The Te Whare effect: Why New Zealand should be focus of NRL expansion

The Dolphins’ wrecking ball Valynce Te Whare is both the symptom and the solution to the NRL’s Beige Age: an era where talent is spread so thin, three clubs are in the top eight with 5-4 records.

The NRL likes this Any Given Sunday inconsistency where a bottom team beats a top one, but it’s a mistake to equate closeness of results with quality. This was evident in Magic Round when the last-placed Wests Tigers and Dragons met and it appeared neither team could find the panic button, let alone press it.

Even higher up the ladder, the Sharks’ defence parted for the Dolphins’ “Val Meninga” like peasants for a king.

The domination of the 22-year-old Kiwi who has spent a single season in the second tier Queensland Cup reflects the shallow talent pool in the NRL’s 17-club competition.

But Te Whare, who played rugby union in New Zealand, is also the solution to problem. If there is to be expansion, it must be from his homeland, but not until the ARLC funds the Warriors’ development program.

The Auckland-based team currently fields a team in the NSW State Cup competition and another in the SG Ball Under-19 league. But it doesn’t have a team in the NSWRL’s Jersey Flegg Under-21 competition. The age gap from Ball to NRL is too great.

Dolphins rookie Valynce Te Whare.Credit: Getty

The Warriors won three titles when the NRL ran an Under-20 competition, beginning in 2008 but abandoned in 2017 because of cost factors. Super Rugby teams in New Zealand and Australia aren’t interested in players in that age group.

Te Whare is an example of nominative determinism in that “whare” is the Maori name for house, and he resembles the proverbial brick outhouse type. Rather than rely on the canny qualities of NRL recruitment guys like the Dolphins’ Peter O’Sullivan, the ARLC should develop pathways for the young rugby union talent in New Zealand ahead of granting the country a second NRL licence.

NRL club CEOs were told at a recent meeting that the decision on an 18th team will be made in 12 months’ time, with the new club entering the competition in 2027/28.

The ARLC has floated in recent days the possibility of a second Victorian NRL team and a fifth Queensland one. Previously, they offered encouragement to the Perth Bears and a team based in Cairns, drawing on Polynesian and New Guinean talent, funded by the federal government to act as a bulwark against China’s expansion in the Pacific.

NRL CEO Andrew Abdo and ARLC chairman Peter V’landys.Credit: Dean Sewell

But no recent mention of a second New Zealand team, possibly based in Auckland to create a one-city, two-team rivalry.

The success of the Dolphins in their inaugural season has been cited as the justification for expansion. Much of the credit deservedly goes to coach Wayne Bennett, aka, Old Man Winner. However, the Dolphins have drained talent from other clubs, including signing half the Storm’s starting forward pack from the 2022 season.

Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy, despite his renowned ability to turn journeymen into champions, is struggling with the development of his forwards who were dominated by the Rabbitohs in Magic Round.

Talent transfers across the NRL usually involve a player unwanted at one club signed as a top-30 player at another club. Yet when expansion is mentioned, the motivation is new broadcasting and betting markets, rarely the availability of talent.

Expansion is like El Nino. It causes extreme conditions. Rugby league witnessed this on the eve of the Super League war when the competition expanded by four teams.

But the evidence of the slow growth of the womens’ competition is that the ARLC learned from this. The NRLW has grown from four teams in 2018 to six in 2021, then to 10 teams in 2023. Ditto the NSWRL’s 12-team Under-18 womens’ Tarsha Gale Cup which began in 2017. Compare this with the AFLW which burst to 18 teams in a short period and is a vanilla offering.

Should the ARLC ignore a second New Zealand team in its expansion plans, the Commission deserves to be called the Omission.

Te Whare’s past is the signpost to the NRL’s future.

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