Western Australian government to support bid for an 18th NRL team

[Dirkgee]

Looks increasingly likely the 18th NRL team will be Perth, over a 2nd NZ or a PNG team.

https://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/McGowan/2022/10/Government-to-support-third-party-bidder-for-WA-based-NRL-team.aspx

[Madrileño]

I have thought for many years this has to be the location. It would put the "national" into National Rugby League and offer a different time zone for TV, big Kiwi population, as well as a metro area with 2 million people living in it.

Will be a big step forward for the game. 

[Tosh]

I don’t know what else Perth would have to do to be awarded an NRL franchise as they practically tick all the boxes for being ripe for expansion.

Big city.

New Expansion area territory.

past history of attracting big crowds both at domestic and rep level.

Well established and historical grassroots RL.

Decent standard stadium with pledged government support for redevelopment.

Pledged financial support from the western Australian government.

[Tosh]

Hopefully all this is without the involvement of the Bears as well.

[The Future is League]

I always thought that the 18th club would be another Queensland club, but will be delighted to be proven wrong

[Davo5]

2 hours ago, Tosh said:

I don’t know what else Perth would have to do to be awarded an NRL franchise as they practically tick all the boxes for being ripe for expansion.

Big city.

New Expansion area territory.

past history of attracting big crowds both at domestic and rep level.

Well established and historical grassroots RL.

Decent standard stadium with pledged government support for redevelopment.

Pledged financial support from the western Australian government.

Is the plan to use Optus stadium or the now rectangular Perth Oval or both ?

[nadera78]

3 hours ago, Tosh said:

Hopefully all this is without the involvement of the Bears as well.

Yes, including the Bears and their ludicrous demands would be a terrible mistake - so it's likely V'landys is pushing for that to happen.

[Dirkgee]

4 hours ago, Davo5 said:

Is the plan to use Optus stadium or the now rectangular Perth Oval or both ?

They'll use HBF Park which is currently getting upgraded. It hosts Perth Glory in the A-league and the Western force in Super Rugby. It holds 20,500

[JohnM]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/nrl/article-10815979/Western-Australian-government-talks-North-Sydney-Bears-bring-beloved-team-NRL.html

[Gomersall]

https://treizemondial.fr/baptise-fabre-en-australie-le-jeu-va-tellement-vite-lintensite-est-vraiment-superieure/

Doh! Wrong thread.

Edited November 1, 2022 by Gomersall

[Tosh]

4 hours ago, nadera78 said:

Yes, including the Bears and their ludicrous demands would be a terrible mistake - so it's likely V'landys is pushing for that to happen.

What with all their demands you just get the feeling that the bears are waiting to screw over Perth and move back into the north Sydney oval fulltime.

[The Daddy]

As long as Norths have nothing to do with it Perth should be the next NRL club

[Davo5]

22 minutes ago, Tosh said:

What with all their demands you just get the feeling that the bears are waiting to screw over Perth and move back into the north Sydney oval fulltime.

What are their demands ?

Reading that article it does state playing upto 6 games at North Sydney Oval which is way too many,I’d cap it at 2 with Manly being an  obvious one.

[hunsletgreenandgold]

More generally what's the deal Australia's other cities/states when it comes to RL? Obviously we know the NSW and Qld hotbeds, but other than Melbourne essentially repping Victoria, until the talks of Perth, how come there doesn't seem to be much effort going into getting teams in all the major cities? A city like Adelaide for example - obviously big on cricket down there but does Aus Rules dominate so much there that it couldn't support an NRL team? Just interests me that as big as RL is down under, it still feels like there's huge areas to expand into to make it even bigger. 

Edited November 1, 2022 by hunsletgreenandgold

[Tosh]

50 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

What are their demands ?

Reading that article it does state playing upto 6 games at North Sydney Oval which is way too many,I’d cap it at 2 with Manly being an  obvious one.

I could be way off the mark here but I’m sure I read that the Perth based club would be known only as “The Bears” similar to “The Dolphins.”

Bears officials claim that they’ve got something like $20million financial backing if given the Green light and you can bet that they’d like to keep the north’s colours as well as the logo and as many “home” games to be held at the north Sydney oval as possible.

Personally I think they only deserve 1 “home” game at the north Sydney oval considering the amount of away games that would be played in Sydney.

[nadera78]

Pretty sure the Bears also said they wanted to own the NRL licence, which would mean they could do to Perth what Manly did to them. That alone would be an outright now from me, never mind the number of games they want at NS Oval, control over kit, etc, etc. 

[Damien]

If they are expanding in Australia, then it has to be Perth. It ticks all the boxes of what you would look for in a new club.

[Martyn Sadler]

There is a good case for the Bears to return and to play it's home games on the Central Coast with a couple each year at the North Sydney Oval.

But Perth has to be a standalone club, not a joint venture.

Perth's return to top-level competition is long overdue.

After that, the candidates have to be Adelaide, Christchurch, Gosford (ie the Bears) and Port Moresby.

[Tosh]

8 minutes ago, Martyn Sadler said:

There is a good case for the Bears to return and to play it's home games on the Central Coast with a couple each year at the North Sydney Oval.

But Perth has to be a standalone club, not a joint venture.

Perth's return to top-level competition is long overdue.

After that, the candidates have to be Adelaide, Christchurch, Gosford (ie the Bears) and Port Moresby.

Manly should have relocated to the central coast but that’s never going to happen now what with all the redevelopment of brookvale oval and their centre of excellence.

[The Daddy]

14 minutes ago, Martyn Sadler said:

There is a good case for the Bears to return and to play it's home games on the Central Coast with a couple each year at the North Sydney Oval.

But Perth has to be a standalone club, not a joint venture.

Perth's return to top-level competition is long overdue.

After that, the candidates have to be Adelaide, Christchurch, Gosford (ie the Bears) and Port Moresby.

Agree. Norths should try to be the NRL's Central Coast club

[Martyn Sadler]

6 minutes ago, Tosh said:

Manly should have relocated to the central coast but that’s never going to happen now what with all the redevelopment of brookvale oval and their centre of excellence.

I completely disagree. After the Bears' departure, Manly are the only Sydney club north of the Harbour Bridge, where most of the wealthy people in Sydney live.

If Manly moved, it would leave all the northern beaches to rugby union and AFL.

It's important that Manly is a strong club with a modern stadium.

[Ragingbull]

2 hours ago, Martyn Sadler said:

I completely disagree. After the Bears' departure, Manly are the only Sydney club north of the Harbour Bridge, where most of the wealthy people in Sydney 

Where on earth do you get your information from.  8 of the top 10 mostt affluent suburbs in Sydney lie south of the bridge.  You're talking complete nonsense again.  

Edited November 1, 2022 by Ragingbull

[Anita Bath]

2 hours ago, Martyn Sadler said:

I completely disagree. After the Bears' departure, Manly are the only Sydney club north of the Harbour Bridge, where most of the wealthy people in Sydney live.

If Manly moved, it would leave all the northern beaches to rugby union and AFL.

It's important that Manly is a strong club with a modern stadium.

Id relocate Manly to Kabul and return to pre WW2 arrangements with the Bears being the north shore team playing all their home games at North Sydney Cathedral (oops, i meant Oval).

Bring Back the Bears

 

[Dirkgee]

6 hours ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

 A city like Adelaide for example - obviously big on cricket down there but does Aus Rules dominate so much there that it couldn't support an NRL team? Just interests me that as big as RL is down under, it still feels like there's huge areas to expand into to make it even bigger. 

Aussie Rules is the most popular sport outside of NSW and QLD but AFL does seem to be able to be even more popular to a larger degree than RL is in its own states. 

For example before the pandemic the AFL was the 4th most attended sports league in the world, with an average attendance just under 40,000. I went to Adelaide for a few weeks and no one knew anything about RL, it is completely an Aussie Rules city.

As for cricket, it isn't the number 1 sport in any state. It's just that, because it's played by people all over Australia it becomes the most popular sport. Aussie Rules and Rugby League are much more popular than cricket in their respective states. Though in terms of TV viewing both the AFL and NRL blow cricket out of the water.

[Balmainboy]

Rather PNG to be honest.