Glen Quartermain: Why a West Australian team could still enter the NRL before Papua New Guinea in 2028

Reports of the death of Western Australia’s bid to field a team in the NRL are greatly exaggerated. The NRL might have unveiled its sparkling new jewel in the Pacific on Thursday, Papua New Guinea, but it still might not beat a Perth team into the competition. Stakeholders within the WA Government and NRL believe the Perth bid is not only alive, but a strong chance to come in as the 18th franchise for the start of the 2027 season, a year before PNG. The State Government wants a team and the NRL needs Perth to up the ante in his next round of broadcasting rights negotiations. There is hope a WA team could be announced before the end of the year, but the two parties still have work to do on the amount of WA Government investment. It’s understood the WA Government has committed up to $500 million on spending, which will include a licence fee and infrastructure including a high-performance centre. There is also a commitment to community and pathways. The WA Government sees the benefits both from community health and tourism as large, but does not want to invest in the day to day operational cost of the team. Australian Rugby League Commission chair Peter V’landys said at the PNG announcement talks with the WA Government were “still progressing” “At the moment, we’re just waiting on the response from the West Australian Government. “We’re having some very positive discussions with the WA Government. “And we’re hopeful that in the next two to three weeks that we could announce a further side.” The NRL was set to announce the Perth franchise in the days following the NRL grand final in early October, but talks fell over at the last minute with the State Government-backed WA Bid-Co, led by Cash Converters executive deputy chair and long-time rugby league backer Peter Cumins. WA Bid-Co’s comprehensive 480-page application, compiled by Freshwater Strategy, a Sydney-based business management consultancy that put together the scuccesful Dolphins’ bid to become the 17th team, was rejected largely because there was no licence fee offered. V’landys deemed the previous Perth proposal to be well below financial expectations, with the lack of a $20 million licence fee believed to be a sticking point. Talks between the WA Government and the NRL to revive the Bid-Co fell over, despite a backflip by the Bid-Co on a licence fee. The Bid-Co is no longer a part of the negotiations, but the team is still expected to be named the Western - or Perth - Bears. The affiliation with North Sydney Bears is still also alive, but with home games played at HBF Park in Perth. Meanwhile, the Australian Government has outlaid $600 million over 10 years to fund PNG’s entry into the NRL which is expected to enter the competition in 2028. The Federal Government will pay $60m payment to the NRL for a licence fee, $6 million a year over a decade, and $290m for franchise support and $250m to bolster rugby league in the region. It is the first time a new team has paid a licence fee to the NRL - the amount the WA Government will pay is part of the ongoing negotiations. The Dolphins were not required to stump up a licence fee when they entered the competition ahead of the 2023 NRL season. There is plenty of runway for Perth to pull together and administration and playing core ahead of the 2027 season. Under the Bid-Co’s plan, a senior coach would have been appointed in early 2026 ahead of the team’s first game in 2027 with staggered football department appointments between 2025 and 2027. A transition executive team was to steer the club through its initial stages. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and PNG Prime Minister James Marape delivered the historic announcement at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices in Sydney on Thursday. “Rugby league is PNG’s national sport and PNG deserved a national team,” Albanese said. “The new team will belong to the people of PNG. It will call Port Moresby home. It will have millions of proud fans barracking for it for day one. Not just in PNG but I suspect many Australians will adopt the PNG team. “The partnership will support young people in the Pacific … Fiji, Tonga and Samoa.” There is scepticism a PNG team will work with security a major issue amid talks of the construction of a compound that will house both a hotel for visiting teams and the home ground in Port Moresby. Prospective players will also be offered major tax free benefits to play in PNG. The deal also comes with an escape clause allowing the government to summarily terminate the agreement if PNG strikes a security or policing pact with China or other rival nations over the next decade. There was no explicit clause announced granting Australia veto rights over security deals between PNG and other countries, but it is believed the NRL deal was contingent on PNG continuing to support the principle that security and policing arrangements are handled by Pacific nations including Australia. “Today also confirms ... our bilateral security agreement, which was signed just over a year ago in Canberra,” Albanese said. “Since signing that agreement, we’ve made real progress with Australia providing tangible support to PNG’s internal security priorities … I think that today is a day where people will look back in five years, 10 years, 20 years and see that this was a day where the relationship between our nations was cemented even further into a new level.”