Johns calls for the NRL to downsize

NRL legend and Immortal Andrew Johns believes the League should become a 12-team competition, in order to strengthen the quality of the NRL.

Johns believes the talent pool in the NRL is stretched too thin as it is, and wonders if a 12-team League would be of benefit to rugby league fans around the country.

Johns unveiled his idea on Channel 9's Immortal Behaviour on Thursday.

“I think we should go down to 12 teams, play each other twice, with semi-finals,” Johns said.

“You see some of the games now, and I don’t think there’s enough talent to go around.

“I think the ideal number is 12.”

Johns went on to admit he didn't think it would ever happen, but that didn't stop him from merging team in order to come up with his magical number.

The former Newcastle halfback says a team in western Sydney was a must, and also decided to merge the Dragons and the Sharks together in order to represent south Sydney.

“The ideal thing would be we have a team at Western Sydney, an inner-city team, maybe one in Northern Sydney or the Central Coast and we have a team in Southern Sydney which would be St. George and Cronulla combined," Johns added.

“I think we need another team in Queensland whether it be in Brisbane or it’s a team up near Rockhampton.

“We need another team in Queensland definitely.”

Johns also suggested another team in New Zealand could help "grow the game."