New club with links to North Sydney will be a welcome addition but league must set them up for success to build on budding support in the west
NRL is set to announce a new club based in Perth with the Bears expected to return to the premiership amid growing support for rugby league.NRL is set to announce a new club based in Perth with the Bears expected to return to the premiership amid growing support for rugby league.
The eventual fate of the Reds said little about the prospects of rugby league thriving at the elite level in Perth, and the impending announcement that another team will soon join the premiership is welcome news. The Reds were set up to fail, astonishingly having to pay the travel costs of all teams travelling to Perth – as well as their own – while fighting for players, coaches, administrators and attention as one of four clubs added in 1995.
One issue that has historically hindered new clubs has been creating an identity. Nearly two decades on it is still unclear what the Titans are about while the Dolphins, in just their second season, are far more identifiable with a large fanbase built on their time in the Queensland Cup. The consortium leading the Perth bid for entry into thealleviated that pressure by merging with the North Sydney Bears, a foundation club that has not played in the premiership as a standalone entity since 1999.
The NRL have no doubt taken great heart and learned many lessons from the early successes of the Dolphins. The club hit the ground running when they recruited the greatest coach of all-time and executed a peaceful transition process. They have not finished close to the bottom in either of their two seasons, even if they have been helped by the league with soft early-season draws.
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