The last I heard the ARLC was reviewing the possibilities of expansion at the end of the 2014 season. There has not been any official news on this so far, so I thought I'd have a say and get the opinions of the 1eyed mob.
The current thinking is that the NRL is likely to expand to 18 teams in 2017 at the earliest. Possible teams with advanced bids to consider are:
Central Coast Bears
West Coast Pirates
Brisbane Bombers
Brisbane Brothers
Ipswich Jets
Central Qld Capricorns (?)
Less advanced bids but some interest shown:
PNG Hunters
Wellington Orcas (?)
No interest but also mentioned:
Adelaide Rams
Melbourne 2
Fiji
Hawaii
I'd love to have all those teams (except Melbourne 2) but clearly that's ridiculous. But I do reckon we could add 4 teams. Much like the ARL did with some success in 1995 when they brought in the Reds, Crushers, Warriors and Cowboys to create a 20 team comp. So in 2017 I'd bring in the Pirates, Bears, Brothers and Ipswich for 20 teams and run the comp over 22 rounds.
Here's how the table looked at he end of the 1995 season
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Manly | 22 | 20 | 0 | 2 | 687 | 248 | +439 | 40 |
| 2 |  Canberra | 22 | 20 | 0 | 2 | 634 | 255 | +379 | 40 |
| 3 |  Brisbane | 22 | 17 | 0 | 5 | 600 | 364 | +236 | 34 |
| 4 |  Cronulla | 22 | 16 | 0 | 6 | 516 | 287 | +229 | 32 |
| 5 |  Newcastle | 22 | 15 | 0 | 7 | 549 | 396 | +153 | 30 |
| 6 |  Sydney Bulldogs | 22 | 14 | 0 | 8 | 468 | 352 | +116 | 28 |
| 7 |  St. George | 22 | 13 | 0 | 9 | 583 | 382 | +201 | 26 |
| 8 |  North Sydney | 22 | 11 | 2 | 9 | 542 | 331 | +211 | 24 |
| 9 |  Sydney City | 22 | 12 | 0 | 10 | 466 | 406 | +60 | 24 |
| 10 |  Auckland | 22 | 13 | 0 | 9 | 544 | 493 | +51 | 24 |
| 11 |  Western Reds | 22 | 11 | 0 | 11 | 361 | 549 | -188 | 22 |
| 12 |  Illawarra | 22 | 10 | 1 | 11 | 519 | 431 | +88 | 21 |
| 13 |  Western Suburbs | 22 | 10 | 0 | 12 | 459 | 534 | -75 | 20 |
| 14 |  Penrith | 22 | 9 | 0 | 13 | 481 | 484 | -3 | 18 |
| 15 |  Sydney Tigers | 22 | 7 | 0 | 15 | 309 | 591 | -282 | 14 |
| 16 |  South Queensland | 22 | 6 | 1 | 15 | 303 | 502 | -199 | 13 |
| 17 |  Gold Coast | 22 | 4 | 1 | 17 | 350 | 628 | -278 | 9 |
| 18 |  South Sydney | 22 | 4 | 1 | 17 | 319 | 686 | -367 | 9 |
| 19 |  Parramatta | 22 | 3 | 0 | 19 | 310 | 690 | -380 | 6 |
| 20 |  North Queensland | 22 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 269 | 660 | -391 | 4 |
The warriors and reds went alright for their first year, so why not again?
So with 20 teams over 22 rounds you would split the teams into 5 groups of 4 and play each team in your group twice (6 games) and play each other team once (16 games). Groups would be:
SydW
Eels
Panthers
Dogs
Tigers
SydE
Roosters
Rabbits
Dragons
Sharks
North
Eagles
Bears
Knights
Titans
Qld
Broncos
Brothers
Jets
Cowboys
South (this group may seem to have a lot of travel but they have to travel anyway whoever they play)
Raiders
Warriors
Storm
Pirates
You could still run the comp over 26 weeks and have a rep month in the middle for State of Origin, City Country, and Pacific Cup + maybe a NZ/GB test series if Super League would go for it.
Pacific cup could feature Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Cook Is, PNG and USA. With 2 groups of 3 with the winners of each group playing in the final. This would only need 3 games and would be a huge boost to international Rugby League.
Thoughts...
Replies
As for new sides they should go with Central Coast Bears and another Brisbane team.
lucky they introduced 4 teams that year eh? We beat one of them at least! Man, looking again at that table, those bottom 6 teams were all shit. Poor spread of quality, maybe we should have 12 teams....you there Rupert?
Greg Florimo says you do doesn't he? I hope you do because I liked the Bears, I'd love to see them back. As far as sustainable and money goes, I reckon the front offices of most clubs are becoming more and more professional and business savvy. I think clubs are statng to rely less on grants and more on their own money making, so they don't have top worry about the size of the slice of pie they get from ARLC when they can bake their own.
Another thing about that 95 table. Having a top 8 in a 20 team comp gives you all quality in the semis. You shouldn't be able to sneak into the 8, win your last 4 games and be premiers. No, there should be no mediocrity in the semis. In 94 if you lost 10 games you weren't good enough, in modern times you can lose half your games and still make the semis. That's not fair to the teams that busted their ass all year.
Perth would be the same as the Warriors travel and timezone wise. The Perth to NZ trip would be a bitch though. I put the warriors with perth as that is a natural rivalry with all the kiwis in perth not being AFL fans and looking for a team. The Warriors have played Perth a few times, so they're not bothered by the distance.
Considering the NRL provides all the cash in the salary cap, I don't see too much obstruction to a new team joining the comp.
If channel nine connections or news ltd have a hand in the club, I'm sure the team will reform well.
I'd be getting rid of the Sharks, and Balmain Tigers. If West Magpies can prove that they can be sustainable through good regular crowds, good sponsorship, and a high membership. If not then don't bother giving them the licence. Give the 2 licences given up by a combined Brothers/Jets outfit. I believe in that one group has all the juniors whilst the other has all the money. Then give the other to Perth.
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