Redcliffe most likely to be the next expansion team according to the Telegraph

[widddds]

Redcliffe is the shock frontrunner to become Brisbane’s second team to rival the Broncos with the ARL Commission keen to establish an NRL foothold on the peninsula.

The Sunday-Mail can reveal Redcliffe is the No.1 target to one day join the Broncos, Cowboys and Titans in the big league as NRL CEO Todd Greenberg prepares to begin a wide-ranging investigation of the code’s possible expansion zones.

Well-placed sources have told The Sunday Mail that if a Sydney team went bankrupt tomorrow, Redcliffe would be on standby to receive an NRL licence.

Redcliffe powerbrokers last night said the Dolphins would have the resources to bankroll Queensland’s fourth NRL team, declaring: “We’re keen as mustard”.

The NRL has come under fresh pressure to recognise southeast Queensland’s importance to the code’s national footprint with leading coaches Paul Green and Wayne Bennett saying the time is right to launch a second Brisbane team.

Redcliffe are the reigning Queensland Cup champions. Picture by Peter Wallis.
For the past eight years, the Brisbane Bombers, Central Queensland and Ipswich’s western corridor bid have worked so tirelessly and vocally they were regarded as the standout contenders to clinch another NRL licence, possibly for the code’s next broadcasting deal in 2023.

But Redcliffe has jockeyed into the box seat.

NRL powerbrokers now rate the Brisbane peninsula powerhouse ahead of Ipswich, the Bombers and Central Queensland as a prospective NRL team.

The code’s governors believe a second Brisbane team may still be at least five years away, but that time frame will be expedited if a Sydney-based NRL rival sinks into heavy debt, with the NRL warning they will not provide a financial bailout.

ARL Commission chairman Peter Beattie confirmed Redcliffe is on the radar and a serious option for an NRL licence.

“Clearly Redcliffe has got the skills (to run an NRL team),” Beattie said.

“I wouldn’t be too specific because you need competent people to run the club.

“We don’t want to set up a club that runs into trouble.

“There has been interest in Ipswich (from previous NRL administrations), so you have to look at all areas.

Redcliffe have the facilities to join the big league.
“We have to look at the people running the club, what is their financial viability, what’s their business case, because this (a possible second Brisbane team) is not something we want to set up to fail.”

Greenberg’s end-of-year report will provide a definitive blueprint for the code’s growth. The ARLC will ensure that any expansion plan be a competitive process that explores every option.

Redcliffe _ currently a feeder-club to the Broncos _ ticks the boxes in a number of critical categories.

Founded in 1947, the same year as Parramatta and Manly, Redcliffe are one of Queensland’s most famous clubs with a rich 72-year history. They are the reigning premiers in Queensland’s elite league competition, the Intrust Super Cup, and possess the financial backing of the powerful Redcliffe Leagues Club.

In 2015, Redcliffe received $4 million in federal government funding to complete a $12m upgrade of home ground Dolphin Stadium. The 10,000-seat stadium is the perfect training headquarters with a view to playing NRL fixtures as a cotenant with the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium.

Redcliffe is part of the wider Moreton Bay region, which is home to 425,302 residents - double that of Ipswich’s population of 210,000.

Redcliffe would also expand their catchment area to the Sunshine Coast.
The Brisbane metropolitan region has 2.4 million people, but Redcliffe would also expand their development area to include the Sunshine Coast.

Redcliffe Dolphins chairman Bob Jones said his organisation has been in quiet negotiations to one day emerge as an NRL force.

“There’s no doubt - we’d certainly be interested in having an NRL team,” Jones said.

“We have previously had some discussions with the NRL about the requirements and what would be needed to play in the NRL.

“We have always kept things quiet which the NRL has appreciated. The Bombers and Ipswich have pushed like hell to make it happen but we’ve always felt it’s out of our hands, we can’t do anything about it.

“We believe we have the infrastructure to set up a good base but we still would have work to do and it’s pointless doing that work if it (expansion) is not going to happen.

“We could certainly sustain an NRL team. The Redcliffe brand in itself is a very strong brand, it’s been around for a long time and has great recognition with the people of Brisbane.

“If and when expansion happens, we’ll have our hat in the ring.”

 

[Marlins]

They really couldn’t do any worse, then a few of the smaller Sydney clubs. But with the potential of becoming a 2nd powerhouse, like the Broncos.

 

[jim_57]

Good to see they're going to expand their reach to other areas, interesting also that there's no mention of playing in Redcliffe, I would have thought they'd try and keep some games there.

Ideally 8-10 Suncorp, 1-2 Dolphin Stadium, 1-2 Sunshine Coast Stadium could still work.

 

[T-Boon]

So Brisbane Dolphins, North Brisbane Dolphins or Redcliffe Dolphins?

 

[Big Salad]

Should be called the Moreton Bay Dolphins to unify the Moreton Bay region behind them, while also extending up to Sunshine Coast. The Redcliffe name may have history but it's not the future for a new national team, particularly with a new Uni going in soon that will also help to establish Moreton Bay as its own region. Calling themselves Redcliffe Dolphins would restrict the support they'd get (could still call themselves Redcliffe for Qld Cup and below).

 

[The Great Dane]

Redcliffe would be a fine club to let into the NRL, but if I was the NRL I wouldn't be planning for the future with just the current bids in mind.

It's more likely then not that there're a bunch of people waiting for the NRL to announce the expansion process before they launch their bid, so setting any bid in stone as one of the new clubs is a bad idea cause you don't want to have the situation where you've basically promised them a license then a bunch of better bids pop-up after the NRL has confirmed that they are actually expanding.

So Redcliffe may be the best of the three Brisbane bids at the moment, but I wouldn't lock them in as the next team just yet as for all we and the NRL know their are a bunch of great bids waiting in the shadows that are just as good if not better.

 

[flippikat]

I wonder if the NRL would require them to change their colours for the NRL side? Either completely change them or add a colour (like how Port Adelaide added blue in AFL)...

 

[Mr Angry]

Very viable, just the colours are very similar to St. George

 

[flippikat]

Very viable, just the colours are very similar to St. George

Yeah. My thoughts too. Maybe they could elect to use red & black, or some other colour scheme for the NRL club?

 

[Irish-bulldog]

I’ve been saying it for over a year on here now, with Moreton bays population exploding, they expect nearly 800,000 people will be living in Moreton bay by 2032, they have access to bne sponsors, more money then most nrl clubs, and a powerful leagues club.

But if I hear people saying most games need to be played at Suncorp that will FAIL ! Listen to me lol. Moreton is 30 mins north of Brisbane and traffic is f**king terrible, I know I won’t go to Suncorp to watch the dolphins play ! Neither will most of the population. Let the dolphins upgrade the dolphin stadium, add a top tier and make it a 20,000 seat stadium. I’d attend most games and so would the locals. Learn from f**king Sydney and the pain in travelling to games and make Redcliffe a truly local team !. f**k Suncorp it’s pretty much south Brisbane.

 

[Irish-bulldog]

Give the dolphins notice and hopefully with state government or federal can upgrade around the ground and the stadium.

 

[T-Boon]

I’ve been saying it for over a year on here now, with Moreton bays population exploding, they expect nearly 800,000 people will be living in Moreton bay by 2032, they have access to bne sponsors, more money then most nrl clubs, and a powerful leagues club.

But if I hear people saying most games need to be played at Suncorp that will FAIL ! Listen to me lol. Moreton is 30 mins north of Brisbane and traffic is f**king terrible, I know I won’t go to Suncorp to watch the dolphins play ! Neither will most of the population. Let the dolphins upgrade the dolphin stadium, add a top tier and make it a 20,000 seat stadium. I’d attend most games and so would the locals. Learn from f**king Sydney and the pain in travelling to games and make Redcliffe a truly local team !. f**k Suncorp it’s pretty much south Brisbane.

If this is the case go with Brisbane Bombers.

 

[Irish-bulldog]

If this is the case go with Brisbane Bombers.

So you ignored most other criteria lol, you will have a population of nearly 1 million people once the club is established, but yet you won’t play in the area, you want to copy the current Sydney model which is highly successful when it comes to crowds. pretty clever isn’t it , another CBD Brisbane team will get hammered by the broncos, example crushers, they avg what ? 5,000 people ?.

 

[The Great Dane]

I’ve been saying it for over a year on here now, with Moreton bays population exploding, they expect nearly 800,000 people will be living in Moreton bay by 2032, they have access to bne sponsors, more money then most nrl clubs, and a powerful leagues club.

But if I hear people saying most games need to be played at Suncorp that will FAIL ! Listen to me lol. Moreton is 30 mins north of Brisbane and traffic is f**king terrible, I know I won’t go to Suncorp to watch the dolphins play ! Neither will most of the population. Let the dolphins upgrade the dolphin stadium, add a top tier and make it a 20,000 seat stadium. I’d attend most games and so would the locals. Learn from f**king Sydney and the pain in travelling to games and make Redcliffe a truly local team !. f**k Suncorp it’s pretty much south Brisbane.

Give the dolphins notice and hopefully with state government or federal can upgrade around the ground and the stadium.

So you ignored most other criteria lol, you will have a population of nearly 1 million people once the club is established, but yet you won’t play in the area, you want to copy the current Sydney model which is highly successful when it comes to crowds. pretty clever isn’t it , another CBD Brisbane team will get hammered by the broncos, example crushers, they avg what ? 5,000 people ?.

Firstly, in 1995 before SL really hit the South Queensland Crushers average was 21k, they tanked after that, but every teams tanked after that.

Moreton bay may be expected to have almost 800k in 2032, but by then Brisbane will have well over 3mil.

There's no way that they are going to get the government funding needed to build an NRL quality stadium in Redcliffe, if it's going to happen they'll need to do it independently, which is the way it should be anyway, the taxpayer shouldn't be building infrastructure for private business's.

Also a 30 minute commute to get a stadium is pretty much the average in every city these days, except Melbourne but their city is well planned when most aren't, so yeah welcome to modern Australia.

Finally if the Dolphins plan on being a solely Morton Bay club and not re focusing to become the second "North" Brisbane team then they shouldn't be given the license in the first place, cause the last thing that the NRL needs is another suburban/semi-regional club without mass appeal in a large region like Brisbane.

 

[Irish-bulldog]

Firstly, in 1995 before SL really hit the South Queensland Crushers average was 21k, they tanked after that, but every teams tanked after that.

Moreton bay may be expected to have almost 800k in 2032, but by then Brisbane will have well over 3mil.

There's no way that they are going to get the government funding needed to build an NRL quality stadium in Redcliffe, if it's going to happen they'll need to do it independently, which is the way it should be anyway, the taxpayer shouldn't be building infrastructure for private business's.

Also a 30 minute commute to get a stadium is pretty much the average in every city these days, except Melbourne but their city is well planned when most aren't, so yeah welcome to modern Australia.

Finally if the Dolphins plan on being a solely Morton Bay club and not re focusing to become the second "North" Brisbane team then they shouldn't be given the license in the first place, cause the last thing that the NRL needs is another suburban/semi-regional club without mass appeal in a large region like Brisbane.

I don’t mind if you call it north Brisbane or Moreton bay, but they need to identify with an area, and play in that area.

Redcliffe already has a decent stadium built for league, you just need to add 5,000 to 10,000 seats and it would beat most Sydney teams in the nrl right now. I wouldn’t call nearly 1 million people regional, it’s technically not Brisbane Moreton bay and it’s like 45 mins to Suncorp stadium from the pine river.

 

[Irish-bulldog]

Firstly, in 1995 before SL really hit the South Queensland Crushers average was 21k, they tanked after that, but every teams tanked after that.

Moreton bay may be expected to have almost 800k in 2032, but by then Brisbane will have well over 3mil.

There's no way that they are going to get the government funding needed to build an NRL quality stadium in Redcliffe, if it's going to happen they'll need to do it independently, which is the way it should be anyway, the taxpayer shouldn't be building infrastructure for private business's.

Also a 30 minute commute to get a stadium is pretty much the average in every city these days, except Melbourne but their city is well planned when most aren't, so yeah welcome to modern Australia.

Finally if the Dolphins plan on being a solely Morton Bay club and not re focusing to become the second "North" Brisbane team then they shouldn't be given the license in the first place, cause the last thing that the NRL needs is another suburban/semi-regional club without mass appeal in a large region like Brisbane.

How is it working out for people from western Sydney travelling to the SFS ? Reckon it works for crowds ?. Fail !.

 

[Diesel]

I wonder if the NRL would require them to change their colours for the NRL side? Either completely change them or add a colour (like how Port Adelaide added blue in AFL)...

How many teams in the NRL have some shade of blue as their main colours?
NQ, Titans, Knights, Parra, Sharks, Warriors, Storm, Roosters.
The current Redcliffe colours only clash with the Dragons, but are in reverse, so that’s no major issue.
The Warriors this year have blue as the home colour and black as sway. No reason why they can’t have a completely different clash colour if they wanted

 

[Diesel]

Non-Broncos fans in QLD need an alternative. It’ll be supported regardless whoever the team is

 

[Diesel]

The article states Wayne Bennett supports a 2nd Brisbane side, I’m not sure he had the same mindset last season

 

[The Great Dane]

I don’t mind if you call it north Brisbane or Moreton bay, but they need to identify with an area, and play in that area.

So you'd be ok with them calling themselves the North Brisbane Dolphins and playing out of Suncorp?

Redcliffe already has a decent stadium built for league, you just need to add 5,000 to 10,000 seats and it would beat most Sydney teams in the nrl right now. I wouldn’t call nearly 1 million people regional, it’s technically not Brisbane Moreton bay and it’s like 45 mins to Suncorp stadium from the pine river.

15k stadium for a Brisbane based NRL team!

They'd regularly be turning people away, even the Crushers whom you dismissed earlier would have been turning people away on a regular basis...

Unless Redcliffe can build a modern stadium with at least a 30k capacity they ain't playing at a stadium in Redcliffe, cause they have Buckley's of getting the government to build it for them in Redcliffe, especially when one of the two best rectangular stadiums in the country is just down the road.

Oh and who cares if they'd have a better stadium then most of the teams in Sydney, that's not saying much, most of the stadiums used in Sydney at the moment are shitholes, some of them are downright dangerous and should be condemned!

How is it working out for people from western Sydney travelling to the SFS ? Reckon it works for crowds ?. Fail !.

Even if the Dolphins did manage to build a stadium that met their needs in Redcliffe they'd have the exact same problem in Brisbane!
The people from Redcliffe that were traveling to away games at Suncorp (and vice versa) would still have to travel there from Redcliffe... Clubs shouldn't be relying on away support to sustain themselves!
Besides it takes quite a bit longer than 30 minutes to get from most parts of Western Sydney to the SFS, especially when there's traffic.

Anyhow the problem with stadiums in Sydney isn't so much the actual time it takes to travel to them, at least not really, that is just an excuse, the problem with them is that most of them are hard to get to from most of the other parts of the city (particularly ANZ) and the experience is crap once you get to them cause they are crappy stadiums that don't suit the needs of the clubs that use them, so why pay through the nose to go through the hassle of getting to a game when it's easier and better to watch at home... That isn't a problem with Suncorp.