While Peter V’landys has a vice-like grip on the reins of the NRL, the 16 clubs that make up the premiership have a lot of power in their own right.
And some clearly do not.
With three Queensland clubs, one in Victoria, one in the ACT, one in regional NSW, one in NZ and nine in Sydney, it is an interesting debate as to which club is the biggest and most influential rugby league organisation in the nation.
One metric I used was their membership numbers from 2019 and 2020 and divided by two to get the average. This was done due to the impact that COVID-19 has contributed to fans not committing financially to their club this year.
Other factors I’ve considered are media coverage, both print and electronic, how many prime-time TV games they are given, average crowd figures (2019 home-and-away figure), sponsorship and licensed-club backing.
Their standing in the game and other non-tangible factors such as the influence they have within NRL HQ is a subjective measurement and while my opinion won’t be universally accepted, it is nonetheless my opinion.
I have combined the average member count for 2019 and 2020 and added that to their 2019 crowd figure to give each team an index number. This number is not absolute in determining the most powerful club.
For premierships won, I have included the Broncos’ and Knights’ victories in 1997 as well as the joint-venture teams’ titles won as single entities before they merged. This figure is interesting but didn’t have much influence in my final decision as the Wests Tigers are listed as having 16 titles but that figure is made up of the Balmain Tigers, Western Suburbs Magpies and Wests Tigers.
This list will be built over six articles with three teams featured in each.
The last one will be the team I consider the most powerful NRL club.
14. Sharks
Premierships – one
Members – 12,690
Crowds – 14,017
Total – 26,707
The Sharks have never been a glamour team of the NRL and have been battlers for most of their time since joining the big league in 1967.
The only brush with glamour came by way of Andrew Ettingshausen and when Dr Geoffrey Edelsten tried to buy them in the ’80s. With one title to their name, they are the second team of many.
One of the few clubs to own their own ground, they have a massive windfall coming their way as they are redeveloping the adjacent land into high-rises, as well as doing a makeover of the leagues club that is bolted on to the main grandstand.
While not attracting blue-chip sponsors as other teams do, the bottom line has never been strong for the Shire team. Whenever there is talk of a team relocating, the Sharks’ name always comes up.
The peptide scandal and the associated heat that brought did not hold them in good stead at HQ. If you enjoy footy on a Saturday night as opposed to the prime-time slot on Channel Nine, then put on the Sharks jersey and cheer hard.
15. Warriors
Premierships – zero
Members – 15,207
Crowds – 15,285
Total – 30,492
The team from Auckland are admired by all in the rugby league community for the sacrifices the are currently making.
The team was founded in 1995 and has enjoyed a strong home-town following. While flying under the radar in terms of their financial clout, they do have a whole nation to themselves when it comes to gathering sponsorship dollars.
They are never a team that has been a big TV draw in Australia and the lack of media coverage they receive makes them way down the pecking order for the most powerful team in the NRL.
(Ashley Feder/Getty Images)
16. Titans
Premierships – zero
Members – 7895
Crowds – 11,792
Total – 19,687
The glamour strip has been a graveyard for all the professional teams that have been based on the Gold Coast.
While the region may be the hub of choice for NRL and AFL, the Titans struggle to attract any talent of note.
While the team is now privately owned, they were on life support from the NRL for many years prior to that.
Poor TV ratings, no club support, low sponsorship returns and most pundits death-riding the club all add up to the Titans being the least powerful club in the NRL.
Mark Scarfe
Roar Guru
Thank you for the advice but I won’t be taking it. I grew up with RL and AFL isnt my code As this is a RL article your questions are moot. Thanks for reading.
At work
Roar Rookie
Looking forward to this series, the only thing I don't agree on though is using only the last 2 years of crowds and memberships, rather 3-5 years would have captured a more fairer figure as that would remove some short-term fluctuations due to team performance.
Bluester
Roar Rookie
You first claim the NRL can't compete with the AFL in Sydney and now your going to write six articles claiming you know which NRL club is the most powerful? Why not cover topics like why AFL coaches now believe your code is a complete borefest? Why scoring points in the AFL is now akin to finding Lasseters Reef? Why AFL players cannot follow simple instructions like remain isolated? How the AFL administration is failing badly? I realise you're simply following the standard AFL media process of "LOOK OVER HERE" when your code is failing, but we can see through this. Cover your own code and stop trying to make out you're some NRL guru when all you are is an AFL stooge desperately trying to distract from your codes massive failings.
Big Daddy
Guest
When you look at the Warriors and Titans they've had more owners than some racehorses have had starts so they've had no chance to stamp any power authority. Cronulla have more CEO s and carry a lot of behind the scenes dramas and scandals. In saying that so have many clubs.
Mark Scarfe
Roar Guru
She was only a supporter because her father Peter Gow was the chairman.
Kudy
Guest
Why not calculate ground capacity percentage also If your suburban home ground is 95% sold out that’s a great atmosphere especially on TV to compared to homebush or Moore Park which regulary gets only 25% sold out, I think that’s a dull experience
no one in particular
Roar Guru
That article can be found here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Coast_Chargers and here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Coast_Titans
Andrew
Guest
That too..
no one in particular
Roar Guru
And because the biggest media organisation owns 65% of them
Andrew
Guest
Yep I agree. It is pretty straight forward. The most powerful club is the one who has the most ability to influence the NRL's bottom line either through bringing commercial partners into the fold, creates channels to more families to buy jerseys, or through being able to increase the number of eyes watching the broadcasts. Whether you won a premiership in 2005 doesn't mean squadoosh. I.E Brisbane is clearly a power broker as they are able to get all their home games on FTA on the day of the week they want, because they get large numbers to watch their games (being a one team town in a League City).
Mark Scarfe
Roar Guru
Cheers
Dwanye
Roar Rookie
I’d like to see a ‘most poorly run club’ ranking, from the ARL era. It’s the modern tv age, breaking through the Sydney comp.
Randy
Roar Rookie
is this some follow on from your "sydney is an AFL town" article that everyone rubbished?
max power
Guest
your criteria to determine "power" are flawed . too short a time frame for members and crowds. plus you exclude who is on the board, how big their TV audience is, how much money they have and how much support they have in other areas of the country
Paul
Roar Guru
The Sharks were a glamour team when Elle MacPherson was their number 1 supporter. :happy: Hard to fault the first three choices or the logic. Look forward to the next 5 articles, Mark.