Perth is ready and champing at the bit to enter a club into the National Rugby League.
It’s been 22 long years since there was a franchise here when the Perth Reds were axed as a result of the reunification of the code following the Super League wars.
Last week the NRL Chief Executive Todd Greenberg confirmed growth was on the agenda citing the West Coast and Brisbane as options if the league was to either expand or relocate one or two of the Sydney teams.
If it is to be it must happen soon to build on the success and hunger of an anxious western rugby league community.
WA does not want a reject club to relocate, it wants its own brand and identity.
A lot of the leg work has already been done with the NRLWA (formerly WA Rugby League) launching the West Coast Pirates seven years ago as its franchise bid with a queue of financial backers and sponsors if the code was to expand.
Currently the Pirates field teams in some of the national pathway competitions like the S.G. Ball Cup for Under 18s.
As a brand the Pirates has fantastic appeal to families encouraging young fans to engage and have fun which could be enhanced through pre game entertainment although I believe that Perth must feature in the name rather than West Coast.
And while on the brand – what’s wrong with the Quokka?
I digress – I am on board with the Pirates but let’s just call them the Perth Pirates.
The National Rugby League and in turn Western Australia has been building the national footprint over the last 12 years which cannot go to waste.
This is the opportunity to really make the National Rugby League actually the National Rugby League, not just some eastern states based code of football.
For ten years from 2007, the South Sydney Rabbitohs successfully brought a premiership fixture every year and the Manly Sea Eagles on a few occasions to Perth with an average crowd of 15,000 at HBF Park (formerly NIB Stadium).
The Stadium which hosts the Perth Glory in the A-League competition and the Western Force in the Global Rapid Rugby series is an excellent purpose-built and underutilised rectangular facility to stage fortnightly rugby league premiership fixtures when the new franchise is confirmed.
Perth is a no brainer for broadcast partners as it will provide a fortnightly live late fixture into the eastern states, in fact with a team in Auckland there is the potential for four games of football back to back to back to back providing eight hours of live content – a rugby league tragic’s dream.
Last year the NRL snuck in under the nose of the AFL by scheduling the first football fixture at the brand new Optus Stadium staging a round one double header to open the premiership season.
If you needed a reason to bring rugby league to Perth then this was it entertaining a crowd of almost 40,000.
That momentum continues to build in June when for the first time Perth will host State of Origin between New South Wales and Queensland at Optus Stadium in front of a sell-out 60,000 strong crowd.
In reinforces WA’s commitment to league while showcasing the most watched television event.
It is a coup for Perth but at this stage it’s shaping as a crescendo with nothing else announced past June.
The current broadcast agreement runs until 2022 so if rugby league is to grow then the Pirates need at least two years to establish the franchise.
League grew a staggering 16.7 per cent in WA last year while the national average was just 3.5 per cent
The clock is ticking after a decade of hard work this opportunity could be about to pass.
https://www.watoday.com.au/national...ts-own-rugby-league-team-20190325-p517bf.html
