You've forgotten Rugby - Rugby is far more popular than league in WA, even though they got the rough end of the stick. You've also missed out tennis. so league at least 10th

That should read " demise of the SCG" not school games, auto correct is ridiculous.

Seems Robert & FT misconstrue my point on another club in or around Brisbane. I'm all for an alternative to the Broncos & weekly fixtures at Suncorp, just not with the intent to hobble the Broncos as a lot of Sydney posters want. Where & how is the difficulty & there's no sense setting up a half-baked organisation. What would their sales pitch be, "we're not the Broncos so support us". If logic prevailed in rugby league, we'd have no south Sydney because they were a basket case for 10-15 years but emotion kicked in at the last minute. Now they're travelling ok but their base is widespread, not district centric. The beauty of league in Brisbane is the ease of access to Suncorp from the city & close surrounds which gives people a pre or post game opportunity to socialise or for families to get there & home easily. Base a team miles away & you get the Sydney problem, no one wants to travel to that Olympic precinct and since the demise of school games, walk ups are few & far between. Melbourne has benefited from having their sports stadiums close to the city & that's the best model, don't under utilise major stadia. Set up your new SQCrushers if you want, but make them a model that brings new fans & sponsors to the game, not cannibalise what's already there.

The point is that just because a second team enters and area like Brisbane and has few supporters initially it doesn't prove that it's not a good idea. The Cows had few supporters early because everyone followed the Broncos and the Cows were duds. Imagine having a game of NRL in Brisbane every week and two derbies each year? If you are still using the Crushers as a guide to the potential of a second team then you will always be struggling to understand the concept.

Well FT, as soon as I see vision or journey mentioned in a spiel, I'm sceptical. You do know Townsville is further from Brisbane than Sydney, what's the point there? On your criteria, a NSW club in dubbo would be a good idea.

Its also funny how one person would speak for all of QLD, in saying having another brisbane team is not on, im sure there are plenty of people in the sunshine state that would want another team in Qld, and especially in or around brisbane, plus having more games at suncorp stadium is a no brainer, its not like anyone is asking to fill up brisbane with 8.5 teams as sydney has, and yes not all teams in sydney are successful, but the NRL has grown out of the NSWRL comp, as AFL had grown out of the VFL comp, so eventually either teams will decrease or relocate, or become stable and continue on, but i would welcome more teams in heartland areas, that want to be a part of the comp, than push for a new team in a new city that doesn't care for league, just to pin it on a map

When the Western reds were running Perth had 6000 juniors 4000 seniors now juniors 2500 seniors are struggling maybe 450 at a guess. Union the poor cousin back then now has the upper hand and AFL dominates as usual. No one goes to the local games any more pay tv probably takes them away. The NRL needs to get a side here and mend the damage they alone have caused. Then I think you’ll see a markedly different outcome to what w are achieving atm. For my opinion being a WA boy don’t cull anymore teams we’ve lost too much as it is. Grow the game bring back 20 teams. North’s to brissie ( north Brisbane bears ????) Perth, Cronulla to take games to Adelaide, Moresby and one other maybe southern NZ somewhere. Love my RL

The Crushers were a bit of a chuckle in their brief spell in the comp and somehow that is evidence that the idea of a second Brisbane team is some sort of joke? The Crushers had a similar run to the Cows in their first few years. 'One of the major difficulties that the Cowboys faced in their early years was attracting followers from the Broncos. This was exacerbated by the initial lack of on field success and stability." A second team in Brisbane is an obvious choice despite where you live but if you have no vision you probably won't understand what it would lead to. The Cows faced the same problems as a second Brisbane team would face but who thinks it wasn't worth the wait?

Sydney people who think they know what will work in Brisbane make me chuckle, you always refer to retaining traditional Sydney clubs then come out with suggestions like teams at Ipswich, Redcliffe Runcorn (?) etc. Really, you just want to drag down the Broncos to the level of disasters like Manly & Cronulla with no idea what league fans in Brisbane are like. 1: Not everyone here supports the Broncos but just creating a new club isn't the answer, the non-bronco league supporters generally have a Sydney club they've supported for years 2: The Qld government won't be building any new stadium in Brisbane, they want Suncorp used more often, so what chance an NRL funded one -none! 3: Just because Ipswich, Redcliffe or Toowoomba are league heartlands doesn't mean there are sufficient large benevolent companies willing to fund a club & clubs don't have the money to throw away, even Redcliffe. 4: NSW destroyed our traditional BRL clubs & competition, there's no going back, a lot of people either stuck to their club if it survived in the Intrust Cup, moved over to follow the Broncos or walked away from the game. They won't be back just because you create a new club with no tradition. Expansion needs to be aimed at increasing supporters & league followers so the game survives in a very competitive environment, not just splitting a crowd between 2 clubs. The idea would be a bigger pie, not smaller slices of the same sized one we have now. I was around during the SQ Crushers debacle, it never worked & only ever got fans there who took sides during the Superleague war. You don't want to lose your dud failing clubs down there, we don't want your fake new one up here. Expand by basing a club in central Qld (Mackay) subject to getting a mining corporate on board for a guaranteed ten year sponsorship, then politicians will promise a stadium as a job creation plan.

Their ground is an embarrassment. Facilities are diabolical. Fan base is minimal and the ground, if you're brave enough to go there is a nightmare to get to. None of these factors can blamed on the NRL

100% Fred.....Why should the Tigers and Saints give up anything...They have already done as much giving as any team can do and its someone elses responsibility to solve the problem now.....

Sorry Woody.....Cronulla are broke....financially and morally