Roar Rookie
Joined November 2009
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Seeing the Broncos and Cowboys take to the field at Suncorp Stadium was a triumph for all involved. Just a month ago, the entire…
Like a lot of Australians, I've been aware, in a peripheral sense, of the Ultimate Fighting Championship for a long time. With UFC 127…
This is one of the things that baffled me about the Storm cheating the salary cap in the first place. With a few notable exceptions, they’ve never been built on the talent of their players. It’s always been about working as a team and executing the game plan.
Certainly, you can’t undersell the importance of Cameron Smith (for example, the 40-0 grand final loss in his absence) or Billy Slater’s ability to tear through a staggered defence. But in the Bellamy era, the Storm have never relied on these players alone in the way that, say, 2009 Parramatta NEEDED Hayne, or the 2010 Roosters NEEDED Carney.
If they’d never cooked the books in the first place, and Inglis, Slater etc did decide to move on, I still can’t imagine that they ever would’ve missed the finals.
Storm roll on despite salary cap punishment
I possibly could have worded it better, but the point of my statement was that street violence and violence in sports/TV/movies/videogames etc are largely unrelated to each other. The majority of street fights have their roots in what the participants have been drinking in the hours leading up to it. In addition to that, if these guys are trying to emulate UFC fighters, they’re doing a terrible job. Gang bashings and wild, flailing punches are the norm in late night fights.
I don’t think it’s hypocritical to say that I don’t condone street violence, while at the same time praising combat sports. There is a time and a place for everything. I abhor people hooning through the suburbs and putting lives at risk, yet am quite happy to watch Formula One. The difference between those is, for my money, the same difference between bar fights and the UFC.
Why the UFC is a frenzy of subhuman violence
A second Brisbane team wouldn’t do much to build the game. To the contrary, it’s more likely to just undermine the Broncos in terms of sponsors and fans. Weakening existing clubs is the last thing that expansion should set out to do.
The Bears bid will not only consolidate support for RL on the Central Coast, it will bring a lot of jaded North Sydney fans back to the game as well and go a long way towards mending the bridges burned by the Super League war. Unlike a second Brisbane bid, it’s impact on the other teams will be minimal. The only teams that will feel a pinch are those who’ve been taking the occasional game to Gosford. And, most crucially, the Bears are ready to roll. We’ve all heard the struggles that the Titans have faced financially since their inception; the Bears have a far better supported bid than the GC did at this stage in their life, and a stable franchise is far more desirable than a half-cooked one relying on league bailouts to keep afloat.
And after that? Perth is the best option. They have a very strong local league, enormous corporate dollars, and an attractive timezone for TV scheduling.
Say it again, Central Coast's time is now
The Perth Reds were a victim of the Superleague war. When Superleague and the ARL merged, there were around 20 teams competing for 14-15 spots. Naturally, the newer, less-established sides were the first to go.
Back in 95, 96, 97, the Reds had 18,000 members, and regular crowds of over 17,500 – so they were hardly a ‘flop’. These days, with so many expat NSWelshmen and QLDers living in and around Perth, there is a very strong local rugby league competition, and it’s very likely that a revived NRL side would see similar attendances.
Suns and Giants just not needed in the AFL