3rd tier is back in 2014 [Discontinued]

[RugbyFuture]

you have to realise in terms of market potential, ignoring club performance, ignoring any relationships, this competition should technically be a whole new kettle of fish.

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[I like to watch]

You can't seriously propose that an entity with no money,very few juniors and a very poor recent playing history.
Be given a franchise on the basis of sponsorship support.
Can you?

 

[Dave Beat]

You can't seriously propose that an entity with no money,very few juniors and a very poor recent playing history.
Be given a franchise on the basis of sponsorship support.
Can you?

NO, you can not. Edit / I hope not.
How are they going to field a team that can hold the own?

 

[Bowside]

Randwick have a brand though. Rugby people all over the world know of Randwick, the ella brothers etc.

If you asked rugby people in Brisbane to name a sydney club team Randwick is one that comes to mind straight away. They get a mention on the tv every second time a Cheika or McKenzie coached team play.

Not saying that means they deserve a team, but when you combine the brand, the past players network and the University backing, it certainly starts to look a bit more convincing than some other bids.

 

[RugbyFuture]

you could say much the same thing about the uni bid which is obviously being powered through balmains money. The fact is with the old boys in the ARU the two clubs with the trongest political nous are uni and wicks. Thats what takes them over the line.

The Rams and the northern consortium are obviously trying to achieve the best result for rugby though.

 

[Bowside]

I think the idea of country teams should be discussed at length.

I can see the merit in having a Newcastle team and if there are to be 5 teams in NSW I hope one of them is based out of Newcastle. Maybe they could go on a road trip every season and play some games in regional centres as well. But should they be marketed as a Newcastle (perhaps University of Newcastle?) team or a NSW country team?

Likewise in Queensland, I don't consider the gold or sunshine coast part of country, and I don't know anyone who does.

I can see the merit in basing a team out of Bond University: large on-campus student population and link with the Titans centre of excellence which Bond just bought. But does marketing them as QLD country just because they play one game a year in Toowoomba make much sense?

How about the QRU focus on getting viable Darling Downs and Sunshine coast teams in the Premier comp first.

 

[Bowside]

The Rams and the northern consortium are obviously trying to achieve the best result for rugby though.

I think all teams have the best interests of the game at heart.

The teams you mention will just face more challenges being successful.

 

[Bowside]

On the idea of Force, Rebels and Brumbies players being release to qld/nsw, I said this on another thread:

The Force, Rebels and Brumbies should have full access to everyone on their playing roster for their NRC teams, unless a players signs on the proviso they can continue to play for their old team.

So say for example a bloke has played 5 seasons for Sydney Uni in the NRC, gets signed by the rebels with a clause in his contract that he can return to sydney Uni for the NRC since he has roots there.

I'd even say this should be encouraged when players sign for out of state super rugby teams, because it helps to cut the incidents of players changing NRC teams every season.

 

[RugbyFuture]

Id like to see them referred to as south queensland with the brisbane team as brisbane. That way they could take them out of the gold coast occasionally to other south queensland regional centres outside brisbane.

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[Bruce Ross]

Theres plenty of money and most of the consortiums have that end of the bargain sorted. Particularly Randwick.

The idea of the NRC and NRC franchises rather than shute shield stuff has attracted new investors and sponsors to all the larger bidding franchises, whether they be considered standalone ss clubs or not.

I've either missed quite a few announcements or else you are privy to internal information from a very wide variety of sources, RF.

You say that "most of the consortiums" have "plenty of money" already sorted out, and that "all the larger bidding franchises" have "attracted new investors and sponsors". Are you at liberty to disclose the sources of all this information?

If true, and I am sure your statements must be grounded in fact, this is truly exciting news. We are suddenly in a situation where clubs and franchises are displaying a degree of business acumen heretofore not seen nor indeed even suspected by many of us.
.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

On the idea of Force, Rebels and Brumbies players being release to qld/nsw, I said this on another thread:

The Force, Rebels and Brumbies should have full access to everyone on their playing roster for their NRC teams, unless a players signs on the proviso they can continue to play for their old team.

So say for example a bloke has played 5 seasons for Sydney Uni in the NRC, gets signed by the rebels with a clause in his contract that he can return to sydney Uni for the NRC since he has roots there.

I'd even say this should be encouraged when players sign for out of state super rugby teams, because it helps to cut the incidents of players changing NRC teams every season.

I suggested on the TWF forum that the Force and Rebels should be allowed to select their preferred 15 without any local talent and then fill in the rest with locals. For the Force this would actually mean they'd have pretty close to their Super Rugby squad available as the likes of Godwin would be considered as local talent.

 

[RugbyFuture]

Are you at liberty to disclose the sources of all this information?
.

sorry Bruce, I can't say.

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[Bowside]

I suggested on the TWF forum that the Force and Rebels should be allowed to select their preferred 15 without any local talent and then fill in the rest with locals. For the Force this would actually mean they'd have pretty close to their Super Rugby squad available as the likes of Godwin would be considered as local talent.

Interesting idea but it could get a bit complicated.

Realistically, I don't mind if the Force, Rebels and Brumbies NRC teams are stronger than the rest in the short term.

With my plan of players retaining their NRC allegiances when signing with other super rugby teams, the greater depth of quality players in NSW and QLD will mean that over time, players who don't sign to the force, rebels and brumbies straight after school will end up returning to their home team anyways. Meaning the 5 NSW, and 2 QLD teams will be on par with the other teams soon enough.

 

[Tomikin]

Looking at the last 10 years how can the ARU be thinking about Rand wick standing alone. But just last year (or should we look at the year before?

• They finished outside the top 8 last year in a club comp, how are they going to fair in a 3rd Tier?
• They lost more games than they one.
• They leaked more points than they scored.
• Didnt Uni touch up one of their teams by 90+ in the semi's last year.

http://www.rugbynews.net.au/club-drawsresults/drawsresultsladder/

Next the ARU will be telling the Tahs they have to push contacted players to the Wicks.

IMO There appears to be politics over riding what is best for the game.
So I ask the question, how can they possibly stand alone on the paddock without without assistance or players being told to go there?

Why not Easts, Randwick, Southern - that is being sensible.

The say won not one

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[RugbyFuture]

considering that the brumbies own half the territory that the country bid will probs be operating in, you could potentially have the canberra and nsw country bids feed into them. Considering uni have such a close connection with the rebels now you could have potential links there between the rebels and uni, then you just need to distribute one of the other 3 nsw teams to the force and you have two clubs to each province.

alternatively randwick also have close connections with the brumbies.

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[Done that]

For God's sake , why have any stand alone clubs?

 

[Tomikin]

You know with all the talk im hyped as....cant wait to see the next players guys like Tom Staniford .. I never seen him play but future looks bright

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[Stands]

If Randwick stand alone in the NRC won't more players want to play for Randwick because they might have a better chance playing in the NRC? and if more players want to play for Randwick they could conceivably have a better playing pool from which to choose from.

Compared to playing for the Norths or Wests consortium for example.

 

[Bruce Ross]

If Randwick stand alone in the NRC won't more players want to play for Randwick because they might have a better chance playing in the NRC? and if more players want to play for Randwick they could conceivably have a better playing pool from which to choose from.

Compared to playing for the Norths or Wests consortium for example.

Your comment highlights the fact that everyone, including the ARU, is sailing in uncharted waters with the NRC, Stands. Despite close scrutiny by John Boultbee and the evaluation team of each tendering group's submission there will be considerable uncertainty as to the ongoing sustainability of teams based on both clubs and Super franchises. Teams which basically represent standalone clubs have challenges but so too do teams which are coalitions of clubs with widely varying levels of playing and financial strength, not to speak of their historic tribal hatreds. Then we have four of the Super franchises, the directors of which might be well advised to be aware of the implications of trading while insolvent.

Then there will be the political manoeuvring around the allocation of Super players. This makes any prediction of team performance basically guesswork.

I believe that there will be changes to which teams are competing even after Year 1 and in particular there may be fracturing of some coalitions of clubs.
.

 

[Bowside]

At the end of the day I just want to see blokes who actually give a damn about the team they play for. A bit of pride and loyalty to the jersey goes a long way in terms of support, especially with the old school crowd.