November 9, 2024 • 18 mins
A third Christchurch-based bid to join league's NRL claim they're making the necessary improvements to get support for entry from the governing body.
The Southern Orcas have joined the South Island Kea and another bid led by former Kiwis coach Frank Endacott.
Rugby league journalist Brad Walter joined Piney to discuss.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Fine
from Newstalk ZB.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
In the meantime, a third bidder has emerged in the
quest to win an Narl for christ Church, as expansion
from seventeen to twenty teams remains very much a live conversation.
During the week, the Southern Orca publicly unveiled a proposal
to play out of the new te Kaha Stadium. It
claims to have sixty million dollars in funding from South
(00:35):
Island based private investors and is looking to establish a
twenty hectare one hundred million dollars Center of Excellence at
Rolston with seven training fields, gymnasiums and medical facilities. Now
it's the third group in christ Church to express interest.
The South Island NRL bid team was the first that
(00:55):
included a number of long time Canterbury Rugby League personnel,
including respected former Kewis coach Frank Endicott. Then there was
the South Island keya bid driven by former NRL New
Zealand Rugby and Welsh Rugby Union chief executive David Moffatt,
and now there's the third one. All three seem keen
to push ahead with their own proposals despite apparent ambivalence
(01:18):
from the NRL, and from what I can understand, and
we might need to find out a bit more about this,
there doesn't seem to be any great desire to work together.
In fact, in some quarters there seems to be a
distinct reluctance to do that. Anyway we can get to that.
Let's bring in regular contributed Weekend Sport long time and
(01:38):
respected rugby leg journalist Brad Walter to give us a
view from the other side of the Tasman on this brand.
Let's start there. What is the appetite at the NRL
for a sk in New Zealand side in any plans
for an expanded competition.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Oh, look, I think it's pretty strong. I think there's
no doubt that well, there is no doubt that Pappi,
your guinea he's looking good, you know, is pretty much
over the line. Then, so that would be an eighteenth team. Uh.
And there's obviously been a lot of talk about Western
Australia as well, so ensuring that it's the right model
(02:16):
and the right proposal in Western Australia, I think there's
a there's a rule. There is clearly an appetite for
that to happen as well. You've just got to look
at the public comments that have been made around that
and then, you know, a second New Zealand team. I
think it's something that the NRL has been eyeing off
for some time, as you know. But again, it's got
(02:37):
to it's gotta it's got to add up, it's got
to stack up. It's got to be financial, and it's
got to ensure that there's going to be more players,
you know, more junior pathways and more players coming into
the game. As well as being a sound financial model,
it's got to grow the game in a new market
or in a in a you know, add to add
to what we already have in New Zealand. The game
(03:00):
has with through the Warriors. The time zones obviously are great.
To have a second New Zealand team, I think, you know,
if we had another New Zealand team, so we had
two teams in New Zealand, we'd basically could you know,
and I'm just hypothesizing here, we're gonna have a team
playing a you know, a home game in New Zealand
every week. The derby fixture would be sensational. And if
(03:21):
we had a team in Perth. Then we've got that
those those time zones where in the winter New Zealand's
two hours ahead of Sydney and the East Coast of
Australia and Western Australia is two hours behind. So that
enables us to have a bigger spread of time zones
and kickoff times et cetera, et cetera, to fill the
(03:42):
time slots. So I think, yeah, look, I think there's
definitely an appetite for a second New Zealand team. It's
fantastic that there's three bids in christ Church, so that
that would suggest that the people that are behind it
think that christ Church is viable and is the place
to have a team. But you know, but I would
(04:03):
also be concerned that there are three bids. Imagine at
some stages they've got to come together or some have
got to pull out, because it sort of seems weird
to have from just from an outsider looking in, not
knowing the finances or not knowing that all the details
of those bids, it just sort of seems a little
bit weird to have three bids in the one city,
(04:25):
effectively competing for each other. But also a lot of
what they bring is the same. They're all going to
play at the same stadium, they're all going to have
imagine a high performance center of some sort, or you know,
they're basically attracting competing and you know they'll be whoever
gets the license, it's the same set of fans, it's
the same you know, it's the same players, local players
(04:48):
that they'll be they'll be trying to attract us, so
they'll be playing at the same venue. So what sets
those bids apart or you know, or they come together
and combine into hopefully a super bid. I think that's
the key. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Oh look, I could not agree more. Brad, and we
at a exactly the right word to use, because yeah,
when three are competing in such a small market for
what will be one franchise, Yeah, it just seems so
obvious that they should be getting together. Anyway we can,
we can leave that further down the track. Just in
terms of time frame. You talked about the Perth Bears,
(05:23):
you talked about Pop on New Guinea as teams eighteen
and nineteen. What's the timeframe we're talking about here, mate?
Who would be in first? When would that happen? Would
they coming together? Teams eighteen and nineteen. What's the time
frame you're hearing.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Oh, look, I'm not one hundred percent sure, but the
you know, think twenty twenty seven, twenty twenty eight is
the is the time frame that's been looked at because
of the broadcast deal. Broadcast deals up in twenty twenty eight,
so that's when they'd be talking to broadcasts about what
the season structure would look like, the number of teams,
all of those things would all be part of the
(05:58):
next broadcast deal, whether all the teams come in. Look,
I don't know. I'm not pretvy to the plans, and
I don't know whether until until the bids are until
until there's enough you know, the bid. The bids were rejected.
So I think that needs to be out there on
the table that the n r L or the a
r L C, the a r L Commission rejected eight
(06:19):
bids for the only one that's basically that his go
or is go to proceed to the next level is
Puppy New Guinea. And that's really why the the Graham
Low Andrew Charmer's bid that was announced a few days
ago in Sydney. The reason they went public is because
they've been you know they've been operating behind the scenes.
(06:43):
They hadn't been publicly known, but they were one of
three bidders that that submitted to the n r L
or the a r l C and were rejected, along
with Perth and some bids in Queensland as well. So
the so the time frame that's going to depend on
the bids and how good the bids are. For one,
(07:04):
when they're ready to go. I know that the latest
bid the Southern Orcas. I think they said they could
go in twenty twenty six if they had to. I
don't think anyone's really looking for a team to come
in that soon, and I think to get to twenty teams,
the timeframe that's been mentioned is twenty teams by twenty
(07:25):
thirty two, when the Brisbane Olympics are on to coincide
with the Brisbane Olympics. For reasons I'm not one hundred
percent sure of why, you know what the link there is,
but yeah, i'd imagine I said TV earl in twenty
twenty eight, so we'd be looking at, you know, teams
starting to come in from maybe twenty twenty seven onwards.
(07:46):
I doubt that three teams would come in all at once.
You know, we haven't had expansion on this level since
nineteen ninety five, so it's hard to know. You know,
look just a part of history of expansion, we had
the Canber Raiders and the Alora Steelers came back into
early came in in the early eighties together, and then
we had the in nineteen eighty eight, we had the Broncos,
(08:09):
the Newcastle Knights and the Gold Coast Giants as they
were called back then, came in that year. Then we
had expansion in nineteen ninety five when we brought in
the Auckland Warriors, the Perth or the Western Reds, North
Queensland Cowboys and the South Queensland Crushes which were who
were based in Brisbane. And then there was no expansion.
(08:30):
It was contraction and then until the Gold Coast Titans
came in in two thousand and seven. The Melbourne Storm
did come in at the end of the Super leagu
War in ninety nine, Gold Coast Titans in two thousand
and seven, and then nothing until Dolphins last year. So
it's a bit you know, like this, I don't know
(08:51):
what the perfect model is how we'd all roll, but
there's definitely an appetite for expansion. And the fantastic thing
is that there are bids and teams that want to
join the NRL now right across Australia and in New
Zealand in the South Island. So yeah, I think it's just,
you know, a lot of work needs to be done
(09:11):
to make sure that those bids are up to scratch
and also that it's going to be viable and sustainable
for the competition.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
So just on the fact that the bids, all of
them pretty much apart from the Papua New Guinea one,
were rejected when they were submitted, Brad, that doesn't mean
that that doesn't equate to ambivalence or if we just
go specifically with the New Zealand bid, that's not the
NRL saying we don't want another team in New Zealand.
It's just them saying this hasn't ticked all of our boxes.
(09:42):
Is that a fair assessment?
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Correct? There? One hundred percent? It's then basically saying we
want a better a better bed. I suppose it's stronger bed,
you know, Yeah, that's right. We're not happy with We're
not satisfied with everything that was submitted. And basically, if
you still want to if he's still keen and if
you think you can submit a better bed, well then
(10:04):
obviously there's the opportunity to do so, I don't I think,
you know, from what I've heard from the various bid
teams that the ones that have gone public, they they
don't exactly know, you know what's you know why they
haven't received feedback individually on why each bid, you know,
(10:24):
on the specific details of maybe you know, why Bid
X didn't you know, didn't didn't tick all the boxes
or whatever. So that's obviously for them to work out,
you know, and they've got to try and figure out exactly,
you know what, what the NRL wants. But yeah, I
think it's it's they said it's great that there's three
bids in christ Church. I think that probably does confirm
(10:45):
confirms to me in my mind that there are a
lot of people who think christ Church is the place,
because I would reckon that if you look at New Zealand,
you know, and the idea of a second team, it's
always but the question has always been but where would
you base it? So that certainly see sounds like a
lot of people have come to the conclusion that christ
Church is the place. So that's I think that's good
(11:06):
for for christ Church. I think that's good for the
likelihood that at some stage is going to be a
team there, you know, and we're obviously getting we're adging
closer to that and we're really talking about it publicly now.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Absolutely, and you're dead right. I mean, Christ's just that
is the obvious place. New stadium coming, good league fraternity,
good crowds for a recent international matches. Just don't pop
on your Guinea bread. What's the attraction of an NRL
franchise based in PNNG for the.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
NRL, Well, a number of things. First of all, Papi
New Guinea, as we all know, is rugby league man.
It's got a population of twelve million plus rugby leagues
and national sport. There's a lot of playing talent. Be
It's probably never been the pathways have probably never been
(11:54):
structured like they are in Australia and New Zealand. But
that's that sort of work is happening now. There's like
incredibly strong support from both Australia and the puppy in
New Guinea government, so there's a lot of you know,
there's a lot of money there as well, but there's
a lot of money in Pappy in New Guinea, regardless
of government funding. That said, there's a lot of playing
(12:16):
talent that will help or fill more teams, because that's
what that's one of the questions that's always asked if
you bring in another team, is there enough talent? Well,
Pappy New Guinea's going to supply a lot of talent
and it's fairly untapped in terms of at NRL level.
But we're seeing with the performances of the Kummels in
the in the in the Pacific Championships that we're seeing
(12:38):
how much talent there is there. And basically hardly any
of those players play in the NRL, so that they
look like they're in NRL already, and that's just I
think the tip of the iceberg. So so you know,
I think they're probably the main things. And obviously you
know what's in it for the government. I suppose you
could say, why do they want to invest so much money?
(12:58):
And it's it's common knowledge, well publicized. Australian government's putting
in six hundred million dollars. Pappy in a Guinea government
will be you know, will be investing as well to
get to get it started. It's it's it's you know,
a lot of it's around you know, the Pacific and
the battle with China or the influence of China and
the Pacific and how do we counter that. So I've
(13:21):
just been to Fiji. There's no doubt for the for
the Pacific Championships, there's no doubt. It's really obvious there
that the influence of China is trying to have and
that's it's all around the Pacific. So you know, the
Australian government and other governments, New Zealand government, US government,
et cetera. They're they're trying to sort of counter that
(13:42):
influence and rugby league in Puppy New Guinea is what
is one way to do that? That's but that's one reason.
But you know, from a rugby league point of view,
it said, it's Austraight's closest neighbor. It's it's got untapped
rugby league resources. Though fanatical about it, it's a new audience,
it's a new the playing pathways, the potential of the
(14:03):
playing pathways are incredible. And yeah, there's a you know,
really really strong relationship between Australia and Puppy New Guinea
which would be massively massively strengthened. And I think also
from you know, from a point of view of the game,
and also you know, the government too. It's a way
of improving the quality, the standard of living, the quality
(14:26):
of life, encouraging kids to go to school, getting people
better educated, all of those things through the power of
sport and rugby leagues King and Pappi New Guinea. So yeah,
so there's a there's a lot of reasons you know
that go right across the board, from pure football down
to you know, influence of China and the Pacific or
countering that to try to lift and raise the standards
(14:51):
and also the you know, from financial point of view
as well.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
All right, so let's say they're run let's eighteen. Let's
say Perth get across the line too, that's nineteen. If
we get to Twin Dy, who would be the other
rival the main rivals to christ Church for that twentieth side.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Okay, so I think so the teams that missed out,
the bids that missed out when the Dolphins came in
are still around. The Brisbane Tigers, who are massive they
like the Dolphins, you know, the established club being around
for a long time, successful with the big league club,
a lot of money behind them. And then you've got
(15:33):
the Ipswich Jets who have teamed up with the Newtown Jets.
But basically it's a team in the southeast corridor of
Queensland and or the Southwest corridor, sorry in down in
southern southern Queensland there and it's a massively growing area.
It's got lots of It's sort of like the Penrith
of Brisbane. I suppose you would say, look our successful
(15:56):
Penrothies and also like you know, there's a battle going
on with AFL for I suppose you know the talent
and the fans and the population of those areas, so
you know, so that's that's that's one of the things
that that area offers. So I think they are the
two main ones. There may be some others, but and
those two bids were competing with Dolphins before the Dolphins
(16:20):
came in. Both as said, they're both both strong, strong bids,
established clubs playing the Queensland Cup competition. Bristoane Tigers, especially
East Tigers, been around for a long time, have great facilities.
That's where a lot of the nl W games have
then played this year at their stadium. We totally work
where stadium, so it's you know, small boutique stadium that
(16:44):
they have in Brisbane. So yeah, there's there's strong bids
that I think, you know, the game just expanded and
brought in a second a second Queensland team or second
Brisbane team, So you know, I think I don't know
like that sort of stuff for me to decide. I
don't know that the details of any of those bids whatsoever,
but there obviously is there are some, there is support
(17:07):
there and there is a lot of interest in christ Church.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Great stuff. Brad Well, nothing would please me more than
hosting you at the new christ Church Stadium at some
stage in the next few years to watch to watch
a game between a christ Church side and another NRL side.
Really I appreciate your wrapping.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
So I'll just say this, the Southern orchest versus the Warriors,
how big was the first very first game. Sorry, if
it is the Southern august A christ Church team, you know,
whether that's the KIA or whether it's the other bid
that hopefully they can sort it out and get the
strongest possible bid as christ Church team or a South
(17:45):
Island team versus the Warriors, that would be I reckon
that would rival that very first game when the Warriors
played the Brisbane Broncost in nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Totally agree, Brad. Again, great to get your analysis, Thanks
for joining us across New Zealand's.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
As always, no pleasure to speak to you soon.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Yeah, look forward to that, Brad. Thanks indeed, Brad Walter
wrapping a lot of context and detail around that for us.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
For more from Weekends Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
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You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Fine
from Newstalk ZB.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
In the meantime, a third bidder has emerged in the
quest to win an Narl for christ Church, as expansion
from seventeen to twenty teams remains very much a live conversation.
During the week, the Southern Orca publicly unveiled a proposal
to play out of the new te Kaha Stadium. It
claims to have sixty million dollars in funding from South
(00:35):
Island based private investors and is looking to establish a
twenty hectare one hundred million dollars Center of Excellence at
Rolston with seven training fields, gymnasiums and medical facilities. Now
it's the third group in christ Church to express interest.
The South Island NRL bid team was the first that
(00:55):
included a number of long time Canterbury Rugby League personnel,
including respected former Kewis coach Frank Endicott. Then there was
the South Island keya bid driven by former NRL New
Zealand Rugby and Welsh Rugby Union chief executive David Moffatt,
and now there's the third one. All three seem keen
to push ahead with their own proposals despite apparent ambivalence
(01:18):
from the NRL, and from what I can understand, and
we might need to find out a bit more about this,
there doesn't seem to be any great desire to work together.
In fact, in some quarters there seems to be a
distinct reluctance to do that. Anyway we can get to that.
Let's bring in regular contributed Weekend Sport long time and
(01:38):
respected rugby leg journalist Brad Walter to give us a
view from the other side of the Tasman on this brand.
Let's start there. What is the appetite at the NRL
for a sk in New Zealand side in any plans
for an expanded competition.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Oh, look, I think it's pretty strong. I think there's
no doubt that well, there is no doubt that Pappi,
your guinea he's looking good, you know, is pretty much
over the line. Then, so that would be an eighteenth team. Uh.
And there's obviously been a lot of talk about Western
Australia as well, so ensuring that it's the right model
(02:16):
and the right proposal in Western Australia, I think there's
a there's a rule. There is clearly an appetite for
that to happen as well. You've just got to look
at the public comments that have been made around that
and then, you know, a second New Zealand team. I
think it's something that the NRL has been eyeing off
for some time, as you know. But again, it's got
(02:37):
to it's gotta it's got to add up, it's got
to stack up. It's got to be financial, and it's
got to ensure that there's going to be more players,
you know, more junior pathways and more players coming into
the game. As well as being a sound financial model,
it's got to grow the game in a new market
or in a in a you know, add to add
to what we already have in New Zealand. The game
(03:00):
has with through the Warriors. The time zones obviously are great.
To have a second New Zealand team, I think, you know,
if we had another New Zealand team, so we had
two teams in New Zealand, we'd basically could you know,
and I'm just hypothesizing here, we're gonna have a team
playing a you know, a home game in New Zealand
every week. The derby fixture would be sensational. And if
(03:21):
we had a team in Perth. Then we've got that
those those time zones where in the winter New Zealand's
two hours ahead of Sydney and the East Coast of
Australia and Western Australia is two hours behind. So that
enables us to have a bigger spread of time zones
and kickoff times et cetera, et cetera, to fill the
(03:42):
time slots. So I think, yeah, look, I think there's
definitely an appetite for a second New Zealand team. It's
fantastic that there's three bids in christ Church, so that
that would suggest that the people that are behind it
think that christ Church is viable and is the place
to have a team. But you know, but I would
(04:03):
also be concerned that there are three bids. Imagine at
some stages they've got to come together or some have
got to pull out, because it sort of seems weird
to have from just from an outsider looking in, not
knowing the finances or not knowing that all the details
of those bids, it just sort of seems a little
bit weird to have three bids in the one city,
(04:25):
effectively competing for each other. But also a lot of
what they bring is the same. They're all going to
play at the same stadium, they're all going to have
imagine a high performance center of some sort, or you know,
they're basically attracting competing and you know they'll be whoever
gets the license, it's the same set of fans, it's
the same you know, it's the same players, local players
(04:48):
that they'll be they'll be trying to attract us, so
they'll be playing at the same venue. So what sets
those bids apart or you know, or they come together
and combine into hopefully a super bid. I think that's
the key. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Oh look, I could not agree more. Brad, and we
at a exactly the right word to use, because yeah,
when three are competing in such a small market for
what will be one franchise, Yeah, it just seems so
obvious that they should be getting together. Anyway we can,
we can leave that further down the track. Just in
terms of time frame. You talked about the Perth Bears,
(05:23):
you talked about Pop on New Guinea as teams eighteen
and nineteen. What's the timeframe we're talking about here, mate?
Who would be in first? When would that happen? Would
they coming together? Teams eighteen and nineteen. What's the time
frame you're hearing.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Oh, look, I'm not one hundred percent sure, but the
you know, think twenty twenty seven, twenty twenty eight is
the is the time frame that's been looked at because
of the broadcast deal. Broadcast deals up in twenty twenty eight,
so that's when they'd be talking to broadcasts about what
the season structure would look like, the number of teams,
all of those things would all be part of the
(05:58):
next broadcast deal, whether all the teams come in. Look,
I don't know. I'm not pretvy to the plans, and
I don't know whether until until the bids are until
until there's enough you know, the bid. The bids were rejected.
So I think that needs to be out there on
the table that the n r L or the a
r L C, the a r L Commission rejected eight
(06:19):
bids for the only one that's basically that his go
or is go to proceed to the next level is
Puppy New Guinea. And that's really why the the Graham
Low Andrew Charmer's bid that was announced a few days
ago in Sydney. The reason they went public is because
they've been you know they've been operating behind the scenes.
(06:43):
They hadn't been publicly known, but they were one of
three bidders that that submitted to the n r L
or the a r l C and were rejected, along
with Perth and some bids in Queensland as well. So
the so the time frame that's going to depend on
the bids and how good the bids are. For one,
(07:04):
when they're ready to go. I know that the latest
bid the Southern Orcas. I think they said they could
go in twenty twenty six if they had to. I
don't think anyone's really looking for a team to come
in that soon, and I think to get to twenty teams,
the timeframe that's been mentioned is twenty teams by twenty
(07:25):
thirty two, when the Brisbane Olympics are on to coincide
with the Brisbane Olympics. For reasons I'm not one hundred
percent sure of why, you know what the link there is,
but yeah, i'd imagine I said TV earl in twenty
twenty eight, so we'd be looking at, you know, teams
starting to come in from maybe twenty twenty seven onwards.
(07:46):
I doubt that three teams would come in all at once.
You know, we haven't had expansion on this level since
nineteen ninety five, so it's hard to know. You know,
look just a part of history of expansion, we had
the Canber Raiders and the Alora Steelers came back into
early came in in the early eighties together, and then
we had the in nineteen eighty eight, we had the Broncos,
(08:09):
the Newcastle Knights and the Gold Coast Giants as they
were called back then, came in that year. Then we
had expansion in nineteen ninety five when we brought in
the Auckland Warriors, the Perth or the Western Reds, North
Queensland Cowboys and the South Queensland Crushes which were who
were based in Brisbane. And then there was no expansion.
(08:30):
It was contraction and then until the Gold Coast Titans
came in in two thousand and seven. The Melbourne Storm
did come in at the end of the Super leagu
War in ninety nine, Gold Coast Titans in two thousand
and seven, and then nothing until Dolphins last year. So
it's a bit you know, like this, I don't know
(08:51):
what the perfect model is how we'd all roll, but
there's definitely an appetite for expansion. And the fantastic thing
is that there are bids and teams that want to
join the NRL now right across Australia and in New
Zealand in the South Island. So yeah, I think it's just,
you know, a lot of work needs to be done
(09:11):
to make sure that those bids are up to scratch
and also that it's going to be viable and sustainable
for the competition.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
So just on the fact that the bids, all of
them pretty much apart from the Papua New Guinea one,
were rejected when they were submitted, Brad, that doesn't mean
that that doesn't equate to ambivalence or if we just
go specifically with the New Zealand bid, that's not the
NRL saying we don't want another team in New Zealand.
It's just them saying this hasn't ticked all of our boxes.
(09:42):
Is that a fair assessment?
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Correct? There? One hundred percent? It's then basically saying we
want a better a better bed. I suppose it's stronger bed,
you know, Yeah, that's right. We're not happy with We're
not satisfied with everything that was submitted. And basically, if
you still want to if he's still keen and if
you think you can submit a better bed, well then
(10:04):
obviously there's the opportunity to do so, I don't I think,
you know, from what I've heard from the various bid
teams that the ones that have gone public, they they
don't exactly know, you know what's you know why they
haven't received feedback individually on why each bid, you know,
(10:24):
on the specific details of maybe you know, why Bid
X didn't you know, didn't didn't tick all the boxes
or whatever. So that's obviously for them to work out,
you know, and they've got to try and figure out exactly,
you know what, what the NRL wants. But yeah, I
think it's it's they said it's great that there's three
bids in christ Church. I think that probably does confirm
(10:45):
confirms to me in my mind that there are a
lot of people who think christ Church is the place,
because I would reckon that if you look at New Zealand,
you know, and the idea of a second team, it's
always but the question has always been but where would
you base it? So that certainly see sounds like a
lot of people have come to the conclusion that christ
Church is the place. So that's I think that's good
(11:06):
for for christ Church. I think that's good for the
likelihood that at some stage is going to be a
team there, you know, and we're obviously getting we're adging
closer to that and we're really talking about it publicly now.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Absolutely, and you're dead right. I mean, Christ's just that
is the obvious place. New stadium coming, good league fraternity,
good crowds for a recent international matches. Just don't pop
on your Guinea bread. What's the attraction of an NRL
franchise based in PNNG for the.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
NRL, Well, a number of things. First of all, Papi
New Guinea, as we all know, is rugby league man.
It's got a population of twelve million plus rugby leagues
and national sport. There's a lot of playing talent. Be
It's probably never been the pathways have probably never been
(11:54):
structured like they are in Australia and New Zealand. But
that's that sort of work is happening now. There's like
incredibly strong support from both Australia and the puppy in
New Guinea government, so there's a lot of you know,
there's a lot of money there as well, but there's
a lot of money in Pappy in New Guinea, regardless
of government funding. That said, there's a lot of playing
(12:16):
talent that will help or fill more teams, because that's
what that's one of the questions that's always asked if
you bring in another team, is there enough talent? Well,
Pappy New Guinea's going to supply a lot of talent
and it's fairly untapped in terms of at NRL level.
But we're seeing with the performances of the Kummels in
the in the in the Pacific Championships that we're seeing
(12:38):
how much talent there is there. And basically hardly any
of those players play in the NRL, so that they
look like they're in NRL already, and that's just I
think the tip of the iceberg. So so you know,
I think they're probably the main things. And obviously you
know what's in it for the government. I suppose you
could say, why do they want to invest so much money?
(12:58):
And it's it's common knowledge, well publicized. Australian government's putting
in six hundred million dollars. Pappy in a Guinea government
will be you know, will be investing as well to
get to get it started. It's it's it's you know,
a lot of it's around you know, the Pacific and
the battle with China or the influence of China and
the Pacific and how do we counter that. So I've
(13:21):
just been to Fiji. There's no doubt for the for
the Pacific Championships, there's no doubt. It's really obvious there
that the influence of China is trying to have and
that's it's all around the Pacific. So you know, the
Australian government and other governments, New Zealand government, US government,
et cetera. They're they're trying to sort of counter that
(13:42):
influence and rugby league in Puppy New Guinea is what
is one way to do that? That's but that's one reason.
But you know, from a rugby league point of view,
it said, it's Austraight's closest neighbor. It's it's got untapped
rugby league resources. Though fanatical about it, it's a new audience,
it's a new the playing pathways, the potential of the
(14:03):
playing pathways are incredible. And yeah, there's a you know,
really really strong relationship between Australia and Puppy New Guinea
which would be massively massively strengthened. And I think also
from you know, from a point of view of the game,
and also you know, the government too. It's a way
of improving the quality, the standard of living, the quality
(14:26):
of life, encouraging kids to go to school, getting people
better educated, all of those things through the power of
sport and rugby leagues King and Pappi New Guinea. So yeah,
so there's a there's a lot of reasons you know
that go right across the board, from pure football down
to you know, influence of China and the Pacific or
countering that to try to lift and raise the standards
(14:51):
and also the you know, from financial point of view
as well.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
All right, so let's say they're run let's eighteen. Let's
say Perth get across the line too, that's nineteen. If
we get to Twin Dy, who would be the other
rival the main rivals to christ Church for that twentieth side.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Okay, so I think so the teams that missed out,
the bids that missed out when the Dolphins came in
are still around. The Brisbane Tigers, who are massive they
like the Dolphins, you know, the established club being around
for a long time, successful with the big league club,
a lot of money behind them. And then you've got
(15:33):
the Ipswich Jets who have teamed up with the Newtown Jets.
But basically it's a team in the southeast corridor of
Queensland and or the Southwest corridor, sorry in down in
southern southern Queensland there and it's a massively growing area.
It's got lots of It's sort of like the Penrith
of Brisbane. I suppose you would say, look our successful
(15:56):
Penrothies and also like you know, there's a battle going
on with AFL for I suppose you know the talent
and the fans and the population of those areas, so
you know, so that's that's that's one of the things
that that area offers. So I think they are the
two main ones. There may be some others, but and
those two bids were competing with Dolphins before the Dolphins
(16:20):
came in. Both as said, they're both both strong, strong bids,
established clubs playing the Queensland Cup competition. Bristoane Tigers, especially
East Tigers, been around for a long time, have great facilities.
That's where a lot of the nl W games have
then played this year at their stadium. We totally work
where stadium, so it's you know, small boutique stadium that
(16:44):
they have in Brisbane. So yeah, there's there's strong bids
that I think, you know, the game just expanded and
brought in a second a second Queensland team or second
Brisbane team, So you know, I think I don't know
like that sort of stuff for me to decide. I
don't know that the details of any of those bids whatsoever,
but there obviously is there are some, there is support
(17:07):
there and there is a lot of interest in christ Church.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Great stuff. Brad Well, nothing would please me more than
hosting you at the new christ Church Stadium at some
stage in the next few years to watch to watch
a game between a christ Church side and another NRL side.
Really I appreciate your wrapping.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
So I'll just say this, the Southern orchest versus the Warriors,
how big was the first very first game. Sorry, if
it is the Southern august A christ Church team, you know,
whether that's the KIA or whether it's the other bid
that hopefully they can sort it out and get the
strongest possible bid as christ Church team or a South
(17:45):
Island team versus the Warriors, that would be I reckon
that would rival that very first game when the Warriors
played the Brisbane Broncost in nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Totally agree, Brad. Again, great to get your analysis, Thanks
for joining us across New Zealand's.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
As always, no pleasure to speak to you soon.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Yeah, look forward to that, Brad. Thanks indeed, Brad Walter
wrapping a lot of context and detail around that for us.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
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