The circumstances that allowed the Storm to flourish were unique and will never be replicated again. Three teams folded at the end of 1997. That provided the Storm with plenty of players. Queensland was reduced to just two teams with one in the south-east. It created a vacuum that the Storm were able to fill.
Perth can succeed because they've developed their grassroots infrastructure and have an enthusiastic government lobbying for a team.
Melbourne 2 and Adelaide won't work because a) there is no demand from the Vic and SA Govs and b) there's no vacuum in SEQ for them to exploit. Melbourne 2 would be an even bigger failure than the Melbourne Heart/City without a Manchester City to bail them out.
Good points.
I mean, Perth already has more of a RL infrastracture and local support for RL than Melbourne did or still does. The argument against Perth as #18 is there needs to be substantial/sufficient infrastracture first before an NRL club. But the reverse can work too, or, is probably more appropriate for Perth.
Perth is still AFL country, to wait and wait and try to build a SEQ-like infrastracture first would take decades, which doesn't help them getting in. Whereas having a team now would encourage and prosper the infrastracture more....like, say, womens sport and the matildas comparisons being made.
Now that women/girls have leagues set up in various sports, the small infrastractures already in place have pathways and fast growth potential. And then govt proceeds to commit $200m toward grassroots. And that funding will increase down the track.
I mention Melbourne because it's a similar thing tho not exact. Melbourne is a huge market, really needed a team there as part of the N in NRL, tho they didn't have any infrastracture, but I bet today, Melbourne overall in terms of RL from grassroots up (participation, crowds, memberships, tv audiences, sponsorships, etc) has only grown over the last 20 years.
Perth is the next biggest non-Eastern market, a major city, and gives added credibility to the N in NRL. So should be treated similarly to the way Melbourne was....get them in pronto and build RL there over time...not the other way around.
Spinoff of this....in time, this will only help cause Adelaide to want an NRL team too, have double headers and origins, have local boys and girls want to take up RL. Etc. SA competitive by nature and would want to be able to compete against their rival WA and VIC states.
