Wayne's $100m pick for NRL's new team
Tim Elbra 14/10/2020
Sooner or later, Brisbane will finally have a second NRL club.
ARL Commission chairman Peter V'landys this year flagged the introduction of a 17th NRL team by the 2022 season.
It remains to be seen if there will be variations on that planning. A delay, due to the havoc caused by COVID-19, or the relocation of an existing franchise, should a club hit the skids in such uncertain times. A 17th team on its own would not create an extra match per round to boost broadcast revenues.
Brisbane is a no-brainer for a new team. The Broncos have long had Queensland's capital city to themselves, while Sydney is choked with nine clubs.
A new side would create a Brisbane derby, plus another nearby rival for the Gold Coast Titans and a fresh Queensland opponent for the Cowboys. It would give broadcasters two games per round that cater specifically to Brisbane's TV market, while providing live action nearly every weekend for fans at Suncorp Stadium.
Here are the contenders to become the new team.
REDCLIFFE DOLPHINS
Redcliffe are a powerhouse Queensland club. Founded in 1947, they have played in the second-tier Queensland Cup since 1996 and won six premierships. They are a current feeder club for the New Zealand Warriors.
As an existing club with lofty ambitions, the Dolphins have boasted that they would be ready to play in the NRL almost immediately if given the nod.
"We are now NRL-ready and when I say ready, we are ready to go tomorrow if the NRL needs us," chairman Bob Jones said last month.
The club backed up that statement by unveiling the new northern stand of Dolphin Stadium, which now seats 10,000 with an additional 1,500 standing room spots. That still makes it an undersized NRL venue; the idea is that it would be a training base and host a couple of games per season, with most matches played 40km away at Suncorp Stadium.
The club has been building its infrastructure base for the last decade with an eye to playing in the NRL; they already have gym, pool, rehab, meeting and office facilities, plus a 40,000-member leagues club and a shopping centre that counts Coles among its tenants. As a long-established and successful club, it reportedly boasts assets of more than $100 million and would immediately sit near the top of the NRL's rich list.
Wayne Bennett has thrown his endorsement behind Redcliffe's bid, branding them a "logical No.1 contender" given their financial security. Bennett may be an option as the club's inaugural coach, with Jones saying that the club would be "crazy" not to consider the seven-time premiership winner, who will finish with South Sydney next season.
Former Queensland State of Origin player Adam Mogg is the current coach, while Kangaroos Petero Civoniceva and Brent Tate are notable ex-players.
BRISBANE FIREHAWKS
Storied QRL club Easts Tigers are behind this bid, rebranding the potential new team to avoid a clash with the NRL's Wests Tigers. The Tigers have never been Queensland Cup premiers but won eight titles in the old Brisbane competition.
Easts are currently a feeder club for NRL powerhouse Melbourne Storm but have long held ambitions to play in the top tier of Australian rugby league. Those plans became more concrete early this year and ramped up in June, when the Brisbane Firehawks name, club logo and colours (orange, blue and gold) were revealed.
"It is a combination of a swooping raptor and burning flames," Easts Tigers boss Brian Torpy said.
"The logo captures the essence of the Firehawk, which is a group of Australian raptor species that intentionally spread wildfires by carrying smouldering branches to unburnt areas. For thousands of years the Aboriginal people have sung stories about the sacred Firehawks, who according to folklore, use fire to hunt and introduced fire to humans."
An Indigenous club name would be a first for elite-level Australian sport. The Firehawks would play out of Suncorp Stadium, as a co-tenant with the Brisbane Broncos. Their current home ground is the 5,000-capacity Langlands Park in Stones Corner.
The Firehawks are trying to push a genuine inner-city rivalry as one of their big selling points, offering to give the NRL a north-south Brisbane derby; the new club representing the south and the Red Hill-based Broncos the north.
Former Test hooker and NRL premiership-winning coach John Lang counts among Easts' club greats, as does Queensland Origin selector Des Morris, who retired as club chief executive in 2016.
WESTERN CORRIDOR
Plans have been around for a decade to have an NRL team based in Ipswich; a rugby league heartland that produced Allan Langer and the Walters brothers. Late rugby league Immortal Arthur Beetson launched the bid back in 2010 and future Immortal Johnathan Thurston is one of its supporters; as reportedly are the Broncos, who would keep Brisbane to themselves.
It is proposed that the team would play out of Suncorp Stadium, about 40km away; though Ipswich City Council has existing plans to redevelop 10,000-capacity North Ipswich Reserve Stadium - home of powerful QRL club Ipswich Jets - into a 20,000-seat venue capable of hosting elite football. The redevelopment of the ground would cost $220 million and create the expansion club's future home.
The Western Corridor bid is headed by Jets chairman Steve Johnson but would not seek to enter the existing club, which won the 2015 Queensland Cup premiership, into the NRL. The bid also represents Logan, Toowoomba and other Queensland country areas, and is intent on creating a distinct Indigenous identity; including, like the Firehawks, elite Australian sport's first Aboriginal club name.
"We're a black area and we are proud of that," Johnson told NRL.com in June.
The bid has touted Roosters superstar Luke Keary, an Ipswich product, as a potential marquee recruit; though he signed a three-year extension with the Sydney club this season.
Ipswich Jets are currently a feeder club for the NRL's Newcastle Knights. The area boasts a vast talent pool that spans more than 16,000 current players.
BRISBANE BOMBERS
Backed by a heavy-hitting private consortium, including former Broncos benefactor Craig Davison, the Bombers are the only bid that does not centre around an existing Queensland club. They are proposing a whole new franchise, albeit with a nickname matching the AFL's iconic Essendon club.
The Bombers bid is directed by franchise chief executive Nick Livermore, son of the late, great Queensland Rugby League powerbroker Ross Livermore. It has committed to playing games at Suncorp Stadium and has been chasing NRL inclusion since 2010.
The primary aim of the Bombers has been to attract the significant number of Brisbane rugby league fans who don't follow the Broncos and wouldn't want to support an existing second-tier team from the city. While they have started from scratch, they offer a clean slate and fresh possibilities.
The Bombers count former Maroons Billy Moore and Scott Sattler among their backers. Giving the club authenticity may be their biggest challenge, as a brand-new franchise; something that the Titans and other Gold Coast franchises before them have discovered.
The Bombers intend to cast their net wide for both fans and junior talent, saying that they would encompass Redland Bay, Logan, Ipswich and Moreton Bay, beyond Brisbane itself. They have previously claimed that they would target Craig Bellamy as coach have also set the bar high for a marquee recruit.
"A guy like Cameron Munster would be the perfect poster boy," Livermore recently told The Courier Mail. "I don't know too many Queensland kids who wouldn't want to be part of a start-up second Brisbane team."
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