Super League could expand to Australia : Wed Feb 22, 2017 12:44 pm  

http://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-league/39039979

http://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-league/39039979

Re: Super League could expand to Australia : Wed Feb 22, 2017 12:53 pm  

Funny that Wilkin suggests Salford move to Manchester, rather than face the wrath of his own fans by suggesting that St Helens should move to Liverpool.

Saints are a "bigger" club and therefore would be an ideal candidate for upscaling their suppport in a big city.

Re: Super League could expand to Australia : Wed Feb 22, 2017 1:21 pm  

shinymcshine wrote:

Funny that Wilkin suggests Salford move to Manchester, rather than face the wrath of his own fans by suggesting that St Helens should move to Liverpool.

Saints are a "bigger" club and therefore would be an ideal candidate for upscaling their suppport in a big city.

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.

Re: Super League could expand to Australia : Wed Feb 22, 2017 3:02 pm  

That just illustrates the lack of ambition in RL.

Surely one of the bigger clubs should want to move from a small town to a big city to increase its attendance from circa 10k to a regular +20k and shouldn't be held back by their historic "anchors" ?

Re: Super League could expand to Australia : Wed Feb 22, 2017 4:47 pm  

shinymcshine wrote:

That just illustrates the lack of ambition in RL.

Surely one of the bigger clubs should want to move from a small town to a big city to increase its attendance from circa 10k to a regular +20k and shouldn't be held back by their historic "anchors" ?

Absolute rubbish and you probably know it is.

Re: Super League could expand to Australia : Wed Feb 22, 2017 4:56 pm  

jakeyg95 wrote:

Absolute rubbish and you probably know it is.

Yeah, RL shouldn't bother to expand, and should just be happy with its lot.

Re: Super League could expand to Australia : Wed Feb 22, 2017 5:25 pm  

shinymcshine wrote:

Yeah, RL shouldn't bother to expand, and should just be happy with its lot.

It should expand, it just shouldn't try and run before it can walk. Toronto hasn't even played one league yet and we have someone coming out saying let's do Australia.

Re: Super League could expand to Australia : Wed Feb 22, 2017 5:44 pm  

John Kear is a good man but he is wrong on this. Air travel time from Perth to London 18 hours. Try that in economy class!

Re: Super League could expand to Australia : Wed Feb 22, 2017 6:08 pm  

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

Re: Super League could expand to Australia : Wed Feb 22, 2017 6:24 pm  

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

Not sure trying to start teams in Manchester and Liverpool is the best way forward when there's already pretty big clubs on their doorstep. Best way forward I would say is to take games involving these big teams to grounds like Anfield, Goodison and the Etihad and try and tap into the bigger potential revenue streams in those cities.