D-day arrives for NRL expansion candidates

BEEEEEEAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRSSSSSS. Hang on these are all QLD teams...................never mind.

Not about the talent, all about the cash from tv subscriptions

Just bring in the dolphins or jets. Big fat no to firehawks.

Broncos represent Brisbane. Redcliffe and Ipswich are not actually Brisbane for people who live there. Therefor a sponsor or fan would attach themselves to a club that represents them as area. Anyone that suggests that a relocated Sydney team will work in Brisbane has rocks in their head, they’d be sent back to Sydney by the end of the first year. Regional Qld might be different but Brisbane no way. Bennett is without a job so guessing you don’t need to pay double. The right people are followed, if you don’t have the right people you’re forced to pay overs. Which is why all these clubs are in the position they are in. Bulldogs get all their new signings cheaper if Gus was in place before the deals went through. I’m sure I read an NRL independent investigation revealed one new team in Brisbane is worth $25m per year without creating and extra game. So if that’s true and they only pay salary cap of $10m to the club. The maths on that sounds reasonable to explore expansion.

I can't imagine 'where' the game is played impacts the TV deal much - but i could be missing something. Ads are tailored to regional audiences and that is how broadcasters make their money. Whether Penrith and Souths played at the SCG, or MCG, the same number of people are probably watching on TV. You may be right, but i think if anything, an extra game in Brisbane probably costs the broadcaster more by the time they send crews up from NSW.

I agree punishing future teams because of the abject failure of so many others is unfair, but unless they are going to pay double what clubs currently pay their strategic staff to attract quality, not just play the rugby league nepatism game, nothing will change. If I was to cut the clubs a break, it is that the decisions of the NRL impact the clubs which doesn't help them (historically) either. To the opinion that people don't like the Broncos and the way they were set up so this gives them an alternative. It gives them an alternative if they like Redcliffe or they like Ipswich. Are rugby league fans who support Ipswich going to cheer for a Redcliffe team or a team from Easts? No more than they would a newly formed SE QLD Sharks or Sea Eagles I suspect. My bet would be if you are a big enough league fan (and under the age of say 50) that if you support Ipswich or Redcliffe or any other QRL side, then you are probably already watching the NRL as well. Same goes for sponsors. If i am not going to sponsor the Bronocs who are on prime time FTA about 20 weeks a year, why am i jumping in to a team in the same market with even fewer fans, who probably won't be competitive for a few years and therefore will see about 3 or 4 FTA prime time slots? You won't know what their supporter demographic is, you won't know what sort of coverage they will get, they have no history or culture to look at and say - they share a synergy with my business. You won't know if they will be around in 3 years. It is a much greater risk than sponsoring the Broncos. The vast majority of people across Australia have a head, two eyes and two ears and all share the same currency. There is one reason the NRL wants to put an extra team in SE QLD - the fear of the AFL. The AFL are laughing because the NRL will be spending millions trying to protect "heartland" and not investing in other opportunities that impact AFL heartland like Perth. AFL wins.

Dwayne, Think it’s a club wide problem not just coaching. Which is why Gus would be brought in to fix pathways through to NRL at Dogs. Barrett was hugely praised for Penrith attack last year but bulldogs attack this year is ordinary to say the least. Personally the Penrith make over Gus did is proving to be very beneficial. His 5 year plan did take 9 years but the focus was on pathways. That’s not just players it’s coaches as well. Keeping talented players together for years in lower grades has shown to have great team cohesion at NRL even though they are generally inexperienced at NRL level. Providing them with better coaches fast tracked their development. What shouldn’t be lost is the board and governance at the Dogs in the 8-10 years has been hugely volatile. For me - Stability creates success, instability leads to losing. Just my personal thoughts though mate.

Central Qld does not have regular lockdowns. Better for the game!

Gene Miles and Bob Lindner used to play for Wynnum Manly :thumbup: Don't think Manly in Brisbane is up to NRL standard. Better for Central Qld.

Hi Oppossed. Do you think the bulldogs only going do bad because of coaching?

Hi Birdy. I hope it not too left field or wacky. I’d like it good and sound.

I think it a bit of both you guys ideas.

Hi Andrew1. I was thinking cause it will mean more ‘home’ games for a Brie team, more televised home games for that bris tv market, which could mean NRL could ask for a bigger tv deal. But I’m guessing.

Was hopeful it a thing if the past

No outrage. You did however mention a 10 team finals campaign which would be ridiculous for an 17/18 team competition. The NRL are exploring expansion, I didn’t make it up myself. That in itself supports expansion, if the game thinks it should explore it. My belief is that there is enough talent readily available for one extra team. I feel the under performing teams need to do more for their players development and staff development to create better outcomes. There’s not enough state or test football for the game to develop staff quickly so that has to fall back to the clubs who don’t seem to see the value in it. I think a model where we ask more of underperforming clubs to do more is a far better option than crying poor over lack depth in playing stock or coaching / management staff. Especially if the new team got someone like Bennett and it was a moderate success. That would be an embarrassment for those clubs still doing the same thing but expecting better outcomes.

I did make that point Randy, talent needs to be measured by more than just what someone can do with the footy. A very complex issue. You do correctly identify Melbourne, unfortunately there aren’t many Craig Bellamy’s!

Opposed, you’re cherry picking my response to suit your outrage. I never said that’s what would happen. But rather could happen based on what we are seeing now. In all your points, you’ve yet to highlight any reason at all that supports expansion. Based on the 16 teams we have, teams includes, front office, coach etc, there is nowhere near the talent to support further sides, a reasonable case could be made there’s not enough talent to support the 16 teams currently in the comp. 4 or 5 of them are train wrecks. Yes the problem, as has been stated is multi faceted, however, the fact remains. Look at the Tigers and Parra, strong talk about off loading their coaches.. what coach is going to fill that void, especially when one of the coaches in question is a premiership winner.. don’t even get me started on the need for further quality referees!!! talk of expansion is crazy and the cynic in me suggests it’s being rolled out to distract from over issues within the game.

exactly right. There's another piece on this website today, where the author's talking about Canberra being a good place for a half back to learn from Stuart, but other than the current first grade crop, there's precious few others, thanks to covid and the lack of progression for juniors over the past 2 years.

On Fogarty it depends on the metric you value him at. Is he as dominant as Cleary? No. Is he as valuable to Titans as Cleary is to Panthers? Potentially, given they are both captaining their team and directing them around the field. If you don’t understand their system you can’t truly know their value within the team. Given the Titans aren’t unloading to try and find a new half to replace him, their confident enough in his role. I’d say they’d value him higher than 14th. NRL supplies the full salary cap in a grant money to clubs last time I checked. That might have changed but pre-covid that was the case. Additionally pre-covid, if salary cap is paid for players then you only have to provide staff wages and facilities cost. You’d imagine sponsorship, merchandise and gate takings should take care of that if your running a good business. So it’s baffling how clubs run at loss as most have a leagues club attached also. On your other points, Broncos with a Brisbane population of 2.5m only have 25k members so that’s a huge open market available. Which includes people who run businesses wanting to sponsor a local NRL club that don’t like the Broncos. So I would argue it would certainly create new sponsors and fans. Most RL people don’t like how the broncos was set up and cannibalised the Brisbane Rugby League competition. So I think you’d find a lot of support from those people. Relocating a Sydney team to Brisbane would never be accepted by Brisbane people. They’re too territorial. I get why people can’t see growth as good. But I just don’t think punishing a new team is fair just because some clubs don’t know what they’re doing.

I agree and would add, you have to consider the flow on effects of COVID and a struggling economy. While we can all argue about where the players are coming from, we have seen a NSW Cup play half a season in 2 years, Same with the u/20's. Juniors have hardly played in the last couple of years. Rugby league will not have the same volume coming through in the next few years and the ones that stick it out, will take longer to develop. These are facts that I don't believe can be disputed. The gulf between the good and the also rans in the NRL has never been greater and it is about to get much worse. The NRL needs a revisited pathways plan before it worries about adding at the top end.