As a Queensland fan, I enjoy watching the EPIC battles between the North Queensland Cowboys and Brisbane Broncos the most each year.
Just as I know the St George Illawarra Dragons look forward to playing the Cronulla Sharks, the Sydney Roosters competing against the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Penrith Panthers going to war with the Parramatta Eels.
This is why the plans to expand to Perth are ludicrous in my opinion! How many times is the NRL going to try the same old strategies and test the patience and loyalty of the fans unnecessarily before they get it through their skull that it is not working?
Fix what we have now
We need to fix the teams that already exist before the NRL even think about expanding the game. The West Tigers are a basket case, the Parramatta Eels can’t make it through a season without a scandal, The Titans and Newcastle are broke etc. There is no point introducing more teams into a competition if you can’t handle the current load. How do they fix it you ask?
Either the West Tigers or the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs must be relocated to Gosford. To have 4 teams located in the working-class area of the western suburbs of Sydney where money is often tight for families, then be asked to have stadiums sold out week after week is unfair.
All money that is going to be spent "expanding" the game, should be filtered into the teams that need it. And to ensure that these teams do not re-create the same mistakes with wastage, the NRL must stop its policy of "taking a back seat" while letting the clubs run their own houses respectively. Put simply, if you accept a handout from the NRL you must accept the set of rules that accompany the money instead of the spending being left to the discretion of the club.
If there is to be expansion than it needs to be in area’s proven to be rugby league worthy and where there is a proven fan base, not a hope of one.
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