Quote: Psychedelic Casual "
Melbourne wasn’t expansion and neither were Aulkand/NZ and neither have Catalans been. They were all given a chance to have a team given a spot in the dominant league in the continent after having a strong background and history of playing the sport for decades with a base that can be said to be stable with a player pool.'"
Rubbish. The main competition in Australia was a Sydney based league from 1904 to 1994. Just look when the other clubs were created and added to that competition. Canberra Raiders in 1981, Brisbane Broncos in 1988, Newcastle Knights 1988, North Queensland Cowboys in 1995, Auckland Warriors in 1995 and Melbourne Storm in 1998. All those clubs, along with Catalans are expansion clubs.
Yes there was already amateur local rugby league played in some of those areas before the professional club was created, but to claim they are not expansion clubs is wrong. How much amateur rugby league was played in Melbourne prior to their inception? I don’t think a great deal, they still rely on bringing in players from elsewhere just as Toronto do. Melbourne’s reserve grade team are based in and play in Queensland, expansion clubs can be successful without creating their own players, as the Storm have shown.