100%.
How does it make sense there's a comp with NSW, QLD and ACT in it and then Melbourne? Which is why if there was a TT comp and Aus went to 7 teams it should be Western Sydney and Sydney City, Canberra, Brisbane City and Gold Coast
Keep the current 4, let Twiggy keep the Force up to standard (publicly call him to commit to it) and when we have winning teams, support comes back and with it money. With more money, we can keep more top players around and improve the star power and quality of the comp.
The brands have existing value - that must be kept. Just make the call on going Trans-tasman with 10 teams. Home and away round robin, or shorten it and play the kiwis sides just once. Whichever we go with, will still be supported, it just needs to lose the Jaapies, the time zone doesn't work, especially when our teams aren't winning and no one cares about rugby.
Once there's enough decent players and we're winning/competitive across the current 5, NZ and Aus both add another team and we have Super 12 again. I'd give Western Sydney/Country NSW a team, based out in Parra at Bankwest. Lock in that PI and league defect player pool (it's about as big as NZ as a whole have to work with so i'd be throwing cash at that ASAP!). The fact RA or even NSWRU haven't thrown what they can out there even at club level to Penrith and Paramatta is criminal. Even if we ignore the huge numbers of very talented kids out there, and the community benefit some strong rugby culture would provide out there.....think of the grudge match!!
West v East. Poor v Rich. Working class v silver spoons!
Fuck, that's a State of Origin level clash in the making as soon as Western Sydney knock off the Tahs for the first time and I expect that won't take long. Some decent marketing and a few spicy incidents and we're off!
7th team - same base criteria of - are all teams successful, have we got a positive business case and demand etc, players available, money etc etc etc. Wherever that is, shouldn't matter.
QLD or ACT getting a second team would seem the next step. Vikings in Canberra seem the best placed to start - Plenty of cash, semi-pro already, ready to go rivalry with the Brumbies/Canberra and could provide a good factional rivalry to generate interest. North v South placement that can be played up to as well. Start via the NRC by calling the existing team the Kookaburra's again, and the Vikings go alone and set up their own program and pathway. Plenty of anti-Vikings people around Canberra would would flock to the Kookaburra's and boom! ACT grudge match is up and running, to match the Sydney one.
QLD next i'd say, but no idea where. Certainly not the Gold Coast! Brisbane should have a decent north of the river v south of the river balance. I say get them all together for a 'meeting about QLD rugby' and make one side wear coloured bibs and smash a 6 pack of bundy rum pre-mixers before everyone meets up. They're Queenslanders, they'll just start fighting out of Denisovan instinct and then we have two QLD teams to go with an 8th team to go with NZ's next team.
A NT team built off the back of some good outreach from RA to set up some comps/pay some club level coaches to head out there and set up some programs and pathways/coach the coaches, would would a wonderful project as well. Could even use GRR to get some kind of rep team set up there as a combo with the NRC as a pathway to Super Rugby.
The only thing needed for all that to just happen is for rugby to be popular - existing teams must be winning, and the Wallabies. Fans will come back and bring the money to expand into Western Sydney, Vikings, QLD and NT with success. I think our junior pathways are looking well set up at the moment, club level is getting lots of interest, we just need to get all the different levels connected and working to the same battle plan.
