Nrl plans for a 20 team comp

[Wb1234]

MSN

Nrl needs to avoid this happening in W.A. and if Adelaide ever gets a team

We don’t want to waste hundreds of millions on juniors to end up with zero junior clubs

 

[Perth Red]

MSN

Nrl needs to avoid this happening in W.A. and if Adelaide ever gets a team

We don’t want to waste hundreds of millions on juniors to end up with zero junior clubs

What its a lesson in is targeting your resources wisely. There'd be no point pouring money into Perth's Western suburbs or freo for example, very much ruggers and AFL territory and wont change. Targeting the ever growing new outer suburbs where your working class and interstate migrants are is the wise move for Perth. As these areas have grown we have seen clubs starting to thrive there like Ellenbrook, Alkimos and Mandurah. Freo have moved to the new development area of Treeby which is 20km from Freo.

 

[Perth Red]

2025 Club poll on Expansion issues

What do you believe is the biggest issue facing the game at the moment?​

Broadcast deal: 28%
Expansion: 24%
Growth of AFL: 16%
Player agents: 12%

If Perth is handed the next licence, which region should be the host of the 20th team?​

NZ South Island: 60%
Brisbane: 12%
Central Queensland: 8%
NSW Central Coast: 4%
South-east Queensland: 4%
Auckland: 4%
Melbourne: 4%
19 teams is enough: 4%

What do you think of the NRL’s decision to introduce a team in Papua New Guinea from 2028?​

It will fail: 28%
It will be a success: 32%
Doesn’t matter, as long as the clubs are financially compensated: 40%

Are you supportive of the decision to provide players/staff with tax-free income in PNG?​

Yes 28% No 72%

Do you agree with the NRL’s decision to reject the Western Bears private consortium in favour of dealing directly with the Western Australian government to start its own team in Perth?​

Yes: 84%
No: 16%

Do you agree with the NRL’s prerequisite for the Bears to be linked to the team in Perth?​

Yes: 56%
No: 44%

Do you think the NRL should provide clubs with salary cap exemptions for signing players from rugby union?​

Yes: 44%
No: 56%

 

[flippikat]

2025 Club poll on Expansion issues

If Perth is handed the next licence, which region should be the host of the 20th team?​

NZ South Island: 60%
Brisbane: 12%
Central Queensland: 8%
NSW Central Coast: 4%
South-east Queensland: 4%
Auckland: 4%
Melbourne: 4%
19 teams is enough: 4%

What do you think of the NRL’s decision to introduce a team in Papua New Guinea from 2028?​

It will fail: 28%
It will be a success: 32%
Doesn’t matter, as long as the clubs are financially compensated: 40%

Do you agree with the NRL’s prerequisite for the Bears to be linked to the team in Perth?​

Yes: 56%
No: 44%

​

These three answers are interesting...

* Great to see NZ is far and away the preference for team 20 - as it should be. Very interesting that Central Queensland is ahead of Central Coast NSW.. and while Brisbane/SEQ rates reasonably well (clear 2nd place if we add those two together), it's pretty clear the opinion is that it's too soon to be going there again.

* The response to PNG is hilarious - just under a third think it'll fail, just under a third think It'll succeed, but just over a third are saying "Just give us money" hahaha...the perfect split between optimistic, pessimistic & greed.

* On face value, the most surprising to me is the North Sydney one - I would've thought that the clubs would go with the "this Bears idea is the ideal brand, it solves so many problems, it should be the Bears in Perth" line that NRL HQ believe ìn..
Could the roughly 50/50 split be mostly Sydney teams voting "Bears should be a pre-requisite" (given some of them may leverage off old Norths rivalries) & non-Sydney teams voting "it doesn't have to be that way"?

 

[blue bags]

I started to think maybe nz2 is not possible
Look at all The difficult times warriors have gone through

 

[Perth Red]

Team 20 looking very unlikely for some while:

“Step one for us is to make sure that we have our content in order, our season structure, the number of teams and how we want to package that up,” the South African-born administrator explained on rugby league podcast Hello Sport this week. “And then, obviously, we want as many entities as possible bidding for those rights.”
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...zzles-on-vegas-return-to-show-gamble-worth-it
As the game prepares to go to market this year for the next round of broadcast rights starting in 2028, the problem for Abdo and Australian Rugby League Commission chair Peter V’landys, is they don’t yet know what they can sell. Expansion to PNG in 2028 was confirmed late last year, and a long-mooted-but-not-yet realised WA franchise is the game’s priority, particularly given the lack of other options. On adding a third new franchise, Abdo said “it’s going to be difficult to see us getting to 20,” meaning 19 teams – and nine games per round – will be all the NRL can offer going into 2028.

NRL hopes pieces fall into place as it eyes jackpot with nothing guaranteed | Jack Snape

The league faces challenges and opportunities in 2025 with broadcast negotiations, expansion and showpiece events in the spotlight

www.theguardian.com

 

[Wb1234]

“options. On adding a third new franchise, Abdo said “it’s going to be difficult to see us getting to 20,” meaning 19 teams – and nine games per round – will be all the NRL can offer going into 2028.”

You literally bolded it

Going into tv contract negotiations team won’t be selling 20 teams

That means team 20 won’t be announced this year

 

[Perth Red]

“options. On adding a third new franchise, Abdo said “it’s going to be difficult to see us getting to 20,” meaning 19 teams – and nine games per round – will be all the NRL can offer going into 2028.”

You literally bolded it

Going into tv contract negotiations team won’t be selling 20 teams

That means team 20 won’t be announced this year

Surely if they had plans for team 20 in the next tv contract lifespan it would be part of the negotiations?

 

[Wb1234]

Surely if they had plans for team 20 in the next tv contract lifespan it would be part of the negotiations?

By the time Perth gets announced they will be jumping into tv negotiations so there’s no time to work out which nz bid gets in

But the tv negotiations will involve sky nz so obviously it’s going to be discussed as to the timing of their entry

 

[Perth Red]

By the time Perth gets announced they will be jumping into tv negotiations so there’s no time to work out which nz bid gets in

But the tv negotiations will involve sky nz so obviously it’s going to be discussed as to the timing of their entry

They dont need to name the club or even the location. If they were confident a 20th club was being admitted in the tv cycle they could just offer that there will be 10 rounds by 2030 say. Sounds to me like they wont be making any decisions on it for a few years to come.

 

[Wb1234]

They dont need to name the club or even the location. If they were confident a 20th club was being admitted in the tv cycle they could just offer that there will be 10 rounds by 2030 say. Sounds to me like they wont be making any decisions on it for a few years to come.

Maybe towards the end of this year but there’s no rush for a 2030 entry

Reality is nobody wants another Brisbane team and the bye is stupid so it’s just a matter of when

Only danger is warriors run last and their crowds and tv ratings fall of a cliff

 

[AlwaysGreen]

Can't find another government to fleece.

 

[Perth Red]

Maybe towards the end of this year but there’s no rush for a 2030 entry

Reality is nobody wants another Brisbane team and the bye is stupid so it’s just a matter of when

Only danger is warriors run last and their crowds and tv ratings fall of a cliff

Theres no real point deciding on a club now that isnt going to enter for 5+ years unless it was part of the tv negotiations. Taking it out of negotiations suggests they'll push any decision on club 20 back a few years, and probably see how PNG and Perth pans out.

 

[Wb1234]

Laying a platform for a future nrl team

 

[BuffaloRules]

Laying a platform for a future nrl team

2090 maybe for Fiji ….they might be underwater before that …

what’s happening with NZ2 ? Even David Moffett has stopped talking up the Kea …PVL might have told him to sod off!

 

[Wb1234]

2090 maybe for Fiji ….they might be underwater before that …

what’s happening with NZ2 ? Even David Moffett has stopped talking up the Kea …PVL might have told him to sod off!

Depends on the tv deal and what happens to the nz bit

Ipswich are putting together a bid to be team 20 which imo just isn’t needed for a while

 

[BuffaloRules]

Depends on the tv deal and what happens to the nz bit

Ipswich are putting together a bid to be team 20 which imo just isn’t needed for a while

yeah …I’m a big fan of NZ2 … been very quiet though in that respect …can’t see any govt money coming for them ….Dolphins need more time to find their feet in Brisbane before bringing in another team

 

[Wb1234]

yeah …I’m a big fan of NZ2 … been very quiet though in that respect …can’t see any govt money coming for them ….Dolphins need more time to find their feet in Brisbane before bringing in another team

They’ve had a lot of sort out ie PNG Perth bears (which took way too long) Vegas now tv deal

Can’t see them staying at 19 teams for too long

If Pvl stays around I can see 22 or 24 teams once juniors pathways start catching up

 

[Perth Red]

yeah …I’m a big fan of NZ2 … been very quiet though in that respect …can’t see any govt money coming for them ….Dolphins need more time to find their feet in Brisbane before bringing in another team

Nrl been pretty adamant with team 18 and 19 that the ‘business case needs to stack up’. Ie there needs to be hundreds of millions of $’s flowing to rugby league.
Biggest hope for nz2 any time in near future is dazn want to include nz in tv rights and offer significant sums for nz which includes nz2. Beyond that one of the bids would have to find a huge sum for jnr development and infrastructure.

 

[BuffaloRules]

Nrl been pretty adamant with team 18 and 19 that the ‘business case needs to stack up’. Ie there needs to be hundreds of millions of $’s flowing to rugby league.
Biggest hope for nz2 any time in near future is dazn want to include nz in tv rights and offer significant sums for nz which includes nz2. Beyond that one of the bids would have to find a huge sum for jnr development and infrastructure.

Yes ..your first point is true of those two teams … the strategy of requiring significant third party investment ( in these cases Govt investment) seems to have worked for the NRL in those two areas but it’s not going to work everywhere ,,,, perhaps part of the thinking is that there is considerable risk with expanding to Perth and particularly PNG which needed to be subsidised…. There is obviously no chance that PNG would even be seriously considered if not for Albo’s money

I think NZ 2 could be considered a little more like The Dolphins which was admitted on the cheap… it’s a much more positive RL environment amongst the locals than Perth … Christchurch and Dunedin have good stadiums already in place … and they aren’t starting from close to scratch in respect of quality Juniors ( although of course there is much more work to be done )… would leave money to be provided for the COE which I assume some level of Gov would provide …

The NRL also need to be getting future NRL players from somewhere… and I suggest NZ is much better set up to provide these than Perth ( for decades) and even PNG will take a while…. This might make the NRL a little more open to the idea to bring them in on the cheap …