NRL expansion: Why a Sydney NRL club won’t be forced to relocate as part of new plans
Calls are growing louder for a Sydney team to be culled from the NRL and now a number of clubs – and the NRL - have responded in no uncertain terms.
The NRL has moved to shut down any talk of relocating a Sydney-based club after QRL boss Bruce Hatcher called for one of the nine teams to be shifted to Perth.
NRL CEO Andrew Abdo told News Corp the game was committed to having a national presence, that could include a team in Perth, but not via relocation.
“Bruce is fine to have his views and comments but I can tell you there has been no discussion with any existing NRL clubs around relocation,” Abdo said.
“It’s not on the agenda. It hasn’t been discussed. Our focus at the moment is the expansion we have this year, the expansion of the men’s and women’s competition to 17 and 10 teams, respectively. And then looking at the feasibility of further expansion.”
As revealed by News Corp earlier this month, the game’s most influential figures discussed expanding the NRL into a 20-team competition over the next 10 years.
There is growing momentum for an 18th team, likely to be a Pasifika outfit, to join the NRL as soon as 2026, and within the current broadcast deal, on the back of the early success of the Dolphins.
But Hatcher’s 18-team competition would include a fifth Queensland team and the rebranding of a Sydney team in Perth.
“The best way to give Perth an identity in the NRL is to straddle two markets with a history starting out of Sydney,” Hatcher told News Corp.
“There are too many teams in Sydney, but if you take one team out of Sydney and move it to Perth, we will have a better-balanced competition with a national footprint.”
News Corp polled rugby league fans asking which Sydney team should move to Perth, with 50 per cent saying the Wests Tigers should go west. Cronulla had 12 per cent, and the Sydney Roosters 10 per cent of the vote.
A number of Sydney club bosses hit out when contacted about Hatcher’s plans, which he shared at a recent CEO’s meeting, saying unless a club went into insolvency there was no grounds for relocation.
“Bruce always comes up with this line. I don’t see why a Sydney team needs to relocate. In fact, they have just introduced another team, so why don’t we just add more teams rather than worry about relocating an established team. I certainly don’t agree with him but also, it has never been discussed,” Cronulla CEO Dino Mezzatesta said.
Call for Sydney NRL team cull as Bennett blasts NSW
—Peter Badel, Brent Read and Michael Carayannis
Wayne Bennett has slammed NRL clubs’ “selfish” attitudes on expansion as Queensland Rugby League chairman Bruce Hatcher called for a Sydney team to be killed off and relocated to Perth.
The NRL’s strategic plan on expansion is gathering steam with the stunning success of the Dolphins providing added impetus for the ARL Commission to consider fresh markets for an 18th licence – possibly as early as 2026.
As revealed by News Corp, rugby league’s most influential executives discussed a 20-team competition at last month’s Annual General Meeting of clubs and ARLC boss Peter V’landys is keen to explore further growth to combat the AFL.
Now he has found powerful allies in Bennett, the code’s greatest coach, and QRL chair Hatcher, who is proposing an 18-team league featuring a rebranded Perth team and a fifth NRL club in Queensland.
The Sydney market is saturated with nine teams and Hatcher urged V’landys to move one of those clubs to Western Australia, while introducing another Queensland franchise in Brisbane’s western corridor ahead of the code’s next broadcast deal in 2027.
“The best way to give Perth an identity in the NRL is to straddle two markets with a history starting out of Sydney,” Hatcher said.
“There are too many teams in Sydney, but if you take one team out of Sydney and move it to Perth, we will have a better-balanced competition with a national footprint.
“I’m not going to name which (Sydney) team should go, I will leave that to the ARL Commission.
“The AFL has relocated teams with South Melbourne and Fitzroy and while it took time, the Sydney Swans and Brisbane Lions are now forces of their competition.
“The intermediate problem is getting a team to Perth. I still think the best solution is to take a team from Sydney to Western Australia and if you include a fifth Queensland team, that’s an 18-team competition.
“We need a truly national footprint.
“Everyone agrees with me behind the scenes, but no-one ever talks about it openly.”
Bennett has been a pivotal figure in the meteoric rise of the Dolphins.
The NRL’s 17th team has shocked the league with their flying start to the season after having just a 15-month runway to build a 30-man full-time roster capable of competing with big guns such as the Roosters, whom the Dolphins upset 28-18 in their debut premiership game.
Bennett backed V’landys’ expansionary vision and took aim at Sydney clubs for attempting to block the growth of the sport.
“PVL (V’landys) is a genius, he can do what he wants on expansion,” Bennett said.
“He made a great decision with the Dolphins, he backed it, a lot of people doubted it, the clubs didn’t want it (expansion) and look at the results.”
Asked why he believed existing clubs didn’t want expansion, Bennett fired: “Because they are selfish.
“If Sydney had their way, they wouldn’t be playing anywhere else but in Sydney.
“They wouldn’t want Test matches or State of Origins.
“That’s why you have administrators outside of the clubs that have to make decisions in the best interests of what the game needs.
“But we get selfish in clubs and a bit personal.
“We all want to win the premiership but we don’t want to play against anybody to win it.”
Hatcher is adamant Queensland has enough players to sustain a fifth team in the Sunshine State and believes an 18-team league, delivering nine games per round, would be a broadcasting bonanza.
“Our competition (Queensland Cup) is a good pathway to the NRL and I have no doubt the talent is there for an 18th team,” the QRL chair said.
“We can’t leave Perth out to dry.
“We have taken two Origin games to Perth and there’s a reason we have done that. They have the population, infrastructure and a great stadium (Optus), so there is a market in Perth.
“I think Queensland can sustain a fifth team and I’d be putting them in the western corridor from Logan through to the southwest beyond Toowoomba. It would cover that area. That corridor has to be catered for.
“I would have these teams come in for the next broadcast deal.
“Ipswich were the main threat to the Dolphins bid (in the last expansion race in 2021) and that western region is a massive growth corridor for Brisbane.
“The AFL is looking at that region and I believe we need to shore up that area in Queensland.”
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