No new NZ NRL team coming
There may be plenty of talk in Australia of expansion or relocation of NRL clubs, but don’t expect the Warriors to be playing local derbies anytime soon.
In an interview with Phil Gould on Nine’s 100% Footy on Monday night, NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg put growing the NRL’s footprint on the agenda.
‘‘The game is in a good spot, but it’s in a good spot to grow,’’ Greenberg said.
‘‘I think there is huge ambition in rugby league – I genuinely believe that.
‘‘There is more upside in this sport than there is in other sports. Are we prepared to look at the geography, the footprint of the sport? Are we prepared, in the future, to look at some changes? If we are going to grow, we have to change. We have to play in more areas.’’
Not surprisingly, that has raised hopes of there being a second team in New Zealand, with Wellington or Christchurch the obvious options.
It’s been reported that if any of the current clubs get into financial difficulty and need the NRL to bail them out, that assistance will come with the caveat of being forced to relocate.
However, both Wellington and Christchurch could be down the pecking order, with another team in Brisbane and a club in Perth ahead of them.
NRL games moved to Perth in recent years have been well attended and the demise of the Western Force as a Super Rugby team has left a gap in the market for the NRL to fill.
With the Broncos being the biggest club in the NRL, there’s clearly the appetite for another team in Brisbane.
As far as the NRL and Australian broadcasters go, more games from those areas are highly attractive and far more so than a team in Wellington or Christchurch.
Everyone agrees nine clubs in Sydney is too many, but if teams are relocated, it seems the Sharks and Sea Eagles are most at threat, although taking Manly out in north Sydney does leave a large area of the city without a local team. Any expansion would have to be by two teams, so that there wasn’t a team with a bye each week.
The only realistic chance of there being another New Zealand team is if the NRL grows to a 20-team competition with two conferences, and Gould says that’s an idea worth exploring.
‘‘It’s an option worth discussing, but then what do those conferences look like?’’ Gould said. ‘‘Is it a Sydney conference and a regional conference? But then, does that survive? These are things that you’ve really got to look into.
‘‘In the initial stages, that’ll be whether it dilutes the talent too much and we’ve got enough players to sustain it.
‘‘I think if development’s done right, over time we’ll find the players and we’ll find the competitiveness across the board.
‘‘I think our game has to look at particularly those two locations [Brisbane and Perth]. It’s a conversation that should be going on.’’
It’s also worth considering if another New Zealand team would stack up financially.
The NZRL aren’t in a position to bankroll it and neither would the Wellington or Canterbury rugby league districts.
In the case of Wellington, it could be argued that growing the sport in what are supposed to be the code’s hotbedsshould be the main priority.
So for now and a while yet, the Warriors will be the only NRL team in this country. It’s just a shame they no longer refer to themselves as the ‘New Zealand’ Warriors, but that’s an argument for a different day.