NRL NRL Expansion

[Worried2Death]

"Fixed"

View attachment 6373

- Changed name
- Swapped South Island for Mount Cook and the Southern Cross (probably should be made bigger)
- Less of a light green "banner" at the bottom, and more of a shield now; Ill put my marketing hat on and claim it is meant to be "pointing south"

The logo is pretty so-so IMO, with Manly changing to just a head rather than the Eagle in flight, the Kea logo should take that idea

Don't mind the Kea name as much, but what colour are the feathers on a Kea? Green, Red, Blue... they can't even make the most out of the mascot choice when the colours are the Warriors ones already lol

Teal Green agaist the light brown of the earth is pretty sexy, and quite distinctive, doesn't clash with any other club's colours. Except maybe the Raiders, might have to be all brown to play them. Oh shit they'll look like Penrith, I may be sick.

 

[Akkerz]

UP THE COOTER!!!

Perfect - about as classy as Up the Wahs

 

[mrblonde]

One thing they haven't considered with a Christchurch based team is what would happen when the Dolphins came to town. Would the game get called off?

Russell, you can't sign an agreement and then bitch when the agreement takes a tack (BADACHING!) within the rules of the agreement because of something that was maybe implied but perhaps you just never thought would happen.
And anyhoo, the game would only get called off if only 1 Dolphin turned up. Which would be fine, because it would mean the Dolphins couldn't field a team so the Kea get the 2 Points.

Kea is a daft name, the Parrot is not much of a awe inspiring masscot.
Might else well call them the blue cod.

Barracouta (I want free Jerseys for life if they steal that off me) Mean fish, shiny silver and black.....screams for a Silver and black Jersey, which will appeal to all New Zealanders including the Cantabs. Silver and Black is neutrally adored the Kiwi Psyche.

The New Zealand Warriors can remain name unchanged.

The Solution is obvious. "The New Zealand Barracouta".

This an Australian competition, the fans are not so stupid that they cannot appreciate the Name NZ being tagged onto both New Zealand teams, because the commentators will bloody well call both NZ anyway in the live call.

As for all the gnashing of teeth over the borders, forget them, let the supporter base come organically from where ever without overlaying the South Island element, in the same fashion the Warriors have already proved is the way to go with an Auckland side.

Otherwise, if you try to narrow the appeal, you are just going backwards, to where the Auckland Warriors started.

Since it is most likely they will be based out of CH CH, they do not need to sell it to anyone in the Canterbury, Cantabs will be on board anyway, make the same argument the Warriors make, 'we represent all New Zealand fans who support us'.

Yeah, like a Rabbitoh is incredibly awe inspring?!
Cockroach?! Okay, they're bastards to get rid off, but awe inspiring? NOPE!
Why not the Southern Slaters? And it's a Barracuda, to be pendantic

 

[sup42]

Russell, you can't sign an agreement and then bitch when the agreement takes a tack (BADACHING!) within the rules of the agreement because of something that was maybe implied but perhaps you just never thought would happen.
And anyhoo, the game would only get called off if only 1 Dolphin turned up. Which would be fine, because it would mean the Dolphins couldn't field a team so the Kea get the 2 Points.


Yeah, like a Rabbitoh is incredibly awe inspring?!
Cockroach?! Okay, they're bastards to get rid off, but awe inspiring? NOPE!
Why not the Southern Slaters? And it's a Barracuda, to be pendantic

NZ Barracouta are a different species to the Barracuda.

Yeah there are some daft names out there, why not add a Parrot indeed.

 

[Worried2Death]

NZ Barracouta are a different species to the Barracuda.

Yeah there are some daft names out there, why not add a Parrot indeed.

Praying Mantises, they can sign Freddy Lussick

 

[Christchurch_Warrior]

Fiji looking to have a NRL team now.

Fiji government agree to put in bid for NRL expansion team

“They are going to offer 200 per cent tax rebate to sponsors.”

www.zerotackle.com

 

[Kiwi In Tasmania]

It would be interesting to know if the NRL would prefer a team in Fiji or Perth.
Not sure what a Fiji team would bring from a commercial point. They would probably be similar to the Keas where it's the talent and players they can bring into the NRL as big positives over the Perth bid.

 

[Wrighty]

Fiji is hard core Union. The Drua are selling out each home game.

 

[Matiunz]

Fiji looking to have a NRL team now.

Fiji government agree to put in bid for NRL expansion team

“They are going to offer 200 per cent tax rebate to sponsors.”

www.zerotackle.com

They’re fully after some of the PNG “soft diplomacy” money with China starting to sniff around them too.
Believe the Drua gets significant funding from Aus government

 

[Matiunz]

Fiji is hard core Union. The Drua are selling out each home game.

Particularly with their seven’s history and prestige. I suspect they’re wanting to be funded similarly to the Drua and PNG bid

 

[Riz]

For me I have to have a personal connection to follow a sports team. When the Warriors came in it was an NZ team to support so I was all in, pre Warriors id tried previously with Manly as my team but didn’t hugely care as I didn’t have any connection.
I’m based in Sydney now but grew up in the lower North Island between HB,Taranaki,Palmy and Wellington that along with family in BOP so have a strong connection to the North Island and virtually none to the South.
For NZ2 to sway me from the Warriors it’d have to have some connection, personally I think it’d be smarter to market as ‘Southern’ based in CHCH as to not limit its supporter base and have a sort of grey ‘border’ and let the brand sell itself to fans rather than a defined border. However the theme of a lot of the comments seem to be “We don’t want Wellington involved” and by extension any of the North island, to me this screams “we don’t want you as a fan if your not from the South Island”- you don’t want me as a fan? then I wont be.
Possibly unrelated but I’ve also met enough Crusaders fans to know how insufferable they can be so I may be associating that with Canterbury as a whole which is off putting to this bid.

It's not about not wanting support from people outside of the South Island at all, it's about having an identity and as you say, having a connection with a team you follow. I have supported the Warriors fiercely since the start, as it was ingrained in me from a young age that when it comes to sport, Australia is the enemy. Having a New Zealand side in an aussie comp to get behind was the connection I needed to be a loyal supporter. Now, if there is to be a Christchurch based team enter the competition, I will support them as I am a proud Cantabrian and that's where my loyalty lies. I will still follow the Warriors, but as a general rule I strongly dislike Auckland, the only place I dislike more than Auckland when it comes to sports is Australia!
The Warriors history of ignoring this part of the country is well documented, the majority of NRL games hosted down here have been bought here by Aussie clubs, not the Warriors and players from the region have always struggled to get a look in from the club. I love the Warriors and always will but it won't be a tough decision for me to back the local side come derby time. But until then.... up the wahs.

 

[Worried2Death]

It's not about not wanting support from people outside of the South Island at all, it's about having an identity and as you say, having a connection with a team you follow. I have supported the Warriors fiercely since the start, as it was ingrained in me from a young age that when it comes to sport, Australia is the enemy. Having a New Zealand side in an aussie comp to get behind was the connection I needed to be a loyal supporter. Now, if there is to be a Christchurch based team enter the competition, I will support them as I am a proud Cantabrian and that's where my loyalty lies. I will still follow the Warriors, but as a general rule I strongly dislike Auckland, the only place I dislike more than Auckland when it comes to sports is Australia!
The Warriors history of ignoring this part of the country is well documented, the majority of NRL games hosted down here have been bought here by Aussie clubs, not the Warriors and players from the region have always struggled to get a look in from the club. I love the Warriors and always will but it won't be a tough decision for me to back the local side come derby time. But until then.... up the wahs.

Bloody 'ell, I think I'm having a schism

 

[ndp26]

For me I have to have a personal connection to follow a sports team. When the Warriors came in it was an NZ team to support so I was all in, pre Warriors id tried previously with Manly as my team but didn’t hugely care as I didn’t have any connection.
I’m based in Sydney now but grew up in the lower North Island between HB,Taranaki,Palmy and Wellington that along with family in BOP so have a strong connection to the North Island and virtually none to the South.
For NZ2 to sway me from the Warriors it’d have to have some connection, personally I think it’d be smarter to market as ‘Southern’ based in CHCH as to not limit its supporter base and have a sort of grey ‘border’ and let the brand sell itself to fans rather than a defined border. However the theme of a lot of the comments seem to be “We don’t want Wellington involved” and by extension any of the North island, to me this screams “we don’t want you as a fan if your not from the South Island”- you don’t want me as a fan? then I wont be.
Possibly unrelated but I’ve also met enough Crusaders fans to know how insufferable they can be so I may be associating that with Canterbury as a whole which is off putting to this bid.

Thanks for sharing, and completely aligned with your thinking. Why limit a second NZ team's potential fan base to just the 1.2M folks in the South Island (or, worse, the 450k in Chch / 600k in the Canterbury region)?
I'm a Cantabrian and also Sydney based, but spent some time in Welly before moving over here. I'd be pretty disappointed if they structured the bid so as to lose potential fans from / formerly from the lower North Island (like yourself), so I think something like "Southern" is a good middle ground to reflect where the team is based and differentiate the franchise from the Warriors.

And yes, the ol' One Eyed Cantabs - growing up, I thought it was just because they bleed red and black, but as I became more involved in league I realised it was just the blind support of only the Crusaders (and All Blacks) at the expense of all else. Those in the rugby league community in Canterbury / South Island that I've come across realise that the game is bigger than the Bulls / Scorpions / Kiwis, which is not something one can generally say for yawnion fans back home.

 

[JustLikeStartingOver]

Wellington wouldn’t support the Southern Rednecks over the warriors anyway, have nothing in common other than being ‘not Auckland’

The covered stadiums will be great for crowds but their home ground advantage would have been making the aussie teams come over and play at the old grounds in the dead of winter, bloody half dark at 4pm for a Dunedin game.

11-12 home games is a lot in an NRL season, but with a fancy new stadium they need to get people conditioned that there is a game on every 2-3 weeks from march to september.

 

[Kav1]

I'd support both teams, but being a proud Cantabrian, the southern team would be #1. And there's no way the new franchise should accommodate Wellington, the Warriors can keep them.

The intention was to attract players from S.I. and central districts incl Wellington. Then the Warriors could focus on the top half of the N.I. where the strength of NZ league lies.

 

[Riz]

The intention was to attract players from S.I. and central districts incl Wellington. Then the Warriors could focus on the top half of the N.I. where the strength of NZ league lies.

They're franchises, they shouldn't limit themselves to players from any particular region. Historically the Warriors have only focused on the areas around Auckland for local recruitment and history will say that hasn't been particularly successful.

 

[Lord Gnome of Waiheke]

South Island Dumbfucks has a ring to it.

 

[Riz]

South Island Dumbfucks has a ring to it.

And likely a premiership ring too

 

[j_p]

The rivalry has already begun...

 

[Akkerz]

They're franchises, they shouldn't limit themselves to players from any particular region. Historically the Warriors have only focused on the areas around Auckland for local recruitment and history will say that hasn't been particularly successful.

If I remember correctly when Warriors first came on the scene they were discouraged (banned) from approaching Wgtn or Sth Island for players as these areas were the fishing zones for Aussie NRL - eg Melbourne had first pick of the Wgtn area. Happy to be corrected on this