Game on: Premier calls fifth NRL team for ‘rugby league heartland’

Queensland has backed plans for a fifth NRL team in the state with Premier Steven Miles pushing Ipswich or Easts Tigers as possibilities but ruled out building a new stadium for the team.

Nick Livermore from the Brisbane Bombers and Steve Johnson from the Ipswich Jets joined forces to bid for an NRL licence. Picture: Richard Walker

Queensland has backed plans for a fifth NRL team in the state with premier Steven Miles pushing Ipswich or Easts Tigers as possibilities.

Last year, Redcliffe-based Dolphins made the national league and now Mr Miles said it was time for another with the government throwing support behind the NRL establishing an 18th team by 2028.

“Just last weekend, we filled Suncorp Stadium again with another local derby that’s an Origin-sized crowd and one they didn’t have before the Dolphins entered the competition,” he said.

“If the NRL are going to add teams to the competition, they absolutely have to seriously consider a Queensland bid.

“It’s incredible to me that the rumours I hear say they are looking at Sydney and Perth and New Zealand and not Queensland.

“What the Dolphins have proven is that extra Queensland teams don’t cannibalise the rugby league market, they expand it.”

Premier Steven Miles has backed plans for a fifth NRL team in Qld. Picture: John Gass

Coorparoo-based East Tigers and Ipswich Jets both had credible bids before the NRL, which Mr Miles said he hoped would be acknowledged.

This month, the Jets’ secured $40 million in funding for their NRL bid with hopes of entering the expanded competition by 2028, with Wayne Bennett as head coach.

If given a licence by the ARL Commission, the former Brisbane Jets’ and foundation premiership club Newtown Jets, would be based in Ipswich.

The Perth Bears are shaping as number one favourites for one of the two licences with the Jets claiming they should get the other.

Jets NRL bid chairman Steve Johnson has signed a nondisclosure agreement with the NRL and cannot make public comment.

Currently there are 16 Australian teams and one from New Zealand in the competition.

New South Wales with a population of 8.2 million, has 10 NRL teams and Queensland, which has a population of 5.4 million, only has four teams.

Although Mr Miles urged the NRL to recognise the state as “rugby league heartland”, he was not willing to stump up cash for a new NRL stadium and said any additional team would play at Suncorp.

“There are a number of weekends where there is no rugby league at Suncorp Stadium, even with both the Broncos and the Dolphins playing there,” he said.

“We could see Suncorp sold out even more often.”

If the Jets won the bid, an in-principle deal with Suncorp Stadium would allow the team to play all home games at the venue, with away games in Sydney at Newtown’s Henson Park.

Originally published as Game on: Premier calls fifth NRL team for ‘rugby league heartland’