Woodchook’s gonna love this…

Every second news piece for the past week or so has been addressing the issue of expansion, or relocation, or expansion v relocation. It seems like an inevitable future for our game, and one that people generally agree is a good future.

The underlying problem with it all, and I believe Steve Roach put it best, is that “Everyone agrees with it but when it becomes your team, it comes close to your heart, you don’t want your team to go”.

Blocker’s hit the nail on the head. The Tigers, Sharks and Sea Eagles have been the three clubs bandied around in the media. These three Sydney clubs make what seems to be the most sense when looking at how financially sound they are, and their geographical area.

The relocation of these three clubs would be running a risk for the NRL. After all, there’s not really going to be much of a financial guarantee that the Perth Sharks or the Wellington Tigers will be any more financially self-sufficient than the clubs are now, particularly in the short-term.

Looking at it from another angle, the NRL loses a huge proportion of its heartland by getting rid of the three clubs in question. Without Manly or a central coast team, there is nothing between the Harbour Bridge and Newcastle. That’s a huge market of rugby league fans the NRL is neglecting.

And that, is essentially why I think my Roosters should pack their bags…

If you look at a map of Sydney, geographically the Roosters occupy only a tiny proportion of the total area. The interest in the Roosters (or even rugby league in general) in that area isn’t even that significant. The fact that using two local juniors against Manly on Saturday night was such an occasion only proves that point.

Sydney clubs have to move, and setting my heart aside, in the interests of rugby league in Australia, the Roosters just make more sense than anyone else.

The fanbase the NRL is sacrificing is a far less significant blow to the game than if we were to relocate a team such as Parramatta or Canterbury. Also, the Roosters are renowned for being more financially stable than other clubs, so run much less risk of failure than if we were to relocate a club in financial troubles to start with.

The Roosters have been taking one home game against Melbourne to Adelaide for the last couple of years, getting a crowd of 18,000 last year, and 21,000 the year before. Granted, Adelaide Oval isn’t exactly the best venue to watch rugby league from, but that being said neither is the SCG.

There’s clearly a market in Adelaide for an NRL club, and the Adelaide Roosters has a bit of a ring to it. It really could present incredible financial opportunities for both the club and the competition to move Easts west, increasing the club’s rivalry with the Melbourne Storm.

Call me a disloyal fan all you want, who’s not sticking to the ‘traditional’ values and teams in the competition. But for the product rugby league is, its nowhere near successful enough either nationally or internationally to justify that things are OK the way they are.

Unfortunately, just 48 hours ago the Roosters signed a new 25-year concrete agreement to play out of the Moore park precinct, meaning any potential for relocation will have to wait until the end of that term, a date which is far too late to start getting the ball rolling.

So, unfortunately in the end its not going to be the Roosters moving. Who will it be? I don’t know, but strong Adelaide side could be incredibly advantageous to the competition, and really spread the teams around to create a truly ‘National’ rugby league. That’s the kind of future I want for our game. Who’s with me?