My concern for Perth being included in the NRL is who are the bid team?
On so many levels it makes sense, but who is actually doing all the leg work?
Is it up to Sackson & the NRL WA to do the work or will/is there a separate consortium to liaise with the WA government, potential sponsors and the NRL?
There is a bid consortium led by Cumins (previous Reds and now NRLWA sponsor) and others. Cumins has a strong relationship with Sackson and the NRLWA.
Cash Convertors has a turn over of $245mill and a profit line of $19mill, $315mill in equity, so he's not short of a few $'s.
Back in 2010 Cumins, a number of Perth businessmen, the WA sports minister and the WARL joined forces to form the WA Reds bid. I was involved on the periphery of this bid rallying the RL supporters to the cause
In 2012 with the news Sage was also planning a bid this group changed the bid brand to the West Coast Pirates bid.
That is the only one you can be 100% sure is working on a bid now.
Puddy (ex Reds Chairman) has talked numerous times about having a number of backers who would be willing to join him in a bid to resurrect the Western Reds. He got his hands on the IP for the Reds in 2018 (I presume it is him). Last time we heard from him was Oct 2021 but wouldn't surprise me if he's still working behind the scenes on a bid.
Sage I fully expect to have another crack. He registered West Coast/Perth/Western Quokkas in 2021as a brand and sees an NRL club as a way of helping with his overhead costs for Glory. One administration running both clubs. He is on record as stating he has no interest in partnering with the Bears.
Beyond that who knows who else might be out there. Im sure if there are the WA Govt now vetting which bid they will partner with has brought them out of the woodwork. They've been able to keep it all very secret since that committee was formed in Oct last year.