Wally the Fly

SANZAR have finally reached an agreement for an expansion from 2011 onwards which in a nut shell means:

1.      16 rounds

2.      Teams to be split into three conferences (RSA, NZ, AUS) with teams playing teams in their own conference home and away as well as playing four of the five teams in the other two conferences.

3.      A 15^th team will be introduced playing in the Australian conference (yet to be named).

4.      A six-team three week semi-finals system whereby the top team from each country is guaranteed a possie.

5.      Three week bye during the June Tests

6.      Begins in Feb and ends around August

This is great news. While the Yarpies basically got everything they demanded (they have superior leverage thanks to having the biggest TV market) from an Aussie point of view it makes some important leaps forward.

Firstly it means that instead of having a ridiculously short competition it finally runs for a decent length of time allowing people to get into the tournament.

Having eight guaranteed home games (including 4 against sides in the Australian conference) means more gate revenue and more games on tele to watch.

The fact we’re guaranteed one spot in the semi’s means is obviously a huge plus!

The next question is the 5^th team to play in the Aussie conference which is no means decided. South Africa’s bizare request for it to be a South African team aside, it is coming down to Gold Coast, Western Sydney and Victoria.

Victoria is of course the only answer:

·         Super rugby is a provincial competition

·         GC or WS would pillage Reds and Waratahs support and forever ruin the fantastic century old rivalry between Queensland and NSW state rugby sides.

·         Melbourne = 4 million people, Western Sydney = 2 million people Gold Coast = 500,000 people (roughly)

·         There are plenty of ex-pat Kiwis and northern state refugees in Melbourne to support the side

·         If rugby leaves it any longer the Storm will finally cement a spot and the ship will have sailed

·         New rectangular stadium in Melbourne to be ready by 2011.

·         Victoria actually has a strong history of rugby going back decades and have produced many Wallabies such as Weary Dunlop and Rocky Elsom

·         Having a Victorian side means that rugby has a solid national pressence (WA, NSW, QLD, VIC, ACT)

·         GC and WS have teams, the Reds and the Waratahs, as The Sideline Eye has been banging on about for yonks, both sides need to be playing games outside Ballymore and SFS and show people they are the State teams.

It scares many a folk that John O’Neill is even talking about putting the team in GC or WS but The Sideline Eye strongly suspects Messiah John is playing the game. Subtly saying to Melbournians ‘don’t take the team for granted’ and to the GC and Western Sydney ‘we haven’t forgotten you’.

Let’s bloody well hope so.

Another year another debate about the worth of City/Country origin and rep footy generally.

The value of the NSW ‘trial’ game to one side, its clear the rep season still make no sense.

You have a 40 team NSW squad selected before the City/Country origin team is named and before the Test is played (even though Origin is after the Test!).

Then you got the fact that thanks to Channel 9’s demand last Friday’s ‘trial’ game was played at the same time as the Test. (Just how bad this was has already been disected so we’ll move on).

Firstly there needs to be a progression in rep footy, from smaller to bigger; City/Country (if it has to be played) then State of Origin (June/July) and finally Tests or whatever after the regular season.

Secondly, you need to allow these games to be played separately from clubs. Lockyear tomorrow night will be playing his third game in a week and this physical drain on players is unacceptable.

If City/Country has a place then it has to be as stand alone game or not at all.

State of Origin should be three consecutive weeks where the club season stops. It means its easier on players attempting to back up but also gives the other players a break and puts 100% of the focus onto Origin.

Finally after the club season is complete then we can see the Tests, tournaments and tours.

(Exactly what post-NRL season tournaments should be played The Sideline Eye covered last year).

The Central Coast is a rugby league stronghold and desperately want and should be given an NRL club. The NRL have said quite openly that there should be a team up there.

Sydney teams struggling to stay in the black (and battling the fact that there are too many games in the season) whore themselves off for a game or two in Gosford; Easts, Bulldogs, Souths and Manly. Now Cronulla want five games up there.

The problem with this is that the clubs aren’t trying to become the Central Coast club but rather just do it for a cash grab.

This SMH article covering the Storm’s victory over Easts last night starts off by saying ‘empty seats dotted Bluetongue Stadium. Will they really support an NRL team on the Central Coast?’ 

It totally misses the point, the people of the Central Coast WILL NOT go to ad hoc games played by teams that don’t represent their area.

That’s why none of them get huge crowds and that’s why the Northern Eagles failed.

With all due respect to the journo who wrote that, haven’t you learnt anything from the last eight or so years of league failure in that region?

Besides having over 8,000 for a Monday night game isn’t that much different to what Manly or Easts or most Sydney clubs would get for ‘Monday night football.’

BUT BACK to the main point here, the clubs going up there aren’t trying to become a Central Coast club, but rather just get a bit of cash.

This is totally against the long term interests of growing (or sustaining the interest) in the Central Coast.

The only team that are totally committed to playing in the area are playing in the NSW Cup; the Bears.

They also happen to be the only team that should be granted the ‘licence’ to play up there.

Here’s why:

v     It would reawaken the lost supporters on the North Shore who will a) attend the games at North Sydney Oval and b) probably watch it    games on tele. For some in that area hopping onto the F1 is quite easy and means going to games insn’t totally out of the question.

v     Finally give a strong rugby league area a team of their own, solidifying league’s stronghold on the area.

v     Give a lot of league fans, whatever their stripes the ‘feel good’ sense that a traditional club (albeit rebranded) is back in the game. Similar to how people felt when Souths were brought back in (no matter how quickly that seemed to have evapourated!)

v     Before the dreadful Northern Eagles experiment there was plenty of support for the Bears on the Coast. My sources tell me most people up on the Coast support a whole heap of different sides now but the ship hasn’t yet sailed into the sunset. The NRL must act immediately in getting a side up there.

Its time to go: Cronulla.

For those playing at home the Sharks are planning to play five games in Gosford and one in Adelaide for the next five years starting next year. This is due to the terrible financial state of the struggling Sydney club.

Ah but Cronulla are not relocating, no, their CEO says. Although that didn’t stop them putting the hat out to the NRL for the RELOCATION money. Common sense prevailed and the NRL knocked back the Cronulla’s request for the sizeable cash on offer (a few hundred G’s of the $8-11 million on offer for a proper relocation).

Cronulla aren’t interested in relocating and integrating their side in the Central Coast community. As Florimo said, it’s a short term money making exercise to keep them alive for the next couple of years.

And now they’re talking about playing home games against the Warriors in Auckland or Wellington, playing Brisbane at Lang Park and Nth Queensland in Townsville.

A travelling circus.

The plan reeks of desperation. The Sharks and the NRL should be focusing on long term and permanent relocation of the Sharks.

Why? Coz they not nothing going for them; they have had poor crowds for years, never won a premiership and now geographically make very little sense with St George and Illawarra sandwhiching them. Not to mention of course, their terrible financial situation. (And like all clubs in Sydney there’s the issue of there being too many around).

Relocation is exactly what they should be doing but not on the current model (five games at CC, one in Adelaide and now it seems games in NZ and Queensland). They need to relocate but relocate properly with a minium of 10 home games at the new location.

Fair enough if they follow the proposed Central Coast Bears model of playing most of their games at Gosford with one or two games a year at North Sydney Oval to keep that part of the supporter base alive.

But wherever they go they have to be the X Sharks and totally imerse themselves in the new community they’re in.

The NRL should offer the $8-$11 million they’re offering up for CC move for the team committed to going to Perth, Adelaide, a 4^th Queensland team or Wellington.

These options are really where the Sharks should be heading, as for the Coast there is only one option: the Bears. More on that soon.