NRL expansion must happen now

We must expand. NOW! I think 22 teams might be a bit much, but 20 teams I think is quite doable. West Coast Pirates 1, Central Coast Bears 2 Brisbane Bombers 3 and an adelaide, new zealand or queensland team 4.

I hope to god they put a team in Ipswich, not Brisbane. Who would support the Brisbane Bombers? Why would anyone in Brisbane abandon the Broncos to support a second Brisbane team? "Who do you go for?" "The Bombers" "Why?" "Got sick of the Broncos" Teams need identitiy. Put a team in the Western Corridor/Ipswich and they have that. Please just don't call it a name that is an American Football team like "The Vikings" or "The Patriots" or some crap. Maybe the Toowoomba All-Whites? That'd be great.

IMO, Perth is the next cab off the rank we are under going massive infrastructure changes (refurbed boutique rectangular, and a new multi- purpose venue in 2018)have the population behind us 2m+ (and the fastest growing metropolitan) we are the gateway for the mining industry as a result we are the wealthiest per capita, and we continually host sell out events across all sporting codes and franchises. There is an appetite for the game as we draw the highest attendances for these 1 off promo games, and have a bid ready to go. Media time slot blah blah etc, the list goes on. However i do believe we should be introduced with other franchises, us in 2017 with a bye allocate 8 games per week, fulfilling the current media deal. The other franchises should be (central coast- norths bears, brisbane districts bombers or falcons, central qld- sunshine coast "cyclones") rename Melbourne storm to Southern storm- allocate games to tassy and adelaide aswell, rename nql cowboys to northern cowboys allocate games to cairns and darwin. An absolute no to NZ 2, all leagues already support the warriors avidly, and no other city or cities combine/ region d can support a full time franchise, particularly in a country where growth is minimal and house prices outside of urban centers is stagnant ( why do u think we are all moving over here). That would be my solution, the icing on top will the code divided into 2 divisions (sydney / australasia)- divided as follows; Sydney- roost, rabs, sea eag, sharks, eels, tigs, panth, dogs, sti, bears Aus- broncs, bri 2, gct, cq/ sc cyclones, cowboys, knights, raiders, storm, pirates, warriors. I could continue with ither strategies but im sure uve already stopped reading :)

Putting everything else aside, it is another Brisbane team that is a sensible option but, how do you get the Bronco's to go along with it, as that is what started the super league war previously.

Call the Regional Conference "Second Division".

What about Adelaide ? If the central coast were to get a team the people want a fresh franchise. Ie central coast kingfishers or Gosford Gropers. Not a recycled bears team

Sorry Tiger Jack but mate that wont work, thats what super league tried to do and it failed. there is a reason why the AFL havnt introduced a tasmanian team or a team from the NT. they just dont have the capacity to support it. i agree that the sydney teams need to change things up, but merging parramatta and penrith would be another northern eagles disaster. my idea would be the following. NSW conference (10 Teams) South Sydney Rabbitohs Sydney Roosters Wests Tigers Manly Sea Eagles Parramatta Eels Penrith Panthers Canterbury Bulldogs Newcastle Knights St George Illawarra Dragons Cronulla Sharks Regional Conference (10 teams) Canberra Raiders Melbourne Storm NZ Warriors Brisbane 2 (either Ipswich Logan Mix / or Brisbane Brothers Team) Brisbane Broncos North Qld Cowboys Gold Coast Titans West Coast Pirates Central Qld Capras Wellington Orcas 20 teams with all 4 new teams in the regional conference. 4 conferences of 5 teams. you play every conference once, with your own conference twice making 23 games in total with 3 byes for origin.

i cant see any govt building another stadium within the vacinity of brisbane, not when Suncorp doesnt get used enough

Thanks 81paling, i personally just dont think the bears would be in the top 4 of places the ARLC should be going, to me it would be 1. Perth 2. Central QLD 3. Brisbane 4. Wellington 5. Gosford you talk about the last time north sydney was around and the ticket sales they were getting, that was 15 years ago way too long to be relevant information, with Sydney having 9 out of 16 teams, and then another 2 more in NSW/ACT. the game needs to develop stronger ties nationally, you dont think that Central QLD or Brisbane is Rugby league territory? that is under threat from the AFL? the need of the many outweighs the need of the few, unfortunetly in this case, gosford and the bears are the few.

There will be no central Coast bears, the people who keep hanging on believing they will come back are only having themselves on and they need to move on. This is what needs to happen Canterbury bulldogs to Perth called western bulldogs St George Illawarra permanent move to Wollongong West tigers to central coast called central coast kingfishers Penrith and parramatta to merge called GWS South Sydney to Hobart called Tasmanian devils Cronulla. No change Manly no change Canberra no change Melbourne no change New Zealand no change Brisbane no change Gold Coast no change North Qld no change Adelaide prospectors. New franchise 14 teams truly a national game

I thought this was settled beyond reasonable doubt. Its got to be brisbane 2 tapping into logan/ipswich, or the brothers rugby league group (and not the bombers shelf-company for a vendetta)...and hopefully Brothers can join forces with the other half of the entity who sided with another bid. The other team they bring in must be Perth. Its so simple to conceptualize this and make it fit. It brooks no other alternative. Thats really the end of the story -- all they need now is the ARLC to look into it in a thorough and proper manner and confirm what most suspect is the the best path forward. Whether they opt to introduce 2 teams at once or not, I don't know. But we do know they are making a move on this. __ - For my own view into the future I see the look into expansion at 2014's end happening, then a 2-3 year period for the entire startup process from accepting bids to those bids team building/infrastructure planning, ect, getting things up to full speed. - Salary Cap reform 2015. - I see new teams for 2018 almost certainly -- after 2018 the lost momentum on where they could be, will be too high a cost to pay. The lost efficiency will hurt. It will be in the 2015/16 season that we get confirmation of new teams. It could be 2017 they introduce a new team, but I am actually banking 2018 at this stage. I don't see how they can squeeze them in responsibly and keep a tight budget. The ARLC have continually said they want financially solid existing clubs before any expansion; and I believe they will have that by 2018 within reasonable expectation - which will tie in with the new tv contract. Also, during the next 3 -4 years (by 2018) the new youth pathway measures will be in full swing, with the first [near] full-bore products of the new system emerging into first grade teams. I expect more NRL-ready players to be available from the lower grades. By 2018 the ARLC won't be reliant soley on tv money to drive its growth - its highly likely they will be able to fund the initial stages all on their own, with the tv money propping it up later. Who knows also what kind of support the business community and the community in general will be able to provide by 2018 for these highly anticipated new NRL teams. By 2020 I expect the NRL to be in the throes of a golden era. Its 2018 for mine when the new teams come in. And whoa, its going to be a cracker, and only up and up from there. 2018 will be - if I am right - and I don't often make an error because I need to be motivated to commit from a very conservative baseline by solid evidence, then by which I leap forward - ....did that make sense --- 2018 for mine will be the year the NRL enters its next era -- The Top Tier national Era, during which it ascends a level yet again to new markets and sponsors and wide open spaces. I'm expecting the NRLs weight (peoples appreciation of its value) to be vastly increased, and as such its gravity (ability to leach in a positive way resources and support 'just because') to be second to none. Its reputation will precede it and its prestige will climb. But you can refer to that as a Golden Era, the period of the NRLs National Top Tier. (adeliade, nt, and tas, don't require weekly representation)

New Zealand simply doesn't have either the playing numbers or the finance to support a second team - the one they have has struggled for most of it's existence, There are only 25 000 registered players in New Zealand which is why the Warriors keep buying Australians to give the team some depth.There would be more junior League players in Ipswich / Logan than the whole of New Zealand.

If 22 teams are competitive then great. But they won't be. There'll be a few super clubs that pass the cup around. Thought NRL was struggling for membership and bums on seats?

To answer your Bears misunderstanding Stolzy the reason that it is such a strong tender is that even without a team it achieved almost 8,000 paid financial members, there are 1 million people living from North Sydney to Macquarie lakes/ lower hunter (their drawing area) the area has well over 6000 juniors in it (3 times that of Perth) it has a purpose built stadium of over 20,000 with 2 huge Leagues clubs backing the plan that currently inject $1m into rugby League and the last time the Bears had a team 1 of those clubs alone was providing $2m a year to the team. Left alone with the backing of the League's clubs it makes financial sense, then you add to that fact that season tickets sales rose 6 times what they had been when the team based in North Sydney scheduled it's games for Gosford and they had a 3 year sponsorship deal of $1m per annum that was only 1 year into it's term when it was terminated this team is more than financial. The reason the Mariners struggle is because this is rugby league country and does not have the ethnic diversity of Sydney that has led to the success of soccer in those areas. The real danger to League on the Coast is VFL, with a strong League in Northern Sydney and both a League on the Central Coast and Newcastle if the AFL ever wake up to the fact that this area is being ignored by the NRL it will move the Giants there in seconds. Cantebury, Souths, Manly and the Roosters all play games there because it is the world's largest League market economically and demographically in the world which is what their research clearly shows and therefore not having a team there is an unfortunate revelation of how incompetent and restarted the NRL has become due to the pressure of vested interests within it's ranks. I hope this helps explain Stolzy the merits of the Bears tender. political landscape whom are not interested in the greater good of the game

Stolzy, I love your idea of having 4 divisions of 5 teams. That makes sense to play every team once and then your division rivals twice. I don't think Brothers would work though. They'd have even more haters than the Broncos.

The Brisbane Bombers name, colours and logo are horrible. Almost as bad as the South Qld trains. I read or heard somewhere that Ipswich is the biggest junior rugby league nursery in Australia. Surely a Western Brisbane/Ipswich/Logan team is a must. They could start out playing at Suncorp on the opposite weekends to the Broncos until they got their own boutique 20,000 seat stadium built.

I understand the financial benefits of having a Central Queensland team but realistically, who would want to play for them? Even Queenslanders don't want to live in Rockhampton so I don't know how they'd attract players from other states and countries to move there. Surely the next two teams have to be Perth and Ipswich Jets. The Sharks have been losing money for years. It's time to relocate them to the west. Perth Sharks sound good to me.

plenty of people will pick another team over the broncos, as a life long broncos fan you can see it in the city, the broncos will still get their 30k worth of fans on average, but another team especially with built in support such as the brothers bid...would draw in fans. i dont see the point of saying a team is from ipswich...it would be like saying a team is the penrith panthers but play all of their games at ANZ Stadium.....from ipswich to suncorp is 36kms.....from penrith to anz is 40kms.... if they are going to have a 2nd brisbane team, needs to be based in brisbane.

Completely agree with 3 of your 4 choices Code 13....first team in needs to be Perth....the twilight saturday or sunday game streamed live back into the east coast and makes the game more national. its a must. as a former player of a brothers satelllite club in brisbane i would love to see the confraternity get up and make it into the NRL...all of the juniors would have somewhere to go through the grades, i dont think this will occur though as ipswich brothers have made a deal with their bid team, and logan brothers seem to be holding out, thats 2 great nurseries of talent the brothers nrl bid would need. you lost me with the central coast bears, for nostalgia i would love to see the bears running around again, but it doesnt make any sense commercially, the mariners, top team in the a-league for the last 3 years if you go on the main season, cant make a profit. they just dont have the corporate dollar to make the club sustainable. i think the 3rd team needs to be central qld with the 4th team being Wellington (id have it that they play 2 games a year in christchurch however) 20 team comp, play everyone once. and your division (4 divisions of 5 teams each) twice. divisions would be as follows QLD Division - Broncos, Brothers, Central QLD, Gold Coast, North QLD NSW 1 - Wests Tigers, Canterbury Bulldogs, Penrith Panthers, Parramatta Eels, Cronulla Sharks NSW 2 - Sydney Roosters, South Sydney, St George Illawarra, Manly, Newcastle Regional - Perth, Canberra, Melbourne, NZ Warriors, Wellington Orcas 23 game season, with 3 off weekends for origin (combining test match footy for smaller nations and kiwi origin) would be the same 26 round season we have now....expand the finals to top 10...with teams 1 and 2 getting the first weekend off

The easiest and most obvious team to introduce would be the Central Coast Bears for the reason that introducing a 2nd Brisbane team will meet significant resistance from the Bronco's. Maybe it is time to introduce both and just let the Bronco's own the team, I am sure then they would not object, it could work but, this hurdle would have to be overcome.