‘Expand or die, NRL’

Incoming rugby league chair sounds warning to competition

NEW Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter Beattie has a simple message for the sport: expand or die.

Beattie wasted little time putting expansion back on the table on his first day on the job yesterday after replacing outgoing chair John Grant at the annual general meeting.

Crucial to his vision will be establishing a national foot- print, with the NRL to seriously consider entering new territories for the first time since the end of the Super League war.

“The vision of the game is really simple; we have to expand,” Beattie said.

“We are in a very competitive environment for entertainment ... you’ve got to be flexible and have a strategy.

“When you’ve got that level of competition you need to do that. The game needs to expand or it will die.”

The NRL hasn’t added any teams to the competition since they brought the Gold Coast back in 2007, while the last real influx of new regions was between 1995 and 1998, namely Perth, Melbourne, Auckland and Adelaide.

Critically, Beattie insists no current teams will face relocation as part of his vision.

The news will come as a massive boost to Perth, Brisbane Bombers, Ipswich and numerous Pacific Island bids.

Beattie expects potential franchises will initially enter junior leagues and second-tier state cups, as Papua New Guinea already have in Queensland.

Western Australia NRL boss John Sackson also revealed last month he held discussions with the game’s governing body about entering a team in the NRL under-20s in the coming years, with a reserve grade outfit to follow.

New teams would then have the potential to enter the top-tier NRL from when the current broadcast deal ends in 2022.

“People have got the opportunity (to demonstrate) they’ve got the competence, the skills, the organisation ... This is a long-term objective,” Beattie said. “If we signal to people there is a possibility of doing this as part of our vision they can prepare themselves; they can get ready.”

NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg insisted the 16 existing clubs wouldn’t be hurt by expansion.