Beating the drum for a 17th team

Judgment day is approaching for the three groups bidding to become the 17th NRL team.

Redcliffe Leagues Club chief executive Tony Murphy

Tony Murphy has spent most of his adult life beating the Dolphins drum. He, like so many involved with the Redcliffe rugby league club, have enviously eyed off the NRL from afar.

Murphy himself has knocked on their door a handful of times, hoping to push the Dolphins’ case for admission to the premiership.

With each rejection, their determination has grown. It hasn’t weakened their resolve, only strengthened it. So while previous NRL administrations twiddled their thumbs and allowed the AFL to encroach on their turf, Murphy — the man who controls the purse strings in his role as chief executive of Redcliffe Leagues Club — and long-time president Bobby Jones have been quietly and diligently working in the background on making sure that when the chance presented itself, the Dolphins had an irresistible claim on NRL entry.

Make the 35-minute drive from the Brisbane CBD to Redcliffe Leagues Club, taking in the views of Moreton Bay on the way, and you can understand why the Dolphins are considered the frontrunners to land a licence should the NRL decide to expand next month.

They could push the go-button tomorrow and compete on a level footing with the other 16 NRL franchises. They have a boutique stadium that houses Brisbane Roar for their A-League home games. They have a leagues club with millions in cash reserves.

They have a gym and aquatic centre. They own and manage a shopping complex on their 11-hectare site, guaranteeing them an income stream beyond rugby league. They are far from finished.

Should they win the 17th licence, there are grand plans to continue growing the stadium and the leagues club. They are a rugby league Goliath in Queensland. Their assets are north of $100 millions. Their business already turns over more than $30 million each year.

It is the sort of financial clout that would put many of the existing NRL clubs to shame. Money won’t be an issue should the Dolphins prevail. In fact, it is hard to find many issues with their bid. They are based in a corridor of Queensland that is expected to grow exponentially over the coming years.

They are far enough from the centre of Brisbane and the golden sands of the Gold Coast to not encroach on the Titans and Broncos.

“Brisbane is one of the heartlands of rugby league and only has one team,” bid boss Terry Reader says.

“When you think about pathways and helping develop the game, giving opportunities for kids to come through … creating an opportunity is going to be important.

“The three key areas that Peter V’landys has mentioned several times are financial stability — do you have a capable business — are you going to increase fans and are you going to increase participation.

“The other big one he spoke about this week in the paper was cannibalisation — the least impact on southeast Queensland teams? We have enough market here in the north (not to encroach on other teams).

“The key thing that hurts most expansions, no matter what code you are in, is the set-up costs. The beauty about the Dolphins is that it is ready to go.

“We could put an NRL team in there tomorrow. Wayne (Bennett) always used to say at the Broncos, ‘We won six premierships out of a tin shed’.

“We’re a viable business and ready to stand on our own two feet. To be perfectly honest, we’re probably better set up than many and have more diversity behind us.”

Nearly 100km away, a group in another heartland of the game is pitching their own bid. The Brisbane Jets — a merger of the Brisbane Bombers and Ipswich Jets — will be based in Ipswich.

The Australian first revealed the Jets’ interest in the NRL 12 years ago. Chair Steve Johnson has been campaigning ever since.

“We started it in 2009 — we brought (former NRL chief executive) David Gallop up and took him through a tour of the western corridor to show him the potential growth in that area,” Johnson says.

“That is how it all started. Then the Brisbane Bombers jumped on our back. We have been doing this for something like 24, 25 years.

“It is a labour of love in that we saw this process as an ability for the young people of the western corridor to be able to stay at home, go to school and live their NRL dreams without being dragged down to Sydney.

“That is the labour of love — doing the right thing by our city and giving the city a source of pride.”

Ipswich has been fertile ground for rugby league for a long time. More than 60 years ago, three rough-and-tumble figures from the humble city were selected in the Australian front row. Dud Beattie, Noel Kelly and Gary Parcell helped Ipswich dominate the Bulimba Cup and then pulled on the green and gold.

In more recent times, the Walters brothers and Allan Langer have carried the flag. Playing talent won’t be an issue — the Ipswich corridor is ripe with footballers.

Money is the question mark over the Jets. While Redcliffe and the Firehawks — the rebranded Brisbane Easts — have licensed leagues clubs, the Jets’ finances are less clear.

It has the potential to bring their bid undone given the NRL and their clubs won’t support any franchise that has the potential to be a financial drain on the game.

A gag order placed on the bidders by the NRL prevents Johnson from commenting on their finances, but he insists it won’t be a problem.

“That is stuff we are not to talk about,” Johnson says. “We believe we will present a compelling bid both football-wise and sustainability-wise. We’re on threat of expulsion so it is best to keep those things quite limited.”

He is more forthcoming on why the region deserves an NRL team.

“We produced the entire Australian front row when we were a city of 23,000 people,” Johnson says.

“It wasn’t that long ago that some of these suburbs didn’t exist. It is a true rugby league heartland. Historically, we have produced great numbers of rugby league players.

“We have the fastest growing area in Australia. Those people are going to be born into and move into a city … that is just rugby league anchored.

“The people of our city can have a rugby league side based in Ipswich, their hearts will be bursting out though their chest with pride.

“That sort of legacy that we can give our community is a team in the NRL playing exciting rugby league and representing one of the most famous rugby league areas in Australia.”

Sandwiched between Redcliffe and the Jets are the Firehawks. They have former South Sydney chief executive and NRL head of strategy Shane Richardson supercharging their bid.

Like the Dolphins, they have money to burn and a desire to spend it. The Easts Group is one of the most affluent in the state.

They have more than $80 million in assets and $30 million sitting in the bank. They are spending $9 million on their home at Langlands Park to turn it into a high-performance centre.

Their greatest challenge may be convincing the game’s hierarchy that they won’t eat into the Broncos and no doubt cognisant of that suggestion, they have adopted the catch cry “hunters not cannibals”.

Their approach will be unique, having borrowed their ideologies from some of the biggest sporting teams in the world. They have already struck alliances with central Queensland and Booval Swifts, a club in the heart of Ipswich.

“I am feeling good,” Easts chief executive Brian Torpy says. “We have been waiting to tell our story and unfortunately we can’t give too much detail of what it is about yet.

“We kicked off in 1917, so we are over 100 years old. We have a history of grassroots and development football.

“Financially we are in a very good position. We are very strong financially. We’re going to be a bit different in our approach coming into the league.

“We think we’re in a good position — we’re in the middle of Brisbane, we have a strong fan base.”

For each, it is important that their tentacles stretch far and wide. The ARL Commission has made it very clear that the bids will be damaged if they erode the Titans or Broncos.

“What we have in Ipswich, and if you go to the Broncos on Friday night you will bump into them, is diehard rugby league fans who go to the game on Friday and happen to support the Broncos because there is no other team,” Johnson.

“If we get the licence, they will support us one week and the Broncos the next. They are rugby league fanatics who just want to go to Suncorp and watch first-class rugby leagues and have a connection to it.

“What we bring is that connection through the Jets. We don’t believe at all that we will detract from the Broncos playing numbers. In fact, we believe we will add to the Broncos numbers.”

As for eating into the Titans’ base, Johnson says: “It is already on record that we have met with them and discussed that.

“I have given my personal assurance that we wouldn’t do that and we won’t. We have done some things … inside our bid to reflect that. What we want to see is the rivalry between the Gold Coast and the Broncos and the Cowboys — the big Queensland derbies — that is in everyone’s interest. We want everyone to be strong.”

So does the NRL. It’s the reason they are even exploring expansion in the first place. They have watched the AFL make the sort of inroads in Queensland that would have been unthinkable a decade ago.

The game needs Queensland to be strong. They need the state to be producing talent for the health of State of Origin and the game in general.

“If you look at making sure State of Origin is strong, it is important we have more people playing in southeast Queensland and we develop more Queensland players,” Torpy says.

“That has always been important. It is no different now than what it was 10 years ago. You need people playing rugby league.

“My personal thing is I grew up as a kid before the Broncos. To have an Origin player or international player back in your club and you are playing at the highest level, that is what we strive for. It would be a fantastic boost.”

He hopes his club gets the chance. Judgment day is fast approaching.

“If it is not us, we are going to do our best to put in a great bid,” Torpy says.

“If we get beaten it will be a fantastic bid that beats us. We all get on quite well. Good luck to whoever gets it. We will support them if we do.”