www.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl ... b539a62f0b

www.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl ... b539a62f0b

Total waste of time if a new NRL franchise in Adelaide is not being planned for the near future.

Perth, Adelaide and PNG should all have an NRL franchise.

I agree, but Perth, Brisbane 2, and Wellington, and maybe even PNG, are way ahead of Adelaide in the pecking order.

Didn't Perth and Adelaide have SL teams previously?

Perth certainly did, I think Adelaide did, but am not certain.

Back when the NRL were split into 2 ( SL/NRL had 2 competing competitions back in 97/98 I think). Not sure how long/if they lasted when the NRL rejoined into being 1 league again.

Didn't Adelaide win that world club challenge comp between the Aus and UK teams?

No. I'm at work and an Australian guy I work with reckons Brisbane beat Hunter Mariners in the final ( and as he's a Brisbane fan, I guess he would know).

To be honest, the only thing I vaguely remember about the competition, was that because of the format it went on for ages. And that the British sides were rubbish.

There was a club in Adelaide, and in another in Perth, when Rupert Murdoch set up a Super League competition as rival to the ARL. The SL club was called the Adelaide Rams. It did OK IIRC.

Adelaide Rams and Perth Reds were both disbanded when the Super League-ARL war ended and the new single NRL was formed without Adelaide or Perth. That was a dumb move.

I was at a Broncos game at the end of last year and they replayed the London v Canberra game which London won at the Stoop, 20 years to the day I believe. Meninga was coach of the green ,machine, they had Ricky Stewart, Laurie Daly in the halves plus many more stars. I was surprised at just how fast the game was played.

It was against Adelaide where Paul Sterling scored his full length effort at Headingley if I remember rightly.

I actually think it's abit of a Myth that the games faster now.

I think the players are bigger and fitter now certainly. But some of the rule changes and lack of regarding the ruck have slowed it down.
Plus from vague memories there was less one man rugby, more offloads. But I could be wrong.

Weren't Canberra one of the big Australian teams back then?

Adelaide had the Rams back in the early days of the franchises.

I was there a month ago and there was no interest in bringing them back or on RL at all. Seems a daft move.

Hopefully the SOO game will help revive Rugby League in SA

Would be good if one SOO game a year was rotated round Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne. Rugby League needs massive changes to keep itself afloat. Even the NRL has seen a decline in crowds. The sport can't keep plodding along.

We (Salford) played the Rams home and away in the 1997 WCC. For some reason I had us down as battering them at home before getting drubbed away but having Googled it we only beat them 14-12 at The Willows! They subsequently stuck 50 points on us in the return game.

A certain Michael Maguire was playing in the centres for them at the time and I remember they had a SH/SO that was about 2ft tall and 4ft wide like Ram Man off He-Man!