Manly Sea Eagles: Does the club need to relocate?

[lurker]

They are looking at that Meriton monstrosity going up in DY which they green lit and are licking their lips thinking about what they could throw up on Brookie oval...

Yep. If you look at grounds we always hold up and say why can’t we get money you’ll see the problem.
Newcastle
Win stadium
Western Sydney (parra stadium)
SFS
SCG
ANZ
Spotless stadium

Every single one is owned by the state government. They won’t give money to inept and dodgy councils for a ground they have no say in

 

[globaleagle]

The local council would be more interested in letting it rot and when the club has moved or is dead, working to stick a bunch of units on it.

If you're going to shift the team and redevelop something on the beaches, you do it at Rat Park and start from scratch. More space, it is a much nicer area (Grass! Wetlands! A caravan park for people from Penrith!) It's also better for transport as you can access from Mona Vale/Powderworks or straight south from Pittwatter (and can have parking on the grounds behind it), and totally unrelated to all this is that it is walking distance from my place.

I was thinking about this the other day.

Has anyone besides you mentioned this place as a good place to build a stadium? It's starting to sound ok, putting your 'close to home' jokes aside.

Now, I'm not a Brookie faithful (I think I've been there, er, once) and I'm not spending too much time typing this so maybe the expression will be lost to brevity but:

At the moment, fans don't even get the fun of having final games played at home (the only team that doesn't). (point about current ladder position noted).

Sometimes the battering gets too much. wouldn't it be nice to have a decent stadium, still on the north side, can play finals there, good facilities, good food and drink, decent change rooms, parking, and a stadium that is part of the state govt trust thing and not a constant battle with small minded councillors who charge a motza just to use the current ground?

Obviously some beautiful and tremendous history is at Brookie, but it is just that, history. Kids, both future players and fans that are 5 at the moment may not care as much?

I dunno, sometimes I stand firm in the Brookie forever camp, and other times I'm like 'can we just get a great new stadium somewhere else?'

Answers on a postcard...

 

[MuzztheEagle]

I was thinking about this the other day.

Has anyone besides you mentioned this place as a good place to build a stadium? It's starting to sound ok, putting your 'close to home' jokes aside.

Now, I'm not a Brookie faithful (I think I've been there, er, once) and I'm not spending too much time typing this so maybe the expression will be lost to brevity but:

At the moment, fans don't even get the fun of having final games played at home (the only team that doesn't). (point about current ladder position noted).

Sometimes the battering gets too much. wouldn't it be nice to have a decent stadium, still on the north side, can play finals there, good facilities, good food and drink, decent change rooms, parking, and a stadium that is part of the state govt trust thing and not a constant battle with small minded councillors who charge a motza just to use the current ground?

Obviously some beautiful and tremendous history is at Brookie, but it is just that, history. Kids, both future players and fans that are 5 at the moment may not care as much?

I dunno, sometimes I stand firm in the Brookie forever camp, and other times I'm like 'can we just get a great new stadium somewhere else?'

Answers on a postcard...

The main two problems with this (Rat Park) are the continued issues with public transport and moving further away from more densely populated areas. The problem is with the Norther Beaches itself - it's isolated and the public transport can be pain in the arse, but this has also been what has kept it as the best place to live in Syd (if you don't commute too much). Living near Melbourne, I know how much easier the stadiums are to get to compared to anything in Sydney and I'm sure the NRL does to. Right now I can't see a major stadium development (in Sydney) happening more than a couple of k's away from the nearest railway station and I can't see a line coming to the NB's in the next 20-30 years. Which means any move we do make is going to suck for the Brookie faithful.

 

[Loobs]

I was thinking about this the other day.

Has anyone besides you mentioned this place as a good place to build a stadium? It's starting to sound ok, putting your 'close to home' jokes aside.

Now, I'm not a Brookie faithful (I think I've been there, er, once) and I'm not spending too much time typing this so maybe the expression will be lost to brevity but:

At the moment, fans don't even get the fun of having final games played at home (the only team that doesn't). (point about current ladder position noted).

Sometimes the battering gets too much. wouldn't it be nice to have a decent stadium, still on the north side, can play finals there, good facilities, good food and drink, decent change rooms, parking, and a stadium that is part of the state govt trust thing and not a constant battle with small minded councillors who charge a motza just to use the current ground?

Obviously some beautiful and tremendous history is at Brookie, but it is just that, history. Kids, both future players and fans that are 5 at the moment may not care as much?

I dunno, sometimes I stand firm in the Brookie forever camp, and other times I'm like 'can we just get a great new stadium somewhere else?'

Answers on a postcard...

Proximity for me is purely a joke and if it was ever to happen, a nice benefit, but my logic is that this is the only location on the northern beaches where there is actual space at an existing ground that is still easy to get to. Brookvale (the suburb) is an overbuilt and decaying disaster zone. Rat park is a huge space encompassing a car park, an outside field (similar to at Penrith), plus you have a driving range next door and the Pirates mini golf, then allllll the parkland behind it. Plus it's council owned and you have a few different access points for getting there...

 

[Loobs]

Look at this! What a location!

 

[globaleagle]

Just buy the Warringah or Manly golf club...and build it there!

next...

edit: @Loobs I've just been checking all of the areas out!

Looks miles and miles from anywhere! (except your place).

 

[The Who]

Rat Park is the obvious location for a stadium that could be the home ground for Warringah Rats and the Manly Sea Eagles. It could also be home to the NSW Waratahs when Alliance is knocked down. Plus it is not too densely populated by nearby houses so it would be suitable for outdoor concerts. A new car park has been built there, primarily for the B-Line buses. This is way too small for a sporting crowd but it is a start.
It would be ideal if the two sporting codes could buy the land and develop the ground, like Cronulla has with Shark Park.
This would allow the club/s to rake off attendance money and pay certain players in cash, like Cronulla does.
TPAs? No need for them when you have your own ground and successful Leagues Club.

 

[Loobs]

Rat Park is the obvious location for a stadium that could be the home ground for Warringah Rats and the Manly Sea Eagles. It could also be home to the NSW Waratahs when Alliance is knocked down. Plus it is not too densely populated by nearby houses so it would be suitable for outdoor concerts. A new car park has been built there, primarily for the B-Line buses. This is way too small for a sporting crowd but it is a start.
It would be ideal if the two sporting codes could buy the land and develop the ground, like Cronulla has with Shark Park.
This would allow the club/s to rake off attendance money and pay certain players in cash, like Cronulla does.
TPAs? No need for them when you have your own ground and successful Leagues Club.

Added bonus is that it's already named after Todd Greenberg so the NRL would give it the thumbs up!

 

[manlywarringah]

Well the drums are bearing louder about needing a Sydney team to relocate and low and behold....they chose Manly! What a surprise...

This was on fox sports news this morning. They were talking to a reporter who's name escapes me, he's quite young and has a big bald head and is a Manly supporter and he even said if one had to go it would be us.

It's one thing for our haters to say it but one of our fans? Get off the grass!

This is just coinciding with our poor year. The last couple of times it was mentioned over the years it was Tigers then cronulla and then back to the Tigers again. Now it's us.

I just hope the rumours @Cameron mentioned earlier can come true.

The knives are out for us big time and we need more than what the penns can give us in terms of money, guidance and football smarts.

 

[Harvies elbow]

Well the drums are bearing louder about needing a Sydney team to relocate and low and behold....they chose Manly! What a surprise...

This was on fox sports news this morning. They were talking to a reporter who's name escapes me, he's quite young and has a big bald head and is a Manly supporter and he even said if one had to go it would be us.

It's one thing for our haters to say it but one of our fans? Get off the grass!

This is just coinciding with our poor year. The last couple of times it was mentioned over the years it was Tigers then cronulla and then back to the Tigers again. Now it's us.

I just hope the rumours @Cameron mentioned earlier can come true.

The knives are out for us big time and we need more than what the penns can give us in terms of money, guidance and football smarts.

Yep. If we start winning and get some crowds again, their short attention span will focus on someone else.
Except the worms.

 

[midsteyne]

I think they have been white anting us for a while now for shifting to Perth.

 

[The Who]

Let's not delude ourselves. We will be worse next year. We can't rely on Doesn'tmatta beating us to the spoon because they have already signed three quality first graders and will be stronger.
We lose our leading try scorer and the player many posters have pencilled in as our Great White Hope, Tom Wright, and the signings I see bandied about are reserve graders at best.
Brookie Oval will continue to degrade. Our membership base will be the lowest in the NRL next season. We have nuffie owners. The NRL has an agenda against us. We have players pledging their love for the two coaches who delivered us the worst season in our once proud history. . . so that makes our players delusional as well.
If the Sea Eagles are to survive it will take a change in ownership, with the new bosses prepared to throw money at fixing all the issues, OR a joint-venture. I'm not thrilled about this prospect but I believe I am a realist and I'd rather have the Sea Eagles in the NRL in some form than running around in the Intrust Cup alongside North Sydney and Newtown.

 

[Wombat64]

I think they have been white anting us for a while now for shifting to Perth.

Yeah, we aren't in the NRLs "grand plans" for the future and there would not be a tear shed from anyone at NRL HQ if we weren't on the Northern Beaches, that's for sure.

 

[Scorpio]

There wouldn't be a Sea Eagles team anywhere else if we folded - it would be a new franchise/identity. I suppose they might wear maroon and white but that would be it.

For everybody's sanity we need to have a good season in 2019 or the future looks grim.

 

[nightster]

Manly Sea Eagles: Does the club need to relocate?

No it f**king doesn't

 

[HoldenV8]

Rat Park is the obvious location for a stadium that could be the home ground for Warringah Rats and the Manly Sea Eagles. It could also be home to the NSW Waratahs when Alliance is knocked down. Plus it is not too densely populated by nearby houses so it would be suitable for outdoor concerts. A new car park has been built there, primarily for the B-Line buses. This is way too small for a sporting crowd but it is a start.
It would be ideal if the two sporting codes could buy the land and develop the ground, like Cronulla has with Shark Park.
This would allow the club/s to rake off attendance money and pay certain players in cash, like Cronulla does.
TPAs? No need for them when you have your own ground and successful Leagues Club.

The only flaw there is that no way will anything at Rat Park be built in time to house the Waratahs when the SFS is demolished and rebuilt. By the time anyone even gets done cutting through the red tape just to get approval to build anything, the Waratahs will have temporarily moved into the new Western Sydney Stadium or at worst will take up temporary residence at either the SCG (unlikely) or ANZ.

 

[HoldenV8]

Let's not delude ourselves. We will be worse next year. We can't rely on Doesn'tmatta beating us to the spoon because they have already signed three quality first graders and will be stronger.
We lose our leading try scorer and the player many posters have pencilled in as our Great White Hope, Tom Wright, and the signings I see bandied about are reserve graders at best.
Brookie Oval will continue to degrade. Our membership base will be the lowest in the NRL next season. We have nuffie owners. The NRL has an agenda against us. We have players pledging their love for the two coaches who delivered us the worst season in our once proud history. . . so that makes our players delusional as well.
If the Sea Eagles are to survive it will take a change in ownership, with the new bosses prepared to throw money at fixing all the issues, OR a joint-venture. I'm not thrilled about this prospect but I believe I am a realist and I'd rather have the Sea Eagles in the NRL in some form than running around in the Intrust Cup alongside North Sydney and Newtown.

Losing Lane will hurt more than losing TGWH. Signing Elgey isn't the best (would love it if Maloney and Penrith split and we got him, but that's unlikely), but I don't expect him to be brilliant, I just expect solid 5/8 play from the guy with the trickle on effect that Walks will go back to centre and we can use Tommy's running game from the back more often and effectively. We all know he's a poor defender, so how does that make him any different to most other halves in the NRL? With the exception of Cherry, Cronk and Cleary, most halves in the NRL are piss poor defenders, even Thurston for all his perceived greatness was a poor defender.

Lane's loss should be covered somewhat by the return of Curtis Sironen, though we can only hope that Siro stays healthy because in the past 2 years he has only played 20 games, only 4 this year. And I didn't really see TGWH as a regular first grader, at least not next year. At 5/8 he'd have Elgey and Hodko in front of him at the very least with Walks, Api and Fainu also there. And at centre he'd be behind Walks, Kelly, Suli and Parker. I think he's done the right thing going back to union and I don't believe we'll miss him all that much.

Much obviously depends on who the coach is.

As for Brookie....we'd all love it to be continually developed and brought up to the so-called standards, and that will probably happen, but its going to be a long process. But it won't stop the drums beating for a move to the SFS....or somewhere out of Sydney altogether.

 

[robbiea]

Just buy the Warringah or Manly golf club...and build it there!

next...

edit: @Loobs I've just been checking all of the areas out!

Looks miles and miles from anywhere! (except your place).

Miles and miles from anywhere ??
Stop smoking the moose turds.You been here too long.
That spot is smack bang in the centre of God's country,( my old stomping ground)
I have also been saying that is the spot for at least a decade or more..
That's where I'd be headed if the Canadian (Mother inlaw) timed out...
(Don't go there,spent plenty of time hatching schemes)

 

[globaleagle]

Miles and miles from anywhere ??
Stop smoking the moose turds.You been here too long.
That spot is smack bang in the centre of God's country,( my old stomping ground)
I have also been saying that is the spot for at least a decade or more..
That's where I'd be headed if the Canadian (Mother inlaw) timed out...
(Don't go there,spent plenty of time hatching schemes)

Well.... that month old comment was more to wind up Loobs, not crazy ex-pats thinking bad thought's about Mother in laws! (lol)

Moose turds? sheesh.

 

[robbiea]

Well.... that month old comment was more to wind up Loobs, not crazy ex-pats thinking bad thought's about Mother in laws! (lol)

Moose turds? sheesh.

Prefer the Mtn Caribou myself but as they are dying out at an alarming rate,have been settling on Mere Elk.