A few days ago I wrote an article asking readers Which Sydney Based NRL Club Would You Choose To Relocate and included a poll that allowed readers to have their say.
Here are the results of that poll so far:
Loading ...Incredibly, readers chose the Wests Tigers, Sydney Roosters and Cronulla Sharks as their favourite options to relocate from Sydney to another area.
The Wests Tigers shock me the most. I think if the club chooses to focus solely on the Macarthur region, really proves to people in the area that they no long have split loyalties and the club belongs to them, and does the groundwork to build their supporter base in what is a growing area of Sydney, long term the club would easily cement its place in the greater Sydney region.
The Sydney Roosters being in second place was not too much of a surprise. Their small supporter base after trying to build the club after more than a century can not be ignored.
The defending NRL Premiers, the Cronulla Sharks came in third, which won’t make Sharkies supporters all that happy. They are in a bit of a bad spot in Sydney in terms of growth, and I noticed a lot of people pointing towards their low membership numbers after winning a title as proof that the club just does not have the interest they need to survive in Sydney.
After the top three the vote count fell away.
The other big surprise to me was to see my own club, the Penrith Panther, were in last position on this list. The Panthers have a lot of things going for them in terms of geography and junior base, however like the Cronulla Sharks, their membership numbers are very low.
This vote is obviously very subjective, but it was an interesting one to run. You can continue to vote in the poll, I’ll leave it up, and we will see if it changes at all over the next few months.
I’m sure Tigers, Roosters and Sharks supporters would hope it does!
