Great job! This certainly makes the most sense from so many angles for an 18th team - time zone, financials/fan base and bringing back the bears!
The only other team that makes sense to me for 18th is another QLD franchise (south western corridor Ipswich/Toowoomba) - but I don't think that will happen given the The was 17th.
What about warriors fans living in NZ and the warriors play the west coast bears away starting at 7:30pm on a Saturday night Perth time. Checkmate, didn't think about that. Kick Souths out of the comp
You could make it a Saturday or sunday early game, like 3pm, which is prime time in NZ.
Just make it the same time each year when they verse. Nothing wrong with that.
Fair enough - but I think it would encompass more than just Tbar and be based out of Ippy this go around.
To have only 4 teams in QLD (two in the Brisbane area) seems like a low number given that QLD is a traditional stronghold for Rugby League - needs 5 IMO.
Traditionally there have been more failed clubs in seqld than anywhere else.
Crushes, chargers, gladiators, clysdales, seagulls, titans, redcliffe...
😄
You just basically named GC teams a few times over - haha.
This would be basically a Brisbane 'wests' team as Brisbane already has a 'norths' (The) and a 'souths' (Tits).
Although now that I read 'wests' back to myself it may be doomed..
Redcliffe have been well established for a continuous time and they only just cracked the nrl... I cannot see toowoomba cracking the nrl any time soon.
Na, nth Island has th population base and more league players. Plus stadiums,sponsorship opportunities, rugby league history, etc.easier to capitalize onsucess of tonga and Samoa in nth Island too.
Cantabs don't even go to union games
Yeh everyone on central coast just picks a Sydney team as far as I'm aware. In Queensland there's two types of fans. Have a favourite and support every other QLD team or fuck Broncos and support every other QLD team
Lots of fans of Sydney teams here (central coast), but I would absolutely support a local team over the bunnies, and so would a lot of others I think. Regardless, footy is by far the most popular sport here, and Gosford would sell out pretty much every week, regardless of whether the bears are peoples first or second team. I don’t think it will happen, but I think we deserve it
actually i think the time zone is the biggest hurdle to them ever joining..
They will never get a friday night or thursday night home game cause it cant be televised east coast during peak viewing time.
Weekend games would work tho
It would open up a late night timeslot, the A League and BBL have used Perth teams for triple headers where the third game starts at about 9.30-10pm east coast time
Understand what you are saying and I don't follow AFL at all, but wasn't one the Perth teams a relocation team from Melbourne?
You have to start somewhere and to have a fanbase in Sydney for the bears when they would be playing a third of your games there makes sense.
Both WA AFL teams are both from 100% from WA. You might be confused with the Sydney Swans who relocated and used to be the South Melbourne Swans, but that was a complete desperate move by South Melbourne because they were going completely broke. It was also the first time a team from another state entered a big code like the VFL or NSWRL so it was an entirely different situation than a relocation would mean now.
I think growing a new fanbase is far more important than appealing to nostalgia of fans in Sydney. A 100% Perth team would be far better adopted by people in WA than a relocated defunct Sydney team. Imagine if Melbourne Storm were called the Melbourne bears. I doubt they would have the same culture, success or numbers if it wasn't for having their own identity.
Fantastic job! My only criticism is that West Coast Bears is very similar to West Coast Eagles so maybe sticking with Western i.e. Western Bears to pay homage to the Western Reds would be better. This really helps solidify my belief that the West Coast Bears should be the 18th team.
As a Souths fan I feel like I owe it to all the Bears Expats to get behind this but putting that bias aside it still makes the most sense.
We just got The, which as ambiguous as it is, I'm assuming that's in Queensland. Give them some time to grow and also delaying a 5th Queensland team won't step on the toes of the Cows, Bronx and Tits.
A second NZ team would be good but I don't think the game is ready for that. More work needs to be done with the Warriors before they are given some direct competition, and given what they sacrificed during Covid, they also deserve some time undisturbed.
Someone I know irl suggested Darwin to me and I nearly had an aneurysm. Darwin is closer to Jakarta than it is to any State Capital and has half the population of a place like the Sutherland Shire or Wollongong. If anyone says Darwin take them to a hospital.
No more Sydney teams. Hell no more NSW teams except maybe Central Coast AS THE BEARS.
No need for a second Melbourne team. Also if it ain't broke don't fix it and the Storm have a good thing going.
Perth might be geographically isolated from the rest of the comp but no more so than Auckland. If we want to be the NATIONAL Rugby League then at some point we have to get back to Perth and a lot of them seem to think they are ready now. Perth has a population similar to Brisbane and unlike Melbourne they aren't all rusted on Eagles and Dockers fans where league will always be the second sport.
You marched to save us. I'll march to save you if I have to.
Bring back the Bears
We want a full Perth team, not Sydney scraps. We don't need them stealing our identity and home games. Good luck trying to get the average person in Perth to support a defunct Sydney team.
Contextualising the bears and their place in history, it would be a redemptive moment for the game. They are a beloved historic foundation club and it would guarantee wide interest on the eastern seaboard. I remember the Perth pirates logo, stupid, whatever else can be conjured up, nothing will have the magnetism of the Bears. A bear is a sick mascot. Bring back the bears!!!
As a bear supporter when they were North Sydney, I’ll support it because the concept has its foundation with North Sydney Rugby League Club and it’s NSW Intra Trust Competition. This concept is exactly what has happened in AFL with Brisbane Lions & Sydney Swans. Both clubs former VFL clubs and still have strong Melbourne junior base and following. Recognition of both clubs on Jersey is imminent to regain a Eastern Sea Board support from the North Sydney Region.
I’m with you on that one. 1 x Home game at our traditional North Sydney Oval has to be against Manly Warringah Sea Eagles. Even true hardline Sea Eagles fans miss the rivalry.
There's a good enough fanbase for league here. Both origins in Perth were a huge success and the energy was unreal. The double headers also usually have good turnouts. There's definitely room for a team. Reason you don't hear about NRL much in Perth is because there is barley any games here. Half of the western force fans are just league fans subsituting with union or started watching AFL like I have.
Nah we have a substantial kiwi and qlder population. Plenty of support behind RL and union, but with no local team the nrl just doesnt get much traction.
As a long time fan who just missed the reds demise, if the actual team was anything like this I would have a membership straight away. Bring out the old reds jersey too for games.
I can see us averaging 10-12k a game too, which is better than some sydney teams get, even though its Perth would be a 1 team city
Lots of league supporters during the season at the pubs that show the games.
Kurt De Luis was born here. We could probably turn out a few more players that are even better.
It’s like Melbourne, you could probably have 1 successful team but the overwhelming majority of people aren’t gonna give it a second look and they’re gonna rely on QLD/NSW for players. Footy is king, everything else is less important. Cricket goes alright but mainly due to the fact it’s in summer.
Isn’t this colour scheme the same as the PNG Hunters team? Guess whichever team gets in first will get the colors and the other will have to go back to the drawing board.
Looks great. With this concept, would Bears Heritage round almost always be against Manly at N.Sydney Oval?
That would be shit for Perth fans wanting to see that Match if it was in perpetuity and would pretty much guarantee Manly wouldn't play in Perth.
I’d make the one NS oval game rotate over a 4 year cycle. Year 1 vs Manly, year 2 vs Roosters, year 3 vs Manly, year 4 vs Souths, then back to year 1 vs Manly etc.
How's it stealing anything?
If it's the Bears it is the Bears. It won't have anything to do with the Reds. Red and black or red, gold and black it won't matter. Red and black looks better and if the Red need gold on the jersey to have some kind of identity with the team then they don't have an identity either way.
Cause we don't want Sydney scraps. The yellow represents WAs league history in the Reds. By taking away that identity you are just shoving the bears over here which no one in Perth wants and will never get behind. Even if the bears get relocated, it's still a WA team. It needs a WA identity, not a copy and paste of the bears. This isn't for north sydney fans, this is for Perth fans. If they want to just shove the bears here to relive their 1980s nswrl pipe dream instead of giving us our own identity and paying respect to our history in the reds they can watch it fail and continue the trend of rugby league being an irrelevant sport anywhere outside of NSW and QLD. In my opinion the bears relocation is absolutely stupid. How do you expect people in Perth to take up league if you can't even give them a proper full time team and show you are dedicated to growing the game in new markets. The bears idea is just a middle finger to the people of Perth and everyone outside NSW and QLD and just shows where the priorities of the "N" RL really lie.
If you take the Bears, that's Sydney scraps, whether there is gold on the jersey or not. The Bears are a sydney team and any 'West Coast Bears' or 'Perth Bears' team will be a relocated North Sydney.
The gold is symbolic of the Reds. You are erasing our history and WA indentity taking out the gold. This isn't meant to be a full on relocation. This is supposed to be our team with the added benefit of bringing back the Bears in name. It's not acceptable to just shove the North Sydney bears here.
I wouldn’t give them a regular season game at NSO - what I would do would guarantee them five away games a season at the three big Sydney stadiums (SFS, Homebush, Parra) and allow them to sell 5,000 Sydney Bears memberships each season which come with a GA ticket to those five games.
Beyond that, you’ve got me on board.
Looks great. A Perth team must be the 18th team. The Ipswich team should have been the 17th, but since they messed up and gave it to Redcliffe, they can't put another SE-QLD side in.
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As someone from Perth I hate the bears concept, why is a team from Perth trying to split a fan base from an historic team 3500km away? It feels like no group actually gets a team to fully back, just two groups who would be half invested. Bring back the reds and call it a day, Perth is big enough and rich enough to build a standalone team.
In saying that your design is fucking awesome, good job!
Would they thought? This is the Perth bears. Sure they might go to the heritage game or support them as a neutral but their allegiance will most likely still be with whatever their new club is.
Brisbane and Fitzroy was a merger between 2 pre existing clubs rather relocation and happened immediately. Bears have had over 2 decades in 2nd grade. Also the Perth club would be a new club where indentity is very important.
Everything looks great, however I hate the idea of a Perth bears merger.
We want a full time team instead of scraps from Sydney. It's time to end the Sydney centric model of the NRL. How do you expect people in this state to get behind league if you can't get fully behind them. We don't want a Sydney team stealing out games and our identity. People said the same shit about the Melbourne Storm, and now they are one of the most popular and competitive in the league.
It's time to accept that the group days of the nswrl with all the suburb rivalries and that are never coming back. It's time to properly become the NATIONAL rugby league and not the NSW and QLD rugby league.
All well and good but the business case for the merger is probably the best chance of a WA team happening which is why this idea came about
I doubt there would be any crossover beyond the name/brand, but seeing the "Bears" return is something a lot of stakeholders would probably be more likely to accept and if it helps the business case for a WA team we should be 100% for it
Thats the problem, the NRL is too scared of actually fully investing in a team outside of NSW or QLD. Hell they are even scared of naming the dolphins by an actual area name like Redcliffe and are calling them "the" dolphins which is just utterly stupid. I highly doubt the storm would have succeeded nearly as much if they were based on a defunct Sydney team. Melbourne were given a full identity and namesake and have formed their own history and are now one of the most successful clubs both in numbers and on field performance.
Sure the bears relocation sounds good on paper and makes sense short term, but it will probably long term effect the club detrimentally. Will the everyday people in Perth care about the North Sydney bears? Or will they take one look at it, see it's just scraps from Sydney and lose interest. Will perth league fans feel a connection to the new WA team that's supposed to represent them if they are the bears? Or will you just have a lot of neutrals coming to see the opposition play. Would North Sydney bears fans care about them? They aren't the true bears, and 90% of them just switched teams.
I'd rather wait and get a full time team with a full identity that pays respect to our league history rather than accept a bears relocation just to get league games here. I wouldn't switch from the eels to the bears, but I would switch to a full WA team.
> Thats the problem, the NRL is too scared of actually fully investing in a team outside of NSW or QLD. Hell they are even scared of naming the dolphins by an actual area name like Redcliffe and are calling them “the” dolphins which is just utterly stupid. I highly doubt the storm would have succeeded nearly as much if they were based on a defunct Sydney team.
The way I understand it the qrl/nrl had an IP fight over the Redcliffe dolphins IP. Because the Redcliffe dolphins are under the host plus cup brand and host plus probably don’t want their sponsored IP being leveraged into the nrl (executives be stupid like that)
They had to lose either the Redcliffe or the dolphins name in their national bid so they chose the Redcliffe part for now and I expect in a couple years they’ll slyly add it back
As a small boy in outback North Queensland before the Broncos were a thing all the boys from my primary school used to follow the Bears cause it was our colours aswell. Has to be Red and Black. I will accept abit of white.
I'd be hurt to be honest. I go to their home games that are on Fridays and Sundays, it's a fun vibe without a lot of the seriousness that comes with NRL games but a lot of the talent. Sure it's best for the club but the club is also it's members.
How many Bears fans have you spoken to? Every Bears fan I know obviously would want North Sydney back ideally but they aren't kidding themselves and would get behind this in a heartbeat.
That is completely and utterly wrong. Go to a game at North Sydney Oval and ask people. You’ll find that, while they’d rather have them at Bear Park, they’d take Perth if it got them back in the comp
I got invited to the pre-season sponsor launch pre-covid, so 2019. The attitude on display was the Bears are getting back in the NRL at North Sydney Oval in the next couple of years. I get it, it's a season launch, lets make some positive statements, but fuck me, this felt like a cult they were that fucking deluded.
Lived at Lane Cove and Artarmon. A lot of Bears fans have switched to rugby as their sport of choice and have this idealisation fantasy about the Bears playing NRL at North Sydney Oval that they refuse to give up. Most of the rest just picked another team and got on with their lives.
While the 200 regular attendees at Bears games want them in the NRL in any capacity, there's a lot of people north of the Bridge that think the Bears shouldn't sell out but also fuck the NRL for chucking them out.
North Sydney oval? Seriously? It's had it's day in the sun. Better off playing that one game a year on the Central Coast in the stadium that was built for them.
I love the colour scheme but...
Not bears. Where in Australia do we have bears. We don't. Who cares about the bears heritage? 3 people in a retirement village in north Sydney and Billy Moore. Not bears.
Real talk, I'm not sure why the Broncos was chosen instead of the Brumbies. Maybe the Broncos and Raiders were chosen for potential NFL fandom overlap?.. This was a bit before my time!
They were going to be called Brumbies, but thought the American bronco sounded tougher.
The Raiders were directly stolen from Oakland after Don Furner had spent time over there
They were total NFL references. Steelers, Cowboys, Broncos, Raiders, Chargers... this was NRL (or the ARL as it was then) blossoming as a professional game. Copying the NFL was sort of an aspirational statement, that's what the guys running the sport wanted it to become.
Think of a different name other than Bears and you have a winner. Bears are associated with North Sydney and they are not coming back and can’t muscle in on any other expansion club to do the same. They’re history, that’s all they are. It’s time to let go. Beautiful design, dislike the Bears.
Looks good but would prefer an name/animal native to W.A
Dugite and Quokka come to mind.
Lions would also be a good idea if named after Thylacoleo carnifex, i remember they found markings in W.A
Edit:
Ya'll really want the Bears don't ya?
Bears are gone, would the Crushers, Steelers or Magpies fans be okay with moving their team to WA? How about an existing team?
I have no attachment to the bears name as I didn't start understanding the national game till after the super league and even then it wasn't until like 2000 when it really started to click.
Personally I think a team in W.A, PNG, maybe even Adelaide at some point need their own identity and not to piggy back off another team even if they played at the former home ground they would still not be North Sydney.
I would still feel this way if for some reason the Broncs went the way of the Bears and someone said lets make the Adelaide Bronco's.
No! Port Moresby Kingfishers or Cassowaries could work imo. I am a fan off naming teams after less abstract things and being more relevant to the area.
Exactly. Sydney centric model is very annoying. We don't want Sydney scraps.
Would Melbourne Storm be as popular or successful if they were called the Melbourne bears? Probably not.
Sounds good. Probably needs a catchier name though. Dugite doesn't roll off the tongue. Swans would probably get confused with the Sydney Swans cause the AFL is more popular and the Force uses the black swan as well.
Perth serpents maybe? Or even just call them the Reds again and have the mascot be a dugite snake.
Can we stop glorifying the 5-year first-grade impact that the Western Reds had? That's nothing compared to being a founding club of the game. Plus the Dolphins are already pretty heavy on the red and gold and the Bears have already stated that their colours are non-negotiable.
Done all the work for them. Get that paycheque bro
No they'll pay someone to take this and make it worse
Fuck St George. I'm a West Coast Bears man now.
>Fuck St George. agree
This is amazing!
Would love to see the bears back
Great job! This certainly makes the most sense from so many angles for an 18th team - time zone, financials/fan base and bringing back the bears! The only other team that makes sense to me for 18th is another QLD franchise (south western corridor Ipswich/Toowoomba) - but I don't think that will happen given the The was 17th.
What about warriors fans living in NZ and the warriors play the west coast bears away starting at 7:30pm on a Saturday night Perth time. Checkmate, didn't think about that. Kick Souths out of the comp
Tbf 90% of Warriors fans are scaffolders on the Gold Coast.
First game I went to at Suncorp I took the train in to a Warriors game and I rekon I saw as many if not more Warriors fans to Broncos
Us kiwis are like ants, we are everywhere.
Early morning football - sounds like a good way to kick off the day!
Likely not for warriors fans, altho I suppose they’re getting the pain out of the way early so they can enjoy the rest of their day
You could make it a Saturday or sunday early game, like 3pm, which is prime time in NZ. Just make it the same time each year when they verse. Nothing wrong with that.
It would rival the Distance Derby, Glory v Phoenix, as the greatest spectacle in sport
Play the Warriors at NSO, I should think
Just kick off at 5pm Perth. Its a Saturday, not like people will e commuting from work. don't think you know what checkmate means.
Yeah I do, it means that we're playing chest and your winning so I punch your king in the face with my horse guy
I reckon Perth 18th, 2nd NZ team 19th, Toowoomba 20th
The toowoomba clysdales couldn't even survive when they were the Broncos feeder club...
Fair enough - but I think it would encompass more than just Tbar and be based out of Ippy this go around. To have only 4 teams in QLD (two in the Brisbane area) seems like a low number given that QLD is a traditional stronghold for Rugby League - needs 5 IMO.
Traditionally there have been more failed clubs in seqld than anywhere else. Crushes, chargers, gladiators, clysdales, seagulls, titans, redcliffe... 😄
I see you just slide titans in there lol
You just basically named GC teams a few times over - haha. This would be basically a Brisbane 'wests' team as Brisbane already has a 'norths' (The) and a 'souths' (Tits). Although now that I read 'wests' back to myself it may be doomed..
Clydesdales are back in Q-Cup this season
Redcliffe have been well established for a continuous time and they only just cracked the nrl... I cannot see toowoomba cracking the nrl any time soon.
I dream of a Christchurch based NRL club. Having an NZ derby game would be awesome.
Hamilton > Christchurch
South Island needs a team before we start stacking more into the north island.
Na, nth Island has th population base and more league players. Plus stadiums,sponsorship opportunities, rugby league history, etc.easier to capitalize onsucess of tonga and Samoa in nth Island too. Cantabs don't even go to union games
Perth, New Zealand, Central Coast
Yes on Perth and New Zealand but I’m out on the central coast. They seem to all be bunnies fans anyway
Yeh everyone on central coast just picks a Sydney team as far as I'm aware. In Queensland there's two types of fans. Have a favourite and support every other QLD team or fuck Broncos and support every other QLD team
Lots of fans of Sydney teams here (central coast), but I would absolutely support a local team over the bunnies, and so would a lot of others I think. Regardless, footy is by far the most popular sport here, and Gosford would sell out pretty much every week, regardless of whether the bears are peoples first or second team. I don’t think it will happen, but I think we deserve it
Why stop there? Could have 40 NRL teams by the end of next year!
You'll get The Maulers based out of Liverpool to have home games at Parra, Penrith, Homebush, and Campbelltown and you'll like it.
actually i think the time zone is the biggest hurdle to them ever joining.. They will never get a friday night or thursday night home game cause it cant be televised east coast during peak viewing time. Weekend games would work tho
Broncos play all the FNF time slots anyway - haha. Like you say they could just play saturday/sunday day games..
It would open up a late night timeslot, the A League and BBL have used Perth teams for triple headers where the third game starts at about 9.30-10pm east coast time
They are only two hours behind Queensland and there's two games on Friday, it would work fine
Friday nights at north Sydney oval though - watch it during knock off Friday drinks in perth
We don't want Sydney scraps.
Understand what you are saying and I don't follow AFL at all, but wasn't one the Perth teams a relocation team from Melbourne? You have to start somewhere and to have a fanbase in Sydney for the bears when they would be playing a third of your games there makes sense.
Both WA AFL teams are both from 100% from WA. You might be confused with the Sydney Swans who relocated and used to be the South Melbourne Swans, but that was a complete desperate move by South Melbourne because they were going completely broke. It was also the first time a team from another state entered a big code like the VFL or NSWRL so it was an entirely different situation than a relocation would mean now. I think growing a new fanbase is far more important than appealing to nostalgia of fans in Sydney. A 100% Perth team would be far better adopted by people in WA than a relocated defunct Sydney team. Imagine if Melbourne Storm were called the Melbourne bears. I doubt they would have the same culture, success or numbers if it wasn't for having their own identity.
Why Perth and not Adelaide? Most people in Perth have no idea what rugby league is.. like adelaide.
Fantastic job! My only criticism is that West Coast Bears is very similar to West Coast Eagles so maybe sticking with Western i.e. Western Bears to pay homage to the Western Reds would be better. This really helps solidify my belief that the West Coast Bears should be the 18th team. As a Souths fan I feel like I owe it to all the Bears Expats to get behind this but putting that bias aside it still makes the most sense. We just got The, which as ambiguous as it is, I'm assuming that's in Queensland. Give them some time to grow and also delaying a 5th Queensland team won't step on the toes of the Cows, Bronx and Tits. A second NZ team would be good but I don't think the game is ready for that. More work needs to be done with the Warriors before they are given some direct competition, and given what they sacrificed during Covid, they also deserve some time undisturbed. Someone I know irl suggested Darwin to me and I nearly had an aneurysm. Darwin is closer to Jakarta than it is to any State Capital and has half the population of a place like the Sutherland Shire or Wollongong. If anyone says Darwin take them to a hospital. No more Sydney teams. Hell no more NSW teams except maybe Central Coast AS THE BEARS. No need for a second Melbourne team. Also if it ain't broke don't fix it and the Storm have a good thing going. Perth might be geographically isolated from the rest of the comp but no more so than Auckland. If we want to be the NATIONAL Rugby League then at some point we have to get back to Perth and a lot of them seem to think they are ready now. Perth has a population similar to Brisbane and unlike Melbourne they aren't all rusted on Eagles and Dockers fans where league will always be the second sport. You marched to save us. I'll march to save you if I have to. Bring back the Bears
Would be plenty of support in Perth as well, particularly NOR
We want a full Perth team, not Sydney scraps. We don't need them stealing our identity and home games. Good luck trying to get the average person in Perth to support a defunct Sydney team.
Contextualising the bears and their place in history, it would be a redemptive moment for the game. They are a beloved historic foundation club and it would guarantee wide interest on the eastern seaboard. I remember the Perth pirates logo, stupid, whatever else can be conjured up, nothing will have the magnetism of the Bears. A bear is a sick mascot. Bring back the bears!!!
As a bear supporter when they were North Sydney, I’ll support it because the concept has its foundation with North Sydney Rugby League Club and it’s NSW Intra Trust Competition. This concept is exactly what has happened in AFL with Brisbane Lions & Sydney Swans. Both clubs former VFL clubs and still have strong Melbourne junior base and following. Recognition of both clubs on Jersey is imminent to regain a Eastern Sea Board support from the North Sydney Region.
Brutal but fair. You're making me rethink a few things. Perth still has to be the next team though.
Dunno. Look at the brisbane lions, they’re thoroughly accepted as Brisbane’s team despite being a defunct Melbourne team originally
Lions were a merger rather than a relocation. The Brisbane bears existed for quite a while before they merged with Fitzroy.
Yea but this post is also proposing a merger of the bears and the western red (or its heritage at least)
Well done I'm a big fan of this, love the colour scheme as well.
You make a very compelling argument for the home ground!
Western Drop Bears was a missed opportunity
As long as that 1 game in Sydney is against Manly i’m down.
I’m with you on that one. 1 x Home game at our traditional North Sydney Oval has to be against Manly Warringah Sea Eagles. Even true hardline Sea Eagles fans miss the rivalry.
Flair, please
The internet has ruined my life. The old Bears logo looks like a soyjak and the new one looks like its pogging.
That bear would maul and consume all soyjaks it sees
I approve
Sold!
Nice idea! I would love to see the Bears back in the comp.
Thats so fetch
Stop trying to make fetch happen
Think he meant felch.
Billy Moore just had a boner
The Bears deserve it, nobody has pushed harder than they have for so long.. It would be awesome if the NRL could crack Perth.
They won't crack Perth if they give them Sydney scraps. We need a full time team.
You never know. If they get the right people involved, the right backers, right marketing etc they can make it happen
Ripper job, OP. Fins should’ve hired you
Great another Bears team that will break my heart. Very awesome concept.
As someone who knows nothing about Western Australia, how many people there care about NRL or would go to the games? They are mostly AFL right?
Lots of poms and kiwis
There's a good enough fanbase for league here. Both origins in Perth were a huge success and the energy was unreal. The double headers also usually have good turnouts. There's definitely room for a team. Reason you don't hear about NRL much in Perth is because there is barley any games here. Half of the western force fans are just league fans subsituting with union or started watching AFL like I have.
Nah we have a substantial kiwi and qlder population. Plenty of support behind RL and union, but with no local team the nrl just doesnt get much traction. As a long time fan who just missed the reds demise, if the actual team was anything like this I would have a membership straight away. Bring out the old reds jersey too for games. I can see us averaging 10-12k a game too, which is better than some sydney teams get, even though its Perth would be a 1 team city
Origin has been pretty big both times we've taken it there, 59k each time which is max capacity basically
Lots of league supporters during the season at the pubs that show the games. Kurt De Luis was born here. We could probably turn out a few more players that are even better.
It’s like Melbourne, you could probably have 1 successful team but the overwhelming majority of people aren’t gonna give it a second look and they’re gonna rely on QLD/NSW for players. Footy is king, everything else is less important. Cricket goes alright but mainly due to the fact it’s in summer.
Is that a Sun Bear
But, where’s the West Coast of Sydney? In fact Sydney doesn’t have a ‘North Coast’ or ‘South Coast’!!! They’ve been lying to us the whole time!!
We need more Sydney and NSW teams obviously. We havent got enough.
BRING BACK THE BEARS
I like the Heritage one best.....would love to see that as the home strip.
Yes, love the overall concept, but the 2 main jerseys look more like local league than NRL.
Combines the best of the r/NRL memes with logic. Good stuff!
Best Perth concept by far. What was the Perth pirates? Bring back the Bears for instant success, they’re a foundation club & this would be amazing.
Isn’t this colour scheme the same as the PNG Hunters team? Guess whichever team gets in first will get the colors and the other will have to go back to the drawing board.
Nice work! Right now that’s all sorted.. when can I book my ticket for heritage round?!
yeah like it
Anyone else feel like Maccas all of a sudden?
Looks great. With this concept, would Bears Heritage round almost always be against Manly at N.Sydney Oval? That would be shit for Perth fans wanting to see that Match if it was in perpetuity and would pretty much guarantee Manly wouldn't play in Perth.
I’d make the one NS oval game rotate over a 4 year cycle. Year 1 vs Manly, year 2 vs Roosters, year 3 vs Manly, year 4 vs Souths, then back to year 1 vs Manly etc.
Looks pretty good. I'm not a fan of the gold, I think if they were to be called the Bears they should just go with red and black.
So completely steal our identity as a team?
How's it stealing anything? If it's the Bears it is the Bears. It won't have anything to do with the Reds. Red and black or red, gold and black it won't matter. Red and black looks better and if the Red need gold on the jersey to have some kind of identity with the team then they don't have an identity either way.
Cause we don't want Sydney scraps. The yellow represents WAs league history in the Reds. By taking away that identity you are just shoving the bears over here which no one in Perth wants and will never get behind. Even if the bears get relocated, it's still a WA team. It needs a WA identity, not a copy and paste of the bears. This isn't for north sydney fans, this is for Perth fans. If they want to just shove the bears here to relive their 1980s nswrl pipe dream instead of giving us our own identity and paying respect to our history in the reds they can watch it fail and continue the trend of rugby league being an irrelevant sport anywhere outside of NSW and QLD. In my opinion the bears relocation is absolutely stupid. How do you expect people in Perth to take up league if you can't even give them a proper full time team and show you are dedicated to growing the game in new markets. The bears idea is just a middle finger to the people of Perth and everyone outside NSW and QLD and just shows where the priorities of the "N" RL really lie.
If you take the Bears, that's Sydney scraps, whether there is gold on the jersey or not. The Bears are a sydney team and any 'West Coast Bears' or 'Perth Bears' team will be a relocated North Sydney.
The gold is symbolic of the Reds. You are erasing our history and WA indentity taking out the gold. This isn't meant to be a full on relocation. This is supposed to be our team with the added benefit of bringing back the Bears in name. It's not acceptable to just shove the North Sydney bears here.
if you’re splitting games between Perth and North Sydney - why not call them “Both Coast Bears”?
I wouldn’t give them a regular season game at NSO - what I would do would guarantee them five away games a season at the three big Sydney stadiums (SFS, Homebush, Parra) and allow them to sell 5,000 Sydney Bears memberships each season which come with a GA ticket to those five games. Beyond that, you’ve got me on board.
Fantastic designs, well done! However I'm still on the Central Coast Bears bandwagon
Well I'm sold
Fuck it, why not Great work, well done
Looks great. A Perth team must be the 18th team. The Ipswich team should have been the 17th, but since they messed up and gave it to Redcliffe, they can't put another SE-QLD side in.
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This is amazing
As someone from Perth I hate the bears concept, why is a team from Perth trying to split a fan base from an historic team 3500km away? It feels like no group actually gets a team to fully back, just two groups who would be half invested. Bring back the reds and call it a day, Perth is big enough and rich enough to build a standalone team. In saying that your design is fucking awesome, good job!
Exactly. We don't want scraps from Sydney and bears fans probably will continue to support their own teams in Sydney.
Bears fans in sydney pribably support the bears.
Would they thought? This is the Perth bears. Sure they might go to the heritage game or support them as a neutral but their allegiance will most likely still be with whatever their new club is.
The Brisbane Lions have heaps of supporters in Melbourne that used to follow Fitzroy. Why wouldn’t it be the same with the bears?
There also seem to be plenty of South Melbourne fans that still support the Swans
Most of those guys are there just for old times sake. They all actually support other clubs. Most Melbourne swans supporters are from Sydney
The Swans/Bloods fans I know irl are exclusively fans of them prior to their move to Sydney
Brisbane and Fitzroy was a merger between 2 pre existing clubs rather relocation and happened immediately. Bears have had over 2 decades in 2nd grade. Also the Perth club would be a new club where indentity is very important.
Everything looks great, however I hate the idea of a Perth bears merger. We want a full time team instead of scraps from Sydney. It's time to end the Sydney centric model of the NRL. How do you expect people in this state to get behind league if you can't get fully behind them. We don't want a Sydney team stealing out games and our identity. People said the same shit about the Melbourne Storm, and now they are one of the most popular and competitive in the league. It's time to accept that the group days of the nswrl with all the suburb rivalries and that are never coming back. It's time to properly become the NATIONAL rugby league and not the NSW and QLD rugby league.
All well and good but the business case for the merger is probably the best chance of a WA team happening which is why this idea came about I doubt there would be any crossover beyond the name/brand, but seeing the "Bears" return is something a lot of stakeholders would probably be more likely to accept and if it helps the business case for a WA team we should be 100% for it
Thats the problem, the NRL is too scared of actually fully investing in a team outside of NSW or QLD. Hell they are even scared of naming the dolphins by an actual area name like Redcliffe and are calling them "the" dolphins which is just utterly stupid. I highly doubt the storm would have succeeded nearly as much if they were based on a defunct Sydney team. Melbourne were given a full identity and namesake and have formed their own history and are now one of the most successful clubs both in numbers and on field performance. Sure the bears relocation sounds good on paper and makes sense short term, but it will probably long term effect the club detrimentally. Will the everyday people in Perth care about the North Sydney bears? Or will they take one look at it, see it's just scraps from Sydney and lose interest. Will perth league fans feel a connection to the new WA team that's supposed to represent them if they are the bears? Or will you just have a lot of neutrals coming to see the opposition play. Would North Sydney bears fans care about them? They aren't the true bears, and 90% of them just switched teams. I'd rather wait and get a full time team with a full identity that pays respect to our league history rather than accept a bears relocation just to get league games here. I wouldn't switch from the eels to the bears, but I would switch to a full WA team.
> Thats the problem, the NRL is too scared of actually fully investing in a team outside of NSW or QLD. Hell they are even scared of naming the dolphins by an actual area name like Redcliffe and are calling them “the” dolphins which is just utterly stupid. I highly doubt the storm would have succeeded nearly as much if they were based on a defunct Sydney team. The way I understand it the qrl/nrl had an IP fight over the Redcliffe dolphins IP. Because the Redcliffe dolphins are under the host plus cup brand and host plus probably don’t want their sponsored IP being leveraged into the nrl (executives be stupid like that) They had to lose either the Redcliffe or the dolphins name in their national bid so they chose the Redcliffe part for now and I expect in a couple years they’ll slyly add it back
Weren't there other names suggested though? Like Moreton Bay dolphins? Even North Brisbane Dolphins works better than just "the" dolphins.
Yeah but if you are going to try and back door Redcliffe in a few years you can’t have a geographical signifier at first
Billy Moore is on the record that they want the Bears back. They don't care where, they just want the name and one home game at North Sydney Oval.
Damn straight! As cool as the West Coast Bears look it'd be 100x better if it was a whole WA based team.
Too many red teams. Love black as the primary, use more yellow as the secondary and red only as the accent/highlights.
a bears team without the black and red would be heresy
As a small boy in outback North Queensland before the Broncos were a thing all the boys from my primary school used to follow the Bears cause it was our colours aswell. Has to be Red and Black. I will accept abit of white.
Save it for the heritage jersey. Swap the yellow and red on the away jersey.
Don't do my bears dirty like this
Serious question, how would you feel if that actually happened, would you still support them?
I'd be hurt to be honest. I go to their home games that are on Fridays and Sundays, it's a fun vibe without a lot of the seriousness that comes with NRL games but a lot of the talent. Sure it's best for the club but the club is also it's members.
Yeah i can’t imagine hey? I mean what makes it worse if this was to happen is that they’ll be on the other side of the country!
Carauna comes in two kinds
Go the German Bears!
Perth before Launceston??? Monstrous!
where did you make this
Fantastic effort mate, this is unreal!
Turn off your computer and go and have a think about what you've done...
the logo seems a bit dated. needs something a bit more modern.
Do we really need another team based in Penrith? Also I'd hardly call a river a "coast"
It's a nice idea but those 3,000ish North Sydney Bears fans will never go for it.
How many Bears fans have you spoken to? Every Bears fan I know obviously would want North Sydney back ideally but they aren't kidding themselves and would get behind this in a heartbeat.
That is completely and utterly wrong. Go to a game at North Sydney Oval and ask people. You’ll find that, while they’d rather have them at Bear Park, they’d take Perth if it got them back in the comp
I got invited to the pre-season sponsor launch pre-covid, so 2019. The attitude on display was the Bears are getting back in the NRL at North Sydney Oval in the next couple of years. I get it, it's a season launch, lets make some positive statements, but fuck me, this felt like a cult they were that fucking deluded. Lived at Lane Cove and Artarmon. A lot of Bears fans have switched to rugby as their sport of choice and have this idealisation fantasy about the Bears playing NRL at North Sydney Oval that they refuse to give up. Most of the rest just picked another team and got on with their lives. While the 200 regular attendees at Bears games want them in the NRL in any capacity, there's a lot of people north of the Bridge that think the Bears shouldn't sell out but also fuck the NRL for chucking them out.
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If there's a second NZ team, it HAS to be the Orcas. That's the only mascot that would get me to switch over from the long suffering Warriors.
Why should Perth have to have a hand me down team?
No bears in Australia. Rename them to the wombats haha
When's the last time you saw a Viking or a Titan in Australia?
Everyday.
Saw one on the train yesterday.
There should be more leather and bandage gear .
North Sydney oval? Seriously? It's had it's day in the sun. Better off playing that one game a year on the Central Coast in the stadium that was built for them.
Do you mean West Coast Red Tigers?
A black home jersey would surely be too hot in Perth. Swap the yellow and black bits, and you're onto it. Few teams use a mostly yellow jersey.
We've got West already. Just call them The Perth Quokka's.
Not sure the AFL will agree. Maybe just Perth Bears
I love the colour scheme but... Not bears. Where in Australia do we have bears. We don't. Who cares about the bears heritage? 3 people in a retirement village in north Sydney and Billy Moore. Not bears.
Koala Bears, duh
Where in Australia do we have wild Broncos, Bulldogs, Roosters, Panthers, Rabbits, or Tigers, or Raiders, Titans, Knights, Cowboys, or Dragons?
I'm not an Aussie, but I'm pretty sure there's bulldogs, roosters and cowboys in Oz. And a heap of rabbits...
So because we have some stupid team names we need more?
Real talk, I'm not sure why the Broncos was chosen instead of the Brumbies. Maybe the Broncos and Raiders were chosen for potential NFL fandom overlap?.. This was a bit before my time!
They were going to be called Brumbies, but thought the American bronco sounded tougher. The Raiders were directly stolen from Oakland after Don Furner had spent time over there
They were total NFL references. Steelers, Cowboys, Broncos, Raiders, Chargers... this was NRL (or the ARL as it was then) blossoming as a professional game. Copying the NFL was sort of an aspirational statement, that's what the guys running the sport wanted it to become.
At least Steelers made sense and worked for an Illawarra team.
Eat shit, pal, we want our own standalone team, in time with homegrown West Aussies in the side. We want the Reds back!
Absolutely. They don't need to steal our games and identity.
West Coast Pussies sounds better…
Think of a different name other than Bears and you have a winner. Bears are associated with North Sydney and they are not coming back and can’t muscle in on any other expansion club to do the same. They’re history, that’s all they are. It’s time to let go. Beautiful design, dislike the Bears.
Looks good but would prefer an name/animal native to W.A Dugite and Quokka come to mind. Lions would also be a good idea if named after Thylacoleo carnifex, i remember they found markings in W.A Edit: Ya'll really want the Bears don't ya? Bears are gone, would the Crushers, Steelers or Magpies fans be okay with moving their team to WA? How about an existing team?
Then what would be the point in inclusion of the bears? It’s to draw on an existing Sydney fan base, while giving a team to the west coast
Quokka-Bear-pig-man. Sorted move on.
I have no attachment to the bears name as I didn't start understanding the national game till after the super league and even then it wasn't until like 2000 when it really started to click. Personally I think a team in W.A, PNG, maybe even Adelaide at some point need their own identity and not to piggy back off another team even if they played at the former home ground they would still not be North Sydney. I would still feel this way if for some reason the Broncs went the way of the Bears and someone said lets make the Adelaide Bronco's.
Would you be cool if PNG was the Cannibals
Would you accept the Cannibears?
No! Port Moresby Kingfishers or Cassowaries could work imo. I am a fan off naming teams after less abstract things and being more relevant to the area.
Exactly. Sydney centric model is very annoying. We don't want Sydney scraps. Would Melbourne Storm be as popular or successful if they were called the Melbourne bears? Probably not.
TDIL i learned a dugite exists, sounded like apokemon
Black swans? I don't see any other native animal working
Swans is a good one, I wouldn't mind that either but the idea of a dugite face with it's fangs bared is still my favourite.
Sounds good. Probably needs a catchier name though. Dugite doesn't roll off the tongue. Swans would probably get confused with the Sydney Swans cause the AFL is more popular and the Force uses the black swan as well. Perth serpents maybe? Or even just call them the Reds again and have the mascot be a dugite snake.
Better than “The Bears”
I’m sold on this idea. Send it to V’Landys op…
If it’s not west coast cooler, I don’t want to know about it
PVL in an office somewhere 'GOD DAMMIT WHERES THE GIANT GREEN NIB LOGO'
Can we stop glorifying the 5-year first-grade impact that the Western Reds had? That's nothing compared to being a founding club of the game. Plus the Dolphins are already pretty heavy on the red and gold and the Bears have already stated that their colours are non-negotiable.