wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8140220 Wait till they have another NRL team, Rugby league will all most kill it.

wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8140220 Wait till they have another NRL team, Rugby league will all most kill it.

Doubt it. Nice to think it might, but it wont happen. The union infrastructure is far too advanced to let it happen. However, I would say that there isn't the antagonism towards league that you find in Britain. I was at work today and everyone coming in was very positive about the Kiwis and that has been the case for a long time. There is big support for the Warriors during the NRL season even here in the provinces. There certainly has been a big shift in interest in league over here in the last 20 years or so but for it to match union unfortunately, requires a quantum leap.

Nice to see the sports headlines on the news tonight (Sunday). League was the main story and even had a few minutes during the regular news part prior to that. Union came afterwards.

2 nrl teams in nz will go a long way to getting us even with RU

go with 3 and wed take over from them

the way the Super 15 is failing vs the nrl its inevitable we gain lots more ground in nz

with our next tv deal seeing us at double the S15s well be able to raid their ranks at will.

just to inform people the current S15 contract is for around the same amount as we earn.

we are looking at an 80% increase in our TV revenues

once the money flows in well be able to sign who we want from union be it all blacks or wallabies

It's just my opinion and I hate to disagree with you but I think nz at the moment would struggle to maintain 2 nrl teams let alone 3. It sounds a great idea after the win last night and with the fantastic 30 degree weather we're having at the moment but when it's the middle of winter in the main centres other than Auckland (and Chch and Wellington are the only other possibilities) I think it would be a struggle. I noticed the Wellington Phoenix gate crumbled to just over 5000 last night and that just 4 months after nz returned home the only unbeaten team in the World Cup. They are a fickle lot in the capital. I think a 2nd nrl team at the present time would end in tears.

with our tv deal going up by 80 million pa next time it wont be much of a risk.
probably only need crowds of 10,000 to survive.
soccers a much more marginal sport than league

wellington will be looking to join the nrl with ipswich in 2018

well go central coast and perth next time (2013) and the salary cap is going up by around 2 million per club
remember NZ S15 teams wont be able to compete financially so thats the big advantage for us

It would be fantastic to have a regular team in Wellington if it worked. I'd be a regular - Auckland is just that little bit too far (5.5 hours) to go too often.

What would happen to NZ Warriors if there were to be another NZ NRL team? Revert back to Aukland Warriors? I think now is the best opportunity RL has ever had to progress in NZ.

It'd be great to see, but there's always the risk that a 2nd team would dilute the support, and if they end up abandoning the new team they might not get all that support back.

I think it's the right time to take that risk.

NZRL still have some work to do to get imrove then they need to get some good backing for a Wellington/Christchurch team but the potential is def there. Over 70 NZ NRL/SL players so the talent is there.

do you know how many players in the NZ squad play in SLE ?

Eastwood (last season) and Leuluai. Any others?

There probably a fair few that have played for the Kiwis at some point. You could comfortably make a playoff Wellington all NZ squad out of the NZ players playing in Australia and England

Jeff Lima and Thomas Leuluai at Wigan, but hands off thanks

An unflattering crowd of 36,299 turned up to watch the culmination of the rugby league calendar this weekend in Brisbane, as New Zealand and Australia contested for the four nations championship. Meanwhile 80,000+ people packed into Twickenham on the same weekend to see a international rugby union friendly between England and Australia.

Rugby Union’s Super 14 attracts more fans than rugby leagues NRL down under, whilst the Guinness Premiership does likewise with super league at this side of the world. However Rugby League domestic finals do tend to have the edge over rugby union domestic finals. But off the field whenever its internationally or domestically rugby union owns rugby league pretty much every time. We might have minor victory’s over them in that department, but nothing to really shout about.

Now on the field I’m obviously going to say that league is better, but that’s only because I’m bias thanks to been born and bred rugby league. However this year has seen rugby union emerge from cow slapping to some rugby that I like. In the past I’d put rugby union down as the faster version of the very slow going American football. How times have changed thanks to rugby union looking like rugby league was many years ago before league became what it is now and union fans that I talk to agree. In recent months I’d even go as far as saying that I’ve enjoyed rugby union much more than rugby league.

If I had side step of Benji Marshal, kicking ability of Johnny Wilkinson, speed of Bryan Habana along with the leadership of Kevin Sinfield and was approaching my sixteenth birthday then I know which code of rugby I’d go for professionally once I became of age. Rugby League I’m afraid is dieing a slow painful death thanks to replacing quality with quantity. The Salary cap nature of both super league and NRL has seen talent spread out too thinly meaning that the entertainment standard has declined.

My overall view of sport is any sport is great to watch when its played by great sportsmen. I’m afraid that rugby league just doesn’t have enough great players to keep the week to week game entertaining and that shows in the declining attendances. Rugby Union on the other hand has cherry picked some of the best that league has had to offer over the last couple of years with the likes of Sonny Bill Williams, Chris Aston, Andrew Farrell and more converted to Union. Whose come over from Union to league?

In the past a hybrid game of rugby has been thrown around a few time to merge the codes together but that won’t work because a majority of league and union fans hate each others sport. I’ve witnessed this at first hand as most debates between union fans and I normally decline to my sport is better than your sport. There’s very few that I’ve come across that watch both games.

What we need is a solution that’ll see the best of both codes play each code. I’d love to see the likes of Andrew Sheridan, Toby Flood and others play for England Rugby League as I’m sure that rugby union fans would love to see some of our league stars play for their rugby union squad. Well that’s what rugby union has pretty much done with Chris Ashton, but at rugby leagues expense.

A solution that I propose is that we have an elite rugby season in England where one half of the year is rugby league and the other half is rugby union. This way the best of league get to play in union and the best of union likewise get to play in league. Then at the end of the season we’ll have play offs and the internationals of both codes pretty much the same way. Of course this’ll mean shortening domestic season’s and the amount of teams playing in the top league, but the quality will be so much better. The flexibility will see both codes enjoy each others players.

This is just a brief idea that hasn’t really been thought through. Even now I acknowledge it’ll probably take a very wealthy person indeed to see something like I’ve just mentioned materialise because people have big investments in the current structure of the two sports and this is just one complex reason why it probably won’t happen in the near future. But its about time that both codes give the fans what they deserve and that’s the best of the best at no ones expense. Days of players prioritising which code to play for should be long over because its upset either code at one point or another.

The day I see a Leeds Tykes Player playing for Leeds Rhinos in the sort of season structure that I mentioned above will be the day that Rugby will take over as the worlds number one sport. Until then we shall watch both codes compete for the best players when in reality we could co-exist together in such a better way. Surely there’s a better way than the one that is now?

Until then I shall enjoy the sinking ship that is rugby league because even though we’re sinking, I’d rather be a Rhino than a Tyke. I just don’t think that league will ever compete with Union with the way things are going. Even with more NZ sides in the NRL.

if more and more NZ and PI players are going to be playing in the NRL,is this not shinking the aussie pool of players?.
if it is do you think they will enlarge the NRL or go to two leagues?

What on Earth is cow slapping?

Imagine if cows udders could hold rugby balls. There’s 15 cows v 15 sumo wrestlers.

That’s what cow slapping is and what rugby union used to be..

no as they will continue to lure them to Kangaroos by dangling the SOO carrot in front of them.

You are proper bonkers mate. Ta for the sig material.

I agree with this bit

Wellington could only manage around 13,500 crowds thsu year. an NRL team could and should easily exceed that. www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/sp ... Hurricanes

Wellington could only manage around 13,500 crowds thsu year. an NRL team could and should easily exceed that. www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/sp ... Hurricanes

Quote ="JB Down Under"Wellington could only manage around 13,500 crowds thsu year. an NRL team could and should easily exceed that. www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/sp ... Hurricanes'" Still above the Super 14 average though.

Quote ="JB Down Under"Wellington could only manage around 13,500 crowds thsu year. an NRL team could and should easily exceed that. www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/sp ... Hurricanes'" Still above the Super 14 average though.

It’d work though..