• Podcast
  • ARL
    • Indigenous All Stars v NRL All Stars
    • Rugby League State Of Origin
  • NRL
    • The 2022 NRL Draw
    • 2021 NRL Draw
    • 2021 NRL Podcast
    • 2020 NRL Draw
    • 2015 NRL Draw
    • 2014 NRL Draw
  • ESL
    • International Origin
    • Challenge Cup
  • World
    • World Club Challenge
    • World Cup
    • Rugby League 9’s
    • NRL Auckland Nines Draw
  • Sports
    • AFL
    • Cricket
    • Rugby Union
    • Soccer
  • Guest Writers
  • League Freak
    • Web Site News
    • Sponsorship
    • Uncategorized

The Glorious League Freak – Covering Rugby League World Wide – LeagueFreak.com

  • Home
  • Podcast
  • NRL Rumours
  • RL World 9’s
  • Features
    • Player Profiles And News
  • History
    • History Books
    • The Super League War
      • The Super League War – The Clubs
      • The Super League War – The Freak
      • The Super League War – The Extras
  • Quotes
  • Look-Alikes
  • Teams
  • Rankings
  • Media
  • About
    • Bio
    • League Freaks Commentary Career
    • Contact
    • League Freak On Twitter
    • I Am Not A Journalist
    • Contribute To LeagueFreak.com
    • League Freak Mentions In The Media
    • Advertise On This Website
    • Rugby League RSS Feed
  • follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Google+
    • RSS Feed
    • Youtube

How Long Can The Sharks Be Allowed To Struggle?

Apr 20, 2010 League Freak Cronulla Sharks 0


When I was four years old, the Cronulla Sharks were my favorite team.

The reason was because I liked the Sharks logo, it was cool. In fact my first every footy jersey is a tiny little Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks jersey.

When I went to primary school a year or so later, my favorite players was a Sharks winger called “ET”. It stayed that way for many years, and led me to want to play on the wing for every single team I played in.

If I had my way, the Sharks would play out of Cronulla forever. They would get packed houses every week, they would be a rich club and yet, Harold Hold would make a grand return and the Sharks would win their first ever Premiership.

Knowing my luck, it would probably be over Penrith!

So I write an article like this with a heavy heart because, I just don’t think the Sharks can afford to stay at Cronulla any more.

There are moves in place for the Sharks to set up a property development which would help the clubs financial position, however everything I’m hearing about it makes it sound like it is far from being a goose that will lay golden eggs. At best, it will allow the club to keep their head above water.

The Sharks have always struggled with their finances and despite some very rich moments in the clubs history on the field, they always have had to make do.

When you consider the financial pressures on all clubs these days, the Sharks find themselves very much as a small community club in an area surrounded by much bigger clubs, unable to draw decent crowds, unable to spend the full salary cap figure, unable to win games and unable to give rock solid assurances they will be around in 5 years time.

The people at the club love the place. Many take less than what they can get, they work their arses off to keep the club moving forward, to keep the life support system from being turned off.

Surely at some point, that just doesn’t become enough any more.

The next NRL TV rights deal will help a little as the grant the NRL gives to clubs is likely to rise. However, will that really be enough?

With an $8,000,000 carrot being dangled out there by the NRL for any club looking to relocate as well as a big stick being waves about in the form of extinction, surely it would be simple prudence that would see the Sharks looking into a full relocation of the club.

People have tossed up Adelaide in the past, I don’t see that happening.

Perth would take them in a heart beat but you’d need the WARL to basically ditch all the work they have put into marketing “The Reds” and then give up positions at a potential NRL clubs to the already established Cronulla Sharks management.

The Central Coast was probably an option in the past but not any more, not after David Gallop said that the North Sydney Bears had a good shot at an NRL expansion team. For all their talk about just wanting to get football on the Central Coast, the Bears types have gone out of their way to try and kill even a hint that another club may move to Gosford before the Bears old heads can claim a wage out of the NRL competition.

I think the best move for the Sharks would be to Brisbane.

I think they would be warmly welcomed by the city and obviously have use of Suncorp Stadium, which is the best Rugby League stadium in the world.

They would offer an alternative to fans living in Australia’s third largest city to the traditional Broncos monopoly, and yet there is plenty of room for both teams to claim media air time, sponsorship money and even players.

Hell, even the logo works well up there!

The problem is die hard Sharks fans, who obviously hate any idea of a move being tossed up, and thats understandable. The problem is, it may be between the club moving or dying, and in that case, Cronulla based Sharks fans would have to remember that they get to see around 8 Sydney based games for the Sharks no matter where they were located.

On top of that, surely the NRL could convince one of two of those clubs to play a home game at Shark Park!

I don’t like the thought of moving clubs, but its a lot less of an issue than a club simply withering away and dying. That is what is happening to the Sharks right now.

At this stage, they are battling on, but that battle can’t last forever. At some point, a very tough decision has to be made.

  • Tweet
  • Share 0
  • Reddit
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn 0
  • Email

Related


  • Adelaide, David Gallop, Expansion, Financial Trouble, Gosford, North Sydney Bears
Steve McNamara Is Officially England's New Test Coach The Threat Of Losing Players Who Can't Win

League Freak

A well known Rugby League writer, League Freak has established a reputation among supporters of the game for his fearless commentary and unmatched insight. With a reach that spans both sides of the globe, League Freak has produced an independent network that allows him to distribute content to his many thousands of followers. He is the owner and main author of LeagueFreak.com

Related articles
  • Podcast: Fergo and The Freak – Episode 262 – The York City Knights Super League Bid With Gavin Wilson
    Podcast: Fergo and The Freak –...

    Dec 13, 2020 0

  • Podcast: Fergo and The Freak – Episode 253 – The NRL Purchasing Super League: How It Might Work
    Podcast: Fergo and The Freak –...

    Nov 16, 2020 0

  • Toronto Adds Nothing To Small, Regional, Irrelevant Rugby League Competition
    Toronto Adds Nothing To Small,...

    Nov 02, 2020 0


You must log in to post a comment.

Become a Patron!

Ziad Warwar
Nadine
Coojee
Adam
Andy
jamescunni
Lisa
Rugby League Project
Samuel
Sandy
Katey
Oblivion NPC
Jack
Terry
Gibbo

RSS Fergo and The Freak Podcast

  • Make Or Break Season Ahead For These NRL Players
  • We've Been Training The House Down!
  • The 12 Days Of Rugby League Christmas
  • Pat Walsh - The Natural
  • Rugby League Kicks A Two Point Field Goal By Promoting Leigh Into Super League
  • The York City Knights Super League Bid With Gavin Wilson
  • NRL Having Talks To Buy 51% Of Super League For $134 Million
  • Josh Reynolds To Hull FC, BS St Helens Stats, Brandon Smith's Future And Andrew Goes Viral!
  • Brent Nadens Positive Drugs Test Plus Ask Potato - #AskTheBoss
  • The 2020 King Of Rugby League Awards
  • Reaction To The 2021 NRL Draw - With Statistics!
  • No Golden Boot, The Rugby League Gods, And The Best Coffee On The Gold Coast!
  • Queensland Wins The 2020 State Of Asterisk Series!!!
  • Book Launch: The Katelyn Diaries By Jayme Smith
  • The NRL Purchasing Super League: How It Might Work

Polls

What Should Cameron Smith Do In 2021?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...
  • Polls Archive

League Freaks Social Network

Follow League Freak on:

Latest Rugby League Articles

  • Could This Be The End Of The Traditional Scrum?
    Could This Be The End Of The Traditional Scrum?

    Jan 12, 2021 0

  • Get Your NEW NRL Podcast For The 2021 NRL Season!!!
    Get Your NEW NRL Podcast For The 2021 NRL Season!!!

    Jan 06, 2021 0

  • Nigel Owens’ Reveals Three Ways For Referees To Make Rugby More Exciting
    Nigel Owens’ Reveals Three Ways For Referees To Make...

    Dec 22, 2020 0

  • 2021 NRL Draw – All Games, All Times, All Venues, All Action, All Controversy!
    2021 NRL Draw – All Games, All Times, All Venues, All...

    Nov 26, 2020 0

  • New Streaming Service For Rugby Games In Australia
    New Streaming Service For Rugby Games In Australia

    Nov 16, 2020 0

Follow League Freak on Twitter

My Tweets

Tags

Andrew Ferguson (258) ARL (61) Australia (155) Benji Marshall (86) Billy Slater (76) Broadcasting Deal (65) Cameron Smith (59) Channel 9 (71) Daniel Nichols (122) Disgrace (73) Eligibility Rules (64) England (141) Expansion (76) Fergo And The Freak (279) Greg Inglis (99) Guest Writer (332) Israel Folau (67) Jarryd Hayne (78) Johnathan Thurston (81) League Freak (358) Leeds Rhinos (57) Marketing (65) Matthew Elliott (70) Mitchell Pearce (62) New South Wales (93) New Zealand (137) NRL Finals (59) NRL Salary Cap (95) Paul Gallen (64) Player Movement (112) Podcast (302) Queensland (69) Referees (78) RFL (144) Robbie Farah (57) Rugby League History (66) Rugby Union (190) Sam Burgess (62) Sonny Bill Williams (91) State Of Origin (153) St Helens (63) Todd Carney (62) Wayne Bennett (81) Wigan (58) World Cup (166)
As featured on NewsNow: NRL newsNRL News 24/7

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Blogroll

  • The Glorious League Freak.
  • League Freak on Twitter
  • League Freak on Facebook
  • Rugby League Podcasting Network
  • NRL Breaking News
  • NRL Rumours
  • RLWorld9s.com

Facebook Pages

  • NRL Gossip
  • NRL Infinite

Features

  • King Of Rugby League
  • Rugby League Look-Alikes
  • Biggest Winning Margins In Rugby League History
  • Biggest Crowds In Rugby League History
  • Rugby League Quotes
  • Rugby League Dictionary
  • The Super League War
  • The New Zealand Haka
  • Funny Rugby League Teams
  • Rugby League Rankins Lists
  • NRL Rumours
  • IHateRugbyUnion.com
  • NRL History
  • NRL History Books
  • Record Books
  • Player Profiles

Other Links

  • Submit Your Australian Blog
  • Best Junk Hauling Virginia
  • Gutter Cleaning Service Virginia
  • Best Lawn Mowing Service Virginia
  • 2020 NRL Draw

Other Sports

  • Clutch Fans
  • Sportette

Players

  • Cameron Smith
  • Kayln Ponga
  • Sonny Bill Williams
  • Jarryd Hayne
  • Andrew Johns
  • Semi Radradra
  • Sam Burgess
  • Benji Marshall
  • James Tedesco
  • Cooper Cronk
  • Johnathan Thurston
  • Anthony Mundine
  • Sam Tomkins
  • Greg Inglis
  • Jamie Peacock

Rugby League

  • Rugby League Project
  • Era Of The Biff
  • Darryl's Rugby League
  • Jamie Lyon Web
  • Rugby League Review
  • Rugby League Ratings
  • NRL CEO Fantasy League
  • QLD Panthers
  • Andrew Ferguson's Website!
  • Black Swans RLFC
  • InternationalRL
  • 2021 Rugby League World Cup
  • Rugby League Mums
  • Player Profiles

Rugby League Podcast

  • Best Rugby League Podcast
  • Best NRL Podcast
  • Best Super League Podcast
  • Best Australian Podcast
  • Best Sports Podcast
  • Funniest Podcast
  • Best Comedy Podcast
  • NRL Radio
  • 2021 NRL Podcast
Google+
  • National Rugby League
  • Rugby League State Of Origin
  • Brisbane Broncos
  • Canberra Raiders
  • Canterbury Bulldogs
  • Cronulla Sharks
  • Gold Coast Titans
  • Manly Sea Eagles
  • Melbourne Storm
  • New Zealand Warriors
  • Newcastle Knights
  • North Queensland Cowboys
  • Parramatta Eels
  • Penrith Panthers
  • South Sydney Rabbitohs
  • St George/Illawarra Dragons
  • Sydney Roosters
  • Wests Tigers
  • The King Of Rugby League Awards
  • Rugby League Player Profiles And News
  • Fantasy Rugby League Teams
  • Rugby League World Rankings
  • Rugby League Look-Alikes
  • International Rugby League News
  • National Rugby League
  • European Super League News
  • Featured Guest Writers
  • Other Sports
  • The 2021 NRL Draw
  • The 2022 NRL Draw – Every NRL Game Listed For You!!!
  • Advertise On LeagueFreak.com
  • About LeagueFreak.com
  • Contact Us
  • RSS Feed
  • NothingButLeague.com
  • Rugby League Podcasting Network
  • NRL Breaking News
  • NRL Rumours – Latest NRL Rumours
  • NRL Podcast
  • Super League Podcast
  • Rugby League Podcast
  • Here Is The Cure For COVID 19
Copyright LeagueFreak.com 2020 / All rights reserved
  • Advertise On LeagueFreak.com
  • About LeagueFreak.com
  • Contact Us
  • RSS Feed
  • NothingButLeague.com
  • Rugby League Podcasting Network
  • NRL Breaking News
  • NRL Rumours – Latest NRL Rumours
  • NRL Podcast
  • Super League Podcast
  • Rugby League Podcast
  • Here Is The Cure For COVID 19