NRL chiefs poised to strike back
* Stuart Honeysett
* From: The Australian
* June 26, 2010 12:00AM
THE AFL is poised to strike on the Gold Coast and is now pushing into rugby league heartland in western Sydney.
The ARU is getting ready to challenge rugby league's fragile hold in Melbourne.
And the NRL? Well, if expansion was a race it would be running a conspicuous last - in desperate need of a compass and a map to find its way to the finish line.
Former rugby league hardman Gorden Tallis recently said on Fox Sports that in all his time as an NRL director, he never once saw a long-term plan for the expansion of the game.
But don't mistake inactivity for apathy. The NRL has an expansion plan in mind and part of it will be revealed when South Sydney hosts Melbourne at Members Equity Stadium in Perth tonight.
"The AFL hadn't expanded for a long time before (Gold Coast and western Sydney)," NRL chief executive David Gallop explained to The Weekend Australian after a whirlwind trip to Perth this week.
"In 12 months' time when the media rights position is clearer we will look seriously at expansion.
"The potential targets include Central Coast and Perth. Both have terrific facilities and a lot going for them."
The fact that Gallop has identified Perth and the Central Coast specifically speaks volumes for their chances and spells doom for other hopefuls like central Queensland or a second team in Brisbane. The game learned valuable lessons during the 1990s when franchises were established in the game's outposts like Perth and Adelaide with little regard to infrastructure and financial viability.
It is one of the reasons the code took so long to include another team and Gold Coast was made to jump through several hoops before it was admitted in 2007.
Unlike the AFL and rugby union, the NRL does not have a massive war chest to rely on to pump up a fledgling team in a hostile environment.
Putting aside the Central Coast for a moment, Perth appears to be an obvious and attractive option for the NRL when it looks to expand its borders.
The government is on board, the corporate support is strong, the city has a membership mentality and there is a purpose-built stadium.
Also working in its favour is the fact the time difference between it and the eastern states gives it a perfect late night timeslot for television games on Friday or Saturday nights. That fact won't be lost on Gallop when he sits down to negotiate the next television contracts, which expire at the end of 2012 and are expected to provide the game with a financial windfall.
Rabbitohs chief executive Shane Richardson said Perth had plenty of things going for it but would need to prove it could come up with $10 million a season to sustain a NRL team.
He added the push for expansion hadn't been helped by the QRL's stubborn resistance over the formation of an independent commission.
A commission is expected to inject more revenue into the game, possibly up to $20 million a year, which would help negate any argument a new team could have on the revenue for existing clubs.
"Of all the opportunities, Perth is a great one for rugby league and whatever we can do to support it we should do," Richardson said.
"We've got to have a view on expanding the game and what I'm saying commercially, television-wise and everything else-wise, the game would expand with having Perth markets.
"You've got to have 10,000 members minimum and you've got to have that corporate market where you know you're going to get support from major people.
"The money here with the mining companies and everything else is huge and I've got no doubt that they can corporately do around that $8m-$10m mark which is huge."
Richardson's blessing would be welcomed by WARL chief executive John Sackson who said they had been waiting patiently for a team since the Western Reds were culled as part of the peace process to end the Super League war.
"At the end of the day it is the NRL - the National Rugby League - and we believe it would be a very positive thing to see the game move out of its heartland and comfort zone and get on the front foot and take the game further afield," Sackson said.
"Certainly when you see the AFL aggressively attacking greater western Sydney and the Gold Coast, from a competitive point of view I would love to see the NRL get on the front foot and take the game outside the east coast."
