Re: Super League could expand to Australia : Wed Feb 22, 2017 6:33 pm  

Just merge the competitions.

split NRL in to two groups of 8 NRL A and NRL B, SL in to two of 6 SL A and SL B

SL A play half of NRL A away, the other half at home, half of SL B away and half at home, the other 5 in SL A home and away. Thats 24 games. SL B do the same with NRL B.

NRL A play 6 NRL A v SL A games, 3 home, 3 away, then all of NRL A and NRL B plus three more random ones to bump it up (their fixture list isnt even now so this isnt a big deal) thats their 24.

Then have whatever play-offs you want, two GF winners play each other 2weeks after the GFs in the nation which is hosting the internationals for the World Champions title.

Opens up the 13th biggest economy which is an RL mad nation for SL, the 6th biggest for the NRL.

And allows NRL and SL to be sold as a package which is much more valuable to TV companies in both countries as you get double the amount of games, plus for 12 weeks or so you can pretty much fill an entire weekend with RL with half of them the filming etc being paid for by someone else.

Re: Super League could expand to Australia : Thu Feb 23, 2017 1:20 am  

UllFC wrote:

A team in Australia is too far fetched but Wilkin makes a valid point about Manchester and Liverpool. Salford would have little to lose by moving, im yet to meet anyone who likes that new ground. Liverpool would probably have to start from scratch though

Apart from loyal fans that have stuck with their club through thick and thin. I've supported the team for 28 years and have no interest in supporting a Manchester based RL team and I doubt many of our fans would disagree with me. What makes people think that moving into Manchester would help crowds? There is f*ck all to suggest it would in a city that is dominated by Man Utd and that blue poop from t'other side of town. Likewise Liverpool with their 2 Premier League clubs.

Re: Super League could expand to Australia : Thu Feb 23, 2017 8:43 pm  

UllFC wrote:

Salford would have little to lose by moving

And even less to gain.

Re: Super League could expand to Australia : Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:00 pm  

Grimmy wrote:

To be fair, there is a lot to lose moving St Helens, as they are a club with a relatively large amount of supporters. It makes more sense for Salford to experiment like this as they have few fans to lose. They would almost certainly at least increase away attendances if they move to Manchester.

I suppose Wiko's thinking and stating the obvious is that more people outside of the UK would have heard of Manchester and Liverpool than Saint Helens and Salford.
I would presume that Saints do target people from Liverpool and Salford target people from Manchester.