Reports have surfaced on Thursday afternoon suggesting the NRL could be just months away from revealing their newest team.
It's understood the NRL are set on going to 17 teams in either 2023 or 2024, with the ARL Commission to advise clubs of the roadmap forward in the next 24 hours despite financial issues stemming from the COVID situation, lockdowns and relocation of the game.
According to Pete Badel in The Courier Mail, the competition have earmarked three expansion hopefuls in southeast Queensland with a view that the Broncos will have a city rival by 2023 or 2024.
The three franchises are the Redcliffe Dolphins and Ipswich Jets who already play in the Queensland Cup, as well as the Brisbane Firehawks, a new franchise.
It was only yesterday the newest kids on the block, the Firehawks, seemed to push ahead in the expansion race after announcing a new deal with the Central Queensland Capras, setting the Queensland Cup outfit up as their feeder, should they win the race to be the NRL's 17th franchise.
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It's understood that the three teams will all present their bids to the NRL within the next two weeks, with Peter V'Landys keen to continue a push into Queensland, according to the Courier Mail.
โYes, the interviews with the bid teams will take place,โ Vโlandys told News Corp.
โWe were focused on the Covid situation and now we are turning our attention to expansion.
โWe have all the documentation from the bid teams, so now itโs a matter of speaking to them and we will do that in the next week or two.
โWe will be contacting the bid teams to arrange a time (for formal presentations).โ
Concerns still exist over the talent pool and whether there are enough players to support 17 competitive teams, given the lopsided nature of the current season's competition, however, the NRL are keen to use the Queensland market to their advantage.
Despite no extra games, it's thought a second Brisbane-based team could add value to the current TV deal.
A 17-team competition would also bring byes back and potentially change the way the Origin window is run, at a minimum 23 byes would be handed out across the remaining rounds as the competition stands, out of a possible 34 if each team had two.
It would leave more games being played without Origin stars in the lead-up, meaning the NRL may also opt to investigate a three-week competition pause to fit the Origin window in.
All three bids have been linked with heavy-hitting coaches and players, with Craig Bellamy and Wayne Bennett's names popping up over and over again, although Bellamy has now committed to the Storm in some capacity for five more years.
