It’s very realistic to say that we’ll have a second team in Brisbane in 2023: V’landys’ NRL bombshell
By Michael Chammas
February 1, 2021 — 12.01am
The NRL is on the verge of making the biggest change to its competition in 14 years, moving ahead with plans to add a 17th team in time for the 2023 season.
The Herald can reveal the ARL Commission will make a decision on a potential second Brisbane team by June.
V'landys and NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo will need to find an additional $12 million as part of its distribution to the clubs, but a 25 per cent reduction in staff at the end of last year will save around $50 million a year.
The Herald last year reported that V'landys and Abdo travelled to the United States on a secret trip where it is believed they received the blessing for expansion from News Corp co-chairman Lachlan Murdoch, who last year rubber-stamped Foxtel's pay television rights extension until 2027.
The NRL is yet to secure a free-to-air television deal beyond 2022, but the code believes adding a new team into the competition for the first time since the Gold Coast Titans were accepted in 2007 will be of interest to Nine Entertainment Co.
The NRL is waiting on a business model from senior strategic projects manager Lachlan Smith in the next three months before making a final decision, however V’landys is adamant that 2023 - the first year of the next players CBA - is within reach and will be a major topic of discussion when the commission gathers later this month.
"It's very realistic to say that we'll have a second team in Brisbane in 2023," V'landys told The Herald. "From what I've seen and the presentations that have been given to me, they are well advanced. If I said 2022 they'd be ready. They've been doing work for years. There's no reason why we can't be up and running in 2023.
"The one thing that I am impressed with is how advanced these bids are. They are not mucking around. They are serious. If we came to a decision in June this year, that would give them a year and a half. It's plenty of time. If it's going to happen, it's going to happen mid this year.
“I’m not going to do it if it’s going to hurt the game. It’s got to benefit the game. To benefit the game, it can’t cannibalise the Titans and Broncos, and I don’t think it will, just how Parramatta doesn’t cannibalise Penrith. One of the good things is that we still haven’t signed our free-to-air deal. We ensured ourselves with our pay TV deal. The cream is going to be the free-to-air deal. For 2023, we need to have all our strategies in place soon for our free-to-air deal.”
The bids include the Brisbane Bombers, Brisbane Firehawks (Easts Tigers), Ipswich and Redcliffe Dolphins. The news of V’landys’ intention will leave prospective clubs scrambling for two of the greatest coaches of the modern era, with both Wayne Bennett and Craig Bellamy off contract at the end of the year and in a position to spend 2022 building a roster ready to compete for a title the following year.
Open season:
Biggest name players available for a new franchise in 2023
Kalyn Ponga (player option at Knights for 2023 and 2024)
Kotoni Staggs (player option at Broncos for 2022)
Dylan Brown (player option at Eels in 2023)
Clint Gutherson
Josh Hodgson
AJ Brimson
Marty Taupau
Harry Grant (mutual option with Storm in 2023)
Ryan Papenhuyzen
Cody Walker
James Fisher-Harris
Viliame Kikau
Api Koroisau
Jack Bird
Ben Hunt (player option with Dragons in 2023)
Cody Walker
Lindsay Collins
Joseph Manu
That could leave the Storm feeling a little uneasy in the player market, given that they have Ryan Papenhuyzen, Harry Grant and Brandon Smith all free to open negotiations for the 2023 season from November 1. The Rabbitohs could also be in a similar position with Adam Reynolds, who is off contract at the end of this year, and Cody Walker the following season.
A new team in 2023 will have major ramifications on the player transfer market. Newcastle superstar Kalyn Ponga, Gold Coast livewire AJ Brimson, Parramatta skipper Clint Gutherson, Canberra hooker Josh Hodgson, Penrith wrecking ball Viliame Kikau and Eels five-eighth Dylan Brown are among the available players that would be high on the recruitment list of the successful franchise.
V'landys believes the addition of former Queensland government minister Kate Jones to the ARL Commission at the end of last year will be an asset for the NRL in regards to expansion in Brisbane.
"There are five big issues on the commission's timetable at the moment," V'landys said. "In no particular order, one is concussion and the welfare of the player. Two is going back to three grades. Three is the integrity of the game. Four is expansion in Brisbane. And five goes hand in hand with expansion and that is participation."
“One of the reasons we want the team in Brisbane is because of participation. I want to expand because of participation.”
Peter V’landys
"Participation to us is everything. One of the reasons we want the team in Brisbane is because of participation. I want to expand because of participation. We've been very lucky in my view to able to procure Kate Jones as a board member because she's been inspirational in participation. She's actually been made chair of a committee to look at participation.
"What she wants to do is have a presence in the education departments. One of the things that happens in primary schools now, it's mainly female teachers. They don't traditionally become rugby league coaches. So we need a program to train these primary school teachers into being rugby league coaches. You can only do that with a real good joint venture with the education department."
Former South Sydney powerbroker Shane Richardson pulling strings at NRL expansion bid hopeful
Brisbane Firehawks’ bid to enter the NRL by 2023 is getting a huge boost from a former league powerbroker – who was once a key figure at South Sydney.
Paul Crawley
February 1, 2021 - 4:50PM
He helped lift South Sydney from rock bottom back to the pride of the league and now Shane Richardson has become the secret weapon in the Brisbane Firehawks’ bid to win the NRL expansion race.
As anticipation builds that a new club will be given the green light to enter the national comp in 2023, The Daily Telegraph can reveal that former Rabbitohs boss Richardson has been working behind the scenes for the past four months to help his old club Easts Tigers, who are backing the bid, to put together a highly-detailed business model.
Richardson was reluctant to talk about his involvement when contacted on Monday but insiders claim his experience and expertise will be a key factor when it comes to the NRL judging which bid gets the go-ahead.
Other bid teams include the Brisbane Bombers, Ipswich and Redcliffe Dolphins.
Richardson and his son Brent now run a company called Rich Digital which has been charged with putting together the Firehawks’ bid documentation and marketing strategy.
Long regarded as one of rugby league’s top administrators, Richardson was instrumental in putting the 2014 competition-winning Bunnies back on the rugby league map to again become a premiership powerhouse on and off the field.
He was also running Penrith when they won the premiership in 2003 under John Lang’s coaching and that followed significant success at Cronulla where the Sharks got to the 1997 Super League grand final.
Richardson cut his teeth as a football administrator at Brisbane Easts before coming to Sydney with Lang in the 1990s to take over Cronulla.
With the NRL expected to make a decision on which bid team will get the call up mid-year, Easts Tigers chief Brian Torpy said his team was ready to stake a claim.
“Our bid documentation has been put together so really we are just waiting for (the NRL) to call for submissions,” Torpy said.
“If 2023 is the year we will have our infrastructure in place in 2022. And once we get the nod we will go looking to engage senior management including coaching and football operations.”
Torpy did not want to reveal which coaches the Firehawks had their eyes on but it’s no secret both Wayne Bennett and Craig Bellamy come off contract at the end of this year and would be prime candidates for every bid team.
If the NRL makes its decision on expansion mid-year as has been expected it would give the new coach all of 2022 to work on building a competitive roster.
“We have a shortlist (of coaches) but it is reliant of when you are going to start and who is off contract,” Torpy added.
“It is a little bit difficult to say you are going to have this person or this person when you don’t know the timing of it.
“But if 2023 is the year then that gives us a little bit more of an indication of who will be available. The timing is OK on a couple of them.”
Bellamy has indicated he might have had enough of head coaching and his preference may be to take on a head of football role but Bennett makes no secret that he wants to keep coaching and returning home to Brisbane is his preferred choice.
It is believed Richardson has focused the Firehawks’ proposal on building a sustainable club of the future with a focus that will not be restricted to structures that have proved successful in the past.
