You can blame Arthurson and Quayle for choosing Barry Maranta's bid ahead of Ron McAuliffe's out of fear and pettiness. Arthurson and Quayle were paranoid that a Brisbane NSWRL club operated by McAullife would have the same sort of success as the Queensland Origin team.
Ironically, the Broncos ended up dominating on and off the field. Arthurson and Quayle f**ked with the Broncos every which way and favoured the Sydney clubs.
Ron McAuliffe introduced the idea of a 12 team Super League in 1984:
Titled "Super League a must " the October 4th 1984 edition of Rugby League Week featured an interview with then Queensland Rugby League chairman Ron McAuliffe. In the interview with Tony Durkin , Ron McAuliffe brought to light a proposal to expand the then NSWRL competition with several new teams. McAuliffe's plans were for what he described as a "Super League" with 12 clubs from across NSW and Queensland across two divisions, with a system of relegation and promotion.
"From my point of view, the thoughts are preliminary at this stage," he said."It has yet to be discussed with the NSW League and the ARL. But it will happen, I've no doubt about that." McAuliffe was also noncommittal about the number of teams which would take part in such a competition, but he thought 12 would be an ideal number. "But if there are 12, it won't necessarily mean eight from Sydney and four from Brisbane," he said."And it won't necessarily be one single club. The way I see it, there is going to be much ground sharing and club sharing in the future." He continued "In fact, I can foresee club amalgamations in both Brisbane and Sydney."
Durkin, Tony (4 October 1984). "Super League 'a must' -McAuliffe". Rugby League Week. Bauer Media Group.
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