Bid team wants a piece of history
IT IS the famous old ground that has hosted some of Queensland's greatest rugby league names.
Now Davies Park has emerged as the likely proposed headquarters for the high-powered NRL consortium bidding to become Brisbane's second team.
The Courier-Mail can reveal the long-time base of the Souths-Logan Magpies is one of several sites being investigated by the Brisbane consortium as part of its due diligence into becoming Queensland's fourth NRL team.
Bid member Craig Davison confirmed Davies Park, in the Brisbane suburb of West End, had been shortlisted.
"We are looking at a number of sites on the southside and Davies Park is one of them," he said.
"We are doing our due diligence but until the NRL announces its plans on expansion, we can't make a firm decision on too many things."
It is not known if the Brisbane bid team will look to establish an alliance with the Magpies, who have a feeder-club arrangement with NRL side the Canberra Raiders.
The bid team will step up its campaign on Monday, when Davison flies to Sydney for informal talks with NRL chief executive David Gallop.
"The meeting was organised some weeks ago. It is a case of 'This is who we are', our background," Davison said.
"We hope to get a little bit more direction as to where the NRL is coming from with regards to the new team announcement.
"There has been no team announcement yet. We are all doing this work at a cost and we could be told, 'There's no more teams coming guys'.
"We want to highlight the fact that as a bid, we are very serious. The meeting will be a general meet and greet."
It is believed the Brisbane consortium would run its administrative arm out of the Souths-Logan clubhouse overlooking the ground. There are plans for a multimillion-dollar property development next to the venue, although developers could face issues regarding heritage and zoning laws.
Davies Park has showcased some of the code's finest talent. The 1985 premiership-winning Souths team featured current Queensland Origin coach Mal Meninga and former Test fullback Gary Belcher and was coached by Wayne Bennett.
Queensland Origin trio Bob Lindner, Peter Jackson and Bruce Astill are others to have graced Davies Park.
