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http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/nrl/story/0,27074,25075140-5016545,00.html
Expansion plans cloudy: NRL
By Russell Gould | February 19, 2009 12:00am
ESTABLISHING a second Melbourne team would fall a distant fifth behind places such as Perth and Adelaide if the NRL goes ahead with plans to expand the 16-team competition.
Despite the success of the Storm both on and off the field, NRL boss David Gallop declared other areas a bigger priority for any possible new teams.
Gallop said the current economic climate was clouding any plans to expand the NRL beyond the current competition but wouldn't rule it out down the track.
With a new TV rights deal being brokered for 2012 and beyond, Gallop said the NRL had considered hot spots for extra teams.
News also surfaced yesterday that the Papua New Guinea Government had put $250,000 towards a bid to enter a PNG team.
But Gallop said securing the financial future of the current clubs was paramount, putting any expansion on the backburner.
"I think it is critically important that the 16 clubs that we have got are not going to easily deal with expansion,'' he said. "I think you always have to be looking at that when you talk about expansion. I don't see it in our short-term plans.
"But we are looking at places like the Central Coast, like the areas west of Brisbane, like Perth, like Adelaide, some time in the future but we are not prepared to put a date on those.''
Gallop was in Melbourne yesterday for a question and answer session with Storm players at which skipper Cameron Smith told him the season was too long.
Smith, who plays up to five extra games for Queensland and Australia during the year, said the NRL was risking star burnout if the 26-round home and away fixture was not shortened.
"Every time I'm in a camp with Origin or Australia it's always brought up between the team,'' he said. "We love playing the game and would like to play it for our whole lives but we have only got a certain amount of time to go and you can only play as long as your body lets you.''