That comment speaks volumes for your understanding of either country in rugby league.

lol

As I said, see you next round.

in 2013 the nrl is adding central coast bears and perth reds to the comp.

so 2018 would be the next expansion window and wellington and ipswich would then be favourites

the scary thing about the nrl is how many places are begging for a team

at least 20 - 22 teams is what we should aim for

22 is what I think in years to come. And ideally like the NFL each team play's each other once a regular season therefore making the club games more of an occasion when they play each other.

will take significant increase in income by the NRL to afford 22 teams. Ideally the grant from the NRL would be in the $6-7million a club now. To get to 22 teams and fund them properly it would take at least a doubling of income on the NRL's part. Still a long way to go till we see that.

When someone has tens of millions of dollars going spare to market a club to an interested public outside Auckland. Very easily doable as soon as you have a mad butcher but on a much larger scale in terms of finances

Good old butcher.

not going to happen but my dream :

2013 - central coast and perth
2018 - ipswitch and wellington
2023 - png & adelaide
2028 - christchurch and PI team (tonga,samoa and fiji)

ie 24 teams

broken up into 2 conferences, one being the nsw teams and the other the expansion teams

each team plays home and away in each division (12 teams each, 22 rounds)

then have a top 5 finals systems for each division

winners of each division go to the grand final.

by being able to expand every 5 years thats going to increase future TV deals a lot, ignoring inflation on the existing viewers

in australia potentially we can add the following viewers - FTA / Pay TV

WA - 150,000 / 50,000
Adelaide - 100,000 / 25,000
Melbourne - 150,000 / 50,000
Queensland - 250,000 / 100,000

Despite having some knowledge of NZ and Wellington in particular I dont have enough understanding of the sport down there to offer a reasoned opinion

Maybe some from down there should consider the same before telling us ' up ' here how our sport should progress in the future

Are there enough quality players to maintain the high intensity of the NRL with so many teams?

3 years ago, but knowing the luvvly NRL, it will take them 10 years minimum.

WOAH WOAH WOAH Dally.

You spent AGES telling JB that Perth had absolutely no chance!
What changed your tune...

Ok....I have only been in Wellington for 12 months, but after watching the Local comp, the national Comp and wall to wall NRL/Toyota cup on SKY, I would offer this as an explanation as to why NZRL will concentrate on getting its own house in order before pressing for another NRL team. I may be well of the mark with cetain assumptions, but it is mainly based on published facts (warning. 9 meg)
The new 7 Regions are all now in place with only one area currently causing problems and new competitions successfully launched at senior and under age levels in 2010. The next steps will be to ensure that these comps continue to run well and the 7 regions all ensure they deliver the same basic message in promoting the game. It will take another 3 years minimum before a decision on the success "to date' can really be made. At this stage, I believe that if it has worked, the standard of teams will have improved to such a level that some NRL fringe players may be enticed back to NZ.

One of the issues faced by NZRL is a social one. When I first came to New Zealand as a tourist, I asked about League. The person I asked informed me that the League team in his town, Wanganui, had been moved 15 miles away due to a shooting incident. This answer was repeated to me on a number of occassions and after I went to the local library I disovered that a localised fued betwen Black Power and the Mob had ended with the death of a child in a drive by shooting......and because people involved were players on the team, a RL connection had been made....
When I started work here, I asked about Wainuiomata RL and was told not to park my car near the ground as there was "always" trouble after games........the same when I asked if Petone Panthers were a better bet to watch games.

The fact is that 90% of the players in the national and wellington comps (can't comment on other areas) are of pacific or Maori heritage and the culture of "big hits' sometimes enables people to settle scores on the field. I am not sure, but I believe that this "aggression", together with unhelpful journalism such as highlighted above is key in the current situation regarding getting fans to games.

This is one of the key areas that Jim Doyle and his team will be addressing over the next 3 years....the perception that League is a game played by thugs, associated with gangs and settling of scores.

My own experiences of League in the region this year have been nothing other than great. Great people running the game, great people running the clubs and friendly fans.......happy to have a dig about my beloved Quins RL being crap..... .

I would love to see a franchise in Wellington......but, as I have pointed out in other threads, sports fans in the region are fickle....and Union, soccer, netball, basketball are all suffering from "fanapathy" (copywrite pending ) and I believe that if a Wellington Orcas side were to become an NRL Franchise, then it would have to be with a backer prepared to underwrite the club for 5 or more years..and with an infastructure across all 7 regions that would support it and provide a good breeding ground for the players of the future.

So, that's how the land lies here at the moment. 21,000 went to watch the Kiwis beat England, showing that there are fans in the region, but there are 35,000 fans for the AB's when they play here and only 14,000 for the local premium Union team.....5,000 for the coccer team yet 35,000 for the All Whites.....Wellington Fans need to be courted to folloing league and I believe that 3 Warriors games a year need to played here to really gauge interest........

As I said, I may be wrong, but these are my thoughts on the matter.