The ARLC invited AwFuL into Brisbane by only having one team in the world's second largest RL city. PVL seems to be the only bloke at HQ who realises this and is trying to do something about it.
If there were 3 teams here then there wouldn't have been so much focus on the Broncos' woes. It's understandable that some Queenslaners, at least the ones who don't have a bias against fumbleball, adopted the Lions when the Broncos were getting 50 points put on them every few weeks while scoring none of their own. Whether we like to admit it or not, Brisbane is the little brother of Sydney in every sense of the word, so people up here view sport as a means of getting one over big brother. It's a pride thing. If the Broncos aren't doing that but the Lions are, then people who view everything as Queensland vs NSW / Bris vs Syd will jump on that bandwagon. They still prefer RL, but they will ease the hurt of losing at their preferred game by focusing on one that is beating big brother.
The only way I can see this mentality dying off is if local tribalism is reintroduced into Brisbane. Have 3 or 4 teams in Brisbane by 2050 and people will end up not giving a shit about 'big brother' Sydney, at NRL level that is, because they're too busy trying to get one over their local rival.
Make the announcement that the 2020s will be about Bris 2, 30s Bris 3 and 40s Bris 4 and it will sow the seeds of tribalism, setting back AwFuL's inroads by 30 years.
