NRL 2021: Support grows for 17th team in Brisbane as angry Gold Coast Titans lobby for sweet 16

As the battle for the NRL’s 17th team heats up, one existing club that had to rescued from potential closure three years ago feels expansion could sentence them to further financial peril.

ARL Commissioner Kate Jones has backed plans for a second Brisbane team amid pleas from newly-minted finals side the Titans not to have their Gold Coast brand devoured by expansion.

Jones said the call on whether to expand to a 17th team was weighing heavily on the minds of herself and fellow commissioners and the necessity of making the right decision meant it would not be rushed.

She did, however, express a desire to expand if the numbers add up as the commission continues dialogue with bids from the Firehawks, Jets and the Dolphins, now considered the frontrunners.

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Darryl Kelly and Rebecca Frizelle have helped turn around the Titans’ fortunes,

“The chairman (Peter V’landys) has been very explicit in saying that of course we want to see expansion, but we want to get it right and make sure we don’t cannibalise our existing teams,’’ Jones said.

“We don’t want to see AFL continue to have a strong foothold into the areas we consider rugby league heartland. We will continue to ensure that the decisions we make support rugby league into the long term.’’

“I love rugby league, I want to see it grow. We need to provide opportunities for more of our young talent to get through that pipeline of growth from local club footy up to an NRL team. It makes a lot of sense, but we need to get the timing right.

“I would love to see another team but it has to be in the right location with the right people.’’

Making their first finals appearance in five years on Saturday against the Roosters, the Titans were rescued from potential closure by owners Darryl Kelly and Rebecca Frizelle just three years ago and feel an extra team in the region could sentence them to further financial peril.

For the first time in five years the Titans are in the NRL finals.

“The Titans have made their pleas to the Commission, both individually to me and us as a board,’’ Jones said.

“We are listening to that. We will continue to work with the Titans. Given the long road we have been on, it’s important we continue to support them with their growth, but what was so exciting about yesterday was the potential of the Titans (who beat the Warriors 44-0).

“They put on spectacular football and we want to see them continue to thrive on the Gold Coast.

“They are not going to lie there in the foetal position if expansion goes ahead.

“They would lift to the challenge if that is the pathway the NRL has to take. What we want to see is strong teams right across SEQ.

“Now the Titans have made the finals we are seeing the icing on the cake for what has been a long process over a few years for not only investing in their players but also their leadership positions at the club and their culture.’’

Peter V'Landys insists ‘we won’t do anything to hurt Gold Coast’.

Jones said while the Gold Coast’s fears were front of mind there were other factors to consider in the expansion debate.

“It’s also important to recognise that there has been significant growth right across southeast Queensland, right up to the Sunshine Coast and down to the Tweed border with new suburbs being created over the last decade. We will continue to see that population growth grow across Queensland in the next 10 years.’’

Titans owner Kelly first spoke to NRL commission boss Peter V’landys early last year about his fears that expansion would cannibalise the club.

V’landys responded by telling News Corp: “There’s no way we’re going to do anything that will hurt the Gold Coast.’’

How a 17th team could kill Titans fairytale

The Titans dramatic entry to the NRL finals has reminded the game’s powerbrokers of what they stand to lose if a 17th team starts eating their own.

The Titans are a great story. When their ownership changed four years ago, the financially crippled club openly admitted it was on its last chance.

Only those with a heart as hard as tombstone would not have enjoyed watching them scratch and claw their way into a cherished finals berth.

The Titans are keeping the Queensland flag flying in the finals.

It might be a one off appearance. It may be the start of something bigger that will span next winter and beyond.

But this much is certain. If a new Brisbane team comes in and snatched even two or three of the Titans best players, life would soon become a desperate struggle for them again.

That doesn’t mean you call a halt on expansion.

But it does reinforce the fact that the current player talent pool in Queensland is a delicate and easily torn fabric and the NRL must be aware of what it stands to lose as well as what it could gain with an extra team.

THE LION’S SHARE

Rugby league can get paranoid about the threat of AFL in Brisbane but there is no denying the Lions’ one-point loss to the Bulldogs on Saturday night entranced sports fans around the nation.

Fox Footy’s broadcast of the match reportedly approached 500,000 in the last few furious minutes of the game, which makes it one of the most watched games of the past few years on the network.

Seven’s AFL coverage easily beat Nine’s NRL match in Brisbane, which was not unexpected given the Souths-Dragons game was not one of the game’s of the round.

But still, the message was clear … the Lions’ have had three strong years in a row and their fan base is expanding accordingly.

The Lions v Bulldogs clash was a great advert for the AFL.

THE CLASS GAP

Rugby league always delivers something unexpected - and the sight of Manly fullback Tom Trbojevic beating eight Cowboys on the way to the tryline was one of highlights of the year.

But hidden beneath the star dust of a round featuring some exceptional tries lay the message that the gap between the best and the rest is unnervingly wide.

As Phil Gould pointed out the Storm, Roosters and Rabbitohs all fielded weakened teams and still cantered home. “We have a lot of work to do folks,’’ Gould said on Twitter.

MYSTERY MAN MILF

Most people get interviewed before they start a job, but if ever a man warrants a decent chat at the exit door its Anthony Milford.

Milford is about to vanish to South Sydney after seven turbulent years at the Broncos where he wore the tag of the club’s first “million dollar man’’ as comfortably as if it was a hot coal slipped into his football sock.

For better and worse, his story over the past seven has been the Broncos story.

When Milford was on fire in 2015, so were the Broncos, and many believe he was the best player on the field in the extra time grand final loss to the Cowboys.

Anthony Milford signed off from Brisbane in style.

Yet when his form went south in the years after that, so did his teams.

An enigma to his very last breath at the Broncos, Milford reappeared late this season and looked fresh, focused and so unburdened that Souths officials would have been giggling at getting him for half the wage he was on at the Broncos.

Brisbane can learn a lot about itself as a club by asking Milford about his journey.

What went wrong? Was he never really an organiser who was asked to play that role?

Be honest Anthony, were you fit enough and if not, whose fault was it?

Why did he constantly look so unhappy? Do he and his teammates feel scorched by social media? Why has Brisbane’s defence been alarmingly poor in recent seasons? Have Brisbane been recruiting the wrong sort of player?

They say you cannot understand your future until you unravel your past.