Where should the NRL look to next for expansion?

Or Just make them Full time, not part time. Then the refs just might do their job Fully, not Partly and 'half-baked'.

Dog I am sure those concerns of your have been thought through by the both the PNG NRL Bid Team and also the NRL HQ. Lets just wait and see how this settles. But all I am saying that, the only well advanced bid right now is the PNG one.

The problem is that whatever you call it doesn't unify 3 separate regions with no real ties . People follow their teams from the heart not a line around the map. It's like the Redcliffe Dolphins deciding to cast a wider net to the Sunny Coast and calling themselves the Northern Dolphins or something like that . You can argue it in theory but there is no solid evidence to prove it truly engages people in the long term . The Bombers have laid claim to the northern outskirts of Bris to the Sunny Coast. On what basis? They've drawn a line around the map. How will they engage them ? On what basis will they just identity with this team. Look how difficult it has been for the Gold Coast to engage and sustain fans in their own area. Brothers brings an enormous existing highly engaged supporter base from day dot . The other bids have gone through this bidding process and will only be able to attempt to truly engage a fan base after they get the nod. Then they will have 2 or 3 yrs to engage people when really they will only truly engage when a team hits the paddock . History and The Brothers opportunity shows us there is a better way. Brothers start up fan base will match and outstrip most current NRL supporter bases from the day winning the licence. In the end a successful sustainable team needs fans and lots of them. In Brothers you have generational fans immediately .

No relocations. All that is happening is the problem becomes someone else's. If a team can't cut it, let them drop out. Look at the central Coast, they had a team foisted on them and wouldn't support them.

I would definitely like to see a PNG team in next expansion, assuming they could get everything right - league is #1 over there, and their fans are crazy about the sport. They are heavily supported in the QLD Cup, I don't think they'd be too far away from an NRL bid.

That starts with the name Anthony. If it were to go ahead i think the name should stand as is. Western Corridor, that way it wont cause any friction. If you name it Ipswich,Logan or Toowoomba it will start to look as tho its starting to represent the one area.

In theory it may work Axle but I believe it is a leap of faith and too risky . Another question to ponder with regard to the Western Corridor. Do The people of Ipswich, Logan and Toowoomba see themselves as one?United areas together?

I think the Western Corridor could work quite well Anthony,as long as one division cannot gain to much power. If that were to happen, it could self implode. By having all the respective committees capped one cannot outgrow the other with numbers. That way power should always be equal. That should ensure all decisions are made rationally with no personal engenders getting in the way of the clubs progress.

Hi Axle, that's great to hear . These questions and more should be thought about when considering all bids . It was interesting up read your thoughts on Western Corridor structure. It gets awfully complicated doesn't it. Four strong agendas rowing in the same direction ...when has that ever happened ? ....two way is hard enough for Tigers . Make no mistake ...this is a four-way merger in effect. Brothers are able to engage the whole of Sth east Qld through their large Brothers clubs in Toowoomba, Ipswich, Logan .

Rubbish post in every way. Laughable that you think the tv deal will decrease by 30% as well.

Hello Anthony Question one/ I'm not sure. It would depend a lot on how much it was marketed. It would be hard starting the club from scratch. Im not a fan of privately owned clubs,apart from Sth Sydney,they dont seem to have a happy ending. History tells us they always end badly,no matter what the code. Question two/Brothers are a big thing in QLD. It would be very easy for marketing as there already well known.Brothers vs Broncos wins out here. Question three/ Easy one this one. No. Question four/ This one is tricky. You carnt have Four club presidents. I would say a sub committee(capped at ten people each) from each district concerned,from that you could have nominations put forward for the Executive committee. The nominees would have to be voted in by the members. Have the executive capped at three people from each sub committee. The president should be elected from the executive and have the casting vote should the executives end up with a tied vote on a decision. On reading my own answers to your questions Anthony,despite always likeing the Bombers,i would have to change my POV and side with Brothers

Anthony - good points. To bring balance the NRL clearly needs another side in or around Brisbane or the corridor as you mentioned. With regard to private ownership perhaps having a banker in charge of the game now rather than Gallop may bring about better due diligence. Not rushing it is a priority - it seems it has been an endless clean up since Smith took over, get this right and pick the most solid expansion. I also suspect if they want another Brisbane team they might want to grab some of the Reds supporter base.

Renegade, as much you hate the idea of the PNG NRL Bid, it is already an advanced bid and that it has the support of both the Autsralian and PNG Businesses community, the two Governemnts and the more importantly the NRL HQ has played a willing participant in the rL Development in that Country. It is a 10 year development plan (started in 2009) and very reputable people in RL in australia endorsing it - in the likes of Phil Gould, Wayne Bennett, Mal Meninga, Kevin Rud & Peter Bittie (great supporters of RL), Tony Abbot (PM) and more. The PNG NRL Bid Limited is fully finded by the PNG RL and major busiensses and Governemnts of both Countries. I do not know of any bid that has that kind backing and support.

Hi great to see the debate on expansion. Three things to correct though . Firstly you have failed to include the Brothers NRL Bid which will be predominately playing out of Brisbane with some regional games. This bid is not named Brisbane Brothers but just Brothers, representing all Brothers clubs (17 cities in 3 States) . Secondly, it is not named Ipswich Jets but the Western Corridor. They take aim to represent Ipswich, Logan and Toowoomba and will not be called the Ipswich Jets. They have four major stakeholders the Ipswich Jets, Brothers Ipswich, South Logan Magpies and Toowoomba Clydesdales represented on their board structure. Thirdly, The Bombers do not have a QCup side. I do have to ask you to elaborate on what about the Bombers bid is the most logical . Their website does look good but you don't have to dig to far to see that there is not a lot of substance underneath. I have yet to hear one thing from the Bombers that will point to them being able to sustain a successful NRL team. I outlined a lot about the Brothers bid on a recent article by Raj so I was thinking it would be interesting for people to respond to these questions I pose about the other bids. 1. Do you think the Bombers provide a big enough point of difference in the Brisbane market to be successful? 2. Will a Broncos Vs Bombers rivarly have bite? or would a Brothers Vs Broncs provide a tap into pre-Broncs BRL fans? 3. Is another privately owned team like the Bombers the direction the NRL should be taking given the problems the most recent expansion side the Titans have faced and continue to face. …the Knights..and so on. 4. Does having 4 powerful stakeholder clubs on their board pose a problem for the Western Corridor considering governance is probably the major concern for the NRL with so many current clubs? Would love to hear your thoughts everyone

Classic

Good point and I think the new admin is trying to do that - attract the big end of town so to speak. It needs to get that senseless anti League anti Union class action out of the way. It certainly can't be helping Union when you see how poorly the public has embraced the Waratahs. Then there is the constant anti Rugby (League and Union) AFL fanrumble, football or soccer goes on with the same. Personally I don't think this bridge is that hard to cross given how many play touch etc, different I know but still an intro. That integrity issue and the class alignment (shouldn't be an issue in 2014 surely!) are what holds the game really dominating.

Thank you for the insight - it is refreshing to see positive articles on this site. For mine it is whether people want Rugby League to expand and develop. Here is a nation that practically bleeds Rugby League. Wouldn't it be nice to reward them for that in some way. Maybe not NRL straight up but clearly the Hunters are onto something. There is potential all around us look at the success of Fijian players in the immediate past. To grow the game it either has to get a bigger foothold in non RL areas in OZ or get footholds outside. TV wise this can all interrelate and help each other.

Slain, you are correct about the serious intent of a PNG team in the NRL. It is the national sport and plenty of real money on offer from companies who have it in loose change. Having worked in mining and banking with PNG and dealing with PNG government the involvement of corporates in NRL is simply a PR and social goodwill exercise with a corrupt government who don't give anything back to its people. Whilst I would love nothing more to see the PNG public have a team to support and create National sporting pride and maybe more identify via sport exposure the money would be far better spent on better schools, drug education, women equality, aids research and transfer of mining royalties to the people and not the parliament and friends. Maybe increasing PNG exposure will assist these issues however PNG have far more serious issues then a NRL bid.

Slain, you are correct about the serious intent of a PNG team in the NRL. It is the national sport and plenty of real money on offer from companies who have it in loose change. Having worked in mining and bank

Also would like to see a club go to the central coast and the remaining mergers split up and returned as stand alone clubs, I know its just more NSW clubs but there are more areas for supporters of clubs down here than in QLD. The NSW clubs in future, Newcastle, Central Coast, Manly, Sydney, Souths, Balmain, Parramatta, St George, Canterbury, Cronulla, Penrith, Wests, Illawarra. Then the current non NSW/QLD teams, Canberra, Melbourne, Auckland, to be followed by Perth, Wellington, then 4th QLD team and Port Moresby team. I think QLD who are doing pretty good on straight eight origin series wins, don't really need that many more clubs, probably seven all up, which should be 2 in Brisbane, then Townsville, Gold Coast, Central QLD, SE QLD and a team North of Brisbane. Which gives us an eventual total of 26 clubs, split them into 2 conferences of thirteen, 8 team finals series for each conference with the conference winners meeting in the Grand Final.