WA BEARS

[Vlad59]

I hope we have two systems, one based in NS run by the NSFC and one based in Perth run by either Western Bears or the NRLWA.
Ideally two HM, SG and Flegg teams and 1 NSW cup team. Also much stronger investment in the NRLWA clubs and really improve our jnr systems right through the game here.
Im agnostic about who runs it in WA, I think it will depend on funding. If WA govt are funding a lot of it then it may sit with the NRLWA, if Western Bears are funding it Id expect they will run it.

I just dont see that the role of the first grade head coach, there will be people employed specifically to run these systems in WA and NS, hopefully!

They will be in NS. It depends if and when WA joins the jnr comps. That will take some work and setting up and will most likely be from 2026.

I can see Perth playing numbers doubling within 5 years if set up correctly. The growth in Victoria is no accident. It’s a storm driven comp now with lots of hard work behind the scenes by nrl vic.

 

[Perth Red]

Whenever the expansion topic has been raised in previous years, it’s always been met with the response “we just can’t have another Sydney team – it won’t work”.

Fair enough too. While that may be true from a marketing and supporter reach perspective – as fanbases would cannibalise each other – it’s not quite the case for the football side of things.
Sydney is the heartland of the game and where the biggest playing talent pool lies; it would be stupid to ignore that fact.

The ‘Western Bears’ are on the verge of being officially announced as the NRL’s 18th team – using the logo and branding of North Sydney with the geographic location and a fresh rugby league market in Perth.
However, the NRL cannot become too heavy with the marketing and promotional excitement of being in a new location, like they did with Las Vegas.

Year one was merely a party for the Australian tourists and ex-pats in the entertainment capital of the world – and they somehow forgot to involve many Americans – which was the aim of going there in the first place.
Lessons need to be learnt not only for Vegas 2025 – but also club expansion into foreign territory.

It cannot be underestimated that the NRL is entering Aussie Rules’ heartland. Not only are there two nationally recognised AFL teams – West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Dockers – but the state-based competition, the WAFL, has a very strong and successful following in its own right.
Waltzing into Perth with a rugby league team boasting regional familiarity by name alone is not going to cut it long-term.

People point to the fact that the code will work, and grow, in the state because of one-off attendances at State of Origins, or a handful of NRL games here or there that drew good crowds.
It is yet to be tested how passionately and how patriotic these supporters will be for a full season; a season that might just be a struggle results-wise or one at the bottom of the table, especially when there are plenty of other ‘options’ competing for their time and attention.

What will happen when the West Coast Eagles begin to climb the AFL ladder again? It will happen. After several years towards the bottom, the Eagles do have a developing list that includes one of the highest-rated number-one draft picks in decades.
Also, will the AFL meet the NRL’s expansion with another Western Australian team of their own? With Tasmania’s entry that makes 19 teams, it’s only a matter of time until that is evened out at 20.

The novelty of saying that you support a rugby league team in the West will wear off at some stage separating the true fans from the bandwagon jumpers. There needs to be some level of success for fans to give them a reason to turn up week in, and week out.

Therefore, it’s important that the North Sydney Bears side of the venture is not downplayed. The club is going to be vital in the early years and could make or break this new franchise.

Billy Moore and Jason Taylor with the Bears in 1998. (Photo by Getty Images)
Most of the attention from the “Bring back the Bears” crowd – who have been instrumental in keeping the club in the spotlight, amid being relegated back to ‘reserve grade’ – has been around the nostalgia of having their beloved team at the top level again.

Diehard fans turn up to watch Bears games at North Sydney Oval each week, as even following a NSW Cup team is a better proposition than switching to another side.

To them, and other fanatical rugby league fans, the sentiment of having one of the 1908 foundation clubs back in some form is a dream come true. But now is not the end of the journey; it’s just the beginning and the hard work must start to sustain it.

The Western Bears simply cannot be an extra team just to make up the numbers, which will satisfy a broadcast deal to give the game more revenue. Fans are already showing discontent toward games and teams who are consistently underperforming (you just have to look at the comment section on social media). The last thing the competition needs is more dead wood.

The Bears are going to be the feeder system into the new franchise, set to play its first NRL game in 2027.
That’s two years after this one to search for, identify talent and develop players – because at NRL level, once the new team becomes official clubs are going to scramble to lock up their top-tier talent to prevent them being poached.
For this, you cannot get away from Sydney – or New South Wales. The Bears have extensive pre-existing pathways from Juniors, Development Squads, and Junior Representative teams – in both male and female competitions.
The talent pool will be invaluable to this new venture – and the NSW Cup team last year made the grand final, and currently sits at the top of the 2024 ladder.

The WA competition is growing, there’s no doubt about that. But there are just five teams in the first-grade competition, nine in second grade and 11 in third grade.
You can’t help but question the level that they’re playing at. Yes, once the team gets a footing in the region, it will be vital to plant its roots in Western Australia, but until then the Bears will be invaluable from the ‘football department’ side of things.

The North Sydney club has also been around since the start of last century, and has a wealth of experience in terms of administrators – people who know rugby league. Former players like Billy Moore and Greg Florimo bring a player’s perspective to the mix.
There needs to be balance in this new franchise. It cannot all be about marketing and building the supporter base, with a neglect of quality rugby league playing stocks.
It would be like buying a piece of fruit at the supermarket because it is sold in nice packaging with all the bells and whistles, without consideration of the freshness and quality of the actual product.

Quality on the field is what is going to sustain this new venture through the challenges and hurdles to come in its first few seasons. It’s a rugby league team first and foremost, and that cannot be forgotten.
Having the Bears back is a romantic proposition for many fans, being a club with 116 years of history – especially drinking a beer on the famous North Sydney Oval hill on a sunny afternoon – and that is a reason to celebrate alone.

More details of exactly what the new club will look like will be confirmed from today, as the non-disclosure agreement involving both parties comes to an end.
But let’s just hope the Sydney-based club is not being ‘used’ as throw-away branding – and is actually utilised for its true potential to increase the viability of the franchise.

https://www.theroar.com.au/2024/08/14/lessons-to-be-learned-with-western-bears-set-to-be-unleashed-its-vital-north-sydney-not-forgotten/

 

[Perth Red]

Royce Hunt hopes the imminent arrival of the NRL's Western Bears will signal an end to the "wasting of talent" he witnessed as a young rugby league player in Western Australia.
Representatives from the joint venture between a WA consortium and the North Sydney Bears are lodging paperwork on Wednesday in the next step to the Western Bears becoming the NRL's 18th team from 2027.
Much has been made of the Bears' return to first-grade rugby league more than two decades on from the ill-fated Northern Eagles merger that preceded the foundation club's untimely exit.
But Cronulla prop Hunt is just as excited about what their inclusion will mean for his home state.
Hunt is one of few current players to have made their way to the NRL from Western Australia and is by far the most established, ahead of Brisbane's Josh Rogers and Manly-turned-NSW Cup hooker Kurt de Luis.
Hunt is the first to admit his path to the NRL was unorthodox.
Born in Sydney, Hunt moved to Kalgoorlie as a small child when his father Rob found work in the West Australian country town's mining industry.
It was with his father's encouragement that Hunt persisted with the game, the pair driving the 1000km-plus round trip to Perth a few times a year so Royce could try out for junior rep teams.
And if not for his father's connection to the late recruitment guru Peter Mulholland, who had coached him during his own playing days, Hunt would likely never have been scouted by Canterbury as a teen.
"It wasn't the easiest path but we got here in the end," Hunt said.
Western Australia has the fourth-highest participation in rugby league of any state, behind NSW, Queensland and Victoria, though it still only accounts for about 5 per cent of participants nationwide.
In the financial year ending June 2023, about 8000 players were registered to play rugby league in Western Australia, smaller than the figure playing rugby union (about 13,000).
That would come as no surprise to Hunt, who remembers seeing mates give up on rugby league, aware that they had a better chance of making it as professionals if they could be scouted by Super Rugby's Western Force.


"There was just no pathway for league, so you'd see a lot of talent jumping over to union," Hunt said.
"I've been saying it for years, there's lots of talent over there (in Western Australia), it's a big talent pool.
"I'm glad that there's a pathway there now for them so they're not just wasting talent over there.
"The kids coming through there can finally get their shot at fame and get their turn to shine."
HBF Park, the Bears' proposed home ground that is expected to receive a significant upgrade, welcomed a sold-out crowd to this month's clash between the Dolphins and Sydney Roosters, and Hunt has predicted support would only grow.
Hunt recalls the WA locals warming to the West Coast Pirates when the team competed in the SG Ball competition between 2012 and 2020.
"They were treated like NRL players," he said.
"They were the only league team that travelled interstate and played against all the other top-notch clubs. I definitely think there'll be a big following over there."

'No more wasting talent': Hunt lauds WA's time to shine

West Australian rugby league product Royce Hunt has lauded the imminent arrival of the Western Bears to the...

www.illawarramercury.com.au

 

[Wb1234]

That roar article was a rough read

his points are rights he’s just an awful writer and rambles all over the place

 

[Perth Red]

That roar article was a rough read

his points are rights he’s just an awful writer and rambles all over the place

yes was a long winded way of saying the Western Bears should draw on Sydney RL talent lol

 

[Centy Coast]

Royce Hunt hopes the imminent arrival of the NRL's Western Bears will signal an end to the "wasting of talent" he witnessed as a young rugby league player in Western Australia.
Representatives from the joint venture between a WA consortium and the North Sydney Bears are lodging paperwork on Wednesday in the next step to the Western Bears becoming the NRL's 18th team from 2027.
Much has been made of the Bears' return to first-grade rugby league more than two decades on from the ill-fated Northern Eagles merger that preceded the foundation club's untimely exit.
But Cronulla prop Hunt is just as excited about what their inclusion will mean for his home state.
Hunt is one of few current players to have made their way to the NRL from Western Australia and is by far the most established, ahead of Brisbane's Josh Rogers and Manly-turned-NSW Cup hooker Kurt de Luis.
Hunt is the first to admit his path to the NRL was unorthodox.
Born in Sydney, Hunt moved to Kalgoorlie as a small child when his father Rob found work in the West Australian country town's mining industry.
It was with his father's encouragement that Hunt persisted with the game, the pair driving the 1000km-plus round trip to Perth a few times a year so Royce could try out for junior rep teams.
And if not for his father's connection to the late recruitment guru Peter Mulholland, who had coached him during his own playing days, Hunt would likely never have been scouted by Canterbury as a teen.
"It wasn't the easiest path but we got here in the end," Hunt said.
Western Australia has the fourth-highest participation in rugby league of any state, behind NSW, Queensland and Victoria, though it still only accounts for about 5 per cent of participants nationwide.
In the financial year ending June 2023, about 8000 players were registered to play rugby league in Western Australia, smaller than the figure playing rugby union (about 13,000).
That would come as no surprise to Hunt, who remembers seeing mates give up on rugby league, aware that they had a better chance of making it as professionals if they could be scouted by Super Rugby's Western Force.


"There was just no pathway for league, so you'd see a lot of talent jumping over to union," Hunt said.
"I've been saying it for years, there's lots of talent over there (in Western Australia), it's a big talent pool.
"I'm glad that there's a pathway there now for them so they're not just wasting talent over there.
"The kids coming through there can finally get their shot at fame and get their turn to shine."
HBF Park, the Bears' proposed home ground that is expected to receive a significant upgrade, welcomed a sold-out crowd to this month's clash between the Dolphins and Sydney Roosters, and Hunt has predicted support would only grow.
Hunt recalls the WA locals warming to the West Coast Pirates when the team competed in the SG Ball competition between 2012 and 2020.
"They were treated like NRL players," he said.
"They were the only league team that travelled interstate and played against all the other top-notch clubs. I definitely think there'll be a big following over there."

'No more wasting talent': Hunt lauds WA's time to shine

West Australian rugby league product Royce Hunt has lauded the imminent arrival of the Western Bears to the...

www.illawarramercury.com.au

Bears NSW Cup Captain Kurt De Luis formerly with Manly plays prop not hooker, his junior club is the South Perth Lions.

 

[Vlad59]

That roar article was a rough read

his points are rights he’s just an awful writer and rambles all over the place

Where did he get 8000 juniors in Perth from?

 

[Perth Red]

Where did he get 8000 juniors in Perth from?

Its Roar, I wouldn't be too worried about investigative journalism lol
Mind you main stream are no better, they were saying the Perth consortium were going to bring back Western reds brand if Bears didnt come to the party and that wouldn't have been possible as the tm for the Reds sits with Puddy, not mention Cumins launched the Pirates brand.

 

[Vlad59]

Its Roar, I wouldn't be too worried about investigative journalism lol
Mind you main stream are no better, they were saying the Perth consortium were going to bring back Western reds brand if Bears didnt come to the party and that wouldn't have been possible as the tm for the Reds sits with Puddy, not mention Cumins launched the Pirates brand.

The roar is shite. There are a few good league posters there but it’s too rah rah 90% of the time

 

[BuffaloRules]

That roar article was a rough read

his points are rights he’s just an awful writer and rambles all over the place

All doom and gloom though for the Western Bears in the comments section from the Union and AFL fans …

The Bears may as well pack it in now according to them

 

[Wb1234]

All doom and gloom though for the Western Bears in the comments section from the Union and AFL fans …

The Bears may as well pack it in now according to them

Pretty funny the afl moved the west coast eagles game so it was on at the same time as the dolphins game

They really aren’t used to playing second fiddle to rugby league

 

[Vlad59]

All doom and gloom though for the Western Bears in the comments section from the Union and AFL fans …

The Bears may as well pack it in now according to them

I think the point about the parochialism of WA is fair. I don’t like the Bears partnership for that reason. But we’ll see.

 

[BuffaloRules]

Pretty funny the afl moved the west coast eagles game so it was on at the same time as the dolphins game

They really aren’t used to playing second fiddle to rugby league

Think the same sentiments were there when the Storm started … and the Western Bears only need worry about 2 AFL teams !

 

[Wb1234]

Think the same sentiments were there when the Storm started … and the Western Bears only need worry about 2 AFL teams !

Perth will be fine

the landscape for rugby league in 2024 is way different to 1998

with the amount of money each club gets vs the cap a donkey can (and do) run a rugby league club to a profit

 

[BuffaloRules]

I think the point about the parochialism of WA is fair. I don’t like the Bears partnership for that reason. But we’ll see.

Yeah perhaps…. Ive been there plenty of times and I have seen their parochialism first hand…I think the sport of RL has to overcome this regardless of what the new team is called and what its origin is.

Online have seen a lot of people whinging about the Sydney papers talking up the North Sydney bears ”are back” part of the story … but this is Sydney media spinning the story on the angle to get more clicks and sell more papers to their market…they don’t need to worry about offending Perth

However…i’m not a fan of even the one regular season game being played In Sydney … they all should be in Perth in my opinion and play Manly every year at NSO in the pre season..

On the other hand though …The times has come for Perth to decide if they want to be a part of Rugby League‘s future or not…because this is the second and last opportunity they will have I suggest ..

 

[Vlad59]

Yeah perhaps…. Ive been there plenty of times and I have seen their parochialism first hand…I think the sport of RL has to overcome this regardless of what the new team is called and what its origin is.

Online have seen a lot of people whinging about the Sydney papers talking up the North Sydney bears ”are back” part of the story … but this is Sydney media spinning the story on the angle to get more clicks and sell more papers…they don’t need to worry about offending Perth

However…i’m not a fan of even the one regular season game being played In Sydney … they all should be in Perth in my opinion and play Manly every year at NSO in the pre season..

On the other hand though …The times has come though for Perth to decide if they want to be a part of Rugby League‘s future or not…because this is the second and last opportunity they will have I suggest ..

I agree with all that. If they want a team in the nrl they have to make this work, what ever it is

 

[Perth Red]

I agree with all that. If they want a team in the nrl they have to make this work, what ever it is

Its WA owned, it will work.

 

[Vlad59]

Its WA owned, it will work.

I’ll get over for a game for sure. I’ll be nearly 70 by then. I’ll need a 4 wheeled walker