Cronulla, Manly and the Gold Coast are all at risk of being axed from the NRL to make way for a new Brisbane team, according to a report by The Daily Telegraph.
Nine Network is pushing for the change, with the broadcaster's director of sport Tom Malone keen to bring the new Brisbane side in by 2023.
Malone's preference is to axe an existing club instead of adding a 17th team because an expansion would introduce a bye every week and increase costs without generating any "incremental revenue".
"That could come from another team being relocated there, or better still another club being discontinued and a new club established in Brisbane," Malone said.
"In a perfect world you'd probably have one or two less teams.
"What clubs should go? I'm not going to get into that one. It's a hard decision but probably one that needs to be made in the longer term interests of the game."
It is understood that NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg met with Queensland Premier Annastasia Palaszczuk on Friday to discuss a new team in the River City.
Foxtel chief executive Patrick Delany was advocating for a new Brisbane team but does not want the league to axe an existing club.
"They love their rugby league in Brisbane and it seems a natural fit," Mr Delany told News Corp.
"You get that inter-city rivalry which enhances tribalism and that's ultimately what we want.
"It's all about generating more fans and bigger TV audiences. I don't know if you'd get that real tribal traction with rugby league in Perth that you'd get in Brisbane."
What a disgrace that Nine is pushing this. NRL are sick joke if this happens and I hate Cronulla and Manly; but it’ll be a cold day in hell before I support them or any team being axed.
So despite depleting memberships which has them floating around the bottom of Sydney based NRL clubs, poor game attendance over the past 5 years, no grass roots junior development which has their demographic overrun by AFL and soccer, the Sydney Roosters are miraculously exempt from relocation criteria. Serious?
The poor statistics above are despite having won 2 premierships and 4 minor premierships in the past 6 years.
Doesn’t it make sense to relocate the Roosters and have Souths rebuild junior rugby league in the lost territory between Watsons Bay and Clovelly once again?
Isn’t the aim of NRL to be the No 1 football code in Australia?
What state would this great game be without grass roots juniors which is the heart and soul of any NRL club worth anything?
Who exactly are the real power brokers behind the NRL if this article is correct?
Who exactly is suggesting Cronulla, Manly and the Gold Coast are the clubs at risk because whilst Ben Cotton has disclosed this, he carefully hasn’t stated that Tom Malone has.
So Ben, how did you derive the 3 clubs you mention?
FrankSpencer your argument lacks any credibility in that the points you raise have little bearing on why a club should be relocated despite what you say is 90% incorrect in a desperate attempt to divert from the logical criteria for relocation.
Souths are not only in a very strong financial position , the have an iconic grass roots junior system up their with the best in the game, currently boasting 30,000 members which has them leading all Sydney based NRL clubs and growing.
Please save your gibberish garbage for somewhere with your level of stupidity.
The roosters can use their current strong financial position to establish elsewhere.
Quite simple. The GC have been a train wreck since 1988. Relocate them. Job done. If not bye bye Cronulla 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻
I wonder who sharks fans will start supporting.
“The poor statistics above are despite having won 2 premierships and 4 minor premierships in the past 6 years.”
That’s the reason the most successful club in the history of NRL, You think high member ms numbers means success? How many premierships have all them members won in last 40+ years?
I don’t think the south Sydney stain would ever be relocated either but apart from 2014 Souths have been garbage for the last 40 years, all of your so called “grass roots juniors” have done nothing, 30000 members support a loser club that’s only around because of a kiwi.
Back2smack19 well therein lies your argument.
We all know the reputation of used car salesmen.
Frankfurter right on cue jumping all over anyone who offers valid arguments which nullify the nonsense you come up with.
BTW not sure what you are referring to me as the previous person.
I can assure you this is the only life I am living but respect your beliefs in reincarnation.
Why get rid of clubs with history and fans such as Manly and the Sharks. The titans suck but it’s not fair to move them either. For the sake of the game of rugby league I don’t see how moving or get rid of a current team helps the game. They need to add introduce a second tier of rugby league and leave the current 16 teams in the NRL then have a promotion/relegation system with a second tier of about 12 teams.
Then it means the NRL gets the best level of footy and best teams competing. It also creates more opportunities and jobs for players/coaches and stuff. It also could bring more money with TV rights and sponsorships on a new league.
As for the 12 teams I would start with
A Perth team, A second NZ team, a second Brisbane team, PNG Hunters, North Sydney Bears, Newtown Jets, Western Suburbs Magpies, Ipswich Jets, Sunshine Coast Falcons and the Burleigh Bears.
You don’t put as much effort into the NSW and QLD Cups and you put that effort into the second tier. You give the second tier 3/5 years to build up then you start a promotion/relegation system of 1 team each year.
To continue my theory of a second tier system. To get more financial support you remove the salary cap for the second tier. Meaning if owners want to pay good coin for a player for example a second NZ team wishes to recruit Issac Luke to play for them as choose to pay him let’s say 400k. This then gets the player on board and then if that team wins the Comp and gets promoted they then have a salary cap to deal with next year. But it makes those clubs in the second tier able to get good players from moving to the super league and gets that second tier up to a better standard.
Plus think about all the players that would move back from the super league to play at home for a more local smaller team and get promotion.
The second tier could bring back players like Albert Kelly, Greg Bird, Trent Merrin, Blake Austin, Lachlan Coote, Matt Parcell, Jackson Hastings, Konrad Hurrell, David Mead and so on.
While giving opportunities to players not getting regular game time such as Josh Reynolds, Ben Matalino, James Seggy, Fa’manu Brown, Brenko Lee, Trent Hodkinson, Lloyd Perrett, Josh Hoffman and so on.
Make the NRL squad limit 25 meaning all 16 teams release 5 players each (80 players), which gives the second tier teams more talent to choose from also
Axe channel 9
If they axe channel 9, poor people like Stephanie won’t be able to watch any footy.
Back2smack19 do some checking you will discover a company called Foxtel covers all the games.
With 4 iq4s in my home lots of choices for all unlike you that has to go to your roosters club after a quick visit to cash converters across the road so you can buy a shandy.
Should add the Warriors to that list.
I have been sold on the idea of a second tier for a number of years. Its the sensible way forward without disenfranchising anyone.
That comes to show that Toddy and the NRL in general are channel 9 puppets
Penrith should become NSW country/ Penrith. As I’ve said before. As they do more to support Western division etc than any other team.
They’d gain far more support from fans outside of Sydney, Illawarra, Newcastle. Could play more of their & other teams home games in country regions. What country kid wouldn’t want to play for NSW Country?
It would mean a fairer go in overall season penalty counts. Are refs going to continue to rip off the team as NSW Country? Don’t think so. They’d also make the club permanently secure .
A big junior area , would just become a massive one. They are already Bathurst Panthers etc.
In surprised that no one has done it yet? We need a club to represent the Country areas. Penrith is the perfect fit for NSW Country.
EastOfDivide that makes sense but for some reason an established juniors system let alone a strong one doesn’t appear to be part of the criteria for relocation.
Wonder why?
Here is an interesting view of the relocation debate
This is NOT MY SCRIBE…. this come from another site I follow and this will send TwitONE crazy
“”Prime candidates are the Eels and the Rabbitohs. Both are big crowd pullers in Queensland, and with many migrant New South Welshmen fleeing Sydney for warmer waters, there is an existing Eels and Rabbitohs supporter base now in the Sunshine State.
Given these facts, NRL teams playing in south-east Queensland could become…
1. North Brisbane Broncos, representing North Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast and playing at Suncorp Stadium.
2. Souths Rabbitohs, representing South Sydney and South Brisbane to Logan City. They would play 11 games at ANZ, eight games at the QE2 Stadium or Suncorp until a future venue, such as Wakerley Park near Runcorn Station is developed.
3. Gold Coast Parramatta Eels, a merger of the Eels and Titans, splitting their games between Suncorp or Cbus Super Stadium as well as the new Western Sydney Stadium. The blue-and-gold colours of the Eels are a natural fit with the colours of the Gold Coast.
4. Manly Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles, representing Manly in Sydney and Brisbane’s Bayside (Wynnum-Manly) all the way to the Sunshine Coast. They would play 11 games at Brookvale and eight derby games at Suncorp.
5. West Tigers, representing Western Sydney and the growth corridor in south-east Queensland, namely Ipswich to the Darling Downs. They would play 11 games at the Western Sydney Stadium plus four derby games at Suncorp until a future venue in Ipswich is developed.
It is important that Sydney teams still retain the same number of home games. At the same time, existing supporter bases in south-east Queensland finally have a regional team to support on a regular basis.””
Let me Repeat … this was found on another platform