Nth Queensland, Brisbane Broncos; Northern NSW; Newcastle; North Sydney; West Sydney; East Sydney; South Sydney; Illawarra; Canberra; Melbourne; Adelaide; Auckland; Perth. Yep, there are too many Sydney clubs and it's meaningless to the rest of Australia. Financial basis should be a criteria along with sponsorships and five year plans. I'm a Roosters supporter but if that team went and even if it wasn't called East Sydney or similar, I'd follow some team. These days, the money and lack of loyalty has changed the game a lot. The roosters have deep pockets, there's nothing special or unique about being a rooster.
I think that the out of Sydney clubs should be given every chance to survive if we want to make the game national. But the Sydney clubs should still have their chance too because of tradition. I'm happy with the way the comp is now and I don't see the need to cut teams.
There should be NO forced reductions. We should let natural attrition take its course. Why does there have to be 14 teams? Anyone who can survive should be allowed to. St.George can't die or football is finished.
No, exclusion of traditional teams will kill the popularity of the game in Sydney. The generational influence will be lost forever, as will the heritage that supports the game. The end result will be an Americanised version of RL, that pays homage to TV interests. People will look to Union and to a lesser extent AFL. Brisbane becomes the epicentre of world RL and the game becomes a trivial pastime.
Yes, I don't care if they are Sydney clubs if they are not performing or not making profit. I think that if a club makes little profit and performs badly, they should be excluded. After all, the sport is a profit-making, commercial exercise, as are almost all professional sports. Financial initiative makes for better quality sport.
Sydney clubs should not be sacrificed INSTEAD of clubs like Adelaide or Gold Coast, as these clubs should be the first to go. However, there are far too many Sydney clubs and some should go too. The criteria for inclusion/exclusion should be mainly support base and financial capabilities, but also tradition and on-field performance in a 14 team comp.
Even though I'm a diehard Canterbury supporter I do see amalgamation as a necessity as there are too many clubs in Sydney. Even though the likes of Adelaide are not doing well, I think they need to be included, to make the game a truly national comp and be able to compete with the other football codes into the new century. I think that it will be hard to say who can stay and who can't but I really think that crowd figures need to be looked at, but then they really can't be too accurate now with pay TV now taking a large audience. My ideal 14 team comp would be: Canterbury/St George, Brisbane, Newcastle, Balmain/Parramatta, North Queensland, Sydney City/Souths, Melbourne, North Sydney, Penrith/Wests, Canberra, Manly, Auckland, Illawarra/Cronulla (maybe), Adelaide. I would rather see amalgamations rather than dumping the Sydney clubs into some 2nd's comp or similar.
My opinion is that the 20 teams should stay. If anyone should go, it should be as in a company situation, the newer clubs removed. Any struggling Sydney teams should be Relocated to major centres. An example of a good comp: Brisbane Broncos, Melbourne Magpies, Newcastle Knights, Illawarra Steelers, Sydney City Roosters, Perth Panthers, Manly Sea Eagles, Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs, Gold Coast Chargers, Canberra Sharks, North Coast Bears (Gosford based), Parramatta Eels, Adelaide Dragons, North Queensland Tigers. In this way, the tradition of the clubs remain in their colours, Emblems, names and identity, but you still have teams in major centres of the country. Auckland, although strong, should not be part of an Australian Competition. These would not be mergers. These are Sydney clubs relocated, as the South Melbourne Swans did in AFL. Maybe this is how it should have been done originally, and the traitors in SL would never have reared their ugly destructive head. Long live the ARL. Death to News Ltd., exploiter of the world's once greatest games!!!!.