NRL expansion explored

STORM super coach Craig Bellamy has held talks with the Brisbane Bombers consortium as the ARL Commission prepares to ramp up plans to introduce a 17th NRL team to take on the Broncos in Queensland.

Bellamy last night backed plans to launch a second Brisbane team amid revelations

Bombers bid chiefs have met regularly with the Melbourne mentor to head-up their football program pending NRL admission in 2023.

Sources close to the ARL Commission said expansion is happening. ARLC chairman Peter V’landys wants a 17th team and he will convey that message to NRL broadcasters Fox Sports and Channel Nine when negotiations on the next

TV rights deal begin later this year.

Perth’s bid is dead in the water with V’landys keen to value-add by pushing for a second Brisbane team in a bid to broker a $2 billion-plus broadcast deal from 2023.

Aware of the ARLC’s plans, the Bombers have been proactive, identifying Bellamy as their No.1 target to be the club’s coaching director when his commitments to the Storm eventually cease.

Bombers director Craig Davison and Bellamy met most recently last Christmas at the Storm coach’s property on the Gold Coast for informal talks.

The parties have longstanding ties, with the consortium secretly approaching Bellamy in 2012 when their bid to enter the big league first gathered steam.

There is no suggestion Bellamy is quitting the Storm. The premiership-winning coach is contracted to Melbourne until the end of next year, but, at 61, Bellamy has no plans to emulate Wayne Bennett by coaching into his 70s.

However, with his Storm deal ending in 2021, Bellamy would be a free agent for any new NRL side in 2023 — and the Bombers have targeted him to implement their structures.

The former Broncos assistant insists he has given no formal commitment to the Bombers, but has urged the ARL Commission to give the Queensland people a fourth NRL team. The Bombers, Redcliffe and Ipswich’s westerncorridor bid are the three major contenders to become Brisbane’s second team.