LAST CHANCE FOR QLD RIVALS TO PUT KING HIT ON DOLPHINS
THE NRL will seek final responses from their expansion hopefuls as the Firehawks and Jets get one last crack at dislodging the Dolphins in the battle to become Brisbane’s second team in 2023.
NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo will request further information from the Jets, Firehawks and Dolphins following a Friday meeting of the Expansion Assessment Committee.
The NRL will officially launch a 17th club in 2023 and the EAC spent about 90 minutes discussing the merits of the three bid consortia.
Abdo is part of the Expansion
Committee, which includes ARLC boss Peter V’landys, and the NRL CEO will contact the bid rivals seeking a final instalment of information ahead of the ARL Commission announcing the winning bid next week.
Effectively, the Jets and Firehawks have arrived at the last-chance saloon. They have 48 hours to table fresh evidence as to why they deserve to be Brisbane’s second team as the ARL Commission edges closer to unveiling the Redcliffe-backed Dolphins as the NRL’S 17th franchise.
The development comes as the Jets hit out at speculation they cannot meet the NRL’S $10 million bank guarantee, with a Brisbane-based white knight coming on board on Wednesday with a multimillion-dollar financial commitment.
Brisbane Jets bid chief Nick Livermore confirmed the fresh investment and said the western-corridor bid is armed with $24 million in private equity as the expansion race enters the home straight. “The NRL should have zero concerns about us,” Livermore said. “I appreciate this is a huge decision for the game.
“If the NRL is required to reach out again to make sure our information is understood, I’m happy to have another conversation with them.
“I can confirm a prominent company, based in Brisbane, has come forward and injected substantial additional capital into the bid to go beyond what is required from the NRL.
“The NRL requested a $10 million bank guarantee and we have got more than that. We have informed the NRL in recent days that we have $24 million in private-equity backing with $12 million in the bank that is ready to go immediately.
“The Brisbane Jets bid is entirely sustainable. We would not go broke.”
According to documents filed by the Redcliffe football club, the Dolphins empire has assets of $73.5 million as of September 30, 2020. They have loans totalling $13.2 million, leaving the Dolphins with a formidable net asset base of $59.1 million.
Redcliffe’s football arm has $1.8 million in cash reserves, while the Firehawks claim to have $80m in assets with $25m in the bank and no debt. Based on those figures, the Firehawks have usurped Redcliffe as the richest of the three bids, but the Dolphins possess a gymnasium and aquatic facility valued at $30 million and a shopping centre on land owned by the club.
Dolphins bid chief Terry Reader dismissed suggestions Redcliffe cannot be beaten by the Jets and Firehawks in the battle for the NRL’S 17th licence. “The Dolphins persist in taking nothing for granted,” he said.