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Message: [QUOTE="Big Pete, post: 2848185, member: 1899"] Well the whole game was in disrepair at the time. Twelve clubs ceased to be with others on the verge of extinction. If they weren't bailed out by News Limited. Some clubs formed new entities so we didn't lose St George, Illawarra, Balmain, Wests, Norths and Manly altogether but it was close and some of those mergers didn't work. As far as St George, Illawarra, Balmain and Wests go, they worked because the NRL was happy to give them salary cap concessions. Since a few of these clubs had never been in successful positions before, the merger was something of a success to begin with. It's easy to forget but Wests were one of the form teams of 2000 until Melbourne flogged them. It eventually led to a series of matches where they only won 3 of their past 12 clashes. One game I remember quite well was the Round 20 clash against Brisbane. It was close in the first half, then Brisbane produced a second half that was better than anything any other team had come up with that season. When Brisbane were in a mood that year, they would belt teams off the park... ...sorry getting distracted. 2000 happened to be my first year as a fan and to watch my team go from a bunch of rookies into one of the most dominant forces I've seen was something else. In conclusion, they worked out OK because fans enjoy success and for the Wests Magpies they had been knocking on deaths door since the 80s. The fact they were still around in some capacity worked for some fans and the Tigers eventually brought new fans into the game thanks to Benji Marshall. [/QUOTE]

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