'Only the strong survive': Why Joey Johns thinks the NRL should let its four weakest clubs die out

Yep, Joey John's strikes me as the Aristotle of Australian Rugby League. A thinking mans commentator the has displayed sound judgement and reasoning throughout his adult life.

Paranoid Qlder

I agree with Joey saying 12 teams are enough. There is not enough talent now having 16 teams with too many reserve grade standard players in first grade. Take my beloved Saints for example; barely half of their top team would play firsts with the likes of Easts, Melbourne, Manly, Souths and even Townsville. With twelve teams we could have a fair dinkum comp with every team playing each other twice, home and away as a real comp should be played. The standard would be higher giving the paying public a better product. Joey has for a long time spoken about the diluted talent pool in the NRL and he is right with the 16 teams. In Sydney there are 9 teams which is far too many competing for the corporate sponsorship. Four, maybe five at the most in the metropolitan area is sufficient. I will admit it won't happen but for the benefit of the game in general it should, even if Saints are culled.

Caught for fare evasion with "no knowledge" of how drugs came to be in his pocket. Sure we should take his opinions seriously.

I am surprised he didn't throw in Melbourne, NQ and the Broncs. Get back to that NSWRL comp hey Joey?

What he says may be true maybe not. What we do know is he will be there hawking himself off to the highest bidder.

Precisely. Ironically it always seems the fans of sides who are gifted everything that want to oust the sides that get nothing at all.

I vaguely recall a well respected Roar contributor, penned a piece a year or two ago, trying to describe which were the "weakest" teams. The rightly pointed out it wasn't only about dollars, but about things like membership, sponsorships, fan support, etc. So Joey might be in for a rude shock which teams actually disappear if he got his wish. There's also an assumption the "money" teams will be okay, once this crisis is over. I have no idea how anyone can predict what's going to happen with any degree of certainty right now, so again Mr Johns Knights, for example, might become a memory, if they don't have the dollars to be viable.

Says Joey sitting on his recliner next to the pool at the x million dollar mansion

I agree that this could be an opportunity to establish more ‘off field efficiency’ in the game but it’s idiotic to base such decisions on on field performance. This is an opportunity to rationalise Sydney, not give the boot to 2 teams outside of that overcrowded market that have the potential (or do) engage large local audiences. What small-minded thinking.

Exactly........it's typical of his dribble anyway! The sooner he disappears from rugby league & is not heard of the better. Immortal my you know what! After his 'indulgements' during his career...how is he an immortal!

It's all very well to regard the Knights as strong after being bailed out and having a lovely big shiny stadium funded by the tax payers. People on the Northern beaches obviously are paying plenty of tax but none of it goes on stadiums in the area yet the Eels have had two brand new stadiums in the last 30 years and the Eagles nothing.

Well Joey. Lucky this didn't happen 3-4 years ago or the Knights would have been "on the block". I bet you wouldn't have been calling for only the strong to survive then.

For someone with such a high profile and following in the game, Johns adds so little. I notice that his clamour for axing poorly performing clubs wasn’t as pronounced when the Knights were racking up wooden spoons and debt. So why nominate four teams and name only two? Is he teasing a sequel to this drivel?