Go ahead, move my team

I fully realise that they will ensure they don't fold, just stating that crowds will fall, interest will wane if they fall out of the finals - their attendance is below the worst performing AFL team in Melbourne now. It's quite possible that all 4 AFL teams you mention will hit a bad patch of form at the same time - perhaps the Swans might get close to being overtaken by the best performing NRL side in Sydney if that happens.

Move the Roosters to Gosford

Yes relocate the successful clubs. Lets move the Broncos to Perth, and introduce a new team into Brisbane. Move the Storm to Adelaide and introduce a new team in melbourne. Move the roosters to auckland - at least that way the "Easts" part of their historic name would mean something

That would make more sense. I think all Eastern/Southern/Northern teams should play out of Allianz stadium. Home ground advantage is a myth and it would mean games played at a good stadium

hi John, I'm very cautious with ANYTHING the NRL does, simply because they don't seem to do it at all well; case in point, stopping deBelin from playing using a rule that had not even been drafted and agreed! I'd love to see expansion, I'd love to see teams in ALL capital cities, out bush in NSW and so on, I'm just not even 50% sure these guys in charge will get it right. If they don't get it right in places like the NSW bush or Brisbane, it will hurt badly but not cause lasting damage. If they get in wrong in centres like Perth, Adelaide, etc, the damage to the game's reputation could literally take decades to repair. Let Greenburg and co show they can successfully put another Club in Brisbane before they have a go at a more difficult project. If they get the first one right, there's no reason why they couldn't leverage off that success and do a more ambitious move into Perth, Adelaide or where ever, fairly quickly, but if they screw up a second Brisbane Club, no harm, no foul.

NRL's days of crawling should have stopped after signing a $2 billion broadcasting deal, expansion is supposed to build on this. Melbourne Rugby League as it stands has 17 clubs in the competition, 10 of which were founded in 2010 or after. I'm just going off wikipedia by the way so take that information with a grain of salt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_Rugby_League So with the success of Storm, their local comp has also increased. Sure they may not have produced any juniors that have set the NRL on fire, but that I do believe takes time. That's something that wouldn't have happened if they had opted for Brisbane 2 or north Sydney instead of Melbourne all those years ago. That's something that won't have a chance of happening in WA/SA if they "strengthen the heartlands". "Expansion is mostly about business opportunities and money. A team in Perth for example will attract sponsorship money & give the NRL additional negotiating space when talking about TV rights. Everything else you mentioned above comes a distant second to these." So I do wonder why you would want to strengthen the heartlands if you already have this view.

Why not move Souths to Allianz back to their home land & share with Roosters & the Waratahs can play at Brookvale

Relocate Souths. Where is their home ground? Certainly not Redfern. They barely represent the area anymore. Plus with random Souths guy you know they'll get a crowd anywhere.

hi John, I think Rugby League needs to "crawl before it can walk" in terms of increasing the size of the competition. Right now, there are a number of traditional Rugby League areas that could have a team, but do not. I'm saying putting teams in these locations and above all, making sure they work successfully, is a necessary first step BEFORE any additional movements outside this space. "relocating a team to another place in the heartland doesn’t really address expanding the grassroots, doesn’t really try to establish new nurseries, doesn’t really try to attract a new eyeballs to the game. Which expansion is supposed to be all about." I disagree with the premise these points you've made are what expansion is all about. These are what we would LIKE expansion to be all about. In other words you've created an expansion wishlist. The Melbourne Storm have been in the comp for 20 years, have been highly successful on the field, yet I ask you to name ALL the youngsters that should have come through their junior system out of Melbourne? I'm not aware of one Victorian junior who has come through as they would in NSW or Qld and by now there should have been several. Expansion is mostly about business opportunities and money. A team in Perth for example will attract sponsorship money & give the NRL additional negotiating space when talking about TV rights. Everything else you mentioned above comes a distant second to these.

Politics and sport, just like politics and religion or oil and water, should never mix.

Excellent rebuttal

Don't know about coup, reckon uncle Nick still has him on speed dial! East West Coast Roosters ??

Pretty simple. The NRL will nurse them through. The NRL is not going to fold the Storm if they hit a poor patch of form. Much to your disappointment. I hope Clipper, for your sake, that the Swans, Giants, Suns and Lions don't all hit a bad patch of form at the same time.

Your idea of "covered completely" sounds more like saturation. You also seem to work off the idea that there is a limit to the number of fans a club can maintain. The other thing, if you want to cover this area so that the AFL doesn't expand into it, then you aren't really addressing the entire states that AFL has free reign in and will continue to do so, which effectively makes expanding into those territories much harder later on down the track. Not saying the two areas you pointed out couldn't support another team, but relocating a team to another place in the heartland doesn't really address expanding the grassroots, doesn't really try to establish new nurseries, doesn't really try to attract a new eyeballs to the game. Which expansion is supposed to be all about.

I wonder if management just want to wing it, hoping when push comes to shove, don’t make cut, then take NRL to court, then ‘win that like souths’. I hope they don’t take that option. From listening to commentators who have talked to lawyers and people involved, if the league had appealed they would have one, but didn’t want to fight ‘fans’ any longer after doing it since 95.

running ten metres from the try line and running through a gap big enough to dry a truck through or other a couple of guys to score aint that important it U12's stuff. He was always prepared to run 10 metres from the oppostion try line to score but he was nowhere to be found 10 metres from his own tryline.

oh god no, he didnt do anything the first two times he played in the NRL