https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...l/news-story/7de8fc55d8b469818c1fa7fff818173e
The Western Reds seems like an eternity ago now.
And one of the men who wore the red, black, white and gold of the ill-fated Perth franchise says it’s time to try again.
Mark Geyer, who played for the Reds over three seasons in the mid-1990s, shakes his head at the thought of the game’s branding — the National Rugby League.
“We’re called the NRL and we shouldn’t be, because we’re not national,” Geyer said on Triple M.
There are clubs in four of Australia’s eight states and territories, but they’re all in the east.
That’s why Geyer has proposed that the NRL ventures west, and once again grants a licence to a Perth-based bid.
“To go national, I truly believe - not just because I played there - but I’ve been there and I’ve seen the want and the need for a team in Perth,” he continued.
He said the Reds, which folded as a first-grade entity in 1997, would have been a success if not for the Super League war. And insists there’s an appetite for rugby league in the AFL-mad state.
“When we were put together in 1994 with the Western Reds — a rag-tag team — we had instant success and we had one name: Brad Mackay,” he said.
“I was coming off a bad couple of years, we had blokes who were fringe first-graders, we had blokes who were playing Super League in England, but we came together with one cause: to be pioneers in Western Australia rugby league.
“We’d still be there if Super League didn’t come along.”
According to Geyer, there hasn’t been a better time to expand into Western Australia, with Game Two of the 2019 State of Origin series to be played at the new Perth Stadium.
“The game needs a shot in the arm at the moment,” he said.
“With the second Origin being played in Perth, I think it would be a fantastic time to announce that in 2020 or 2021, we’re going to have a team here in Perth.
“Whatever they’re called, the Perth Pirates or the Western Suns. Whatever.”
Perth is certainly one of the front-runners for a licence once expansion gets the go-ahead.
But in what form, that’s undecided.
A new franchise like the Pirates or Suns is one option, but there are a couple of others.
Late last year, there were reports the Cronulla Sharks were in danger of being taken over by the NRL and
shipped off to Perth.
It was also
reported by the Sydney Morning Herald last year that Western Reds chairman Laurie Puddy and North Sydney Bears chairman Perry Lopez held a series of secret talks about a potential combined bid — the Western Bears.
Todd Greenberg has been tasked by the ARL Commission to spend 12 months on a detailed expansion report.
“It is easy to say we need to put new teams into places like Brisbane, New Zealand and Perth, but we first need to analyse the market and conduct a full business case,” Greenberg said in December.
“Any concept of additional teams or a change in the format or structure to the competition would flow after 2022.”
