What about moving the Warriors to Eden Park, and establishing that as the base for Rugby in NZ. Then, change NZ Warriors to Warriors and Create a Wellington based team, playing at the Jade or Westpac.

2013 is a foregone conclusion the CC and WA bid's are to far advanced to not be included into the NRL.

So the NZRL should be looking at getting a bid out Canterbury NZ underway for 2017 - do what the Titans did and the Bears are doing by just continually letting the NRL know that you want in. Get a crapload of Business Support and the community behind the bid.

Why I said them not Wellington is simple really - they would really only have one team to compete against (in terms of sponsership) and that's the Canterbury Crusaders. Now if they got in imagine the rivalry between the North island getting behind the Warriors and the South Island behind the team out of Canterbury (NZ)

2018, Southern whatevers. 9 games in Wellington and 3 in Christchurch. In the next 6 years until then get at least 3 NRL games played in each city per year, fund the NZRL to set up strong jnr programmes in each city, get a NSW cup side in from Wellington, more Int's in each city, SOO for NZ Sth V Nth.



Problem with NRL, unlike AFL, is it does zero prep work for introduction of new teams and is just reactive to whatever bids come along instead of having a long term vision and being proactive to make it happen.

Not a lot....the NZRL needed to sort out it's own house and has tried to....there is still one sticking point out of Auckland....but the national comp went well and the finals were televised on Sky......the next step will be the running of the comp next year with a higher profile....ie....backing and spending by the NZRL.

After that, it is an investment issue.....wellington council/corporation won't be financially backing a bid and the stadium trust for the cake tin will want paying for games up front...so it will need a benefactor who believes in League to get the bid to a break even stage.

I would agree that a 'split="Wellsy13What ever happened to the Southern Orcas bid?'"

Wellington average over 20,000 for NRL games.



We'll let them in soon. But not next round of expansion.

We'll get back to you when we are ready...

don't leave it too late......the NZRL comp may be of a better standard than the NRL sooner than you think

That comment speaks volumes for your understanding of either country in rugby league.



lol



As I said, see you next round.

in 2013 the nrl is adding central coast bears and perth reds to the comp.



so 2018 would be the next expansion window and wellington and ipswich would then be favourites



the scary thing about the nrl is how many places are begging for a team



at least 20 - 22 teams is what we should aim for

22 is what I think in years to come. And ideally like the NFL each team play's each other once a regular season therefore making the club games more of an occasion when they play each other.

will take significant increase in income by the NRL to afford 22 teams. Ideally the grant from the NRL would be in the $6-7million a club now. To get to 22 teams and fund them properly it would take at least a doubling of income on the NRL's part. Still a long way to go till we see that.