gould last night did a special segment where they analyzed the upcoming finals series and teams from a tactical viewpoint

the way he talked about the game was so knowledgeable and informative

its good to see RL in australia has such knowledgeable commentators

Shame the international set up doesnt have anyone as informative as him, given you lost to a nation with no professional league

They will be in Melbourne by 2012 ,and sadly probably drawing bigger crowds.

F-ing hell, yet another load of cr*p from LF (who should know better if he IS an Aussie) including the Gold and even Sunshine Coasts in the same list as actual CITIES like Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne. There is no such place as "Gold Coast City" or "Sunshine Coast City" - they are amalgamations of a number of smaller towns into a city purely for the purpose of running councils more efficiently. The fact that there aren't even moderately-sized popul;ation centres on the Sunshine Coast will IMO forever preclude a major sporting team moving/being located there.

I'd also suggest that anyone who calls either Perth or Adelaide a 'hole' hasn't actually been to either city -both far, far nicer places to live than Sydney.

The cities which count in terms of media exposure are the state capitals - Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide - and Canberra. Of those, league has NO position in Adelaide or Perth, and just the one team (and very little media presence) in Melbourne. AFL has Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne sewn up, with plans for a second team in Sydney and the new 'Gold Coast' team effectively providing a second competitive team in SE Qld.

RU may be on its uppers a bit at the moment but is probably going to add a franchise in Melbourne - leaving Adelaide the only capital in Aus without a major RU team.

In any event a real test of the games will be the respective deals made for the next round of TV rights - the NRL got far, far less than AFL last time (viewing figures not apparently counting for much) and this was exacerbated by the massive amount of 'contra' revenue from Foxtel (ads for the NRL on Foxtel itself being counted as part of the 'revenue' the NRL receives).

One thing that can't be easily estimated as well is the long-term impact of continuing unsavoury stories emanating from NRL players.

The NRL is doing well this year, and growing crowds is brilliant. But writing off either Union or AFL as 'no threat' would probably be the dumbest move in the history of dumb moves. Luckily Gallop isn't as big a pillock as LF.

the NZ Warriors play in the nrl.

the population of the gold coast is now approaching 700,000 and it is now a city.

in terms of media ad dollars, sydney and brisbane make up 70% of total revenues.

union is a joke in australia. AFL is trying hard and still failing to grow in nsw and queensland despite millions being spent

What's Darwin done to upset you?

Who Coached the Kiwis?
Kearney was the figure head but who really pulled the strings?
Look at Kearney's comments after the game and subsequently.

Ah, so there isn't a team in Melbourne?

Yes of course it does.

All those RL global sporting icons like who?

UK football teams are global brands. Australian RL teams are nothing.

australian football teams play RL

thats my point.

where i live RL is the big sport in town.

i pity anybody where RL isnt the dominant sport.

It'd be interesting living in that world.
In fact, I think it would be rather cool.
Plaaane ticket to Sydney

just what we needed, a Pom pretending to be an australian.

I think you'll find that after reading a post like that (and after they have finished laughing) most people will pity you too.