Perth is an obvious choice for expansion and should be #1 on the list.
Agree 100%.
Brisbane needs another team however it'd be better served out west in Springfield, located between Ipswich and Logan however the ARLC need to right the wrongs for the Bears first before having a Brisbane2 team, B2 would have to be a short term plan to happen not long after WC Pirates and Bears and a 19 team comp can work. The Bears would be a good news story and bring old and new fans back.
Personally I think the ARLC should try to pressure the Bears to move their bid to Brisbane. This would kill two birds with one stone and leave another place for expansion open.
The only draw back would be that the Bears would be letting their Central Coast fans down.
Adelaide is way down the list and any chance they have is a partial relocation starting with 3 games a year moving to 6-12 games within a decade.
I also agree with this if we are trying to get a team there as soon as possible, but I think that Adelaide would be better served by waiting and growing the support for the game and eventually bidding for their own team like Perth did.
NZ2 is a no brainer for many reasons, another Kiwi team means a stronger international game, NRL TV ratings and new fans. It'd have to be either a Wellington based team playing 3-4 games in Christchurch IMO.
Personally I think that another team in New Zealand is more important to Rugby League as a whole then another team in Brisbane is. Another team in NZ would help the international game, RL in NZ and the NRLs bottom line as well. Where another team in Brisbane would only be about the money that the NRL can make from it, which is not a bad thing at all, and I do believe that the NRL needs another team in Brisbane but I just think that another team in NZ should take priority if it is viable.
Anyway, I doubt that we will see another team in NZ in the next set of expansions.
PNG for similar reasons as NZ, however the safety factor is a major issue.
PNG won't get their own team for a very long time, but when it is safe enough an NRL team will come.
Darwin is a great idea and would be supported, and a full relocation would work.
Darwin is one of those places that just needs one of the code to take the leap, they will follow the team even if it is just because the team is from Darwin.
I would be happy to bet that if we (or any other code) expanded to Darwin tomorrow the team would survive, but it would still be a risk and the team would probably be anchored to the bottom of the table for quite some time.
CQ Capras with a good business plan, which I believe they have is another viable option.
Sunshine Coast/North Brisbane would be way done the track if it went ahead if there was already was 3 other SEQ teams.
We need to be careful not to place to many teams in Queensland (particularly in Brisbane) otherwise we could end up with another situation like Sydney where we have more teams then we need and it is holding the game back in other areas.
But in saying that I reckon that CQ will eventually get their own team.
