NRL Expansion: Peter V’landys says Dolphins will be test case as magic number of 18 comes into view

There may be light at the end of the tunnel for crestfallen officials of the two failed bid teams as Peter V’landys suggests the Dolphins will be a test case for the addition of another team.

Racing NSW CEO Peter V'Landys pictured in their Sydney office boardroom. Picture: Jonathan Ng

ARL Commission chair Peter V’landys has urged the Brisbane Firehawks and Jets not to lose heart after revealing the Dolphins would be a test case for expansion to 18 teams.

“If it goes well, we would look at an 18th team reasonably quickly,” V’landys said.

“This expansionary move with the Dolphins will show us if adding extra teams gets us that growth that we desire.

Peter V'Landys hopes expansion doesn’t stop at 17.

“We are agile, we will always do what is in the best interests of the game and if there is an appetite to keep growing the game, we will look at that scenario.

“The bid teams who missed out this time should not be too disheartened. They could absolutely be considered next time.”

While the Dolphins were celebrating on Wednesday morning, the decision on expansion came as a sledgehammer blow to the NRL aspirations of both the Firehawks and Jets.

Both have spent time and money trying to convince the ARL Commission that they deserved the right to enter the NRL in 2023.

Ultimately, all that hard work came to nothing. However, there may be light at the end of the tunnel for crestfallen officials from the two bid teams as the game finds itself in the grips of expansion fever.

Like V’landys, NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo suggested another side may not be far away.

“The key thing for us is one step at a time,“ Abdo said.

“A move from 16 to 17 is a big move. We need to make sure that we have all the right procedures in place to make that successful.

“We want a team that can compete from day one and we want to make sure the team is financially viable.

“We want this to be incredibly successful. Equally we will have consideration to eventually moving from 17 to 18. I don’t know what that timeline looks like.

“That will be a factor of the success of the 17th team and a factor of which market is right, and whether the economics stack up.”

The advantages of 18 teams are obvious. While it would remove the bye each week, there would be an additional game to sell to broadcasters, which officials would expect to inject more money into the game.

The Firehawks have been told not to be too disheartened with the rejection.

V’landys and Abdo have both preached the importance of growth as a means not only to increase the game’s coffers, but also to ward off the AFL.

It means the addition of an 18th team is on the radar. The game’s existing broadcasting deal with Foxtel runs until the end of 2027, suggesting the logical time to add another side would be for the 2028 season.

“That would give us sufficient time to bed down the existing structures and make sure we have something really compelling for the next rights deal,” Abdo said.

“It may happen before that but that is certainly one milestone. But 17 is a natural stepping stone to 18. At 18 we have another fixture and that provides another opportunity for our fans, another 80 minutes of footy, another match in the round, another opportunity to grow fans in another market.

“I will go back to the quality of these three bids. Each of them could have justifiably probably qualified and been able to run a successful team.

“We are spoiled for choice. It always has to stack up.”

Wednesday was a huge day for the Dolphins consortium.

For the time being, V’landys and Abdo were happy to hail a landmark day for the game.

“I am very thrilled,” V’Landys said.

“I firmly believe in the growth of the game and we need to consolidate our existing markets before we expand anywhere else.

“It was ultra important to ensure the certainty of the Queensland market before we start looking at other areas

“There is a lot of competition up there from the AFL so we can‘t take that region for granted. We have to consolidate there first, Queensland and NSW are our key markets, then we will look for further growth.

“There could certainly be an 18th team in the coming years and let‘s see how this exercise goes.”

‘Why stop now’: Politis doubles down on push for more teams

- Paul Crawley

Powerful Sydney Roosters chairman Nick Politis has doubled down on his push for further NRL expansion, adamant the game could support a 20-team competition.

And for that to happen Politis reckons locking down all of Queensland with another two teams should be a priority, sooner rather than later.

He also says a 20th NRL franchise could potentially come from Perth or a second New Zealand team.

Nick Politis says there’s no reason the NRL can’t eventually cater for 20 teams.

“It is fantastic news for Redcliffe and hopefully there should be more,” Politis told News Corp following the NRL’s announcement that the new 17th team would enter the NRL in 2023.

“I think we should have another one or maybe two clubs in Queensland to secure that market for our game.

“There is not another sporting entity north of Brisbane until you get to the Cowboys (in Townsville).

“So you have all of Queensland wide open.

“There is no AFL. No union. No soccer. Basketball. Nothing.

“Ten years ago we looked at putting one at Rockhampton and Peter Beattie, who was then Premier, committed to building an 18,000-seat Stadium at Rockhampton, which would have been perfect.

“So maybe we have got to revisit that because that is a big market. There is a lot of money.”

Politis has already made his feelings known among other NRL club bosses.

And he explained why growing the game is crucial to the survival of all clubs.

“We always said we had too many clubs in Sydney and NSW,” Politis added.

“Thank God we have 11 clubs because that is propping up the 3 million viewers we have for State of Origin and Grand Finals.

“It is coming from NSW.

“So let’s do the same in Queensland.”

Asked what the perfect number of teams would be, he said: “I don’t know what the perfect number of teams is but I don’t see why we can’t have 20 teams eventually.

The Western Reds were around the last time rugby league had 20 teams in Australia.

“We had 20 in 1995. We had one in Perth remember? And that was before Melbourne.”

Asked if the game was strong enough to support 20 teams, he added: “If we are going to grow the game we have to. And we shouldn’t worry about having enough players.

“If you have more teams we will get enough players. A lot of players now can’t get a start. I reckon it will go the other way (and create more talent).

“You know the trouble with our game?

“We talk too much about all that. We haven’t got enough coaches. We haven’t got enough players … don’t worry about it.

“It will happen. It gives our players more opportunity.

“If we go that way (reducing teams) we will disappear. The Super League model was wrong.

They wanted 12 clubs remember. Imagine if we only had 12 clubs, we would be going backwards.”

Originally published as NRL Expansion: Peter V’landys says Dolphins will be test case as magic number of 18 comes into view