The cashed-up code from down south is spending all of its resources from the huge television deal to attack rugby league in its very own heartland - western Sydney.
This could not come ata worse time, both for Gallop and the clubs that utilisethe expansive areas and huge junior nurseries ofthe western suburbs.
If this battle is going to be fought on monetary terms, the NRL will be armed with a pop gun against a rocket-launcher. Every rugby league club is struggling to make ends meet because of the State Government's poker-machine taxes, reduced trading hours and more recent smoking bans.
As Parramatta boss Denis Fitzgerald says: "We're down on our knees and we've been kicked in the head by the State Government.''
St George Illawarra, for example, have had their leagues club grant cut by $2m. Parramatta, Penrith and the Wests Tigers are feeling the pinch as well. The marketing and promotional money is just not availableto fight a fair contest against the might of the AFL.
Big money is being spent this year from NRL headquarters to promote the centenary year of the code - and rightly so. But the big problem isn't 2008.
It's 2012 when Andrew Demetriou and co will arrive in town to launch their second Sydney team out at Blacktown. It will be a fight for money, exposure and the state's best young talent.
The AFL is also mobilising for an aggressive surge into the Gold Coast, only a year after the Titans established a toehold in their debut year in 2007. They clearly have rugby league in their sights.
David Gallop and the NRL club chief executives most affected by the planned invasion need to begin urgent talks with NSW Premier Morris Iemma about securing their financial position.
Any business under threat can't sit passively by and allow the opposition to ride roughshod over them. With nine NRL clubs based in Sydney, it is already a competitive marketplace, especially for sponsorship dollars. With a second AFL club to join the Swans, that pie will shrink dramatically.
Rugby league has been the dominant game in Sydney since 1908 when it took over from rugby union. And in 2012, the war begins again.
This could not come ata worse time, both for Gallop and the clubs that utilisethe expansive areas and huge junior nurseries ofthe western suburbs.
If this battle is going to be fought on monetary terms, the NRL will be armed with a pop gun against a rocket-launcher. Every rugby league club is struggling to make ends meet because of the State Government's poker-machine taxes, reduced trading hours and more recent smoking bans.
As Parramatta boss Denis Fitzgerald says: "We're down on our knees and we've been kicked in the head by the State Government.''
St George Illawarra, for example, have had their leagues club grant cut by $2m. Parramatta, Penrith and the Wests Tigers are feeling the pinch as well. The marketing and promotional money is just not availableto fight a fair contest against the might of the AFL.
Big money is being spent this year from NRL headquarters to promote the centenary year of the code - and rightly so. But the big problem isn't 2008.
It's 2012 when Andrew Demetriou and co will arrive in town to launch their second Sydney team out at Blacktown. It will be a fight for money, exposure and the state's best young talent.
The AFL is also mobilising for an aggressive surge into the Gold Coast, only a year after the Titans established a toehold in their debut year in 2007. They clearly have rugby league in their sights.
David Gallop and the NRL club chief executives most affected by the planned invasion need to begin urgent talks with NSW Premier Morris Iemma about securing their financial position.
Any business under threat can't sit passively by and allow the opposition to ride roughshod over them. With nine NRL clubs based in Sydney, it is already a competitive marketplace, especially for sponsorship dollars. With a second AFL club to join the Swans, that pie will shrink dramatically.
Rugby league has been the dominant game in Sydney since 1908 when it took over from rugby union. And in 2012, the war begins again.
