Gallop warned there is
no
guarantee a decision on bids from the Gold Coast,
“I’m well aware the various bids are anxious to get an answer, but it’s also possible we may get asked to go away and look at something else before a decision can be made,” Gallop said last night.
“What I’m keen to do is place this decision in the overall context of the game’s strategic direction in the next decade.
“Where does the game want to be in 10 years? If you answer that you may well answer whether we have a 16th team and where we have it.
“It’s apiece of a bigger jigsaw that we are trying to do projections on.”
Thoughts on expanding the Telstra Premiership by another team are split among NRL clubs.
Wests Tigers coach Tim
Sheens
does not believe there is sufficient playing strength for another team,
while
his
Elliott reasons that the game has become so intense since the Sydney Roosters reshaped defensive tactics in late 2002 that players need respite. He believes this is a factor in recent blow-out scorelines.
“When you’re talking about adding more teams to the competition, that might be a good thing,” Elliott said.
“That (a 16th team)
will mean it
will spread the talent a little bit thinner and it might be a bit like
the
“That isn’t the case here at the moment there are definitely no easy weeks. I put the big scores down to the last 18-24 months of football. I really think that this period was inevitable.”
Eight half-centuries in the past four rounds have prompted queries of whether the NRL’s player depth is sufficient to add another team.
“One of the primary reasons for the scores we are seeing is that there just aren’t enough first-graders going around,” Sheens said.
“There is a distinct division between the haves and the have-nots in this competition. We’re talking about bringing in a 16th team, but some clubs now are struggling to cope with injuries, which you have to take into account because they are inevitability.
“It’s easy to bring a whole host of young blokes up from reserve grade, but it doesn’t mean they are of first-grade standard.”
Gallop said a new team would need to have a strong squad.
“Playing strength is one of several is sues,” Gallop said. “I wouldn’t necessarily take the relationship between the large scoreboards and that issue too far.
“But I think if there was to be an additional team in the comp you’d want it to be successful relatively quickly.
“When the game has added teams in the past, the salary cap hasn’t been as rigidly enforced and that obviously means that there’s less stockpiling of players at clubs these days. Every year there seems to be movement of players, so there’s the opportunity for a new team to pick up some pretty talented players.”
Elliott hopes if a new team is added they are given time to establish themselves.
“I’m a supporter of
it, as long
as they’re prepared to take a longer-term approach to it,” Elliott
said. “I
think when Souths came back they started talking semi-finals in their
first
year and that creates a false expectation and puts pressure on the
organisation
that they don’t need in their infancy.”
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