NEWS Clickbait: NRL set to launch second Brisbane team for season 2023

[tommy]

PNG won't work. The passion might be there but hardly any of their fans will have any money to spend.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

PNG won't work. The passion might be there but hardly any of their fans will have any money to spend.

So? There are benefits to be found for the competition beyond just selling merch. Think about what great optics it would be for the NRL to be putting a grandstand or a hill full of Papua natives throthing at the mouth over their team on the T.V every week. It would certainly put the likes of the Roosters and Souffs to shame, at the very least, and also gives us something to hang over the AFL who don't have a single team outside Australia.

 

[tommy]

So? There are benefits to be found for the competition beyond just selling merch. Think about what great optics it would be for the NRL to be putting a grandstand or a hill full of Papua natives throthing at the mouth over their team on the T.V every week. It would certainly put the likes of the Roosters and Souffs to shame, at the very least, and also gives us something to hang over the AFL who don't have a single team outside Australia.

So just let them in for free? Put on a big free festival in PNG every fortnight? Everything and I mean everything would need to be bought and maintained by the NRL, it's a 3rd world country.

 

[Kooly87]

The nines drew **** all in Perth. I don't get what the big fuss is about Perth in the first place. Most of the expats that live there are miners on set shifts and would be lucky to see a game a month live due to their work rosters. Unless we want the NRL to continue to prop up another club, get a team in a location that has fans and sponsorship already locked down. The only thing Perth has going for it is that its another time zone area that TV can take advantage of once a fortnight. We rule the East of the country for a reason.

Melbourne started out exactly the same way and look at them now. They were averaging around 8000 per game at one stage, and now they average almost 20,000 a game, most of them season ticketed members, which is a better result than many Sydney clubs. They're also fully self supported and commercially viable, and they do it without a Leagues club to bank roll them unlike almost every other club in the NRL.

All the way back in 1995, when Perth had almost half a million people less than it does now, fresh off the back of the West Coast Eagles winning their maiden Premiership and Fremantle entering the AFL, the Western Reds debuted and managed to have several games where they drew over 20,000 fans, and one game where they drew over 30,000 fans, at the WACA, a cricket ground no less.

NRL games in Perth currently attract over 15,000 fans regularly, that's without having their own team. They also have pathways in place in SG Ball which is a great first step in supporting player development.

All this aside, they would likely still need significant NRL investment to support them, at least initially, but the pay off for this comes in additional live games in perfect time slots for the East Coast market, as well as an additional fixture each week, which would dwarf in revenue any costs the NRL would incur in getting them off the ground. The fact Perth is also home to some of Australia's largest companies, many of whom can't support an AFL side because they're locked out of competing with other sponsors, would easily generate enough corporate support that in time, the club can almost certainly become self sustaining just like Melbourne.

It's not as easy or cheap as setting up another club in Queensland, but that's the whole point of expansion, to open up new markets and generate new investment and interest in the game. It might take two decades to pay off, just like Melbourne, but if we don't plant those seeds soon, we're just delaying any chance of them growing into something that can benefit the whole game later on.

 

[Mitch06]

Add:
Perth
Brisbane 2
PNG

Remove:
West Tigers
Titans
Cronulla

Done. No need for throwing the baby out with the bath water. Cut the no hopers and bring in some decent potentials. PNG in particular is a no brainer, because unlike Perth, there is no doubt about whether there is a fanbase there to grow.

We need four QLD teams. Further the Gold Coast region has one of the largest participation bases on Australia. The NRL won't abandon it to AFL.

We could even base PNG in Cairns/Brisbane and have them play 4-5 home games in Port Morseby...the rest somewhere else.

The next best option would be to bring Redcliffe into the comp

 

[Kooly87]

100% agreed that the next Brisbane team needs to basically be promotion of a QRL side, which in terms of regions would be Redcliff, Ipswich or Logan... it automatically comes with a history and a fan base. It could also draw on the bitter BRL fans that believe the Broncos destroyed their comp or general QCup fans that get to see a team from their comp in the big league. It also creates an example of a pathway to NRL for other Qcup teams if expansion pops up again... ie. start in ISC get your shit together get promoted to NRL when the next expansion bid comes out.

Instead they'll be thinking Brisbane Bombers (the name alone has no correlation to the region and appears to be a rip off of essendon), because the Sydney siders think "a game out of Suncorp every week... how good. Those qlders will attend any game look at origin and broncos" when in reality Suncorp is shared with the reds, roar (early season), wallabies games, concerts, etc. So there won't be a game every week.

It would also be lumping a new team with the huge costs associated with having to lease Suncorp including the catering, which will make tickets costs, and game day in general, skyrocket for the average punter (an issue the titans have with their stadium).

Perth is easily the next bid that should be on the radar... the NRL should've announced already that they want to expand into that area and promote the shit out of it. It makes sense from a broadcaster scenario and I suspect the demographic is a little more open to league than say Adelaide and definitely Melbourne... I believe Perth contains a fairly big South African expat population, therefore league may resonate with their love of union... if it takes off it could also open the door for South African international sides.

Instead the Sydney sider are probably leaning towards the central coast bears for nostalgia reasons... when in reality the bears should be first cab off the rank for relocation of a Sydney club that has folded.

I would also think about relocating Titans to sunny coast (it's not really needed, but just think the NRL is letting that region go to waste). I think in general the sunny coast population would be far more open to having their own team and would support the hell out of it... hell a lot of sunny coasters are titans fans in general. Quad Park is in the middle of town and could be upgraded to a sports precinct pretty easily.

The primary issue would be the corporate dollars available (but realistically the only other sports team they have is the netball team so NRL moving in would get every spare cent available) and the airport would need an upgrade so the state government would need to chip in, but I would think a team on the sunny coast would be far more supported than a team out of GC.

No way in the world should we be looking to move the Titans, we need to be patient and stay the course with them. The area is growing and is a prolific producer of Rugby League talent. It's imperative that the NRL do not allow the Titans to fail without giving it absolutely everything to make it work.

Aside from that though, I think a bid from Redcliffe, who even if they miss out this time, still likely have designs on an NRL future one day, might well feel that the Sunshine Coast could form part of their catchment area and fan base.

 

[Locky’s Left Boot]

In a perfect world this is what the comp should look like in 20 years that makes sense demographically

QLD

1. Brisbane Broncos
2. Gold Coast Titans
3. Redcliffe Dolphins/Sunny Coast Falcons
4. Ipswich/Western Corridor
5. Rockhampton
6. NQ Cowboys

PNG

7. PNG Kumuls (Base them in Cairns. Works logistically)

NSW

8. Central Coast Bears
9. Sydney City Roosters
10. St George Illawarra Dragons
11. Parramatta Eels
12. Penrith Panthers
13. South Sydney Rabbitohs or West Tigers
14. Newcastle Knights

ACT

15. Canberra Raiders

VIC

16. Melbourne Storm

WA

17. Perth/Western Reds

NZ

18. NZ Warriors


18 team comp that would be represented by 3 different countries and 3 time zones. 9 games a week and most areas would be represented in some way or another with the exception of NT and SA. Would also cut the number of Sydney teams down from 9 to 5. Would be cutting Manly, Cronulla, Canterbury and West Tigers.

Ideally I would selfishly like to have a 2 conference of 9 teams system with everyone playing each other twice in their own conference and playing the other conference members once for a total of 25 game regular season. Because of player burnout and rep scheduling making that a bit of a stretch, you could look at having a 3 conference system of 6 teams with everyone playing the teams in their own conference twice for a total of 22 games. Would be 2 less games then they play now.

Conference 1 would be the 6 QLD teams mentioned above (Broncos, Titans, Cowboys, Western Corridor/Ipswich, Redcliffe/Sunshine Coast, Rockhampton

Conference 2 would be the 5 Sydney clubs plus the Central Coast (Roosters, Eels, Panthers, Dragons, Rabbitohs/Tigers, Central Coast

Conference 3 would be the remainder (Kumuls, Knights, Storm, Perth/Western Reds, Raiders, Warriors

Only con with that conference system is there wouldn’t really be any local derbies or big drawing games in conference 3 and would be a lot more travel but I could see the Raiders vs Storm rivalry keep building and the Warriors vs Storm games have been a bit of a draw card in the past.


In terms of demographic and how I got to the 18 team comp I came up with here is some of the reasoning factoring in a few things already discussed.

1. Brisbane Broncos - No explanation needed. Represents Brisbane city as nearby surround northern and southern suburbs of Brisbane

2. NQ Cowboys - No explanation needed. Represents Townsville and regional areas north of Mackay.

3. Gold Coast Titans - Like others have said, we need to make this work. Brilliant catchment area with very talented juniors. Need to maybe rebrand the name to make it clear they also represent the NSW northern Riverina area. Should be representing from
Coomera all way down to Coffs Harbour.

4. Western Corridor/Ipswich - New licenced team and would be an extension of the Ipswich Jets QRL model. Would represent that corridor from Springfield our past Ipswich. Would bring them
in at the expense of the Bulldogs who I have demographically being absorbed by the Parramatta Eels who represent that middle corridor of Sydney.

5. Redcliffe Dolphins/Sunshine Coast Falcons - New licenced team and would be an extension of the QRL teams depending on which one you’d go with. Redcliffe makes more sense financially but Sunshine Coast makes more sense demographic wise. Would obviously represent the Northern Beaches of Brisbane up to the Sunshine Coast much like Manly’s representation of Northern Beaches of Sydney. Would bring them in as the 17th NRL team.

6. Rockhampton - New licenced team and would represent the entire CQ region from say Bundaberg up to Mackay. Would take a while to get off the ground but if we consolidated the other QLD teams and grow the game and product, this could be a reality in 10-15 years if hard decisions are made. Would be coming in at the expense of the either the Rabbitohs or Tigers whichever one we could do without the most. More than likely the Tigers.

7. PNG Kumuls - New licenced team. Would have to be based in Cairns and run like the Toronto Wolfpack is in Super League. Give them a marquee signing that can be paid outside the cap ala SBW with Toronto. Play half their games in Cairns and half in Port Morseby. Be silly not to look into making this franchise a reality considering it is the only country with League as it’s national sport. Would also represent the Cairns region and the top of QLD. Logistically would make sense as direct flights from
Cairns to Port Moresby. Use the Northern Pride as another feeder club.

8. Newcastle Knights - No explanation needed. Represents Newcastle and Hunter region

9. Sydney City Roosters - No explanation needed. Represents Sydney City and Eastern Suburbs region. Would absorb the Rabbitohs catchment area if you were to keep the Tigers instead of Souths.

10. Central Coast Bears - New licenced team. Would come in at the expense of Manly Sea Eagles. Represents Northern Sydney all the way up to the Central Coast.

11. St George Illawarra - No explanation needed. Represents Southern Sydney down to Wollongong. Would absorb Cronulla Sharks who practically have the same catchment area. Sharks are financially in
trouble and are playing out of Kogarah for the next 2 years anyway. May as well pull the pin now.

12. Parramatta Eels - No explanation needed. Represents that middle corridor of Sydney. Would absorb Canterbury Bulldogs as we don’t need 2 teams in this same general region.

13. Penrith Panthers - No explanation needed. Represents the Western Sydney, Blue Mountains and Bathurst regions.

14. South Sydney Rabbitohs/West Tigers - Take your pick which one survives. Penrith could always absorb the Tigers and represent the entire western suburbs region. Sydney City Roosters could always absorb the Rabbitohs as they are practically neighbours in a small catchment. Rabbitohs history and finances would most likely see them survive over the Tigers

15. Canberra Raiders - No explanation needed. Represents Canberra/ACT region and Southern NSW region towards the Victorian border.

16. Melbourne Storm - No explanation needed. Represents all of Victoria.

17. NZ Warriors - No explanation needed. Represents all of NZ

18. Perth/Western Reds - New licenced team. Represents all of WA. Would come in as the 18th NRL team.

Also means we should be able to get rid of playing out of run down suburban grounds like Leichhardt, Brookvale and Southern Cross and not be subjected to Bulldogs playing games out at ANZ Stadium in near empty 80,000 stadium.

 

[Liam Patrick]

As long as it's set up properly I don't see the harm. However, I think they'll always be the Clippers/White Sox to the Broncos Lakers/Clubs.

 

[KnToad]

If it were an Ipswich team playing in Ipswich I'd make them my second team. I'd have a soft spot for Redcliffe too. But I think there's maybe a 5% chance they do that and a 95% chance they create a soulless Brisbane 2, play them out of Suncorp and try and create a tenuous link with a suburban/regional heartland after the fact. A second Brisbane team doesn't make the game any more accessible to new fans and the plethora of rugby league fans in Brisbane that hate the Broncos have been supporting other teams their entire life and aren't going to jump ship now. Brisbane 2 is a solution in want of a problem.

Yep[emoji106]

 

[Morepudding]

To be honest I don't think the Brisbane support is as strong as they make out. It's just that there isn't much else on usually on a Thursday / Friday night. At every job I've had and most of the people I know, very few are actual fans and most only go to 1 or 2 games a year and don't really watch it on tv.

A second brisbane team, with a 17 team comp won't increase tv viewership, it will probably reduce it so it won't happen that way. The only way expansion works is if there are more games per week (more ad revenue) or if it's entering a new market. A second brisbane team doesn't achieve either of those unless there is also an 18th team.

 

[john1420]

In a perfect world this is what the comp should look like in 20 years that makes sense demographically

QLD

1. Brisbane Broncos
2. Gold Coast Titans
3. Redcliffe Dolphins/Sunny Coast Falcons
4. Ipswich/Western Corridor
5. Rockhampton
6. NQ Cowboys

PNG

7. PNG Kumuls (Base them in Cairns. Works logistically)

NSW

8. Central Coast Bears
9. Sydney City Roosters
10. St George Illawarra Dragons
11. Parramatta Eels
12. Penrith Panthers
13. South Sydney Rabbitohs or West Tigers
14. Newcastle Knights

ACT

15. Canberra Raiders

VIC

16. Melbourne Storm

WA

17. Perth/Western Reds

NZ

18. NZ Warriors


18 team comp that would be represented by 3 different countries and 3 time zones. 9 games a week and most areas would be represented in some way or another with the exception of NT and SA. Would also cut the number of Sydney teams down from 9 to 5. Would be cutting Manly, Cronulla, Canterbury and West Tigers.

Ideally I would selfishly like to have a 2 conference of 9 teams system with everyone playing each other twice in their own conference and playing the other conference members once for a total of 25 game regular season. Because of player burnout and rep scheduling making that a bit of a stretch, you could look at having a 3 conference system of 6 teams with everyone playing the teams in their own conference twice for a total of 22 games. Would be 2 less games then they play now.

Conference 1 would be the 6 QLD teams mentioned above (Broncos, Titans, Cowboys, Western Corridor/Ipswich, Redcliffe/Sunshine Coast, Rockhampton

Conference 2 would be the 5 Sydney clubs plus the Central Coast (Roosters, Eels, Panthers, Dragons, Rabbitohs/Tigers, Central Coast

Conference 3 would be the remainder (Kumuls, Knights, Storm, Perth/Western Reds, Raiders, Warriors

Only con with that conference system is there wouldn’t really be any local derbies or big drawing games in conference 3 and would be a lot more travel but I could see the Raiders vs Storm rivalry keep building and the Warriors vs Storm games have been a bit of a draw card in the past.


In terms of demographic and how I got to the 18 team comp I came up with here is some of the reasoning factoring in a few things already discussed.

1. Brisbane Broncos - No explanation needed. Represents Brisbane city as nearby surround northern and southern suburbs of Brisbane

2. NQ Cowboys - No explanation needed. Represents Townsville and regional areas north of Mackay.

3. Gold Coast Titans - Like others have said, we need to make this work. Brilliant catchment area with very talented juniors. Need to maybe rebrand the name to make it clear they also represent the NSW northern Riverina area. Should be representing from
Coomera all way down to Coffs Harbour.

4. Western Corridor/Ipswich - New licenced team and would be an extension of the Ipswich Jets QRL model. Would represent that corridor from Springfield our past Ipswich. Would bring them
in at the expense of the Bulldogs who I have demographically being absorbed by the Parramatta Eels who represent that middle corridor of Sydney.

5. Redcliffe Dolphins/Sunshine Coast Falcons - New licenced team and would be an extension of the QRL teams depending on which one you’d go with. Redcliffe makes more sense financially but Sunshine Coast makes more sense demographic wise. Would obviously represent the Northern Beaches of Brisbane up to the Sunshine Coast much like Manly’s representation of Northern Beaches of Sydney. Would bring them in as the 17th NRL team.

6. Rockhampton - New licenced team and would represent the entire CQ region from say Bundaberg up to Mackay. Would take a while to get off the ground but if we consolidated the other QLD teams and grow the game and product, this could be a reality in 10-15 years if hard decisions are made. Would be coming in at the expense of the either the Rabbitohs or Tigers whichever one we could do without the most. More than likely the Tigers.

7. PNG Kumuls - New licenced team. Would have to be based in Cairns and run like the Toronto Wolfpack is in Super League. Give them a marquee signing that can be paid outside the cap ala SBW with Toronto. Play half their games in Cairns and half in Port Morseby. Be silly not to look into making this franchise a reality considering it is the only country with League as it’s national sport. Would also represent the Cairns region and the top of QLD. Logistically would make sense as direct flights from
Cairns to Port Moresby. Use the Northern Pride as another feeder club.

8. Newcastle Knights - No explanation needed. Represents Newcastle and Hunter region

9. Sydney City Roosters - No explanation needed. Represents Sydney City and Eastern Suburbs region. Would absorb the Rabbitohs catchment area if you were to keep the Tigers instead of Souths.

10. Central Coast Bears - New licenced team. Would come in at the expense of Manly Sea Eagles. Represents Northern Sydney all the way up to the Central Coast.

11. St George Illawarra - No explanation needed. Represents Southern Sydney down to Wollongong. Would absorb Cronulla Sharks who practically have the same catchment area. Sharks are financially in
trouble and are playing out of Kogarah for the next 2 years anyway. May as well pull the pin now.

12. Parramatta Eels - No explanation needed. Represents that middle corridor of Sydney. Would absorb Canterbury Bulldogs as we don’t need 2 teams in this same general region.

13. Penrith Panthers - No explanation needed. Represents the Western Sydney, Blue Mountains and Bathurst regions.

14. South Sydney Rabbitohs/West Tigers - Take your pick which one survives. Penrith could always absorb the Tigers and represent the entire western suburbs region. Sydney City Roosters could always absorb the Rabbitohs as they are practically neighbours in a small catchment. Rabbitohs history and finances would most likely see them survive over the Tigers

15. Canberra Raiders - No explanation needed. Represents Canberra/ACT region and Southern NSW region towards the Victorian border.

16. Melbourne Storm - No explanation needed. Represents all of Victoria.

17. NZ Warriors - No explanation needed. Represents all of NZ

18. Perth/Western Reds - New licenced team. Represents all of WA. Would come in as the 18th NRL team.

Also means we should be able to get rid of playing out of run down suburban grounds like Leichhardt, Brookvale and Southern Cross and not be subjected to Bulldogs playing games out at ANZ Stadium in near empty 80,000 stadium.

The problem with this is it just makes sense, so the NRL won't have a bar of it

 

[Broncapz]

I'd like a second Brisbane team to be a South Queensland branded team, and not Brisbane or Redcliffe. That'd set QLD perfectly up with North Queensland/South Queensland/Brisbane/Gold Coast.

 

[Foordy]

I'd like a second Brisbane team to be a South Queensland branded team, and not Brisbane or Redcliffe. That'd set QLD perfectly up with North Queensland/South Queensland/Brisbane/Gold Coast.

something like this maybe

 

[Broncapz]

something like this maybe

View attachment 7156

To be fair to the Crushers, the whole NRL/Superleague thing really muddied the waters with it's viability. Crushers as brand was also terrible, not the South Queensland part.

 

[Foordy]

To be fair to the Crushers, the whole NRL/Superleague thing really muddied the waters with it's viability. Crushers as brand was also terrible, not the South Queensland part.

I still remember going with my old man to the Crushers games in high school (especially when they played the Broncs) ... it was good for my old man because he didn't have to pry open his wallet as it was free entry (at least towards the end)

 

[Harry Sack]

Used to love that Leagues club. Excellent buffet, at least at the start. It dropped off a lot at the end but I was still pretty sad to see it gone. There's town houses on that whole area now.