The perfect opportunity may have passed already, but the NRL has a great chance to fix the over saturation of Sydney clubs while making rugby league a truly national sport.

For a competition labelled the National Rugby League, not having teams in Perth and Adelaide is a blight on the game. The AFL has expanded from its home city in Melbourne since the early 80’s and has since been able to dominate the Australian sporting complex.

While the NRL has previously had teams in Perth and Adelaide, the short lived tenures of both clubs during the Super League war left a poor taste in supporters’ mouths.

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In saying that though, there is a perfect opportunity now for current Sydney teams to relocate, and while I’m sure plenty of fans will disagree with me, there are plenty of reasons for each case.

Wests Tigers to Perth

Ninety-two years of history came to an end in the year 2000 when the Balmain Tigers and Western Suburbs Magpies merged. The sixteen years since have been mixed for the Tigers, and the fan-base has been somewhat divided ever since it’s inception.

One positive of a possible move to Perth is that the club can keep its name intact. Colours and team strip would be no problem, and realistically, while it is a major change to relocate to Perth, there is a perfectly fine 20,000 strong stadium in NIB Stadium.

Rugby League has been welcomed with open arms in Western Australia recently with the Rabbitohs having moved one game per year to Perth, with the Sea Eagles following suit this year as well. The city will host it’s first Test match between Australia and New Zealand in October as well.

The club could also play between two and four games at Leichhardt Oval and Campbelltown Stadium as homage to the two merged teams.

Cronulla Sharks to Adelaide

While a bit of a ballsy idea, particularly with the club’s form as well as financial plans for the future, I’ve always seen the Sharks as a perfect team to occupy Australia’s city of churches.



First of all, the Adelaide Sharks just has a ring to it, plus, there would be no need to change strip or colours.

Secondly, the club’s borders lie in an awkward part of Sydney, geographically speaking. Being wedged between both St George, Canterbury Bankstown and Illawarra, the Sharks have always seem to have been dominated by their neighboring rivals, whether in competition for supporters or on-field success over the years. I understand there is a group of die-hard Sharks supporters, but the majority seems to be casual supporters of the under-performing club.

The 53,000 capacity Adelaide Oval would make a perfect home for the team, and of course could move two to four games to Southern Cross Stadium aka Shark Park. Considering that Adelaide has gone without rugby league since 2011, and it’s about time we spread our great game to a city dominated by AFL and soccer.

Sydney Roosters to Central Coast

This is probably the biggest call and the most unrealistic, but the Roosters have already put one foot through the door to the Central Coast, so why not go all the way through?

The chooks have already started taking home games to Bluetongue Stadium since 2004, and have set up affiliations with the Central Coast Centurions in the Harold Matts and SG Ball competitions. Another big contributor to the move is the fact that their NSW Cup feeder side is the Wyong Roos.

While they are the only foundation club that has played every season since 1908, the Roosters have barely any members and have pathetic crowds unless they are absolutely dominating the competition. They’ve chopped and changed their name so many times that becoming the Central Coast Roosters won’t be too drastic.

The Central Coast has been itching for a team for years, and while Greg Florimo’s bid to get a Bears team to play on the coast for the last decade has been admirable, it doesn’t seem to be happening anytime soon.

Let’s not also forget that the Roosters have a strong supporter base around Gosford, and have fielded plenty of players from the region, including Latrell Mitchell and former player James Maloney.



Bluetongue Stadium also has a strong 20,000 seat capacity, and of course the club would still play a handful of games at Allianz Stadium. It may sound like a pipedream but there are plenty of reasons why the Roosters should partially relocate.

If the NRL wants to continue to spread rugby league around Australia, perhaps waiting for an expansion bid isn’t the answer. With so much talk of new teams coming in, the reality is that we haven’t had any for a decade. Relocation not only fixes the oversaturation of teams in Sydney, but also gives clubs a foundation to work upon in new cities.