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Looking on an NRL news website, such as the Roar, one might notice a few trends in some of the articles written; two of which you might find are a 17th team and players moving to Brisbane.
This year we have seen an abundance of talent campaign for a move to Brisbane for personal reasons.
Such a move forces these men into a Broncos jersey whether they like it or not, and given the ever-growing group of players taking their contracts in a squirrel grip and twisting, we are likely to see more leave for their home of Bris-Vegas.
To stop this potential monopolising of talent, there is a way for the NRL to kill two birds with one stone: a second Brisbane team.
Optimist NRL fans will argue that “expanding” further into rugby heartland is not expanding at all; and they’re right. It’s consolidating, which, right now, could almost be as valuable as expanding.
The AFL has done a fantastic job in rugby strongholds with the Gold Coast Suns and GWS Giants, and the NRL needs to re-consolidate their territory, which a second Brisbane team would no doubt help.
I have previously mapped out how the NRL should introduce a 17th team, and if the they followed this map, they could create a juicy local rivalry.
However, I can almost hear the NRL optimists stifling me with their catch cry of the ‘West Coast Pirates’.
This is a bad idea, but in summary, the Pirates will not be able to compete with a very strong WA Australian rules industry, and no knee-jerk reaction to crowd numbers at nib Stadium will change that. Other ports of call should be addressed before Perth.
This latest Barba-Milford saga has highlighted that before the NRL dares to expand from beyond the Barassi line, there is a need for a second team in Brisbane. Especially after the season they’d just endured, Broncos fans will be salivating at the thought of Barba, Milford and potentially Daly Cherry-Evans lining up to join the Broncos, all for their own reasons, but also for one sole reason: they are the only team in the city.
The Broncos have a monopoly on the “return home” talent – a problem the NRL should be willing to address.
Homesickness is a common theme in the AFL, and the league has developed two teams in every major city so the players at least have a choice if they chose to move back home.
As mentioned previously, there is more on offer potentially for the NRL than just a wider choice for players: all the incentives of a new team and a cross-town rivalry, as well as making it a bit harder on the Broncos to cruise through another era of domination.
The NRL has little to lose and plenty to gain from establishing a second Brisbane team. They do not delve into the unknown the same way they would establishing a team in a non-traditional location, and Dave Smith should be licking his lips at the thought of a cross-town rivalry.
Moreover, it gives players returning home a choice, rather than forcing them to commit themselves to the Broncos, a team that perhaps they’d never join if not for their given circumstances.
Perhaps the NRL needs to go sideways in order to go forward.
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