SECOND HELPING
Brisbane in the box seat
NRL boss Todd Greenberg says Queensland is “in the box seat” for a new team as the expansion debate continues.
Speaking at The CourierMail’s NRL launch in Brisbane yesterday, Greenberg revealed a decision would be made by the end of the year as the ARL Commission worked on the next broadcast deal in 2023.
It comes as the NRL chief executive officer broke his silence on the expansion debate, revealing he was not ignoring calls from the Sunshine State.
Greenberg said the ARLC would discuss the issue throughout the year but a second Brisbane team seemed likely.
“They’re certainly in the box seat, that’s for sure,” Greenberg said.
“The open question on the table of the (ARL) Commission is, ‘do we consider expansion and where do we go?’
“It’s been made very clear to us that there’s an appetite up here.
“Give or take, there’s the best part of a million people in Brisbane who are rugby league fans, but only half of them go for the Broncos.
“We know there’s an enormous market and appetite for rugby league in Brisbane.
“We’ve got six or nine months to answer them to give us the runway to 2023 but we’re perfectly poised to make some of those decisions.”
With only nine days until the season kicks off, expansion is the hot topic.
A host of the game’s key stakeholders, including the influential broadcasters, have supported the push for a second team in Brisbane.
Broncos powerbrokers have accepted they will no longer be the only NRL club in town and are ready for an intracity rivalry.
Franchises based in Redcliffe, Sunshine Coast and Ipswich, as well as Brisbane itself have all been floated, while Perth, North Sydney and New Zealand are other options as the NRL contemplates expanding from 16 teams.
Broncos great Darren Lockyer put his weight behind the Redcliffe bid while Greenberg said the city’s case in general was hard to ignore.
Lockyer said: “(I support it) as long as the NRL are adamant it won’t fail and that’s why they’re taking their time.
“They want to make sure that if we do this it’s going to work.
“Redcliffe has a growing population and is known as a rugby league community ... they’re one of the potential clubs that could make it work.”