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National Rugby League CEO David Gallop at a press conference at NRL headquarters. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
This Saturday night, top flight rugby league is being played in Western Australia again, which gives the people of Perth the chance to show the NRL whether or not their state is ready for a team again.
Only a handful of NRL games have been played in Perth since the Reds were disbanded following the 1997 season with a reported $10 million debt accrued by flying opposition teams out to face them.
The swine flu scare hasn’t helped with much of the game’s lead up coverage being dominated by the threat of the match being called off. But the word is that 10,000 seats of the 18,000 capacity Members Equity Stadium have been sold already.
That’s pretty good message to send NRL headquarters but to be fair anything even slightly positive is sure to be pretty well received by David Gallop and co at the moment.
Whether or not that’s enough to get the Reds front and centre is another story, though.
The Force have shown that the potential is there for the Perth public to take to a new team. Their reasonably impressive crowd averages suggest that the market is there for an oval ball code that isn’t AFL.
The problem is that WA Reds are yet to get a win on the board in the Bundaberg Rum Cup this season, their second in the division following last year’s introduction which Reds officials trumpeted as their first step on the road back into the NRL.
Unfortunately, you’d have to imagine that their side’s inability to get a win so far this season is jeopardising the alleged plans for the Reds to join either the QLD Cup or the NSW Cup before stepping up to the NRL.
While it isn’t a make or break criteria, a strong competition and pathway for local players is high on the NRL’s agenda for incoming sides, as it should be.
But in this case, is there an argument that the NRL side is needed first to generate the interest required to promote their efforts?
At the moment, the WARL First Grade competition only has eight teams and produces some fairly lopsided results which points, understandably, towards a lack of depth.
WIth an NRL side and the lure of more professional contracts, the standard would undoubtedly improve as better players moved west to try their luck.
The Storm have shown just how quickly the presence of a professional team can have an effect on local and specifically, junior competitions.
Whether or not that’s enough for the NRL is a big call.
But you never know.
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