NRL expansion: Jake Turpin throws support behind Dolphins’ bid; Brisbane Jets, Firehawks merger

While a super bid between the Brisbane Jets and Firehawks is on the brink, Broncos hooker Jake Turpin reveals why the Dolphins must be the NRL’s 17th team.

Jake Turpin has thrown his support behind the Dolphin’s bid to secure an NRL licence. Picture: Chris Higgins

Broncos hooker Jake Turpin has urged the ARL Commission to install the Dolphins as Brisbane’s second team, claiming the Redcliffe powerhouse is as professional as any club in the NRL.

The ARL Commission board met on Tuesday to discuss a number of key agenda items, including expansion, with a view to making a definitive call on whether to launch a fourth Queensland club in the next fortnight.

Turpin had a close-up view of Redcliffe’s $100 million operations as a member of the Dolphins’ 2018 premiership side, starting at hooker in their 36-22 defeat of Easts Tigers in the Intrust Super Cup grand final.

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With 40,000 members of a Leagues Club that turns over $30 million annually, the Dolphins are red-hot favourites to win an NRL licence ahead of the Jets and Firehawks and Turpin is adamant the code must expand to the Redcliffe peninsula.

“If there is going to be a club to get the licence, I would back Redcliffe 100 per cent,” said Turpin, who also had a stint in Queensland with Sunshine Coast, feeder club to the Melbourne Storm.

Jake Turpin won the 2018 Intrust Super Cup with the Redcliffe Dolphins. Picture: Chris Higgins

“I loved my time at Redcliffe in 2018, I won a comp there and I have been at a few Queensland Cup clubs when I was down south (while contracted to Melbourne).

“Nothing compares to the way Redcliffe treated everyone and how they ran.

“They are literally run like an NRL club, they are so professional and all the people Redcliffe have there are top-notch people that have been around the club for a long time.”

Redcliffe have helped produce a number of NRL stars in recent years, including Turpin’s Broncos teammate Kotoni Staggs, Cronulla prop Toby Rudolf, Eels centre Tom Opacic and Warriors front-row recruit Matt Lodge.

The Dolphins have undertaken a $6.5 million facelift of their home ground Moreton Daily Stadium, whose NRL double header last Sunday showcased why the northern-corridor bid is primed for promotion to the big league.

Rival Firehawks bid chief Shane Richardson dismissed speculation the Dolphins cannot be beaten in the three-way tussle for a 17th NRL licence.

“I think we are 50-50, I honestly do,” said Richardson, the former South Sydney boss and NRL strategy chief. “I might be wrong but I honestly think it’s close between us and Redcliffe.

Firehawks bid chief Shane Richardson. Picture: Gregg Porteous/NRL Photos

“Can I guarantee it? No, but I’m certainly not as cocky as Redcliffe who think they have got it won. They haven’t got it won. Just because you have an administration building over the top of an aquatic centre, it doesn’t make them the winning bid.

“There’s a lot more to it, the mechanics of the club, and the way it is trying not to cannibalise clubs, it’s marketing strategies, they are the crucial parts of the expansion process.

“The Dolphins claim they will dominate the eastern seaboard all the way up to Sunshine Coast. That’s highly ambitious, because there is no way the Storm will give up their development work on the Sunshine Coast.”

DRAMATIC TWIST IN NRL EXPANSION RACE

The NRL expansion race has taken another dramatic twist with the proposed $35 million super bid between the Brisbane Jets and Firehawks on the brink of collapse.

News Corp can reveal talks have stalled between the parties with the Jets on Tuesday rejecting a merger proposal tendered by the Firehawks in a move that has major ramifications for the fierce battle to become the NRL’s 17th team by 2024.

The ARL Commission board met on Tuesday to discuss several agenda items, including expansion.

The ARLC did not make a definitive call on expansion at the meeting but the Jets, Firehawks and Dolphins will learn within 14 days if the NRL will formally include a second Brisbane team to coexist with the Broncos.

As revealed by News Corp, the Jets and Firehawks kicked off joint-venture talks last week to explore the prospect of a super bid to blow red-hot favourites the Dolphins out of the water.

The Firehawks team at QRL headquarters. Picture: Lachie Millard

But unless talks improve dramatically in the next 24 hours, the Jets-Firehawks super bid is dead.

The move will come as a significant public-relations blow for both parties with critics to argue why the Firehawks and Jets even entertained joining forces if they were truly confident of beating red-hot favourites the Dolphins.

Firehawks bid chief Shane Richardson remains hopeful the Jets will come to the party, but admits the rival consortia have “fundamental differences” agreeing to an ownership structure.

“Talks have stalled,” he said. “The bottom line at this stage is we have stalled, we haven’t been able to go forward.

“The Jets will say it’s all over red rover — but negotiations are never over.”

Jets and Firehawks chiefs held discussions on Monday night but News Corp understands the Ipswich faction will not agree to an ownership model that would see the Easts Tigers-backed consortium assume 100 per cent control.

The Firehawks have also made it clear they will not change their nickname, so any merged entity would be called the Brisbane Firehawks.

The Jets were hoping for a 50-50 investment arrangement, but Richardson says that scenario is off the table.

That means the super bid to challenge the Dolphins is ostensibly doomed, with Jets official Nick Livermore confirming Ipswich will not agree to what they view as a Firehawks takeover.

“We aren’t close at the moment to a merger,” Livermore said.

“We proposed a 50-50 investment and ownership model to ensure the growth and financial sustainability of a new team focusing on the western corridor.

Brisbane Jets bid chief Nick Livermore departs QRL headquarters. Picture: Lachie Millard

“It’s a credit to both bids that we were prepared to say we are not arrogant enough to think what we have is the perfect solution for the game.

“But what we have proposed after their reach-out, and what we have gotten to, is nowhere near where it would need to be for the benefit of the game.

“If the Firehawks aren’t interested in our offer, that’s absolutely their prerogative and we would move forward focusing on our bid.”

Asked if the impending failed merger has damaged the Firehawks and Jets bids, Livermore said: “Not at all. If anything this demonstrates to the ARL Commission that we are genuine about growing the game.”

The NRL’s St George Illawarra joint venture in 1999 is widely viewed as a Dragons takeover and the Jets have no interest in being a bit-part partner.

But Richardson is adamant the Firehawks, who have $80 million in assets and $25m in cash reserves, have the fiscal strength to help Ipswich in the western corridor.

“The reality is we won’t be doing a 50-50 split because we have the money,” he said.

“At the end of the day, we are putting all the money in.

“This is for the betterment of rugby league. We are the ones who will put the money into academies in the Ipswich region, we have tried to offer the Jets some genuine opportunities as part of a merged bid.

“We would be putting money into the Ipswich region to promote the game in the region and we will offer Ipswich one seat on our board. It would be a stronger bid if we came together, but there has to be a balance and that balance isn’t there at this stage.”

Originally published as NRL expansion: Jake Turpin throws support behind Dolphins’ bid; Brisbane Jets, Firehawks merger