Too many Sydney NRL clubs: Broncos boss

(AAP) - Brisbane boss Bruno Cullen says four NRL clubs in Sydney would be "close to the right number" as the competition's chief executives prepare to meet on Tuesday.

Sydney's nine clubs will be hell-bent on finding ways to replace revenue threatened
by the NSW government's poker machine tax when the NRL hosts a pow-wow on the code's future.

Cullen agrees finance is the game's most pressing issue but is also concerned about
the game's expansion nationally to boost television and sponsorship dollars.

"I agree that there probably are too many teams in Sydney but that's a bit cheeky
for me to be suggesting how they go about rationalising that," Bruno told AAP.

"Someone suggested to me yesterday that there could be as low as four teams in
Sydney, a northern, a southern, a western and an eastern, and that's probably
getting close to the right number.

"But if I say something like that, people say 'it must be easy for you' and 'how
dare you even suggest that'."

With the league unlikely to consider increasing the number of clubs from the current
16, any expansion would need to involve relocation, mergers or clubs going under.

The NRL has $8 million on the table for a side prepared to move to the NSW Central
Coast and recently hinted that another team in Queensland was desirable.

"There's got to be rationalisation so relocation or amalgamation of teams is the
only way to go," Cullen said.

"I'm also a firm believer in a truly national code. If you're going to try and get
maximum revenue from the game, and I'm talking both here from television and from
what I'd call game national sponsors, then you need a team in every capital city.

"That means we need something in Perth and Adelaide as well."
Rugby league has been to Western Australia and South Australia before with the ARL's
Western Reds, who defected to Super league soon after their admission in 1995, and
Super League's Adelaide Rams.

"Now people might laugh at that and say it's been tried before and it failed,"
Cullen said.

"It didn't really fail, it was part of the Super League war and that's how it
finished up, it had to be rationalised."

Cronulla coach Ricky Stuart warned last weekend that the Sharks could be one Sydney
club under threat if crowds did not improve.

Sharks boss Tony Zappia said a better TV deal could help alleviate the pressure of
reduced leagues club funding due to the pokies tax.

"I think from the Sydney clubs' point of view (the priority's) just identifying new
revenue streams," he told AAP.

"There's a bit of certainty but there's also a little bit of uncertainty, with the
poker machine tax and the smoking laws that have come in, in the long-term effects.

At the moment those effects have been short term.
"Obviously from a longer-term point of view is just ensuring that the NRL works hard
in ensuring the next TV rights package is the right package that will help to
underpin all the NRL clubs."

Cullen said the meeting should be about action.
"I think it's time for decision-making," he said.
"I'd just like a powerful message to go from the meeting tomorrow to the
decision-makers on how we feel about a number of things concerning the game and
looking to ensure the future of the game right across the board."